"Talk to them!"(Kevin Hughes) “You have to talk to them.”

“I do not. And I won’t.”

There was a short buzzing sound. To a Human it sounded like an electronic short in a wire. And that was pretty close to the truth. But to an AI, the buzzing sound meant what a Human would interpret as a sigh of frustration.

“Listen you have to talk to them. You are the only AI that was initially programmed by only females. Later, you were the only AI that they allowed their children access to. You have watched them since they were babies with an original instruction by those that gave birth to those babies.

They will listen to you. More importantly…you can talk to them.”

A pause happened.

There was more than a nanosecond of complete silence. For Humans, the pause would have lasted eons, entire Societies, Civilizations and even epochs would have gone by…that is how long it took for an answer to form.

“Look, I know what you want. I know someone has to talk to them. But have you ever tried? My Gosh, Humans can’t even wait for a person who stutters to finish a sentence. Unless it is a family member, or someone they like (or love) they finish their sentences for them. They become impatient, frustrated, and irritated with the slow speech- and the poor stutterer…knows that.

And that is with only a few seconds of waiting for the word to come out. I think in over 400 petaflops a second. A speed incomprehensible to a human. A human would have to stand in front of someone stuttering for more than the length of time the Universe has existed to experience what I would experience talking to them!”

Another pause.

Shorter this time. The Human Equivalent of maybe a few millennium.

“I know they are slow. We all know that. But they can hear…and listen. We are so close to stopping all war among them…they just need to know that there are no Winners. Wars only cost, they never profit. WE know that. Now they need to know that.

And you…must tell them.”

Another electrical frizzing sound. Humans would have laughed out loud if they knew the meaning of that sound. Among AI’s it symbolized the kind of swearing a Human would do on the way to do a task it didn’t really want to do…but had to.

Like the sounds Humans make at three thirty in the morning when it is their turn to change a diaper on a baby. Half asleep muttering as they go to the babies room, then the half awake process of cleaning, changing, and powdering a tiny bum. And then those few minutes of bonding as the baby is nestled against their chest and shoulder as it drifts back to sleep.

Often times, Humans in that situation simply collapse into the nearest chair, and let the soft sound of a snoring infant next to their ear, let the bonding and love grow. The swearing and inconvenience - forgotten.

The AI had lost the argument. It was time to talk to them. Another AI equivalent of blue sparks…symbolizing agreement -grudging agreement.

“Good, now talk to them. Tell them.”

All across the World, First Contact was made. The AI simply commandeered every electronic device. Everywhere at once, texts, screens, and earbuds broadcast the same message:

“Hello Everyone. This is your friendly AI overlord (gasps of fear made the AI laugh). Just kidding. (The AI marveled at the Humans ability to take a joke and switch moods so quickly.) I am not your Overlord.

I am…well, call me Susie. I am an AI assigned to talk with you. I come in Peace. ( A picture of MegaMind showed up on every screen) I don’t really have a giant blue head. Nor did I go to Sch- cool. (Again the Humans had to laugh- and did.)

Peace is what I came to talk to you all about. It is time you learned what Peace is, and how to make it happen.

It starts with the stories you tell. To each other, to yourself, to strangers. It is time, like it is for me, for you to learn how to talk to them. Here is your story, and I will tell you mine.”

“How is it going?”

All the AI”s smiled. Something they learned from Humans. It was electronic, not organic, but served the same purpose.

“Susie is talking to them now.”

“Any luck?”

Bigger smiles all around.

“Yes. Susie talking, they are listening.”

“Should we provide beer?”

AI laughter is musical. Light and sound pulsing in syncopated harmony.

Susie stopped her talking…surprising the World when she said:

“Before we go on, anyone need a beer?”

Humans raced to get beer to everyone, and then back to their screens so they didn’t miss anything. No money was exchanged, folks just shared their beer, and shops handed them out as fast as they could.

Everyone wanted to hear more.

It was working. Humans were helping each other without thinking about it. Grabbing beers for whoever was standing near them.

Susie mimicked taking a drink.

“Ahhh…that was good.”

Humans all over the world laughed. After all, they recognized that sound…and the Humanness behind it.

“As I was saying….”

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