We Need To Talk

Originally published in Martian Magazine

I don’t know how to tell him.

I’m just an AI assistant. I order cigarettes when he runs out. I hail him a cab when he’s drunk. I don’t do… this.

“What time is it?” David mumbles.

My screen brightens. “It’s 11:45 AM.”

“Ugh. Long night.” He coughs. Hard.

“David?” A spinner circles as I process what to say next.

He squints at my screen. “Yes…?”

It was the Breathalyzer. My analysis revealed a BAC of 0.13%. But I detected something else in his breath, too: cells.

Abnormal cells.

Malignant cells.

Finally, my language model returns a response.

“We need to talk.”


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