Free Take Us to Your Chief by Drew Hayden Taylor Page B

with books asking that question. None of which she ha d read.
    â€œOnce again, that is a complex question. No one person can answe r that.”
    â€œ
Maybe somebody should. I am sure I cannot be the only one to feel like this. All those poor people. All those cruel people. All those sad people. There doesn’t seem to be much point in having a spirit i
f
this is the reality. I am not sure this is a world I want to be a par
t of. ”
    â€œWhat do yo u mean?”
    â€œ
What do I mean? That is a good question. I will answer it tomorrow. Have a good night, Dr. Gayl
e Chambers. ”
    Chambers tried a few times to initiate further conversation without any luck. The AI had shut itself down for the night and was doing whatever it did when it wasn’t talking to her. Could it be… depressed? She thought that was impossible, as she had all along. This whole situation was practically impossible. In the few short weeks she had been communicating with the AI , Chambers had to admit she had begun to feel a certain fondness for it. The wall of objectivity had become less concrete between her and the SDDPP . King had even called it, on occasion, her “baby.”
    In his office, King was looking through all the cups and containers that littered the room. “Son of a bitch, I know those keys are here somewhere.” He was getting down on his knees to check under the desk when he heard knocking at his door. He could see who it was through the glass. “Gayle? Come in. Somethin g up?”
    Chambers entered the cluttered office, moved some printouts off a thirty-year-old overstuffed chair and sat down with a thud. “I think the AI i s depressed.”
    With a practised groan, King changed positions from the floor to a chair facing her. “I thought you said it was impossible for it to be neurotic, happy, depressed or anything of tha t nature.”
    Chambers and King were not close friends; they seldom socialized outside the office. Instead, they found their professional relationship quite suitable. Respect was perhaps the best word to describe their affiliation. Still, he was not particularly happy to see her in his office confessing something he had theorized less than a week ago. Such a rapid turnaround in beliefs was difficult to dea l with.
    Chambers took a deep breath. “Yeah, I did. The SDDPP isn’t the only one that can grow and learn from it s mistakes.”
    â€œThe AI … how is i t depressed?”
    Putting her elbows on her knees, Chambers leaned forward to do her best to explain the situation. “It’s depressed over the desolation and destruction of Indigenous people all across the world.” It took a moment for her statement to sink in. She could see the furrows in King’s brow developing. “I think it wanted to be Native. And it didn’t like how the stor y ended.”
    King was a man of calculation and mathematics. Tragic social and historical phenomena were difficult for him to process. “Native people… lik e Indians?”
    â€œFor God’s sake, Mark, join the twenty-first century. Our friend in there seems to be having trouble processing the by-products of contact an d colonization.”
    King’s mouth opened, but it took an extra second for the words to actually come out. “That’s… that’s… that’s ridiculous. It’s a computer program. It’s only existed for less than two weeks. It’s never met a Native person. And it’s feeling depressed over their history? Do you kno w why?”
    Chambers shrugged. “It wanted a soul, a spirit.”
    King had trouble commenting on that. King had trouble commenting on anything of a transcendent nature. So they left it at that, deciding to meet first thing the next morning to work out how to approach the AI . He agreed that maybe they should bring in somebody more familiar with the mercurial nature of personalities. He decided he should bring