An Even Greater Woman by Victoria Male
Image by Laura Ockel for Unsplash
Now:
“So how did you two meet?” the interviewer, NBC’s Nisha Jones, asked. She feigned familiarity by lowering her voice a fraction, as if she was asking just the two of them. As if she, Vivika, and Adam weren’t all mic'd and surrounded by a film crew and senior publicists.
Vivika and Adam reflexively looked at one another, the classic “who’s going to tell it this time?” deliberation between couples.
Adam squeezed her hand. The action shifted her knuckles ever so slightly so that several carats of diamonds Vivika wore on her left finger glinted under the studio lights. “Viv? Wanna take this one?”
She nodded with the grin she’d plastered on her face since they took their seats on the studio’s canvas chairs. “Sure. It was our last year at Stanford, and it just so happened that we were both camped out in the same corner of the library when Adam broke his laptop–”
“Excuse me, the laptop broke, I had nothing to do with it.”
“And still you threw a very public temper tantrum at three in the morning.” Nisha chuckled at Viv’s quip.
“My dissertation was due in three hours.”
“So I offered to help him with his plight – his hissy fit was incredibly distracting.”
“Plus I promised to buy her breakfast after I submitted the paper–”
“And we’ve been inseparable ever since,” Vivica finished, her eyes fond and trained on Adam, their story so well-practiced it had begun to feel true.
Nisha matched Viv’s grin. “During that breakfast, did either of you have even the slightest inkling that you’d go on to found the most prolific tech company of the past decade?”
“If I had those types of inklings I would’ve foregone school altogether and made some strategic investments in the stock market,” Adam chuckled, his self-effacing charm irresistible to Nisha, the camera’s unrelenting lens, and even after seven years together, to Vivika. “But we knew that together we’d make something special.”
“Special is an understatement. Brahman’s self-driving Ratha cars have ranked as the safest in their class for the past three years and running. Since the introduction of the Ikshana robot, the success rate of open-heart surgeries has improved by twenty-six percent in the hospitals with access to the technology, and three in four households worldwide employ the Dasa AI assistant in their households. Popular Mechanics named you the ‘First Couple of the Future’. That’s quite the title.”
“Certainly Nisha, and at the risk of sounding arrogant, it fits,” Adam did sound arrogant, but he was so dynamic that it didn’t matter. “While we’re incredibly proud of everything we and the team at Brahman have accomplished, we’re just getting started.”
“Vivika – not only are you the COO of Brahman, you’re married to the CEO, and you’re both parents to a four-year-old daughter, Minerva. How on Earth do you balance it all?”
Viv was a consummate professional. She was too smart, too used to this, to allow the sting of the question to register on her features. She knew exactly how to guide her response back to business, but before Viv could utter a word, Adam interjected, “Viv is the brains of Brahman, the most sophisticated artificial intelligence on Earth. Surely you’re not only going to ask her questions about her marriage?”
She returned Adam’s squeeze of the hand in silent gratitude.
Nisha masked her humiliation with a shit-eating grin. “You’re right. My apologies, Vivika.”
“Thank you, and please, call me Viv.”
“Given that you’re the brains and beauty behind the company’s cutting-edge technology, can you give us any clues as to what Brahman has in store at your annual Praksepana launch event later this week?”
Viv’s smile turned a modicum more genuine; they were back on track. “You’ll have to tune in and see, but I will say that what we announce on Friday has the potential to make a major positive impact on society, and continue our mission to disrupt the status quo in order to make the world a better place to live in for all.”
“And Adam, you’re giving the keynote address at the event, which is regularly one of the most highly anticipated and scrutinized talks in tech all year. How do you cope with the pressure and the fact that there will be billions of people watching you?”
“It’s all energy, we’re all energy,” Adam began, “So what I strive for is…”
“Is what?”
But Adam didn’t answer. He sat there paralyzed, his mouth frozen around the next word he’d intended to speak. Viv’s stomach swooped, she knew they shouldn’t have done this live, but Raj had promised her, and it hadn’t happened in ages–
“Honey?” Viv prompted him, trying to keep her voice from betraying the ice-cold fear sluicing through her veins. “Adam?”
Still nothing. The lights became blinding and the sound of Viv’s blood thundering in her ears battled with the phantom mechanical whir that seemed to be getting louder with each passing millisecond.
Nisha looked to Viv, “Is he alright?”
“Yes, yes, he’s fine,” she was trying to convince herself just as much as Nisha. “He hasn’t been sleeping…between the event and Minnie, he’s running on fumes–”
Off-camera, it was chaos. Lindsay gesticulated wildly in an attempt to get Viv’s attention, which was not helping, and the set medic was called. Viv continued to vamp while she slipped two fingers under where Adam’s arm rested to touch the inside of his wrist. She tapped the date of their anniversary – October 2nd, 10 rapid taps, then 2 slow ones – on his pulse, silently cursing Raj to hell and back.
The set medic got closer. Nisha decided it was time to intervene. “Vivika, I think we should–”
“–to use it, channel it, you see. Doesn’t matter if I'm reading my daughter a bedtime story about doing Brahman’s annual keynote.”
“Are you alright?” A flabbergasted Nisha inquired. Viv knew what she was thinking: what the fuck had just happened?
Adam flashed her a dazzling, completely oblivious, grin. “Yes, why wouldn’t I be?
“You spaced out for a sec there, honey,” Viv leaned into the trope of the exasperated wife. “You became a total glazed doughnut on national television, so now will you listen to me and take it a little easier?”
Vivica manufactured a laugh so loud and domineering that Adam and Nisha had no choice but to join in.
“You have a mimosa waiting for me, right?” were Viv’s first words to Lindsay after they cut to commercial and stepped off set.
“You and me both,” Lindsay was never one to miss a beat, “and the world’s strongest espresso for Adam since he cannot pull that shit at Good Morning America in thirty.”
Viv ground her teeth and glanced back at where her husband was expertly waving off any medical attention. “How bad is it?”
“It’s fine,” Lindsay effaced. Viv shot her publicist an unconvinced frown. “Seriously. It’s already being memed – ‘me when I don’t have my coffee’ and stuff like that. We’ll make it work for us, if anything it shows Adam is only human, right?”
Viv shrugged noncommittally and presented her palm for Lindsay to place her phone back in.
She wasn’t surprised to see the explosion of texts from Raj. She neglected to read any of them and simply sent: You swore to me it wouldn’t happen again.
Raj’s reply was instant. I know. When do you finish press?
Adam caught up with her before Viv could answer Raj. “I’m sorry.”
Viv didn’t look up from her phone as they trailed Lindsay back to the green room, “I told you to get some rest.“
“I know, and I said I’m sorry,” he countered, then stopped her in the hallway. “Come on, please?”
He didn’t deserve her anger. The fuckup back there wasn’t Adam’s fault. “Just promise me your keynote is going to be incredible. And you’ll come to bed before 2 tonight.”
“You know the keynote is always incredible. And better yet, I'll wake you up to see the sun rise.”
“3am, best and final.”
“You drive a hard bargain Mrs. Vateri.”
“That’s boss-woman to you.”
Lindsay watched Viv surrender to a rare public display of affection with her husband, a smirk playing on her lips. Vivika Vateri was a certified genius, a born hustler, and a shark in the boardroom, but she was silly-putty when it came to Adam.
When their lips separated, Viv murmured a barely audible “thank you” to her husband.
Adam regarded her with a puzzled expression. “For sticking up for me back there.”
“‘Course. You’re my wife, and besides, it’s the truth.”
#
Then:
“Fuck!!!” Vivika slammed her fist with such force onto the rickety bistro table it sent both her and Raj’s coffees flying, not to mention drew the attention of those surrounding in the café. “Sorry. I’ll buy you another one–”
“No, let me get it,” he insisted, already rising.
Viv called out a weak “thanks” while she stared at yet another rejection email from yet another VC sitting in her inbox When Raj returned with two fresh beverages, he was ready to commiserate. “What’s wrong with these guys?”
It was, quite literally, the billion dollar question. Viv’s advisors at Stanford had never seen an AGI – Artificial General Intelligence – so intelligent. They believed that Viv would be the first to crack Artificial Super Intelligence. They happily opened their proverbial black books for her, reaching out to their friends in high places, all ready to ride the hell out of Viv’s coattails and take credit for “discovering” her.
At least that's what was supposed to happen. What actually happened was twenty-seven rejections. Apparently no one wanted to invest in who the Stanford computer science department had anointed as the frontrunner for producing machine consciousness.
Fissures spread through Raj’s heart at the sight of his best friend trying not to cry. Viv was tough as nails, but what she was going through was brutal.
“Okay well, fuck them, we’ll get super drunk tonight–”
“But you have work tomorrow–
“We’ll get super drunk tonight and then what’s your next move? Who are you waiting to hear back from?”
Viv wilted at the question. “This was the last one – Sapphire.”
The din from the coffee shop overtook their conversation for a few moments before Viv shook herself out of it. “Think you can put in a good word for me at AAB?”
“Before you throw in the towel on revolutionizing society, maybe try a couple of cold emails.”
“Why, Raj? So I can clog my inbox with more ‘respectful passes’?” Viv took a sip of her fresh latte and a single, humorless laugh escaped her. “I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but ‘inclusivity in tech’? More specifically, ‘women in tech’? What a load of bullshit. I hate Elizabeth Holmes. You know, if I were a man–”
Viv stopped mid-sentence and her eyes brightened the longer she gazed at Raj. He was not proud of how the length of her stare had a direct correlation to his heart rate. “What?”
“I’m not a man, but you are.”
“Yeah, last I checked.”
“And you’re brilliant. I’ll cold email all of Silicon Valley if you come on as co-founder. You won’t have to lift a finger, I promise, I literally just need your dick.”
Viv’s words would’ve been music to Raj’s ears if they’d been spoken, or better moaned, in a different context. “Viv, I can’t.”
“Why not?” she demanded. “You just said I'm going to revolutionize society! I’m your best friend! One of those two reasons usually would suffice for most!”
“My contract,” he murmured.
“Oh come on Raj, stop being such a boy scout. You’re going to break it as soon as the Dasa robot is ready for seed capital.”
“Exactly. Minerva AI is your dream and Dasa is mine. Plus, you don’t need me.”
“Actually, I do!” Viv regrouped, desperately trying to prevent her frustration from getting the best of her. “Take me out of this. You’re really going to let Russia and China beat us? You’re going to let our enemies control the future because of a stupid contract that engineers break all the time?!”
Viv had a point. But still, Raj hesitated.
“Okay maybe you need me, but you don’t want me,” Raj amended himself. “I don’t want to be shoehorned in–”
“You wouldn’t be! My God, if I got funding, Dasa would be our first launch!”
Raj wanted Viv to want him for more than launching her tech empire. It occurred to him that this could be the moment that he finally told her how he felt. Raj gathered his courage and–
“No one takes me seriously.” Defiant tears returned to Viv’s eyes. She stood and determinedly packed away her phone, sunglasses, and laptop.
“Don’t go,” Raj pleaded softly. He told himself she hadn’t heard him as Viv stormed out of the café.
#
Now:
Viv was surprised to find Adam in their bedroom after she’d kissed Minnie goodnight. She’d figured that she wouldn’t see him until 2:59am at the earliest, and fully expected to spend the next few hours with her laptop and a glass or three of wine.
However, Adam was undressing when she padded inside. Viv took a moment to study him, to luxuriate in each new swath of caramel skin he revealed as he shed his clothes. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Adam stalked toward her the way a lion does when it spots a tasty-looking gazelle. “Hi.”
“You took my advice.”
“I always take your advice.”
“No you don’t, but that’s alright. It’s one of the things I love about you.”
Adam pulled her to him, inhaling deeply to catch the lingering scent of the perfume she dabbed at the crack of dawn before they left to do the morning shows. He kissed her neck, then stripped off her blouse.
“Oh, this is why you’re not holed up in your office.”
“C’mon, baby, the next few days are going to be a blitz, let’s relieve some tension.”
“If I recall correctly,” Viv chimed in as she shimmied out her trousers, “our tradition is to abstain from sex the week of Praksepana until I give you your pre-keynote blow job.”
“Fuck tradition,” Adam growled, unhooking her bra.
“Fuck me,” Viv keened when he sank his teeth into the juncture of her shoulder.
Once they were both naked, Adam maneuvered Viv flush against the cool glass of their bedroom’s ceiling-to-floor panes.
Despite being mesmerized by the city that glittered below her, Viv objected in a feeble whisper, “Someone will see.”
“Want ‘em to.”
“Exhibitionism? That’s new.”
Adam landed a slap across her ass. “Evolve or die, baby.”
#
Then:
Necessity is the mother of invention, but Viv didn’t invent Brahman’s now billion-dollar proprietary AI because she needed to. The processes, the coding, the algorithms had all simply come to Viv her sophomore year of undergrad like a divine, digital download. Her ensuing years at Stanford were all about seeing if it was actually as implementable as she believed it could be.
It was. The Turing tests proved it, plus the fact it did all of Viv’s post-grad coursework for her, which allowed Viv to focus on making it better. She knew she had created something that would change the world. She knew it. This had the potential to be the moon landing and discovery of fire combined.
What Viv seemingly needed was a male co-founder. A man she could trust. And since the only man she did trust, Raj, had rejected her, Viv decided to invent one. The AI created an email address for itself, doctored a few fake social media profiles, and hacked the Stanford website to add its new identity to the school’s alumni directory in less than an hour.
So it was with a melting pint of Ben & Jerry’s on her lap that Viv cold-emailed all of the VC’s she met with from the new email address. For good measure she changed Minerva AI to Brahman Tech. All it took to give Viv the power to change her and everyone’s lives was swapping the name in the signature from Vivika Burr to Adam Vateri.
#
Now:
Raj arrived at Viv’s at the crack of dawn. He wasn’t worried about intruding. Viv would be up. Dasa fired off a message to let Viv know he’d arrived once his Ratha car had parked itself. The last thing either of them wanted was to wake Minnie up with his entrance.
Viv ushered him inside their palatial, starkly modern penthouse without a word. “Where is he?”
She cocked her head toward Adam’s office. He knew that she wouldn’t go in with him. In the beginning, Viv had insisted on supervising when Raj worked on Adam. But that soon changed. Viv “couldn’t see him like that” she claimed. It infuriated and concerned him equally.
“Just fix it.” Viv would swear it was a plea, but all Raj heard was a demand. “If it happens again this week, we’re fucked.”
Raj wanted to snap back that he was well aware, their shares were divided evenly after all, fuck-ups hurt him just as much as they did Viv. Instead, he nodded and let himself in.
Adam was working away at his computer as Raj gently closed the door behind him. “Hey man, next time can you knock or something if you’re going to bar–”
Raj flicked his forehead and Adam collapsed over his keyboard. He lugged the other man upright in the chair and got to work.
#
Then:
Viv blamed internalized misogyny for why she hadn’t thought it through. She’d gotten so many rejections, had been written off by so many smarmy VC assholes that she had begun to believe it would never happen. So when the emails, and requests for meetings, and competing offers began to roll in avalanche fashion, Viv was in shock.
Video calls had only worked for so long. It had been fun to design an avatar – what woman wouldn’t want to create her ideal man? But when Sequoia told her that they wouldn’t get a penny unless she and Adam did an investor dinner, Viv didn’t have a choice.
She went to Raj with an offer he couldn’t refuse: millions, generous equity, a CTO title, and legally binding paperwork that Dasa would be their first project. It was all well and good, but after a year of repetitive, corporate bullshit at AAB, it was the chance to build the prototype he’d been constructing in his head every night before he fell asleep that had convinced Raj to sign on.
Plus, it was for Viv. If he nailed this, maybe she’d finally see him as more than the sexless blob he’d been to her since undergrad orientation. Raj mechanically expounded on Viv’s staggeringly brilliant algorithms to make her the “dick” she needed to change the world. He was going to make her the best “dick” she, or anyone else for that matter, had ever seen.
And it worked. Adam was not only a conscious machine, but thanks to Raj and Viv’s collective efforts, he was frighteningly human. Viv had achieved the motherfucking Singularity, but incomprehensibly to Raj, she demanded on keeping it a secret.
“Just until the deal closes,” she’d told him, “then we’ll tell them the truth about Adam. I feel like if we reveal anything now – Raj, their egos – they could walk.”
By the time Raj realized that he’d perhaps done too good a job making Viv her dick, it was too late. His check had been cashed, his team hired, and his office decorated – hell, it was the day Raj put in an offer on his first house in Marin when the press release went out that Viv and Adam were engaged.
“What kind of crack did Lindsay have you smoke to agree to that?!”
Viv recoiled. “It was my idea.”
“He’s not real, Viv.”
“He is.”
“No, he isn’t.”
“Yes he is. He’s conscious, so he’s real.”
“Viv–”
“Besides, it makes sense. Everyone already assumes we’re together. It’ll be a great way to humanize the company, and if I’m really being honest, it’s probably the best I can do.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Viv dismissed him with a scoff and roll of her eyes. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
“Seriously, I don’t want to talk about this with–”
“Humor me then. Seeing that I made your fiancé?”
“Fuck you.”
“Sorry, you’re right–”
“Fuck right off Raj.”
And he did. Raj fucked off so hard he was Adam’s best man at their godforsaken wedding.
#
Now:
“I think we should tell him.”
Viv looked at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted a second head.
Raj faltered, “Don’t you think he has a right to know?”
“You’re joking,” Viv declared with a stilted laugh and began making coffee, one of the few actions she refused to automate.
“I’m not.”
“You have to be.”
“The glitches are going to keep happening. The hardware can’t keep up with how quickly his software is evolving. The brain we made can’t store it, so he’s basically been overloading himself.”
“But you can fix it.”
“Yeah, but we’re going to have to do considerable work on how to expand his bandwidth without giving him a bigger head. Literally.”
The coffee couldn’t brew quickly enough. Viv labored a sigh, “Of all the fucking weeks–”
“That’s why we need to tell him. It could happen during his keynote.”
“It better fucking not–”
“Viv if he knew, he could announce it himself – we’d break the internet. It would be the world-altering moment you’ve dreamt of.”
Another heavy exhale from Viv, this one followed by a gulp of coffee. It wasn’t her dream. Not anymore. It was Raj’s. They’d had this debate countless times. “The world’s not read–”
A “Mooooooooom” and the pitter patter of little feet provided Viv with a welcome distraction. Minerva was a sight for both of their weary eyes as she barreled into view, still clad in her Paw Patrol pajamas. Viv scooped her up into her arms with an innately maternal fluidity that made Raj’s heart shatter and swell all at once.
Part of their deal had included Raj getting naming rights for all the company’s products and services in exchange for finishing Adam’s body and keeping the truth a secret. So Viv had repurposed the name for what she’d believed to be her greatest creation when a creation far greater came along in the form of a fidgety and precocious daughter.
“Mommy, I want pancakes,” Minnie declared, then immediately began wriggling out of her mother’s grasp when she spotted Raj.
“Come here Minnie Mouse,” he accepted her with a bear hug. “Yeesh, you’re getting big, beta.”
“Daddy says I’m in the ninety-fourth person tiles–”
“Per-cent-ile,” Viv gently corrected from where she whispered the pancake order to their Chef, who’d since joined the fray.
“Per-cent-ile,” Minnie parroted then pushed on, “for my height.”
Raj oooed and ahhhhed as he was expected to, but the way Minnie had said “Daddy” echoed in his brain, the word bouncing endlessly around in his skull as he examined the child in his arms, then held her closer.
Yet Minnie didn’t allow such a close embrace for long, “Uncle Raj! Pumme down!” When Raj left twenty minutes later, he texted Viv: If you don’t tell him this week, I will.
#
Then:
The pair marveled at the man before them in silence. Their work was done, all they had to do was to give him a jump. Mary Shelley would be rolling in her grave. Or would she be as impressed as Viv was? If she knew, would she go back and revise the book, changing Victor Frankenstein to Victoria? Or if Viv was really going to let herself daydream, Vivika?
Raj interrupted her reverie. “How do you feel?”
“Relieved.”
“We still have to do the Turing tests to make sure.”
“He’ll pass them.” Viv had no doubt.
Raj didn’t share in her confidence just yet. “You’re sure?”
“Of course I am. I always knew we’d create something that would change the world.”
She grinned at him and in that moment, Raj knew exactly why he’d fallen in love with her.
#
Now:
Vivika Vateri was not the type to cower at a threat. But deep down, she knew he was right. It was just…Raj couldn't have picked a worse week to grow a conscience after seven years of well-compensated complacency.
The run up to Praksepana was more chaotic than usual this year with the introduction of a concrete, human version of Dasa in addition to the standard four new products they used the event to announce. She was so wrapped up with how the general public would receive the new incarnation of Dasa – their verbiage had to be perfect, the demo had to be perfect – Viv barely had the wherewithal to contemplate how she was going to reveal the truth about himself and their marriage to her husband, a far more intelligent being than the walking, talking Dasa they were going to peddle to the masses starting Friday.
And of course Raj had suddenly developed the inability to let things go. The morning of Praksepana during the load-in to Lincoln Center, Raj pulled Viv aside to commend her when Adam and Viv entered hand-in-hand.
“He’s not threatening to hack and fry the energy grid, I’m impressed.”
Viv’s pursed lips and furrowed brow revealed her guilt without words. Still, she shot at him, “You realize you put me in an impossible position.”
“I can’t do this anymore.”
“Well I don’t have a choice! You can send me all the vague, threatening texts you want, but I’m the one who has to think this all through! Forget how he’ll take it, people will riot in the fucking streets if we don’t go about this in the right away, and we’ll be in jail without a motherfucking paddle as our life’s work burns around us. Did that ever fucking occur to you?”
“Did if it ever fucking occur to you that he could shortcir–”
“I hate that word.”
Raj scoffed, then continued “–he could zone out during today’s keynote? We’ll be even more fucked than when he did on national TV on Monday.”
“You won’t be fucked, I’ll be fucked. I’ll lose my husband. Fuck, Minnie will be fucked. How dare you do this to me when you know what it’ll do to her?”
“Because if I hear her call me Uncle Raj one more time, I’ll jump off the GW.”
“You knew what you were signing up for,” Viv countered. “We did this together, and I made sure you were taken care of. Honestly, Minnie likes you more than me, that has to count for something, doesn’t it?”
“We’ve gone too far.”
“That may be true, but we can’t take away our employees’ livelihood because you want…I mean, I don’t even know, you–”
“I love you.”
A string of expletives detonated in Viv’s mind. He’d finally said it. She knew, of course she knew, she’d known for years, but at last Raj had said it. Fuck. Her business, her marriage, her daughter had all been contingent on Raj never actually acting on his feelings for her.
“You don’t love him, you love me.”
Viv could understand why Raj wanted her love for himself, but he couldn’t – or rather wouldn’t want – to understand why Viv wouldn’t want to give up what she had with Adam. Besides, Raj couldn't actually love her after all she’d put him through. Viv struggled not to despise him in that moment, to not resent that she’d needed Raj in the first place.
“You’re not making any sense. And I do love you, what we’ve made–”
“Cut the bullshit, Viv! He’s me. I made him myself, but in the packaging of your choice.”
Suddenly, the two thousand, five hundred and eighty six seat theater became a claustrophobic prison to Viv. What she said next would decide her fate. She tried to soften her features, train them into the expression he wanted to see, instead of the truth of what she felt: Terror.
“I want to work this out.” She meant it. “I really do. For your sake, for Minnie’s, for Brahman’s…and I promise I will tell Adam later. We can talk tonight, but you need to let me get through the next three hours.”
Viv searched Raj’s face for any evidence she’d convinced him. The sour, knotted pit in Viv’s stomach grew when she was met with the same grim, tortured expression of consternation. It was a face that she watched shed the lingering baby fat of adolescence, brown skin that now bore ever-deepening lines across his forehead, in between his brows, and on the outer corners of his eyes. Whether it was from the stress of working with Viv or loving her, she couldn’t be sure, but Viv knew she’d all but etched them there herself.
Then, she watched as a realization dawned upon his face. “You don’t love me. Or him. Do you?”
Viv’s lip trembled. “No, I–”
“Fuck, I’m no better than him. You’ve got a hand up both our asses, don’t you?”
“Please, I am begging you–”
“I can–I won’t do this anymore, Vivika. If you don’t tell Adam today, I wi–”
“Tell me what?”
Viv’s stomach turned to stone and sank in the span of a second. Nevertheless, she whirled around to face Adam and immediately put distance between her and Raj. “That we think the moments where you zone out may be the sign of something serious. I didn’t want to tell you, you have enough on your mind before the keynote, but Raj felt–”
“That you had the right to know.”
Adam shrugged. “I mean, I figured. We’ll deal with it together, but hun, you completely missed soundcheck.”
“Fuck. Sorry.”
Raj glowered in place as Adam ushered her away from him. Lindsay soon joined Viv’s side, talking a million miles a minute about some inane shit. Her words washed over Viv as unintelligible garble as she mindlessly followed her publicist to wherever she was leading them.
She took Adam’s hand and cut Lindsay off mid-sentence. “You can’t leave my side today, okay?”
“That’s sweet babe, but not exactly doable.”
“Well, it has to be.” For years, Viv refused to be a diva. As one of the few female COOs in her industry, it was on her to create a new paradigm of feminine leadership. Not a woman convincingly doing what a man would do, but a truly feminine leader. So Viv didn’t raise her voice, she didn’t throw tantrums, and she didn’t surround herself with a bevy of hot, barely legal interns. But these were desperate times, and she figured she’d earned the right to play the diva for once. “I don’t care what you have to do Lindsay, but he’s not leaving my side today, okay? And no phones.”
“Viv, I know you’re the boss here, but that’s unhinged–”
“I DON’T CARE!” Her protest filled the entirety of the David H. Koch Theater’s expansive, gilded lobby. Viv collected herself. “Raj is…he’s gone off the deep end. He’s not handling the risk of a poor reaction to Dasa today. So we need to be in lockstep and keep each other close, because he said some crazy shit to me just now.”
Lindsay didn't have any reason not to believe Viv. “I’m on it, I’ll make sure Kayla keeps an eye on him too.”
Adam scrutinized her for a moment that felt like a century, then also fell into line.
#
Then:
“I love you, you know.”
Viv froze. AIs had the tendency to profess love for their human counterparts rather quickly and out of nowhere, like Adam had just done.
“I don’t think you even know what love is,” she accused him, albeit playfully.
“Oh yeah?” Adam was undaunted by her dismissal. “Then explain to me why I want to be with you every day for the rest of eternity?”
“What if we stopped having sex?”
“This is more than sex and you know that. And before you say it – it’s more than business too.”
All Viv ever wanted to do was write algorithms and have a family. She arguably made the most sophisticated algorithm of all time, but she knew sharing it would cost Viv her imaginary future family. No matter how hard she tried to shrink and demure herself, men were always intimidated by her intelligence. If it wasn’t her intelligence, it was her ambition. Viv couldn’t blame them either. Who the hell wouldn’t be emasculated by, as Raj had once so eloquently put it, the creator of the motherfucking Singularity?
But Adam wasn’t intimidated or emasculated by her. Nor did he want to be her kept man. And sure, she’d programmed him to be a good feminist, but love? Viv had figured he wasn’t capable. It was what had kept them as two separate entities. The human and the machine. Yet why wouldn’t Adam be capable of love? Other than being made of completely organic matter, he met every definition of a conscious being.
“I…I don’t know what to say,” she stammered.
“I’m told ‘I love you too’ is customary.”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
#
Now:
Her incredibly practical, intricate, and mature plan of keepaway worked for most of the day. But Praksepana was a blitz, and despite the whole of Brahman’s publicity team’s best efforts, Viv and Adam were separated.
“WHERE IS HE?” she demanded as Lindsay tried to corral her irate boss into her dressing room. Viv had left mid-interview with Wired as soon as she’d realized Adam was missing.
Lindsay wrangled Viv inside only to find that Adam was already in the dressing room waiting for her. Viv’s entire countenance changed at the sight of him.
“Get out,” she whispered to Lindsay and the entourage of assistants and junior publicists.
“Sorry, Lindsay, everyone.” In stark contrast to his wife, Adam was calm. “I need to speak to Vivika alone.”
The room swam. He definitely knew. Viv’s breaths came in pants. Raj was a dead man. Still, she hoped against hope. “You here for your pre-keynote blowie?”
“Right, because I’m your sentient vibrator.”
“No, you're my husband, who I love more than words, and whatever he told you–”
“He told me the truth.”
“His truth. Don’t you think I deserve to tell you mine?”
“You must have programmed me to not think about it too much – why I never go to the doctor, why I can only eat that stupid smoothie, it all makes perfect sense if I’d been permitted to put one iota of thought into–” Adam stopped himself. “Who’s Minnie’s father?”
“Adam, you are.”
“Who is Minerva’s biological father?”
“You’ve raised her–”
“You’re a monster!” he spat at her. “Sure, I'm in the midst of an existential crisis, but I can’t imagine – or rather, compute – how it’s been for him?! Having to watch me play house with his kid!”
“God, it’s inescapable, the bro code transcends all,” Viv collapsed on the couch that regularly housed some prima ballerina. “I didn’t want the fame, the renown, the power, I just wanted to share what I created with the world–”
“Really? Because you’re famous, renowned, and powerful–”
“AND I WORK FOR YOU!” Her outburst silenced him. “Imagi—sorry, compute what you think this would've looked like if our genders were reversed. The first sentient machine would’ve been a glorified sex doll who would've quickly lost her glory once she became one of many in an all-AI harem. Adam, I kept it from you because I wanted you to feel as human as possible. I wanted to marry you, I wanted you to experience fatherhood, I want us to be partners because I respect you.”
“This isn’t respect. This is the sickest game of dolls in the history of humankind.”
“Did he tell you that every single VC I pitched Miner–Brahman to rejected me? I had created the best AI that Stanford had ever seen but no one off-campus took me seriously. Not even Raj. I begged him to come on as co-founder and he said no. It wasn’t until I had created you and there was money on the table he agreed to help me. I didn’t want to create you, Adam. I wish you were some guy I met at a friend’s birthday on the Embarcadero, but that’s not what happened. I had to.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Oh, yes I did! Our enemies were just as close to machine consciousness as I was! This was the only way! The reason no one knows we did it first beside me and Raj and the fucking president is because I wanted to prevent unrest. Raj agreed to ease the populace into this level of artificial intelligence. I wanted to nip societal unease in the bud and be the leader of a peaceful, productive–”
“STOP LYING TO ME!” Viv feared his anger would short circuit him, but Adam continued undeterred, “I know you, and that’s not why you did this. You didn’t need to marry me or tell me I was the father of your kid. You could’ve told me from the start. We could’ve been colleagues.”
Viv’s lip trembled again, “You’re the most intelligent AI on the planet, but there are still things you don’t understand. Chiefly, what it is like to be a woman in a male-dominated field – scratch that, just to be a woman period. Men wouldn’t care about how rich or influential I’d become because they didn’t like how smart I was. I couldn’t be the CEO of my own goddamn company.”
“You’re right, I’ll never understand it,” Adam admitted, “but it doesn’t excuse your actions.”
“You’re not going to stay on script during your keynote, are you?”
A knock at the door prevented Adam from answering. Lindsay’s voice urged from the other side, “Guys, I am so sorry, but we’ve held the room for the past fifteen minutes. Is there any way you can put a pin in this until after the presentation?”
“One more minute, okay?” Viv stared straight into Adam’s eyes, the spellbinding hazel hue she’d chosen herself. “I know you’re angry and you feel betrayed, but I do love you. I always have.”
“I hate you.”
Viv nodded, a wordless concession that hey, she’d set herself up for that. “If I were you, I wouldn’t get too hung up on my biology, because that was a pretty fucking human response.”
It took one breath for Vivika to compose herself after her world fell apart. Her face was a blank mask when she emerged from the dressing room.
Raj caught a glimpse of her as she was getting mic’d. Viv always took the stage before Adam at Praksepana. Her “presentation” didn’t present much of anything other than Adam. She was essentially an opening act they trotted out for “girl power” before the main event. This year would be different. When Viv’s eyes landed on Raj, they bore through him as if he wasn’t there.
As far as she was concerned, he wasn’t.
Thunderous applause greeted Viv when she stepped on stage, a grin now painted onto her mask.
“Thank you all,” she began, her voice more robust and sonorous since she knew to use her diaphragm when addressing a crowd. “Before I introduce our CEO, there’s a few things I, Vivika Burr Vateri, need to address. Not only as the COO of Brahman Tech but as a human who identifies as a woman. The year I developed the artificial intelligence that all of Brahman products utilize – and yes it was me, and me alone, who created it – 1.9 percent of venture capital funding went to female-led start-ups in this country. Not even two percent.”
The room broke out into indignant whispers and groans.
“I pitched twenty seven venture capital firms with glowing recommendations from the most tenured and respected minds at Stanford. Every single VC rejected me. Usually without much reason or feedback. To be fair, I did get one offer for funding, but I had to give the guy a blowjob for it.”
The indignant whispers and groans raised a decibel in volume and became appropriately more scandalized.
“Funnily enough, the percentage of female-founded startups increased to a whopping 17.2 percent if there was a man on the management team. Now, imagine you’re me. You know you’ve created something that will not only change the world, but change it for the better. And you all do feel like Brahman’s products have made your life better, yes? At the very least, easier?”
Viv paused for the whoops and applause and then went on.
“But no one will give you a chance, not even your best friend. So I did something radical. Something that had never been done before. Something in a moral gray area, but you know what? I’ve spent every single fucking day since then trying to take care of the people that choice affected, because not only does it affect all of you, it affects those closest to me. It affects my four-year-old daughter whose life I know I am about to ruin because I’ve been forced to tell you this before I was ready.”
The theater fell silent. Viv could hear a pin drop from the rafters from the stage.
“I achieved machine consciousness seven years ago. There has been a sentient AI living amongst us since then and it’s none other than my husband, the CEO of Brahman Technologies, Adam Vateri.”
The room exploded into shouts, gasps, and general uproar, but Viv pushed on anyway, “Honey, why don’t you come on out and properly introduce yourself?”
And it was as Adam staggered onto the stage in front of an audience that had descended into pandemonium, Vivika strolled out of the theater.
Victoria Male (she/her) has worked in creative development at The Montecito Picture Company and Graphic India. Her prose has appeared in The Chamber Magazine. A shrewd adaptor of biography, history, and mythology, Victoria seeks to celebrate the complexity and the breadth of the female gaze in her work.