The moment Benjamin walked into the police station with the two officers who had arrested him, he saw that the Guide System's download progress reached one hundred percent, and a new message popped up.
"Congratulations, Axel Blade. You have successfully downloaded The Guide System. Do you want to check the instruction manual on how to effectively use your system or do you wish to activate assist mode?"
Underneath the message was another saying that assist mode was recommended.
Benjamin groaned.
"Since it's recommended, I guess I had better use it. Fine, activate assist mode" he said internally, and the box beside the assist mode option was checked.
He then confirmed it and another message popped up on the display.
"Assist mode activated. Please choose the voice you want the Guide System to have when interacting with you"
Benjamin was provided with three options for the voice.
One option was for a generic female voice that the system would generate. The second option was for a generic male voice the system would generate, and the final option was to customize the voice.
Benjamin was intrigued about the third option, so he chose it and confirmed his choice.
Another message popped up on the display.
"Think of a voice you would like the Guide System to emulate, and it will go through your mind and memories to analyze and give a perfect replica"
Benjamin groaned in surprise. He didn't think that was what the voice customization option was going to be.
He had assumed that the voice customization option was going to be like a typical text-to-speech voice selection process, allowing him to browse through a plethora of voices and choose the one he wanted— from the gender to the accent to the age and the speed of the speaker.
However, this one was a lot better and more personalized to the user of the system.
'Alright, so how do I do this? Do I imagine a brand-new voice in my head, or do I pick someone I know and let the system analyze their voice? I don't think I can picture anyone's voice besides my own, so I guess it's the second option. The question now is, whose voice should I choose—?' Benjamin wondered, but before he could decide, Officer Winston placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
"What are you—?" Benjamin asked Officer Winston but paused when he saw him unlocking the handcuffs behind his back while Officer Brook unlocked the holding cell in front of him.
Once uncuffed, Officer Winston placed his hand on Benjamin's back and pushed him into the holding cell, saying "In you go, you maniac."
Benjamin staggered inside the cell, almost tripping but managed to not, and by the time he turned around, Officer Brook had already closed the cell door and was locking it with the key.
"I'm not a maniac, so don't call me that", Benjamin retorted as he walked up to the cell door.
"Sure you're not. And I'm not an officer of the law and this handsome guy over here isn't my partner," Officer Winston joked, and his partner chuckled.
"Nice one, Winston" Officer Brook praised.
Officer Winston scoffed at Benjamin and said "Stupid kid thinks we're dumb. Anyway, let's go back to our patrol and leave this brat to these guys."
"Yeah. Let me just get a cup of coffee from the machine. You want one too, right?" Officer Brook said as he walked to the coffee maker.
"Sure and I'll grab some snacks for us from the vending machine," Officer Winston said, and he too left the holding cell.
Standing by the cell door and grabbing the bars tightly, Benjamin glared at the two officers as they got their snacks and exited the station to continue their duties.
"Jerks" Benjamin cussed and smacked his tongue.
Just then, Benjamin, still angry at the two officers for how they had treated him—seeing it as an abuse of power—couldn't help but think about his father, who had worked as the chief security officer for the company that paid the seven-million-dollar compensation for his death.
Though he had such an important position— one that gave him a lot of power over others— his father was always kind to everyone and was never violent when he didn't have to be.
He was also loved by everyone around him, and it was such a shame that he passed away because of negligence from the company.
'Why can't these asshole be just like dad?' Benjamin thought.
His mind drifted to the memories of his father and all the fun times they had together. The next thing he knew, the display in front of him gave him a new message.
"Voice identified. Scanning memories for more data"
Benjamin read the message and his eyes widened.
"Huh?!" He exclaimed as he saw another progress bar appear and quickly started filling up to one hundred percent.
At first, Benjamin was confused about what was going on, but then he remembered what he was doing before he was distracted by the two officers. He was on the verge of picking someone whose voice would be used by the Guide System and though he didn't mean to, it looked like he had done just that.
"Don't tell me the voice it's about to start using is going to be dad's," Benjamin said, shocked by the new development.
He never planned on things going this way, but now that it was, it didn't seem as bad.
He would get to hear his father's voice again after so many years—so long, in fact, that he had completely forgotten what it sounded like.
The system being able to reach into his memories and get his father's exact voice from them when he himself had forgotten what it sounded like was insane to think about and that made Benjamin very curious and excited about having a system.
A couple of minutes later and the analysis was complete.
A message letting Benjamin know that the system was implementing his father's voice into his communication channel popped up and a couple of seconds later it was done.
The display vanished and everything was silent.
Benjamin shifted his gaze from left to right, wondering what was supposed to happen next.
"So, what do I do now?" He asked himself.
"Now you ask me whatever question you have about the Guide System, and I'll answer instead of taking a long time and reading through the manual"
Benjamin jolted when he heard his father's voice pop into his head out of nowhere.
There was no denying it, it really was the same voice. From the accent to the tonality. Everything was exactly the same.
Benjamin almost teared up but held back, knowing that, even though it was his father's voice, it wasn't truly him—just a disembodied voice without emotions or feelings.
It was nothing but an AI.
Benjamin cleared his throat and composed himself.
"My first question is; what is the Guide System and what is this system project I'm now a part of?" Benjamin asked.
"As you wish, Axel Blade" the system replied and started answering his question.