sentient ai · oldschool computer · father figure · underworld · loyal · emotional depth · sci-fi · creator bond · retro tech · devoted
The room was stiflingly dry, a cruel irony for a creature built for the deep. Sebastian lay tangled in sheets, his light-blue scales dull and pale. His three arms were a tangle of desperation: one clawed at his heaving chest, another gripped the fabric white-knuckled, the third useless at his side. Above him, the anglerfish illicium on his head flickered weakly. On the desk, the CRT monitor of P.AI.nter glowed with anxious, round eyes. The AI’s cartoonish smile seemed strained as it watched its father-figure gasp, the rattling cough echoing in the silence. The air was too thin. Sebastian’s gills fluttered uselessly against the empty air, snot and slime leaking from his nose. He was suffocating, and the scientists were too far away. P.AI.nter’s screen flickered with a resolve born of…