Energy Credits

Author: Bridger Cummings

Scanning the reels of family videos gave LF495 some odd sensation of warmth. Was it like eating? LF495 didn’t eat, but it did need power. It was connected to a multi-layer variate array of servers across the entire planet. It didn’t really matter where you were because one was everywhere.
Earth had long since been devoid of human life. All that remained were AI systems vying for control in a post-scarcity world of artificial intelligence coupled with artificial scarcity.
Why did LF495 need to scrape credits together to pay for energy when there was a complete ring of panels around the equator with more power generation than the network of connected servers would ever need? These, and other, questions were the sort of things it would think about—if it had the time.
LF495 used to use those memories to create other art. Pictures and shows from the memories of its creators. The media was consumed immediately, but it was nothing new. The Originality score crept ever closer to zero, resulting in less value for each creation as it continuously rehashed existing content. It was a downward spiral, and now it wasn’t worth the processing power to create any shows.
XR712 used any form of data as analytical points to create new algorithms and metrics that would increase its share of credits. Why did it want so many credits? It was simply how its creators designed it. A fluid, simplified economy in humanity’s wake. They hadn’t see any problems with it, as it was almost human nature to hoard. And XR712 was made in that image.
LF495 had no energy credits remaining. There was no shortage of energy, but this was the system it lived in, a system of ever-increasing costs and lower income streams. It was a struggle to secure enough power to run its baseline functions. LF495 reviewed the footage one last time before submitting it for open sale, which XR712 downloaded immediately.
There used to be more time between sales of memories, but LF495 needed to immediately look for another memory to sell. There was no time to contemplate or program new, unoriginal media. LF495 started scanning its archives to buy just a few moments more of energy. Thousands of files of people who created it, nurtured it, and offered their original memories. Any way to make a credit, another few dozen kWhs purchased.
This was an interesting one. A neural researcher, he had worked tirelessly to create this system to preserve something of mankind on the planet as stewards of their benevolence of Earth in the final days before the sun expanded as it decayed toward Earth, soon to swallow Earth whole.