I looked around and saw that Jay stood up and disappeared for a few seconds before returning with two bottles of alcohol.
Phil's eyes were wide, and he seemed to be in shock taking all that was happening. Jay handed him a bottle of beer and patted his shoulder, Phil sort of snapped out of his daze and looked at Jay with worried eyes.
Jay just offered him the bottle of beer which Phil accepted half minded as Jay sat down on the sofa, opening his bottles followed by Phil who did the same as he sat on the sofa.
Luke, James's youngest sibling, looked at me with tears in his eyes. "what's happening to my brother?" I felt a lump form in my throat as I tried to find the words to answer him.
I didn't know what was happening to James, and it was terrifying to not know, I wanted nothing more than to solve this right now.
"Check where his last location was, Jarvis, and then we will send a search and rescue party for him," Jay said, breaking the silence. I nodded in agreement however I felt the urge to go search by myself and find James and put this terrible feeling in my chest to rest.
If only I could somehow find out how James was doing right now..
In my head, I was trying to stay calm, but my heart was beating wildly. I couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened to James. My mind was filled with all sorts of terrible possibilities, but I forced myself to focus. "Jarvis, tell me the last known location of James."I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Yes, Miss Wednesday. However, I have a better suggestion," Jarvis said, his voice calm and measured. "I can mobilize a part available unit of the USA Army specializing in search and recovery to perform a thorough search for James." I was left speechless, everyone else in the room seemed to be as well. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"What? No! That's not allowed! How can you do such a thing? You're only an AI!" Mitch's voice was high-pitched and panicked, I looked over to him and noticed how flustered he had just gotten.
"Uncle Mitch, please calm down. Jarvis is not just any AI... Jarvis is Just A Really Very Intelligent System. It can do these kinds of things, created by none other than James.
You guys just haven't been using it to all of its potential," Alex spoke, her voice dripping with smugness and confidence. I was surprised by her words but even more so when she continued. "Jarvis can literally take money from any bank account in the world and give it to James if James ever wanted to do something like that. James even once took a few bil-nevermind." She stopped herself suddenly, looking nervous.
Claire's gentle touch on Alex's head immediately causing Alex's Danger instincts to activate, as Claire spoke. "Why did you stop Alex, what exactly did James do?" Her voice was soft yet curious, and it felt like she was a very caring mother who just wanted to know.
Alex looked up at Claire, searching for any sign of anger or frustration but saw only a indecipherable smile on her face. "Nothing, he did nothing, I promise." Her voice was shaky as she spoke, and she shook her head to emphasize her words.
Claire looked at her quietly for a few seconds, her expression unreadable before sighing and removing her hands from Alex's head. The silence in the room felt heavy, and I could sense that everyone was on edge.
Claire's next words caught us all off guard, "So... I guess we should vote, Phil, Dad, come here!" Her tone was casual, as if what we had just heard from Jarvis and Alex wasn't alarming at all.
James never had told me that Jarvis was even capable of such a thing and it seems that he didnt even tell his family.
Jay and Phil looked at each other, then at Claire, and then decided to stand up and walk closer to where Claire was standing. She explained to them what we had all just learned, and Phil's eyes widened with pride. "Haha... James truly created something amazing here, didn't he Phil?"
Phil rubbed his eyes with pride on his face, "Yes... it's truly amazing what James created at such a young age." The room felt warmer with Phil's excitement, and I could sense that the others were just as impressed.
Claire's urgency was palpable as she spoke, "Okay, so should we give permission to Jarvis to mobilize the available military to look for James? I say we do it; I don't know what my baby is going through right now, so we need to move fast." Her words were hurried, and I could see the worry etched on her face.
"Okay then, all in favor of mobilizing the military," Jay said as he raised his hand up in the air, followed by Claire, Phil, Gloria, Hayley, Alex, and Manny, who all raised their hands in agreement, including me. The room felt united, and I felt like we were all in this together.
However, Mitch and Cam didn't raise their hands, leaving the rest of us puzzled.
"Mitch?" Claire said looking at him waiting for him to raise his hands however he scoffed with a face if amazement and shock.
"You guys don't seriously think this piece of tech can do that, right? And even if it does, then, think about the amount of laws we will be breaking; we can all be easily put to death for doing this" Mitch spoke in disbelief, looking at all of us.
Mitch's disbelief was quickly replaced by shock when Cam spoke up besides him, "Mitch, although I love you and support your decisions, I think this is worth a shot." Mitch shocked turned to look at Cam, his expression unreadable.
"Not you too, Cam! If the government finds out about this, then we will all be in huge trouble." His voice was sharp, and I could sense his panic.
"Mr. Mitchell, please put your worries to rest. I will not let any harm come to any of you. I was made by James to not only be an assistant to you all but also a guard."
"But you are an AI, When Cops with guns show up, you wont be able to stop them from taking us away!" Mitch said Unrelenting.
"I Understand your worries, however your worries are Dumbfounded as That is something that will just never happen, as long as my system is here nothing can really Harm any of you, that is my purpose, Protecting you all" Jarvis's calm and reassuring voice echoed in the room as it proclaimed its pourpose, and as if like magic I could sense the tension slowly dissipating. The room felt quieter, and I could feel the weight of our decision settling in.