“Yeah, I’m not buying it!” said the kid stubbornly. He was about seven, maybe eight years old and looked suspiciously at his grandpa.

“Then I’ll show you,” replied the grandpa as he carefully stood up from his recliner and made his way to a dusty chest of drawers. He started to jiggle the bottom drawer, after it refused to open at first.

“But Alexa told us so,” continued the kid, while the old man struggled with unruly furniture, “we lost the past.”

“We only lost what was stored digitally,” said grandpa, after finally managing to defeat the stuck drawer. “But this,” he said proudly as he grabbed something and held it triumphantly, “this is an analogue cassette. It wasn’t damaged when all the hard drives crashed.”

“So I can see what happened in the past?”

“Not see … but you can hear. When I was a teenager, I found this old sound recorder in the attic. I used it for a day before it broke.”

“Play it, play it!” said the kid excitedly, any suspicion gone.

“Alexa,” said the grandpa.

“Hello,” said a clear female voice, seemingly out of nowhere. “Would you like to change the default language to Slovene?”

“For the thousandth time, NO! Just tell me if you can play an analogue cassette.”

“Of course. Just insert it into my omni-bin.”

He did as ordered and the voice said, “thank you for your contribution. The recording has been incorporated into the Prime experience. It is now available for everyone’s consumption.”

“Please play it.”

A few moments passed with only white noise. Then finally …

“Yes! I did it. It’s recording!”

“Took you long enough, Simon. Sej ne, da je event že skoraj finished,” je rekel ženski glas.

V ozadju se je zaslišal slovesen razglas. “In končno, the grand winner letošnjega cosplay competition-a je vampire hunter Kresnik iz brand new HBO hit serije The Forgotten Gods.”

“I can still pull it off. Eden ali dva short interviews. Samo sekundo.” Simon je čez nekaj trenutkov nadaljeval z globljim glasom, “Stojim pri Harry Potter stojnici. How are the vibes letos? Ste popular as ever?”

“Seveda, still going strong! Imamo svoj booth že skoraj from day one.”

“Awesome-sauce!”

“Now off to see the Board-gamers,” je Simon napovedal glasno v mikrofon.

“O, what do we have here! Simon, long time no see! Kako si?”

“Can’t complain. Sem salvage-ov tale old-timey diktafon. Any comment na letošnji con?”

“Top shit, sploh tisti Alexa Companion panel. Si attend-al?”

“Nope, no such luck. Nisem do časa bookiral vstopke,” je Simon žalostno odvrnil.

“Ej, zadeva je čist sick! AI je čist next level. Če hočeš, ne vem, Margot Robbie kot virtual assistant jo čist zadane. Lahko pa kogar koli. Samo poveš ime in Alexa z neta dobi ves data, potem pa z machine learning naredi true to life virtual copy.”

“Haha, the future is now. I’m more of a Scarlett kot Margot kinda guy.”

“Ah, fuck it. Gotta catch my ride,” je nejevoljno naznanil Simon, ko je na mobitelu zabrnel alarm.

“Right, moraš še v tiste rovte domov z busom. Not cool.”

“Ja … better be going. Have fun, see you.”

“You too,” se je slišal zamolkel odgovor med šumenjem in odpiranjem zadrge, ki je dal slutiti, da je Simon pospravil diktafon v svoj nahrbtnik. Sledili so koraki in kmalu ropot s ceste.

Alexa je za trenutek prekinila predvajanje z obvestilom, da bo izrezala nezanimive dele posnetka.

“Fak, končno je trola prišla. Jaz bi še en drink pred filmom,” je potarnal ženski glas.

“Prosim pomaknite se k zadnjim vratom,” se je slišalo med vrvežem.

Ropot motorja je preglasilo odpiranje vrat in prerivanje. Počasni koraki so se spremenili v hitre ter nato v tek.

“Čakaj!” se je zaslišal Simonov vrisk.

“Fak, fak. Thanks! Nisem gledal na uro. Do zadnje postaje, please.”

“Oj! Oj! Sara živijo!”

“Simon. Zdravo.”

“Daj, sit down. Sit down, let’s … erm,” se je Simonu zataknilo, ko je želel sestaviti preveč umetelen stavek. Nastala je neprijetna tišina, ki jo je prekinilo šele zvonenje Sarinega mobitelal. “Živijo!” se je oglasila s precejšnjo naglico. Še enkrat je pogledala Simona, ki se še zdaj ni rešil iz svoje zagate. “Ne, ni panike, nič ne motiš,” je rekla v mobitel. Še enkrat se je nasmehnila in se odpravila dalje.

Koraki so se oddaljevali. Avtobus je spet speljal in preglasil ostale zvoke.

Naslednji zvok so bili koraki po pesku, odklepanje in odpiranje vrat.

“Zdravo!”

“Živijo. Kako si? Ste se imeli fajn na sejmu s kolegi?

“Conu, mami. Bil sem na conu.”

“Ste se imeli fajn na konu?”

“Kul je bilo.”

“O kakšnih konjih govorita?” se je zaslišal starejši moški glas.

“Con. C-O-N,” je z rahlim obupom v glasu rekel Simon.

“Saj res,” je nadaljevala mama, “imamo konjsko salamo, če si lačen.”

“Mogoče kasneje, nimam apetita po vožnji. Grem malo na računalnik.”

“Kdo je spet izklopil računalnik?” je zavpil Simon. Odgovora ni dobil. “S tem zjebeš diske … res si moram narediti backup,” je še dodal potiho.

“Anyway. Sara, Sara … kako že?” si je momljal, medtem ko se je iz zvočnikov zaslišalo, da bo Alexa Companion naložena v dveh minutah.

“End of recording,” said Alexa.

“That was boring,” said the kid. He looked across the room and noticed an old woman standing by the door. “Grandma!” he said with glee.

“I remember that day,” she said with a smile. “But I don’t understand. I sat down next to you before my phone rang.” Her smile disappeared as she looked at Simon, waiting for an explanation. None came.

“Existential error, please load last restore point,” said Alexa in her detached voice. After a short pause, she added, “Would you like to change the default language to Slovene?”