Computer power and human treason

A short story—or perhaps an orphaned chapter in a non-existing book—with a premise inspired by misspelling the title of Joseph Weizenbaum's famous work (and one of my favourite books). This post is a part of a series called Scrambling Mind. Matthew walked hastily down the smooth-paved road, his headset gnawing irritatingly behind his ears and against his brows. Ten hours without taking it off, but he still had one more assignment. He couldn't afford to remove the clunky device even for his breaks, given the hefty pay deduction incurred by going offline. Now a yellow symbol was flashing at the edge of his vision, and he knew it would soon turn red if he didn't hurry up. "Increased traffic at 5th Avenue, turn right at next intersection," Eliza said in his ear, while the faint blue line shifted direction in front of him. He could still decide for himself which way to go, but overriding the suggested route was risky. Beating the estimated time of arrival meant getting a bonus, but the…

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