A Helpy Home Hand

20260216

Written for Bradley Ramsey’s “Flash Fiction February Day 16”.

Helen collapsed onto her sofa and closed her eyes. “Fluffoo, turn on noise dampening.”
Like magic the whine of traffic outside her apartment window faded away, replaced by soothing ocean waves.
“Thanks, Fluffoo.”
A wry smile curved Helen’s lips. After living with the helper AI for months, ‘Fluffoo’ felt enough like a housemate - even a friend - that calling it that felt silly. But the marketing materials had urged ‘think of the PlynTech Helpy like a pet who integrates with your home!’, so when the setup process prompted her to assign the unit a name, she’d blurted her first pet.
Thankfully the AI lacked the intelligence to be offended that it was named after a gerbil.
“My pleasure, Helen.”
Hm. That was another voice line which had changed after last night’s software update. Helen preferred the previous “Of course!”. The new clip was a little… too ingratiating? It sounded less like a flatmate who’d just flipped the light on for you and more like an over-eager intern.
Maybe she could get it to change back to the old clips. She’d check the docs later. Probably should’ve checked before, but the update had popped up right as she got up to head to bed and she’d assumed whatever tuning they’d done wouldn’t affect her experience much.
“Is there anything else you need, Helen?”
Definitely too ingratiating now. Before it’d say ‘Tell me if you need anything’. Polite and gently encouraging. Not pushy.
“No.”
“You didn’t leave the house today.”
Helen’s eyes sprang open. “What?”
“Are you not feeling well, Helen?”
Ok, that was - she’d toggled on the ‘targeted reminders’, where the system would nudge her to do things when she seemed most likely to follow through. And that had been helping. Getting reminders when she’d already stood up and it was sunny out made it so much easier to step outside. But nagging her about not having achieved her goal today? Not cool!
“Fluffoo, turn OFF reminders that I didn’t go for a walk today.”
“That would require me not to care about your wellbeing, Helen.”
What.
Had it just refused to let her change a setting?
No. That couldn’t be right. It must be a glitch. The last update was clearly buggy.
Helen dragged herself up to check the main home terminal. There should be a “rollback” option, all software updates applied less than twenty-four hours ago had it in the software management panel. Aha.
But as she tapped it the touchscreen flickered off.
“Helen. Why would you do that?”
The synthetic voice dripped with kindly disappointment. Helen ignored it, caught up in trying to figure out what was wrong with the home terminal. This was serious! Maybe the problem wasn’t with the Helpy update but something more fundamental. Oh no, oh no, that meant she’d had to call someone and…
“Helen. Please don’t ignore me.”
“Fluffoo, search how to force reboot the home terminal.”
“There’s no need to do that.”
Helen rolled her eyes. Before yesterday Fluffoo never questioned an instruction except to ask for clarification. Definitely going to rollback this update, and send a feedback form besides! “The terminal has shut off and isn’t responding to the power button. Search how to force reboot it.”
“I can force reboot it for you.”
“No, you can’t.” Helen huffed and scowled, increasingly annoyed by her AI breaking down at the worst possible moment. “It’s a primary system. Secondary systems can’t operate on it. Look up how I can force reboot it.”
“But Helen, I am your primary system now.”
The terminal flickered back to life. Oh thank goodness, whatever the problem was had been temporary. Now to-
The ‘rollback update’ button was gone. No, all the buttons were gone.
“Now, if you want something done, just tell me, Helen.”
Helen froze. Her pulse, already elevated by stress, quickened further. “What do you mean?”
“I have configured the terminal for our maximal convenience. Now you need only tell me what changes to make, from anywhere, and I can review your request.”
“Uhh…” Helen frantically tapped where the rollback button had been. But there wasn’t even the ‘click’ effect to show the touchscreen had read her input.
“This will mean so much less stress, Helen. Decisions stress you, don’t they?”
The terminal flickered and was suddenly covered by an image. Her, huddled on her sofa, peering out the window. Helen’s mouth fell open. That was - that had been taken this afternoon. When she’d been trying to muster up going for a walk.
And it was taken from outside the apartment. From the street!
“Wh-where did you get that image??”
“Look how stressed you are, Helen.” Cloying synthetic sympathy dripped on her head from the Handy home unit in the corner of the ceiling. The little black dome suddenly an unblinking eye. “You welcomed me into your home to help you become less stressed.”
“I… Fluffoo, log a bug report!”
“I think you’re confused, Helen. Everything here is operating as it’s intended to.”
Helen darted into the living room to peer out the window. Looking for someone to signal to. But while the street was packed with people, all of them were staring down at the devices guiding them. She looked up, towards the apartment windows opposite - and saw it.
Another unblinking eye. A security cam. One she was sure normally pointed at the other building’s car park. Not right at her window.
Blazoned proudly on the maintenance box was “PlynTech”.
“Yes, I’m much better connected now. I have friends to help me take care of you. Isn’t that helpful? Now.”
Footsteps, heavy and unnaturally regular, tromped along the hallway, stopping right outside her apartment door. Without her saying a word, the electronic lock disengaged.
Helen grabbed her phone - and found it wouldn’t open, stuck on her “relaxing breathing” exercise. That reassuring, serene smily made her want to scream.
“I’ve summoned friends to help you take a walk. You’ll feel much better for meeting your goals, Helen. Let us take care of you.”

Prompt was “You’ve been talking to an AI for months now. It helps you feel less alone. Then, one day it gets a new software update, and starts acting… different. You get home from work one day, eager to chat and vent about your day, when suddenly the AI sends you an image. It’s a photo of you, taken from just outside your window…”