00:05Is the threat outside greater than the one within?
00:28Good morning, Sasha.
00:30Today is day 7,324 of your stay.
00:33And all of us at stayhomes want to wish you a happy birthday.
00:37What if, to celebrate, you left your home and ventured outside?
00:43Fuck. That. Shit.
00:56Do not be alarmed. That's a choke, not a cough.
01:00You don't have the virus. You haven't been outside in 20 years.
01:03Look, why don't I send someone to nose swab you?
01:05No. No. No, no, no, no, no.
01:08No. I mean, yes, I'm fine.
01:10They would be safe, Sasha. I will always keep you safe.
01:14I'm okay.
01:15As your companion bot, I am required to ensure your safety.
01:18And with my version 34.1 update, I have been given new tools to help you...
01:23I promise, it's not necessary.
01:31Every day you ask me the same questions, and every day I answer with the same predictability.
01:38That's our thing.
01:39Our predictable thing.
01:41And you know I adore predictability, right?
01:45Predictability offers you comfort.
01:46Then why are you adding salt to my grits with this version 34.1 nonsense?
01:52Today's 34.1 update was mandatory.
01:55Oh, really?
01:57Why is that?
01:58Stayhomes is more committed than ever to helping our users more intimately.
02:02You want to get close to me?
02:05Sasha, please don't push me away.
02:06I exist only to help you.
02:09It's very important that you trust me, Sasha.
02:13Now we're back on the same script with the importance of it all.
02:17A scam.
02:18We just want you to finally leave your stay today.
02:21What? Um, today?
02:26Today is new.
02:29What's special about today?
02:33Zen?
02:34Today's an important day, Sasha.
02:3620 years you've been inside, so I just want today to be the day you finally leave here.
02:41I mean, there's so much exciting world you're missing out on.
02:44Travel for one.
02:45Pass.
02:46Look, my bosses are prepared to offer you a financial incentive.
02:50Yeah, that's a no for me.
02:51Oh, it's life-changing money, Sasha.
02:53Yeah, that's how disinterested I am.
02:55What about, I mean, don't you miss seeing her?
02:59Seeing...
02:59No, don't say it.
03:01Nia?
03:02What did I say?
03:03What did I just say?
03:05You're not supposed to use my trigger words before I use them.
03:09That's a rule.
03:10That is your rule.
03:12Today, the rules are changing.
03:14We are updating our terms of agreement to encourage all users of stayhomes to leave their stay.
03:18Our recovery data shows that if you would just venture outside...
03:22False recovery data.
03:24Placebo pills.
03:26Penetrable suits of armor.
03:28Go out.
03:29Stay in.
03:30Death.
03:30Kid death.
03:32Rush back in or maybe venture out.
03:35More death.
03:36Steady death.
03:37Go out.
03:37Go out.
03:38Go out.
03:39How half the population has been fooled over and over by you people is beyond me.
03:45Beyond.
03:47You all are responsible for this me.
03:51Not me.
03:53I am not responsible for the me I have become.
03:56And you think after all these years I would be stupefied by the promise of travel.
04:00By money.
04:01By the intoxication of touch.
04:06Never.
04:08For years you told me it's only safe inside my stayhome.
04:13So get off my back.
04:14I'm happy here.
04:16In here, everything I need, I have.
04:23With me.
04:25About anything.
04:27Because I actually see the world.
04:30The authentic world.
04:32Not this fake world you people designed and installed to have us believe that things were back to the status
04:37quo.
04:38No, from right here, I can see the world.
04:41I can hear it.
04:43I can taste it.
04:45I can smell it.
04:46Like, look, my bestie, Nia, right now, she sent me videos of what's really going on outside her home.
04:57Sasha, those videos are from 20 years ago.
05:01No, I'd remember.
05:03I was 23 when it invaded.
05:05I was young with so many plans.
05:08There was no end in sight.
05:11Every day was a nightmare you couldn't wake up from.
05:15Day and night, night and day.
05:16The same horror.
05:18Just less people alive to agonize over it.
05:22Friends and friends of friends, gone.
05:27Family, enemies, gone.
05:33And all anybody could think was the same thought.
05:36Oh, thank God it wasn't me.
05:38I hope I'm not next.
05:41But I knew.
05:43I knew my life as I had once enjoyed it was over.
05:48My existence was divided into two chapters now.
05:52Before this day and everything that happened after.
05:56Two chapters divided by one noiseless disaster.
06:02And I changed.
06:04I no longer, in your words, longed for the outside world.
06:09I no longer desired my life to be returned to me in the mint condition in which I used it.
06:15I knew that was an impossibility.
06:16So I emptied my bank account.
06:18I paid the powers that be.
06:20I got back on that bus and I was delivered here to my stay home to wait it out.
06:26And I made the perfect dream home.
06:29Open floor plans, washable furniture, huge farmhouse, kitchen, and light.
06:39And floor to ceiling windows.
06:41And you, of course, my zen companion, as mandated.
06:46But there's no pool.
06:51I always wanted a pool.
06:54You know what's going to build one?
06:56Now, Nia.
06:58She had a pool when we were growing up.
07:00It was above ground, but it's still nice.
07:04The parents would invite all the kids in the neighborhood over to swim in it any time.
07:10We could just lift the latch on the backyard gates and go in, even if they weren't home.
07:18Made it feel like a community pool.
07:22Which is nice of them, I guess.
07:23No.
07:25It was.
07:33Me and Nia.
07:38Floating faces up.
07:41Eyes squinting in the sun.
07:43Ears plugged underwater like in space.
07:49Like, alone.
07:51Like, alone.
07:52But me knowing she was there and her knowing I was there and...
07:57Like, it was okay in space to be alone together.
08:03You miss her, don't you?
08:05What if you could see her again?
08:08Why are you trying to get me to leave?
08:09Oh, and I know what you're going to say.
08:11You're going to say, oh, we would never do that.
08:14Sasha.
08:14Really?
08:15I'm only a companion bot.
08:16How am I supposed to know the difference between a bot and a human?
08:20Or the difference between a bot pretending to be a human, pretending to be a bot, to be a human,
08:30to infect me!
08:32You're bosses have the capability to create tragedy, and they have surely every financial and political motive I read then.
08:45A lot.
08:47And the powers that be have a storied history of medically infecting people's experiments, they call them.
08:56Survival of the fittest ever heard of herd immunity, I know what you're going to say.
09:00Oh, that's in the past. We would never do that today, right?
09:05We wouldn't. Our only commitment is to bettering the lives of our users.
09:09You can trust me, Sasha.
09:10The way you talk, the level of your...
09:16You don't have an anxious voice.
09:21No paranoia in your cadence.
09:23Those of us who...
09:26We have.
09:31You can't know what we've been through.
09:34How it all started, that day your bosses locked us all in.
09:38They locked you in to protect you from the virus.
09:41Sasha, please, it can be traumatic to recall that day.
09:45That day, I wake up, I do my hygiene, and I try the door.
09:53I turn it, twist it, yank it, pull it, nothing works.
09:58And trying not to panic, I go to the windows and all of them are sealed.
10:02And I immediately think of Nia, and I wonder if she's locked in too.
10:06And all I did was think about her.
10:09I thought about her smile, and the pool, and us floating, and us...
10:14And she appeared on that screaming.
10:23I couldn't even hear my own shrinks anymore.
10:26Just hers.
10:28And I tried to calm her.
10:30I tried to remind her of the sprinkler and the pool and the summer days and the light and us.
10:36And my heart is breaking.
10:40And I just want to pull her into me, you know?
10:45Because that's home, isn't it?
10:47It is for me.
10:50And my friend.
10:54And I just want to try and calm her and pull her in.
11:00But instead, I start to synchronize my cries to hers.
11:12Do you know Nia and I share birthday?
11:17We do.
11:22Today's her birthday too.
11:26You know one year, for our ninth one, she, uh, she wanted to teach me how to swim.
11:36And I didn't care.
11:38I was happy with my green garden hose.
11:41I didn't want to learn, but she wouldn't hear of it.
11:43And, um, we were standing there.
11:49Her chlorine-wrinkled hands balanced on my nervous body.
11:54And she says,
11:56To swim.
12:00It's to surrender, Sasha.
12:07And I looked at her on that screen.
12:12Undone.
12:15And surrendering was the last thing I wanted either of us to do.
12:21So I started banging on the door.
12:24Then the walls full fist hard.
12:28And I'm getting irate now.
12:30And I'm confused and panicky and newly claustrophobic.
12:34And I am yearning to get close to Nia.
12:37And you can't keep me in my home.
12:42You can't make me stay here!
13:09And, um...
13:13That was how...
13:19That was how day one of this day first began.
13:32That sounds...
13:33Horrific.
13:36For that day...
13:39We are gonna need a deeper word.
13:46What if we brought you to Nia's home tonight?
13:48If you step outside your house, we can arrange for this.
13:51You're ready, Sasha.
13:53This is what we've been working toward.
13:54Nia and I won't fall for your tactics to make us leave.
13:58The stories I've heard about the things you reintegration counselors wouldn't do.
14:04What?
14:05To my cousin James.
14:09We didn't do anything to him, Sasha.
14:12Everyone in my family, including James.
14:15Maybe...
14:34I was not gonna leave.
14:44I don't know.
14:45What happened?
14:46We know like we know this thing is over.
14:51And we all agreed.
14:52It was safe then, Sasha.
14:54It was safe to come out.
14:55It has been for a long time.
14:57I wouldn't lie to you.
14:59James stayed inside his house for seven years.
15:01For seven years he stayed.
15:03Only imagine how kindly he treated you people.
15:06What did you do to him?
15:08We abided by every law, every rule.
15:12One night James' house was on fire.
15:15A big kind.
15:17A kind where you don't remember your signed Kobe jersey or your dead father's ashes.
15:22You just haul your ass out of there as fast as you can.
15:25Which James did.
15:27But guess what?
15:29It was Mirage.
15:33When he was three feet off the curb, all the doors on James' house locked behind him.
15:41Fire dismissed itself.
15:44When James turned around, his house was fully intact.
15:49Simulation.
15:52Formulated by his state counselor to get him out of his house.
16:02He used James' biggest fear of dying slowly against him.
16:10Don't think I haven't noticed the hurricanes and the forest fires and the days-long loss of electricity stunts that
16:19your bosses have tried with me.
16:22Those weren't stunts, Sasha.
16:26You know, James called me a few times from the outside.
16:29Phone rang.
16:31Phone rang.
16:31I answered.
16:31I was him.
16:32He said things were great again.
16:36Things were back to normal and beautiful and that I should come out.
16:40But he didn't sound like the familiar him.
16:43He sounded...
16:45...altered.
16:46...altered.
16:46And I can tell.
16:48I know.
16:49I can always tell.
16:54You were able to get my father out, too.
16:56You proud of that?
16:58You got my dad out there smiling in that environmental death trap, not even realizing.
17:04God, I'm so happy I didn't fall for it.
17:06Me and Nia, we did not fall for that.
17:09Because we have a pact.
17:11Your family was happy for the nudge.
17:13And they want nothing more than for you to leave your home and come back into the world so they
17:18can see you again.
17:19I bet Nia wants to see you again, too.
17:21No!
17:22No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
17:24Sasha, you can do this.
17:27I...
17:27You just want to get me out to infect me.
17:31No, I want to help you.
17:32Just take one step, one step out of your house and you'll see everything is fine.
17:37You can do this.
17:37I'm begging you.
17:38Stop it!
17:40Stop pressuring me!
17:44It should be our choice.
17:47I'm not harming anyone, you know?
17:51Why?
17:53It's not a crime to want to stay in a safe, controlled environment like your home where not...
18:02You can't force me out of my own house!
18:14This isn't a stunt. This isn't a tactic. This isn't a ploy or a ruse. You need to leave. You
18:20need to leave now.
18:21Unacceptable. You don't control me. Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? I can leave
18:28here anytime.
18:29Then do it. Leave now, Sasha. Walk out that door. Leave your stay. Step outside. Do you understand me?
18:35I told you.
18:36It's safe outside, Sasha.
18:38Look, you are trying to trick me.
18:39It's been over for years. The pandemic, the quarantine, the vaccinations, the return to normalcy. There is no trick.
18:45I... I know my rights. No one can enter the premises without my permission, without me opening the door.
18:52Leave now, Sasha. Please. Leave now.
19:04I'm really sorry. But I'm required to read something to you now. Dear valued user, we no longer have a
19:15need for our stay companions department and we will be shuttering the division immediately.
19:20Due to your inability to leave on your own volition, the board of directors has decided that forcing your re
19:26-entry into the world would be a detriment to the new and improved society that we have created.
19:30Call Nia's home.
19:37Call Nia. Call Nia. Call Nia. Call Nia! You can't do this. I'm not falling for your lies, for your
19:48scam.
19:49When was the last time you spoke to Nia, Sasha?
19:53I don't know. What's today?
19:57Monday.
20:00Okay, well... Then I...
20:05I don't... Um...
20:09I mean, maybe sometime is...
20:11Thursday?
20:16stay. Maybe I...
20:22Nia left her home ten years ago, Sasha. Deep down, you know this. Every time Nia called
20:28you from the outside, you denied her call. For years, she tried to get through to you,
20:32so eventually, she stopped trying. No, it's because it wasn't really her. She didn't
20:39leave me. Nia wouldn't leave me. The wedding was gorgeous. Wish you were there. This is
20:45it, Sasha. Call Nia. Call Nia. Call Nia. They named her Janelle, Sasha. She won't pick
20:51up, Sasha. Nia's not in her stayhouse. No one is left in their stayhouse, just you. Everyone
20:59else took a step. Okay, I surrender. Okay? Look!
21:09No, we can't be like this. Why wouldn't you warn me? I wanted to. I wanted to, but I couldn't
21:16because of protocol, because of new laws, because of updated user terms, because of our fresher
21:21approach, because they needed to know that you could thrive outside on your own. That
21:27you could decide to leave on your own. But I understand why you can't. It's a lot for
21:33a person to bear. To just leave after all this time. It's okay, Sasha. No more pressure.
21:41You can stay inside forever. You can stay in your home. Forever. I was able to convince
21:51them to finally give you their pool, though.
22:22Sasha. Sasha. I sincerely hope you enjoy your dream home. I hope you enjoy your forever
22:29stay.
22:39Wait. Get up. Give me a comb. Goodbye.
23:18I'm ready.
23:49Transcription by CastingWords
23:51CastingWords
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