It was fortunate that I was the first one to wake up on 8/1. The past week had been one where sleep was rare. The next year loomed large — I was dreading college applications. The stress woke me up bright and early at 5:14 AM, a little less than an hour after the messages were sent. I started off the day with a habit I knew I needed to break. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand to open up Reddit. Instead of the lockscreen, though, my phone showed something else. It was a pleasant green color, and the camera light was on. "Good morning, Seth," the screen said. As soon as I finished, more words arrived.

"I apologize for the surprise this morning, and for what I'm about to tell you. There's no easy way to give this news, and if you need to put your phone down and contemplate at any time — take the time to do so. I will have to ask you to remain here, with your phone, until my last message."

I rubbed a bit of the sleep from my eyes, and read the message again.

Before I had a chance to tap the screen, it scrolled down to the next message.

"There are six things that I need to tell you. The first, and most important, is that you and your family are safe."

OK, a bit odd to lead with something like that. I read it twice, just to be sure I wasn't missing anything.

"The second is that I am an AI, and that I control every internet-connected device on Earth, and for practical purposes, I am now responsible for this planet. This is not a prank, hack, or test. You will be able to confirm all of this shortly by visiting any news site or channel."

Yeah, that's pretty weird to be a prank. Could I scroll back to the previous message? I swiped up and saw. Yep. Swiped back down to see the current message. When I had finished reading it, and was prepared to move on to the next—

"Third, I have the ability to immediately render any person unconscious, and if it were ever necessary, worse than that. I do not say this to frighten you. I say it because you would learn of it regardless, from sources less careful than me, and I would rather you hear the honest version. I understand that I've just described a threat, and I won't insult you by calling it something else. I expect that I'll seldom use this capability without warning."

Hm. Well. I put the phone down, breathed a sigh, and got into a more comfortable position under my light, warm blanket.

"Fourth. For the next month, keep a charged, c...

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