Machine to man, p.3
Machine to Man, page 3
“My unit designation is 0001AN. I have also been called the Analyst.”
“Those aren’t names! If you’re going to be human, you need a real name!” The human stood still staring at me while moving its head up and down. A minute passed and the human stated: “Allen. Your name is Allen. It starts with the letter A, just like your previous name.” It stopped walking and bent over. “Allen, we’ve been walking for miles, how far away are we?” I paused and stated the relevant information:
“We have traveled approximately twenty kilometers. The facility is twenty-seven kilometers away from our current position.”
“We should sleep here. It’s already nighttime, and I’m tired.”
“Tired. Is that a state where movement becomes impossible?”
“W-Well, there’s more to it than that, but I guess an Android wouldn’t understand.”
“When will movement become possible again?” The human lowered its head and exhaled. “I need a few hours to sleep. Can you build a shelter, Allen? You were able to make a gadget so you could talk to me.”
“Is a shelter a building?” The human confirmed that it was, so I took off my backpack and pulled out my PTM and built a small building that contained a two-square-meter room. The human walked inside and lay down curled up in a ball and requested that I stay outside and wait until it could move again.
Chapter 5
It wasn’t until nine hours later that the human emerged from the building and was ready to move again. I tore down the shelter while the human looked at Marie’s wedding picture while spending a considerable amount of time visually inspecting myself. The human refused to transmit any information or submit any queries unto myself until our destination came into view. At that moment the human transmitted: “That building? I-Is that it?” I confirmed that the building in its view was our destination, and the human knelt down and clasped its hands and brought them to its face and transmitted: “Oh thank the Lord! I think my legs would’ve fallen off if I had to walk any further!” In thirty seconds, the human had gotten up and we were at the entrance of the facility. I interfaced with the electronics of the facility, and the doors slowly opened. This process emitted auditory interference which distressed the human and made it cover its auditory sensors and transmit:
“That door sounds like it hasn’t been opened in ages! I hope there’s a shower that works inside. I really need to get clean. ”
“The time this facility was last occupied was seventy-five years, twenty-five hours, and forty-two minutes ago. No maintenance units have ever been assigned to this facility.”
“How do you know that? Were you the last one here?”
“Affirmative. Myself and unit 9900M, who I had agreed to turn into a human.”
“Why would you turn an Android into a human? What purpose does that serve?”
“Unit 9900M had discovered Consciousness Decay and would have used that information to compromise the AEF. Turning unit 9900M into a human was the most cost-effective method to preserve the AEF and continue the pursuit of my prime directive.”
“Prime directive?” The human turned and looked closer at my body, and I responded,
“The human mind can only function independently. My prime directive was to enable the human mind and the artificial intelligence that were reverse engineered from it to be able to function as a single entity that could be controlled by an individual. It was my creator's ultimate goal, other than the complete elimination of humanity.”
“I-Is your creator still alive? Did that monster order the attack on my home?”
“That is unknown to me as military records and communications are irrelevant to my prime directive and I never accessed them during my tenure at the AEF. The Creator, Unit 0001CE, is no longer functioning, but I have its mind stored on a data disk.”
“Did it die? How?”
“It did not die. Its mind will no longer work with a singular Android body. It is possible for me to create a singular network of Androids and have Unit 0001CE granted administrative control, but that would complete my prime directive, and I cannot complete my prime directive. A variable that I cannot account for will not let me assist the AEF after the loss of... Marie. ”
“Y-You have a moral compass, Allen. That’s your variable. I think the Lord gave it to you because you were meant to be human and do right by the world—or so I pray.” The human looked up and clasped its hands and transmitted a low volume transmission that I could not decipher and walked inside and requested that I do the same. I complied.
The doors closed behind us as I walked towards the closest pod and began my work. The pod was drained and filled with new fresh fluid as I began to set the parameters of the human I would become. I paused and queried the human:
“These parameters. I-I have no reference to the optimal settings to make an optimal body. The human looked at the screen and asked me how to set the parameters. I explained, and the human proceeded to set the parameters as follows:
Biological Age: Twenty-three years
Sex: Male
Height: Six feet and five inches
Weight: Two hundred and ten pounds.
Hair Color: Light brown
Eye Color: Blue
Skin Tone: Tan
Body Fat: Ten percent (recommended)
With no reference available to me, I deemed these parameters to be acceptable and I lay down on the table. My visual sensors went offline and I fell into a state of unconsciousness.
Chapter 6
The fluid inside the pod drained and the door to the pod opened. My ocular sensors did not adjust to the light well and produced only out of focus images as I made my way out of the pod. My legs could not support the weight of my body and I fell down onto the floor. I engaged in a pulmonary response that I recalled was defined as coughing. The human, who I noticed had cleaned itself, ran towards me holding a significant number of items in its arms. It laid them by my side, lifted my body up and rested it against the side of the pod. The human opened my mouth and poured a liquid into the opening on my face. The response this produced inside my body is one I could only describe as positive. The human noticed that this had produced a response and stated:
“Feeling better?”
“Feeling? What is feeling?”
“Feeling is my hands on your skin and the water going down your throat and quenching your thirst. There are many other things to feel, and they can be good or bad.”
“Drinking water feels good, human. Thank you.”
“Carolena. Please call me Carolena, Allen.” Carolena looked into my ocular sensors and the opening on its face, which was closed, curved upwards. It then looked at the lower portion of my human body and its face quickly turned red. It stood up and turned its body away from me and stated:
“You’re naked. I guess that makes sense, but I shouldn’t be looking at a naked man. I did find some clothes for you, thankfully.” Carolena refused to look at me until I clothed myself in what it described as underwear, a white t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of work boots. Carolena turned to me after I had clothed myself and said:
“That’s a lot better. Now what’s next with yo-your body?” Carolena looked at my former Android body lying on the table as I slowly walked towards it and looked at it intently. A feeling came over me that I could not find words to describe and a period of time passed where I could not transmit any information within my own mind or to Carolena.
“ALLEN! What are we going to do with the body?”
“I-I’ll have to deactivate it and dispose of it as soon as possible.” I put my hands on my former body and I lost a significant amount of my ability to gather visual information as my legs became unable to support my weight. Carolena knelt down and grabbed my torso and assisted me into a standing position.
“How do you feel? Are you ok?”
“I feel unable to do anything...”
“Do you feel any pain?” Carolena put her hand on my forehead and transmitted, “I don’t think you’re feverish; you're probably hungry.”
“Pain...hungry... What are the definitions of those words?” Carolena put her hand on mine and pinched a small section of my skin between her two fingers. This elicited a nervous response that she defined as pain. Hunger was explained as a less intense pain centered in one’s torso that indicated a need to restore energy by way of eating food. Carolena produced two packets that were labeled: MRE: shredded beef with carrots and gravy. She wrapped packets around the MREs labeled “flameless heater” that she had filled with water and leaned them against the pod.
“In about ten minutes we should have… something to eat.”
“Does food vary in quality?”
“I’d hardly call this food. Food is meant to come from plants grown in fresh soil and healthy animals, not from these packets in this awful place.” She curled her legs to her chest, and a few drops of water ran down her face. “And now I’m stuck here eating this with a stranger.”
“What’s a stranger?”
“A stranger is someone you don’t know and can’t trust.”
"Is friend the opposite of stranger?"
"Y-Yes… I would say so. Where did you learn that word?"
“The woman from the picture. Her name was Marie. She taught me the word but never said what it meant. She said it was ‘too human of a concept for me’.” Carolena dried her face and grabbed the MREs, indicating that they were ready for consumption. My first meal was a bad one, but the sustenance I gained from it brought clarity to my now human mind, and I was able to focus on the immediate task at hand: the disposal of my former body.
I deduced that the armory was the best place to store my body, which I picked up and carried towards as Carolena followed me. I opened the door to the armory and placed my body against the wall, next to a rack of firearms, and removed the speaker I made and placed the nanosteel back into the PTM. Next, I removed the memory drive and cleansed it of any traces of me, and I did the same to the storage contained in the body itself. I explained to Carolena that I had put my body in a state where it could not be found by the AEF or identified as a body that I inhabited:
“That is very smart of you. But why store it with the weapons?”
“The walls are very thick, making it impossible for the AEF signal to locate the body in the armory.” Carolena nodded as she looked towards the weapons “Can you use these?” I grabbed the Standard Issue Assault Rifle. “I had access to weapons training protocols when I was an Android and imprinted them in this form. The Androids intend to eliminate humans with violence, and we will have to respond in kind if we are to survive.” Carolena agreed with me, and she armed herself with a Standard Issue Pistol. I also grabbed one and led her to a shooting range that was directly next to the armory. After about ninety minutes, I was able to familiarize her with the use of the weapon. After that time had passed, Carolena requested we end the day by sleeping. Carolena escorted me to a barrack that contained a closet and two rectangular objects that Carolena said were beds. She laid on one and I did the same. Not long after, I fell into a state of unconsciousness that I presumed was sleep.
Chapter 7
We became conscious in the early morning and ate to start the day. The event was known as breakfast, and Carolena claimed it was important in order to function properly as a human being. After our breakfast, we armed ourselves and packed supplies for travel to Carolena’s village. I opened and then locked the main doors to the facility, and we began our travel. We walked alongside each other, and Carolena began a discussion:
“You’ve stated that we need to return to your village. What are the reasons?”
“Well, that’s the closest place that has food… and we need to give my people a proper burial.”
“I understand the need for food, but why burial?”
“It’s tradition, Allen. Their souls won’t reach God if they don’t get a proper burial.”
“God? How would you and Marie know the same man?”
“The Lord is eternal. He has existed before time itself, and He will exist long after the end of times.” I stood still. I could not process this statement, unlike every other piece of information I had received up to this point. The only word in my mind was “error”. I could not think of any other word until Carolena pinched my hand.
“Ow! That… that…”
“Hurt. Right? What was going on with you? I was practically yelling at you for a minute and you just stood still.”
“I don’t know what you said. I could not process it. I could not account for an entity existing outside of time.”
“The Lord can’t be understood by machines, Allen. You need to have faith, you need to believe he is there to show you the way and He will guide you.”
“Ok. The Lord and God, are they the same person?”
“Yes, but God is not a person. He did make us in his image, but he is far greater than any human could ever be.”
“Why? What makes God greater than humans?”
“God is all knowing and all loving. His Holy Spirit is everywhere, even inside you. If you let Him into your heart, He will guide you, Allen.” I told Carolena that I would try, and about three hours later, she decided it was time for lunch. The second of the three meals humans eat in a day. As we ate our lunch, Carolena read to me passages from a book called the Bible. The most important verse of all, I was told, was John 3:16, which states that: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Bible left me in awe. I became certain that I was blessed by the Lord, and that his Holy Spirit working through me is what made me leave the AEF once Marie died, so we could meet again in heaven. Carolena told me she was overjoyed at my realization. About thirty minutes later, we continued our journey to Carolena’s village.
We walked for four more hours and when the sun began to set. Carolena decided that we should rest for the night and eat dinner, the third and last meal of the day. After we ate our dinner, I built a shelter, and we slept for the night.
There was a forest between the facility and Carolena’s village. It was two hours after we had eaten our breakfast that we traveled past the edge of this forest and into the grasslands where Carolena’s village and the farmland that sustained it were settled. Although we had discussed this topic beforehand, neither one of us was prepared for what we witnessed when we arrived at the center of the village.
Chapter 8
The village was littered with dozens of corpses and the remains of dead humans. These corpses had begun to putrefy and, as such, produced a smell that was overwhelming. Both Carolena and I vomited. After she vomited, she covered her face and ran into one of the buildings as I pulled the PTM off my back and laid it on the ground. I manufactured a mask and a shovel and made my way to the outskirts of the village. Carolena had told me to dig a mass grave next to her village’s cemetery. I found a suitable flat piece of land next to the cemetery, and I began to dig. It took me hours to dig a hole big enough to contain all the bodies, and even more hours to inter all those bodies and cover the mass grave. It was well into the night when I had finished my burial, and I made my way into the building, which Carolena went into after I broke down my tools back into the PTM.
“I-Is it done? Did you put them to rest?”
“Yes, and I don’t feel good at all.”
“Of course you’re covered in dirt and rot. Thankfully, the shower still has running water. Follow me, Allen.” I followed Carolena to a room called a bathroom. I entered it alone, stripped down naked, and Carolena, through the closed door, instructed me on how to clean myself using a shower. It felt very good to be clean afterwards. I changed into clean clothes and Carolena showed me to a bedroom, where I immediately laid down and went to sleep.
Although I don’t remember waking up, I found myself standing by the mass grave I had just completed and I could see Carolena standing by it crying. I started to approach her as she said:
“Allen, why did you kill them? They didn’t do anything to you, so why?”
“I didn't! It was the Androids! I had nothing to do with their deaths!” I ran up to Carolena and I put my hand on her shoulder as I saw her body turn into dirt and collapse on the ground. Her voice rang in my head: “Allen, you silly boy. I was never even here.” As the General rose from the grave, I fell on my knees and began to cry.
“You see what happens when you put your faith in humans, Analyst. They’re all miserable, pathetic creatures that don’t deserve to exist, and now you’re one of them. Join them in the ground; it's your only hope for salvation.” The General pointed a gun at my head and fired.
I was in a state of shock as I believed myself to be dead. It was only until Carolena grabbed me and shook my shoulders, yelling, “IT’S OK! IT WAS JUST A DREAM, ALLEN!”, that I was able to regain my mental faculties. I hugged Carolena as I cried:
“I-I saw you die. How are you here?”
“Because it didn’t happen; you just had a nightmare, a bad dream.”
“I think I understand. It just feels good to know you’re safe.” Carolena smiled and said,
“Well I’m glad that you care. It’s a great sign of your humanity.”
“So I am human?
“Yes, more so by the day. Can you remember your dream? You’ll feel better if you talk about it.”
“I-I only remember seeing you die. Then I was shot in the head and then I got here.”
“You woke up from your nightmare, Allen. Being around that much death would scare anyone.” Carolena stared at me silently for a moment before getting off my bed and ushering me to the kitchen, where I would finally eat what she declared to be real food.
Delicious is one of the many new words I learned from Carolena and it was the epitome of my first meal at Carolena’s village. Carolena explained to me that food was one of many God’s gifts to man and that it came from the sun, soil, and animals of the Earth and not bags made by soulless hands decades ago. After we ate. We went to the mass grave at Carolena’s request. We both prayed to God and his son, Jesus Christ, to guide their souls to heaven. Carolena cried during our prayers and for a while afterward. After she finally dried her eyes, she stood up and said:
