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Absence was met with existence. He woke up alone. His eyes narrowly opened to reveal a glaring white light shining directly over him. He couldn’t understand what he was sensing. None of his thoughts were clear. They felt blank. The only thing that his attention was drawn to was his vision coming into focus.
Soon physical feeling followed along, soft fabric against his life-like skin. His fingers twitched, his body still trying to figure out what movement was and how to be capable of doing it. It didn’t feel right. His limbs were so stiff. Eventually he managed to bring an arm up, letting it poke through the air above him like he was reaching for something. He studied the porcelain skin that kept his insides intact, then brought the hand back down to his side. He soon sat up looking straight ahead at the blank white wall. He looked down at his lower body which was draped in white fabric. He was on a bed which was in the middle of an empty room.
As he stood up his feet hit the cold ground that matched the ceiling, the lights underneath his feet emanating a white glow. When he stepped away from the bed, a mechanical noise whirred and the ground gave way underneath it, letting the bed lower down, and the floor replaced itself, hiding it away. He spun around and gazed around the room, then noticed something in the top corner. It was a camera that had a constant red light indicating that it was on. He didn’t understand what it was, where it came from, or what the red light indicated. Nothing made sense to him.
Not yet at least.
Pools of information flooded his brain without warning. Soon enough he knew what words were, even if he wasn’t sure how to say them yet. He graced the walls as he walked around the edge of the room, they were bleach white and his fingers glided along the smoothness of it. This new sensation was calming, everything was soft and pleasant. Fascinated, he ran his hand along the wall for a few moments as his conscience ventured elsewhere. Still feeding off the new things he was learning just by being there and existing. Now when he looked at the plain walls, fluorescent lights, or the camera, words would appear in his head like flashing images on a screen. Everything he learned was like that at first until it was repeated a few times, then it became more of a subconscious action that was less noticeable as time went on. The information flooded his mind like a tsunami, filling his mind to the brim with language and patterns causing the neurons in his brain to pulse frequently.
The cells emitted a vibrating sensation that could only be felt but not heard, a very faint electrical buzz that carried onto each individual cell to bounce back thoughts and carry info. Questions began to form in his mind relating to where he was, why he was there, who he was, and more. There was no telling when those answers would be answered. There was no clock but he could count minutes, seconds, milliseconds, deciseconds… Until something would happen. Or he could act on his own.
He gazed the room intently, scanning his surroundings once more. There seemed to be no way outside the room. By definition, there had to be external sides to the box he was in, which meant there had to be a possibility of escape. This time while circling the room, he put pressure on the walls, feeling for any crevices that could possibly be a handle.
They were watching him through a screen.
“He’s searching for a way out.” One of the scientists said, all of their eyes on the subject. “This is phenomenal.”
“It isn’t much. Sure, he can move and think, but anyone can do that. Rats can do that. He’s literally just a rat in a box.” A burly man said in his naturally low voice, “I don’t want a rat. I want a leader.”
“He’s not going to be a natural born leader right away, we still have to set up certain tasks for him to complete effortlessly. This is just the first one.” The main scientist explained, pushing his curly brown hair out of his face, “And he isn’t just some rat, he’s our life’s work. You don’t understand just how groundbreaking this is.”
“Psh, well, your life’s work better be worth all the money I’ve sacrificed.” He crossed his arms, paying back attention to their test subject.
The lead scientist tried to continue his conviction, “That’s all you guys ever care about--” but the other scientist spoke up, cutting him off.
“He’s warm.”
“What?”
The other scientist nodded towards the screen, “He’s almost found it.” He continued speaking as if it was just a regular game of hot and cold, “Warmer… Even warmer… Hot.”
The blonde that they were watching traced his finger around a circular crevice and pushed against it. The circle glowed a bright green and the wall began to move, a rectangular cut out of a door pushing back and sliding to the side.
“We ought to go greet him now, don’t you think?” The second scientist said, leaning back in his chair.
The main one nodded and then the tall man spoke up, “So what was the point of that? He found a button. What’s the whole point?”
“We were just curious of what he’d do when first waking up, really.” The curly haired man spoke. “Usually they just stand there, waiting for instructions to be given. But him… He thought for himself.” He grinned. “I think we’ve finally done it.”
“I’m not going to be impressed until I see some literal action.”
“You will, in time. We have to take this carefully. He’s not like the others.” He stood up, stretching his arms up over his head and then bringing them back down to his sides, “Let’s go welcome him, shall we?” He gestured.
The blonde stepped out of the room and turned his head to one side, then the next. He chose to go left and was soon met with the three of them. He stopped and stared.
“Does he talk?” The tallest man asked.
The main scientist nodded, “He should be able to. But like I said, in time. Think of him as a newborn child. He needs to take time to process things.”
The blonde studied their features, pulling apart their differences yet comparing their similarities. The main man was tall and skinny with light brown curls that bobbed when he made movements involving his head such as turning his face to the other men or nodding at a reply. The tallest of them was overall the most massive due to his large muscles and stocky figure, and he had a grey mustache that matched his combed hair. The third man had a bit more mass than the one in the middle, but less than the tallest, yet he shared a similar color of hair with the set of curls next to him. The pair of brown eyes from the plump man stared at the blonde, while the two sets of blue eyes kept glancing at each other as they talked.
“I’m Neil.” The plump man said to the blonde. “And this is my partner… Also Neil.”
The curly haired man sighed, “We don’t want to confuse him this early on. Just go by your nickname.”
“Or I guess, call me Space Kid.”
“That’s better.”
The round-faced brunette then nodded towards the brawny man, “And that’s--”
“Mr. Campbell.” He stated. “I’m not using my first name like you two. It’s unprofessional.”
Neil shook his head, “If you want him to like you, then you have to be nice to him.”
“That thing has emotions?”
“Well, I, uh, I guess not… They’re simulated. Or at least, we
will
simulate them.”
“Then why does it matter?”
The one they called Space Kid joked, “Well you don’t want him to turn against you like they do in the movies, do you?”
“I bet you watch too much science fiction. Is that where you got your nickname?”
Space Kid explained, “Actually it’s because I was going to be an astronaut. Too bad I wasn’t fit enough for space exploration. Too much motion sickness.” He chuckled.
“Then why didn’t you just stick to being an astronomer?”
Neil spoke up, “He got kicked out of the class for being too childish. That’s why we still call him a kid. Plus he’s the youngest out of our whole team…”
“Then how the hell did you manage to get into all of this?”
“It isn’t that difficult.” Space Kid bragged.
Neil rolled his eyes, “It’s because I did most of his work for him.”
“You two brothers?”
“No.” They both said in sync.
Mr. Campbell looked at the blonde again, “So what is he doing?”
“Right now he’s just listening to our conversation. He should be able to understand individual English words, but hearing us speak will help him further learn how to follow syntax.” Neil looked back at the blonde, “Gosh, he really is something.”
“How long do you expect his training to be?”
“Really depends on him. My estimate is a couple more years--”
“Years?!” The burly man grabbed a hold of the skinny brunette and turned him around, “It’s 2045! We only have an estimate of five years till the planet goes to absolute hell. We’ve already exceeded the expectations of lasting this long, how the hell do you expect us to turn shit around without him?!”
Neil grabbed one of the strong arms to attempt to pull him away, but was too weak to make the man release him, “First of all, could you let go?” The hands freed him and he sighed, “Look, we don’t know how long it’ll take for him to be ready. This is the entire
planet
we’re talking about! The first A.I. to lead an entire species from being exempt from mass extinction! We’re putting our whole society into the palms of his hands…”
“That’s exactly why we need him as soon as possible.”
Neil muttered, “None of this would have happened if you greedy government assholes were focused on helping the betterment of everyone instead of solely focusing on your wallets.”
“Guys…” Space Kid tried to interrupt.
“You can blame it all on me personally but it won’t solve the problem at hand.” Mr. Campbell stated.
“Guys?” Space Kid tried again.
Neil shook his head, “No, it won’t. But maybe if you all put your hard-heads together then just maybe you could get yourselves out of this.”
“Don’t act like everyone didn’t have some part in this.” The older man said. “Every plastic utensil thrown away contributed to it.”
“It was major corporations doing the distributing. If they used biodegradable materials then people wouldn’t be making such a mess. Or if our actual government did something to ban it, then companies would have no choice but to improve their products. Not to mention the actual modern human slavery by those companies. Honestly, how did you ever let these things slide? We’ve been protesting this for years.”
“It’s not that easy to make those sort of laws.”
“Doesn’t matter. People's lives are in danger because of this. The whole world for fucks sake…”
Space Kid snapped his fingers in both of their faces, “Hey!”
“What?” They both asked.
“Look at him!”
They both turned their attention to the blonde and he was trying to mouth a single word. His voice didn’t project much but a soft ‘hello’ came out eventually. The two scientists glanced at each other and grinned before hugging in utter excitement.
“So he
can
speak.” The government official stated.
“He’s already managed to speak in what? Almost ten minutes?” He checked his watch, “Christ, seems so.”
“Then what’s your estimate now?”
The two scientists paused and looked at each other in thought. Neil hummed, “Hmm… I mean, if he manages to process things this quickly and manages to pass all of our tests, then maybe a year.”
Space Kid shook his head, “I say a few months at most.”
“I hope you’re right.” Campbell said. “He better be persuasive. If he’s not charming then he may not win over the United Nations.”
“I can’t stand that.” Neil shook his head slightly, “Efficiency should be the main goal, not whether or not he’s likeable.”
“It’s not my decision, think of me as the messenger. I’m only here to check up on the project and make sure things go orderly.”
“How long are you staying anyways?”
“I’d like to see if he speaks more, then I’ll probably take my leave for the day.” He looked towards the blonde, “Well? Can you speak some more?”
“Yes.” He replied.
“He may only say simple things so far.” Space Kid said.
“Like?” Campbell asked.
“‘Yes, no, maybe. Hello, hi, goodbye.’ Just simple sayings. We may have to end up tweaking his speaker and such too. He seems very quiet.”
“Hello.” Daniel greeted again, this time with a louder voice.
They stared at him surprised.
“He seems to be working fine. But he’s a bit…” Campbell trailed off.
“Awkward. Yeah, like I said. We’ll teach him proper syntax and social cues.” Neil said.
“So he’ll be taught by you two nerds? No offense, but shouldn’t you get someone more… Socially open?”
Neil looked to Space Kid and then back to Campbell, “Well… You do have a point. It’d be best to get someone who is more extroverted with good intentions. They’d have to be determined as well… Know anyone who would fit the role?”
Space Kid shook his head ‘no’ but then Campbell put a hand to his chin and hummed, “Well, there
is
my nephew…”
“How old is he?”
“Twenty four.”
“I guess that would work. But we still need to do a background check on him. We need everything about him, like a resume but more detailed.”
“Trust me, my nephew is harmless. I’ll let him know about this, he’s been trying to get a job anyways.”
“We can’t pay him, it’d be more like an internship. Except secret. No one can know about this yet.”
“Ah, well, he’s not the type to turn something down, especially when I ask him to do it. I think we’ll be in good hands.”
Neil sighed and nodded, “Alright. Tell him about it and no one else. You know the drill.”
“Like I’d be dumb enough to sacrifice everything now. You underestimate me.”
“We just have to be careful…”
“Extremely. I agree.” Campbell glanced back to the blonde and made a face, “Does he ever blink? It’s beginning to creep me out.”
“Actually, he records everything that he sees. He can save an insane amount of footage but is also connected to a bluetooth device. Most files can be transferred to an online database. So as long as he has a WiFi connection he can put the footage away or send it back into his own ‘memory’. It’s meant so he can go back and fix his mistakes in future situations, like context clues to help solve for ‘x’. Simple problem solving that will turn more difficult as we test him.”
“Uh huh. When are you going to start testing him?”
“Today. We’ll start with simple puzzles and words. We’ll need your nephew to come by as soon as he can after he signs a confirmation contract. I’ll write it up while space-nut over here starts the puzzles.”
“Aye aye, captain.” Space Kid replied. He looked to the older man, “Will you stay while we start the tests?”
“Sure. But I’ll have to take a phone call so I can get my nephew here right away.”
“I’ll go write that form then.” Neil said, walking away from them, but he called out while walking in the other direction, “And no fooling around!”
Campbell took out his phone, “Is it alright if I call from in here or is there some kind of rule for that?”
“Eh, we can trust you. But visitors usually have to turn off electronic devices and there’s a zero food and drink policy rule outside of the main lobby.”
“Alright. Should I take this into another room then?”
“You’re fine. You can walk with us to the testing area while you call.”
Campbell nodded and dialed the number, waiting for his nephew to pick up the phone. His steps were louder than the two others, and the android’s were practically silent. They passed through the white halls and Campbell’s nephew finally answered the phone.
“Davey!” Campbell exclaimed, “I have a job for you.”
A voice on the other end spoke up, “That’s great! Uh, what is it?”
Campbell looked at the young scientist who shook his head no, then spoke back to the man on the phone, “You’ll just have to find out. I’m going to send you an address and you can’t bring anyone with you. This is an important job, but I know you’ll be excellent at it.”
“Oh well that sounds--”
“But you won’t be getting paid.”
“Uh, you’re not giving me a lot to go on uncle Cam…”
“Trust me! When have I let you down?”
“I mean--”
“Forget what I said! Will you accept it or not?”
The young man on the other end hesitated, “It’s not like I’m risking my life or anything, right?”
Campbell looked to the scientist again, who gave him a look that said ‘anything could happen’. The grey-haired man paused, “Uhhh… No, of course not.”
“What was with that long pause?!”
“It’s nothing! Nothing! Nothing at all…” He tried to convince him again, “Come on Davey, it’s an important job. And I’m sure you’ll grow to love it.”
“But I’m not getting paid?”
“It’s like an internship. You’ll get experience.”
“You know I can’t live off of cup noodles and bread for much longer…”
“Fine, I’ll find a way to get you paid for this. Just, accept the offer, will ya?”
The young man hummed, “Well, I guess I’m in then!”
“Excellent!” Campbell covered the phone’s speaker with one of his huge hands to speak to the brunette, “He’s in.”
Space Kid nodded with a smile and kept leading them down the long hallways that finally led them to their destination. Campbell had hung up on the phone when they approached the door but was busy texting the address to his nephew, too distracted to realize, causing himself to bump into the surface.
Space Kid let out a giggle, “Quite the professional indeed.”
“Oh shut it you failed astronaut.” He grumbled.
“Ouch.” Space Kid said simply as he put a hand to the wall to unlock the door, “Didn’t hurt as bad as running into a door though.”
“Let’s just get started on this, shall we?”
The door opened and Space Kid gestured, “Your majesty…”
The older man rolled his eyes and walked in first, followed by the brunette and then the blonde. A hissing sound emanated as the door shut behind them, locking them inside a new box-like room where the real tests would begin.
There were multiple games stacked up in a corner including chess, checkers, cards, dominos, monopoly, puzzles, reversi, and more. There was a simple cube-shaped table that sat in the middle of the room with two colorful chairs sitting across from each other on opposite sides. There were more chairs over to the side which the scientist told to ‘go ahead and pull up’ to the table. Campbell did as such as the brunette picked up one of the games and set the box on the smooth surface.
Space Kid smiled at the blonde, “Sit down, please.”
The blonde went over to the chair and sat down, so Space Kid followed along, sitting across from him, “We’ll be starting with reversi. Ever play it?” He asked the older man who watched from the side.
“A few times as a kid. I didn’t know people still
owned
actual versions of it.” The man said as he watched the brunette open the box and place the board on the table.
“Just because the majority plays things online now doesn’t mean there aren’t people who don’t play it manually. You should know.” He started placing the pieces in the empty slots.
“Are you saying that because of my age?”
Space Kid chuckled, “Maybe.”
“Well just because I’m--”
Space Kid put up a single finger to silence him, then put his focus solely on the blue eyes in front of him, “I’ll make the first move. I’ll be the dark side.” He flipped one of the light sided pieces on its other end to initiate the game.
“Are you going to explain the game to him?” Campbell asked.
“Don’t have to.” Space Kid said while taking out his phone, “With the click of a button I can download the instructions to his drive.” He clicked a button and then waited for the blonde to move forward slightly to move his own piece.
“That’s…”
“Pretty cool, huh?”
“Yeah, is it like that with everything?”
“Well, kinda. Not everything is as simple as board game instructions. Emotions for example, are a lot more complicated. Besides, downloading the instructions doesn’t mean he’ll be an expert at the game immediately. It takes a few trials and errors to be able to win a game.”
They continued the game and it was slow at first but quickened as time went on, and the scientist was able to win as the entire board was covered in dark-sided pieces at the end.
The government official groaned, “He can’t even win a simple board game, how the fuck is he--”
Space Kid raised his finger again, “We’ll play another round.” He cleared the board again and set up the four pieces, this time letting the blonde make the first move. During the game, Space Kid asked about the man’s nephew, “So which sibling had him?”
“My step-sister. We’re not actually related. He’s nothing like me.”
He kept making moves on the board, “How so?”
“He’s overly optimistic and patient. You should already be able to tell that I am nothing like that.”
Space Kid smiled and spoke sarcastically, “Yeah, you seem
very
patient.”
“Exactly.” The older man said. “I think he’ll be a good fit for this though.”
“I don’t doubt it. He sounded kind over the phone… How close are you two?”
“Not that close. I took care of him a lot when he was a kid but I became busy with work and him with school. I make sure to visit every once in a while though, he doesn’t live far.”
“Is he in school right now? College?”
“Yeah, not sure what he’s taking though.”
“I’ll ask him once he’s here. By the way, any updates?”
“He said he would be over soon. Not sure what ‘soon’ means.” The man said, taking out his phone to check again.
“Well me and Neil will both be notified when someone arrives,” The scientist patted his pocket, “Our phones are hooked up to the security system.”
“We do the same thing where I work.”
“Are you allowed to talk about that or is it a ‘government secret’?”
“It’s just similar work to what I’m doing now. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m sort of an errand boy for them. But I’m hoping our new little friend here will get me in a better position.”
“It’s very possible.” The brunette said, right before his last move on the board.
Neither of them were paying attention until the blonde flipped the last piece from black to white. They both stared at the fully white board. Space Kid looked to the machine and then at the other human in the room with wide eyes. His look of disbelief changed to one of excitement.
“Good job!” Space Kid exclaimed towards the machine smiling. “I’ve been playing this game since I was eight. I’m surprised he was able to beat me only on his second try.” He explained to Campbell.
He got out of his seat to get a paper and clipboard from a set of drawers, while he started filling out the page, he looked back to the robust male, “You can play a game with him if you’d like to. I just need to mark down what components of intelligence that he has shown so far.” He looked down to the paper, “Learning, reasoning, problem solving, perception… And we’ll get more into language later. We’ll get into his emotions and personality later…”
“Emotions and personality? You guys said he didn’t have any.” He said while checking his phone another time.
“
Yet
. Keywords are important, Mr. Campbell. They can help you predict the future in certain cases.”
The older man raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know what you’re on about but my nephew said he just pulled into the parking lot.”
The brunette kept his usual smile, “Let’s go greet him then.” He guided them to the door which unlocked when his hand touched the small crevice in the wall.
As they passed back through the long hallways, Campbell asked the question that was on his mind, “So why are the rooms so far apart from each other?”
“This building worked on a lot of dangerous experiments in the past. When designing the building they had that in mind and separated the rooms so accidents would happen less.”
“What kind of experiments?”
“Here we are.” He said instead of answering the question as they entered the main lobby where Campbell had found himself hours earlier. His phone beeped and he pulled it out of his lab coat pocket, “Neil should be notified as well so we should be expecting him soon. Please have a seat if you’d wish.”
“I’m fine.” Campbell said, then he looked at the blonde, “How about you?”
“Fine.” The android copied.
“I really hope Davey is able to fix that.”
“Fix what?” Space Kid asked while he was behind the main desk, organizing papers that were scattered about.
“Well, him. He’s creepy as hell. If Davey can rub off on him at least a little, it’ll be an improvement for sure.”
“You don’t spend a lot of time around robots and the like, do you?”
“Only the ones that make me coffee or do chores.”
Space Kid chuckled, “I remember when I was getting used to A.I. They really are uncanny at first. But I mean, look how human he seems. He’s not that bad.”
“I think that’s what makes it worse… Knowing that he’s
not
human despite his appearance.” He glanced back at the android.
The screen above the door showed a tall figure outside the building who awkwardly checked his phone and then knocked on the door.
“That him?” Space Kid asked.
“Yep.”
The scientist clicked a button that opened the door and let the ginger inside. The brunette walked away from the desk and held out a hand to the newcomer, “Welcome to Saygin Co.”
The ginger gazed around for a moment before his green eyes laid onto the brown ones in front of him, “Thank you.” He looked over to his uncle, “So what’s the job?”
“We’ll get to that. I think we should introduce ourselves first. I’m Space Kid.”
The ginger gave a confused look, “Oh?”
Campbell explained, “Weird nickname he got. His name is Neil but there’s another one so there’s no point in calling him that.”
“Ahh, well I’m David! Nice to meet you!” The ginger’s smile gleamed as he held out a hand for the brunette to shake.
The scientist took it while smiling back, “Pleasure to meet you.”
They released their hands and David went back to pondering about the place he had just entered. It was really clean with little furniture, but overall was just an average waiting room that you would see at a doctor’s office. However the sign outside didn’t say doctor’s office, in fact the sign only had the name of the company on it, no details of what they did or a phone number to call. His eyes met a pair of curious blue ones that stared without motion. David gave a small smile, “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
The blonde strode forward and held out his hand to the ginger, mimicking his smile, “Nice to meet you.”
David took it, surprised at the coldness of it, but smiled and gave another warm welcome, “You too!”
Space Kid and Campbell shared a glance before looking back to the two.
The android held his grip for too long and David wasn’t sure what to do, “Uhm…”
Luckily the second brunette came from down the main hallway with a stack of papers and interrupted the awkward moment. The blonde let go and David took a step back. The curly haired brunette handed the papers to the ginger, “You’ll have to fill out these. Also, the name’s Neil. I hope we get along fine.”
David took the pages and glanced at them, “Thank you for offering me the job. Should I fill these out now?”
“Please do.” Neil said, looking back at Campbell.
David skimmed through the words, “This seems pretty uhm… Concerning. It says that if I get hurt that I can’t sue?”
“We doubt you’ll get hurt, the chances are minimum, but you know, we have to protect our company. We’re a small, closed off group. We take money out of our own pockets a lot of the time to keep this thing alive. We need to save up all the funds we can get.”
“What exactly do you do here?”
“It explains on the forms, but basically we need you to take care of our friend here.” Neil patted the android’s shoulder.
“Take care of? Is he sick?”
“Sorta.”
Space kid glanced at Neil and the main scientist gave him a look that he said he had it all under his control. David was conflicted and confused, “I mean, I’d love to help, but I’m still not sure of what you mean.”
“Our friend here is…”
**Here’s your first decision, do you choose to tell a [LIE] or tell the [TRUTH]?**
If you chose
[LIE]
proceed to Chapter 2A, if you chose
[TRUTH]
proceed to Chapter 2B.