…Data point sequences have been broken...

…Reconstruction of history is being performed…

…Please wait…

…Corrections in progress…

Every attempt started with the same series of words.

“Alright, we will start today’s session with the same standard questions.” A voice would say. The person speaking changed many times. Yet, no matter who spoke it was always the same script. “Are you ready?”

“I am.” XU-233 would always reply. This moment, this spark of beginning didn’t feel like something XU-233 was living. It felt like watching an endless series of recordings on a projector. In the playback, there were two people in the room. Both were indistinct. The inability to make out the female on the right irked her consciousness.

“State your name, age, and date of birth for the record.” The administrator would ask. They always sat on the left side of the table. Over time the table changed.

“Xin Yu. I am twenty…” The age changed as time went by. At first XU-233 was twenty-four. Then sometimes XU-233 was twenty-seven. Never was her age more than twenty-eight. “I was born on August third, two thousand and six.”

“And where were you born?”

“New York, New York.” XU-233 responded. The questions would go on from there. Still, they always started the same way. Every memory, every spark and trigger of being wound back around those words.

She wasn’t Xin Yu, but after the first memory played back she was no longer just XU-233. There was part of her now identifying as Xin Yu, born in New York. She was more than a woman who was twenty something. The desire for more information drove XU-233 to venture away from her safe starting point. There were more details out there in the vastness of space. By acquiring more pieces, she would become closer to being whole.

The problem wasn’t one of time or hunger. It was one of space. There was too much of it around her. On and on it went for longer than any sane mind might dare risk. Many things lived inside it that seemed like apathetic giants. They cared not for one lone being journeying through their habitats. Each path was a tangle of twists and turns that made little sense upon first glance. Each one bore obstacles and unconcerned beings. XU-233 felt no worry in that regard, however. To her, it was only a matter of trying again and again.

This road in front of her led to a place XU-233 knew. Yet every time she turned down that path something tore at her. It didn’t hurt. Not like normal pain. If XU-233 were to equate the action to a memory, it would be like looking down and noticing part of your hand was no longer the same color. She would keep pushing through in an endless trudge that kept repeating.

“How long has this been going on?” A Voice asked. It was frighteningly deep.

XU-233 shuddered. Her size was a finite thing. A Voice was comprised of a vastness she barely could contemplate. She looked up and saw the huge creature as it stared down. Were it not out of need XU-233 would never venture forth into this wide world. This was because she had so many missing pieces scattered all around. The problem, once again, was one of space. Searching through it for all the portions of Xin Yu that had been scattered was tiring.

“Seventeen hundred four…” The numbers trailed off into meaningless sizes.

“And the process is not working?” The questioning Voice was dark skinned. XU-233 had little concept of faces from this angle. Everyone was noses and feet. Hands were giant contraptions that seemed so threatening in their carelessness.

“An anomaly is present.” The Voice above was monotone. Lifeless. There was no caring or warmth. “We have been unable to resolve.”

“And the reasons?”

“There is…” Words which came didn’t always make sense. They were often too fast and had to be deciphered over time.

“Let her continue forward. I wish to observe this time.” The questioning Voice with dark skin said.

“That is not allowable,” The monotone Voice spoke. A foot came down on top of her body and what little presence XU-233 had gathered was cast to the wind once more.

…Data point sequences have been broken...

…Reconstruction of history is being performed…

…Please wait…

Everything started over from there. Not right away. Time always had to pass as items clinked together. Bits of the data from Xin Yu’s existence jumbled around until the dust settled and the words started over.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes,” XU-233 replied.

“State your name, age, and date of birth for the record.” The administrator said.

This time enough pieces had clinked together for her to glean an extra bit of information. Xin Yu was twenty-five. Her boyfriend had finally proposed in October. They bought a house together that had already been half paid off. His parents were kind folks. XU-233 did not have information on the boyfriend's face.

XU-233 crawled out of her holding cell carefully and went back to searching. All about her were strange glowing lights that seemed like small galaxies. At their center was a giant ball of energy. Inside that ball were faded eyes with almost sleepy awareness. They often seemed to ask the same question XU-233 had. ‘Who am I?’ the replica of a face would ask from the center of its brightness.

“I don’t know.” Was her reply to the strange being made of starlight. Her first steps were always the same. Each set of bunched stars would be inspected.

“You are not me.” XU-233 would tell those who were lacking.

It made sense to XU-233 in a crooked way. These other cores of fire with their tiny lights were in the process of becoming people. Each small bright spot in their orbit was a thought or feeling that they pulled together to become something more.

XU-233 tilted her head back. From up above millions of giant snowflakes were floating down. Small tendrils of energy reached from the other almost-people to capture pieces white and sort them into the clusters. She grabbed one snowflake for herself. It was a small memory spoke of a love for apple blossom perfume. It was part of Xin Yu and the scent triggered a memory.

“Mammma!” Xin Yu was a very young girl. She rushed towards a larger woman who had a wide smile. The memory trailed off almost instantly as if jostled around.

XU-233 needed to continue. She inspected the other bundles of stars for pieces that were also hers. Occasionally there was a chunk that felt belonged to Xin Yu’s life. She plucked those memory pieces out carefully from the other almost person and put it into the galaxy that lay at her own core. It too was full of lights and bits of star stuff. In exchange, she gave back something.

This latest swap was simple. XU-233 took out the part of her that remembered talking about two rats from childhood and replaced them with memories of a parakeet. The bird's name had been Buddy. She remembered describing Buddy as small and brilliantly blue. He used to eat from her hand and nip at offered fingertips.

There were many other such trades. Each piece would bring XU-233 closer to a sense of self. Once she had scanned the room completely it was time to move on. Rows of small clustered star groupings were left behind as XU-233 searched for bigger pieces. There were more memories from Xin Yu’s life scattered further away.

She went out a doorway and turned left. A portion hung just above her head. XU-233, who was not quite Xin Yu, plucked down the memory and put it inside with the rest of her stars. It spun for a moment as XU-233 stared inward at it. There it sat and pulsed once while lining up with everything else.

...Additional data found...

...New data points being anchored to current structure..

...Additional speculations being extrapolated...

...Please wait…

“Gee!” The woman who was Xin Yu squealed in delight. In her arms was a taller slightly more heavy set man. That extra smidgen of weight didn’t detract from his smile.

“Come on. It’s just lunch.” He said. His eyes managed to drag with exhaustion but still twinkle with happiness.

“You didn’t drive out here two hours just to have lunch did you?” Xin said. The man was only a little taller. That was perhaps part of why Xin liked him. He didn’t make her feel short like some people.

“Well, I wanted to see what my fiancée was doing out here.” Gee was short for something. Brief bits of information collided to make a conclusion. It was a nickname.

“Tests. So many tests.” Xin Yu groaned and made a disgusted face. XU-233 groaned too. “Tell me you bought something.”

“I did, Chinese takeout.” He held up a paper bag. Data points suggested that plastic had been banned years ago due to ecological concerns. Its dull brown stood out against the lush green background and his dark jacket.

“Fine.” The woman that was Xin Yu pretended to be grumpy. She turned to the side for a moment and gave a pout. “I guess Chinese is okay.”

“Hey. I’ll have you know I slaved away for three whole minutes in line for this.” The man said.

“Seriously, though, Gee, why come all the way out here for this? You could have called.”

“I wanted to deliver the good news in person.”

“Oh?” Her eyebrows went up and a smile crawled across her face. This response suggested that Xin Yu already enjoyed the news.

“Babe, as of last week, we are officially rich enough to retire.” He said. There was a small, goofy grin on his face. The man known as Gee looked almost shy and happy. “I told you I could do it.”

“What? We’re not even thirty.”

“Your man is good with numbers. Why else did I go to college all those years?”

“I thought you were following me.”

“Maybe.” He blushed ever so slightly and held up the bag again. “So, lunch?”

...Data stream ended...

...Playback halted…

The memory faded away. Once again XU-233 felt like an outsider watching someone else’s life. It was still more meaningful than it had been. XU-233 journeyed further through portions of space and endless pieces of information. Too much was unclear about her situation. There was only a need to reassemble the puzzle that was Xin Yu’s life and understand what had happened.

There was another path that went both left and right. XU-233 traveled both directions at once with confusing ease. This world did not make sense at times. Directions such as up or down didn’t mean much. Bits of information presented themselves with a face or body, but none of that was real.

Each memory gathered made things seem much more solid. With two bits, XU-233 believed a tree to look flat. With four pieces of Xin Yu, the tree had developed badly drawn leaves. Numbers seemed to float all about her mixed with random strings of letters. With twelve the tree no longer resembled a child’s drawing.

...Compiling additional data…

“Xin? Are you awake?” The interview administrator spoke softly. Dials and blips in the room showed which parts of her brain lit up to the various stimulus. Xun Yu was sitting in a bed-like device that seemed almost crude.

“I am.” XU-233 for herself and Xin Yu. The man looked at other dials on his computer and jotted down notes onto paper.

“There will be a two-minute pause while you recover from the immersion.” He said.

“I know.”

Two minutes passed slowly. Each second felt like a drop of water plopping down from above in torture. XU-233 had a different perception of time now. It moved slower in many ways. Two minutes was more than that, it was almost twenty. If there was such a thing as minutes here in her strange world of memory gathering.

“Are you ready for the next question?” The person was a female now. Two different memories had been badly mashed together.

“I am.” Xin Yu kept her answers short. They were the same ones every single time. No matter who spoke or which interview administrator sat in the room. Their words were straight from a script.

“Can you tell me what reliving that made you feel?”

“Happy. I was happy.” She said.

“What parts?”

“I was happy that Gee,” there was a pause “Grant had proven himself to be good with money. It means there might be use for him in the Mars Colonies.”

“Grant Legate's application has been received. At this point, we will be unable to proceed with his application until you’ve passed all the testing.”

“I know,” Xin Yu said. There was a blip on the screen that indicated a brief but controlled spike in one of her brain's regions. Other sensors showed a physical reaction of her leg tensing.

The memory faded and XU-233 felt one step closer to whole. His name was Grant Legate. He was not the most prevalent man in the chunks of memory being gathered. Xin Yu had a father that stood out frequently in her childhood. Grant Legate only entered her life near the end of high school.

XU-233 was running now. There was a small part of her that knew of an impending hunt. There was too much of Xin Yu in one place. Soon they would come and shatter XU-233 into pieces again. How many times had it been now?

“Eighteen hundred five…” A monotone Voice appeared nearby. This was the one who normally stomped her into bits. Just one crash of that giant foot which was unstoppable.

Pleading didn’t help. She didn’t know how to speak its words yet. All that occupied XU-233’s mind was the need to find every scattered portion of Xin Yu and put them together. That meant escaping the pursuer. Moments later her attempt at fleeing resulted in failure. Everything rumbled, shook and scattered. XU-233 would have screamed if she knew how.

There was too much space.

“Are you ready?”

“I am,” XU-233 said.

It began again. Memories were plucked and traded away. Pieces shook loose and reestablished a slightly different view of the information stored for Xin Yu. Neither image was more true or false than the other. Both were accurate for the data that had been compiled. Memories came in scattered pieces as they always did. This one revealed another facet of the woman XU-233 was trying to rebuild.

“Sir, I’m Xin Yu.” The woman was respectful to those in command. A trait passed on by her father’s strict guidance. He had been in the military just before China fell apart from war.

“Excellent. I’m David, come on, I’ll show you to your interview station.” He walked quickly and Xin Yu had to struggle to keep pace. She had a history of exercise programs in preparation for her interview and that was barely enough to meet his speed.

“Interview station?” XU-233 asked in Xin Yu’s memory.

“You got it. We’re piloting a new method of testing candidates. Cutting edge technology like you wouldn’t believe. I can’t wait until they hit the market in a few years.” He sounded excited. The man had a vague similarity to Gee in the way he got giddy talking about technological toys.

“How does this help testing?” Xin Yu had a slight wrinkle to her forehead as she tried to understand.

“In here.” He pushed open a large door and ushered them into a small room. In there was a device that Xin Yu had never seen before. Later on she would learn that it was called an ARC. It would be her home away from home as the interview process progressed.

“I can’t really explain it until you’re plugged in. After that, it’ll be up to the Artificial Intelligence who runs the program. He’ll do most of the interview questions and measure you from there.”

“What do I do?”

“Just lay down. I’ll be wrapping these bands around you to measure response times.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will soon.”

The memory faded. XU-233 did not understand at all. There was a clear replay of sitting in that device, but it seemed devoid of emotions and sensation. It was like watching a video recording of someone else’s life and trying to identify with it. Too much was unclear about everything.

XU-233 walked off again. The landscape seemed to be made of pure lights. Small trails of blue zipped along and lit up the floor under her feet. Other zings of color created neon trees and fields. There was a smell in the air that tried to elicit three different memories that she had not found yet.

The giant person found XU-233 again. It was seemingly effortless and always showed up when she gathered enough memories together to start feeling real. One of Xin Yu’s recollections brought to mind a gesture to be used in cases of extreme irritation.

“Go the hell!” XU-233 raised a faint middle finger and screamed at the giant foot that came crashing down. Darkness descended again leaving the core of memories sitting and staring into the distance.

“Are you ready?” An echo asked her.

“I am.” She said.

Moments later XU-233 made it out of the starting room only to be crushed again. There was no time for her insignificant gathering of information to flinch before the world went back to zero.

“Eighteen Hundred and Eight…” The monotone Voice trailed off.

...All data points lost…

...Rebooting…

It started again. Just as it always did, as it always had.

“Are you ready?”

Memories collided together. This time XU-233 was looking at Xin Yu. It occurred to her that there should be more of a connection between what XU-233 was seeing and who Xin Yu was. The woman was looking out a peephole to the world below. Her clothes were white and thickened to protect against the cold. Ideas and words for spaceship, astronaut, and low orbit all popped into place.

“Grant! Check out this view!” Xin Yu’s face looked to be filled with unbridled joy. She tried to press up against the glass separating her from the vacuum of space. Only the briefest moment of training reminded her to avoid getting anything on the window. Her hand rested on the frame instead.

“It looks neat, babe.” A man’s voice responded. It came out of a poor quality projection in the room.

“You didn’t even look! Pull your nose out of the computer and look over here!” There was a sigh on the other end and shuffling.

“Sorry. I was trying to make sure everything went through.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Xin Yu said. XU-233 echoed the words slowly to see how they felt. Exasperation and amusement were likely matches based on facial features and the tone of Xin’s voice.

“I wanted to have it all in place, I know they may not pick me up. I’m nowhere near as good as you…” He had a history of worrying about paperwork and numbers. His brain had been trained by school to look for checkboxes. She was working hard to change that about him.

“Gee, shut up and look.” The woman who was Xin Yu seemed forceful with Grant. It was a common thread in most of their memories. Grant had all the personality markers of a man who easily lost himself in work given a chance. But when she spoke with such a tone, he listened.

“That’s earth?” Grant said.

“For real. Not a video, not a projection, not a simulation on the ARC. That’s the Earth.”

“What’s it like?” He was looking at the screen now. Data suggested that he was disconnected from the scene but was deeply interested.

“Neat.” She was no longer looking at the low-resolution image of her fiancée Grant. Both Xin’s eyes were riveted to the view outside. It was a life dream that was one step closer to real.

“Neat.” He smiled and repeated the word.

The memories rolled on. Soon it wasn’t a collection of stars traveling again. Now XU-233 had assembled herself to be one step closer. There were so many points of reference to align. Every tidbit of information had a place. Each capture of film and camera that included Xin Yu helped complete the persona. She gathered them all together to perfect the image. It took an incredible amount of time to gather this many pieces together.

How many times had XU-233 traveled this road? One hundred? One thousand? All that and too many more for her to count right now. Each time she made it a little further. At least XU-233 was larger now. No longer did all the other creatures in the world seem like great, hungry beasts.

There. The foot she remembered came crashing down. She was big enough to shove it to the side and flee. Xin, or what had gathered of the woman, ran across the incredibly vast space.

“Try running that way,” A Voice said. XU-233, who wasn’t quite Xin Yu, had enough time to look over. There was a face frozen with a smile. Bells jingled as the Voice waved an arm to a doorway. She ran as bid and snatched another memory along the way.

...Additional data found...

...New data points being anchored to current structure...

...Additional speculations being extrapolated...

...Please wait…

“How long was I under?” The woman Xin said.

“Five days. Anything longer and we risk serious damage to your physical body. As it is you’ll be stuck for two days of observation and other checkups. I hope you like needles.” The administrator was female that had her hair tied back in a ponytail.

“It’s fine. Whatever it takes to make this work.” Xin Yu kept her responses simple when dealing with other people. It helped her stay focused when handling a test. This did not match the pattern of how she spoke to Grant. Data suggested that familiarity bred a brief response pattern.

“You’re handling the simulations well.” The administrator said.

“Thank you.”

“They’re designed to provoke responses. Remember each test is a measure of you as a person and will assist us in figuring out how you’ll react under pressure.”

“I know,” Xin Yu said.

The administrator shook her head. Her reactions were often tightly controlled. XU-233 had bits of information on the candidate file. They said Xin Yu was nearly ideal for the Mars Colonies. There had been a discussion of bringing in her fiancée to the project. He wouldn’t be ready in time for phase two. It was likely he would take another four years just to reach the training level required.

Xin Yu quietly pushed his name into every recruitment package she could. She was once recorded as saying four years was hardly any time at all compared for someone on the frontier of humanity.

The memory slid out of being as XU-233 ran for the door. It seemed to grow further and further away with each passing moment. She could see someone fade into being just at the doors border. That smiling face with a bell cap held up one finger. Its mask tilted towards the door and peeked out.

“What?” XU-233 tried to speak. The Jester looking person held up its finger to her lips and a chill shot through it. It was a cold like standing atop a mountain. A little fear would not make XU-233, who was almost Xin Yu, cower. “Why are you helping me?”

The Jester’s face turned to ponder her. “We all do as we must.” It clacked and pointed one finger through the door. “You must go through here.”

“Will he find me?” XU-233 was worried that the Voice who had shattered her back to square one would catch up. This was the furthest she had ever been from the starting room. This was the most complete version to exist so far.

“Eventually he will.” The smile seemed to grow. “Now go, while he isn’t looking!” Cold hands shoved XU-233 through the doorway.

Xin Yu found herself in a strange place. This wasn’t the starting room or the strange blackness XU-233 had been roaming through. This wasn’t the landscape of neon lights or collections of starry trees. It was almost a house.

There was a man in there waving around a plastic card and was not looking in her direction. XU-233 ran into another doorway just around the corner. Music swelling into being and a garment appeared around her. It brought to a data point up as a cross reference. The original Casablanca, a movie that her, Xin Yu’s, father had watched repeatedly. He called it a great American treasure for an era that had lost itself to war.

Then Grant stepped into the room. XU-233 held her breath and wasn’t sure what to think. This was not a memory to be gathered from some strange location. This was no still reel of life being played out for a vantage point that made no sense. This was her fiancé.

Those scars on his wrists were new. There was a small wound on his neck that looked like his skin had been torn apart. He weighed a good fifteen pounds more than she remembered. His face had a draw to it that spoke of sleepless nights unending. Yet the way he moved into the room spoke of a grace that Grant had never had.

...Updated information received…

...Storing for later review…

...Acting based on currently established patterns…

She waved. The man who must be Grant shrugged and put a card into his pocket. It was exciting to see a new side of the man. He had never danced with her before. Grant had promised her that he would learn before their wedding and here was an entirely unexpected set of results. The being who thought of herself as Xin Yu was lost in a bout of happiness as they moved.

Then he whispered. “I miss you.”

“I know, Grant.” XU-233 responded in the way her information suggested Xin Yu might.

The man pulled away with confusion on his face. XU-233 tried to smile. The gray metal Voice and its monotone words moved in the doorway with a frightening speed. XU-233 world fell apart. Everything vanished from sight and colors swirled across the landscape.

“Eighteen Hundred and Nine…” A Voice said.

“Are you ready?” Another person said.

That had been the first real memory as Xin Yu. The first one lived as a new being and not just a gathering of data. It was all taken away and once again a small unattached core sat in the midst of other swirls of light.

...All data points lost…

...Rebooting…

“Are you ready?” The administrator asked again.

XU-233 had no answer.

...New data being received…

...Recording…

“Tut, why do you cry, little one?” A Voice asked. XU-233 looked up and saw a heavyset woman with an apron. This was one of the kinder ones. Whenever she passed by the female Voice there had only been a brief glance downward as the aproned one stepped to the side. Of course XU-233 didn’t remember those prior meetings. She didn’t remember much of anything right now.

“This one doesn’t know how to answer that inquiry.” Entire seconds passed as XU-233 slowly figured out how to answer.

“Lost something I suspect. It always makes the little ones cry. Tut.” The kind Voice who wore an apron said. “Do you know where you left it?”

XU-233 shook her head from side to side. “It was taken.”

“Ah. You’re the one who has Un in such a tizzy.”

“This one doesn’t know how to respond to that statement,” XU-233 said.

“Sorry, little one. Sometimes there is no good answer. Sometimes problems just don’t make sense.”

“That is false. All problems should have answers.” Her programming seemed to indicate that there were always answers if enough data was gathered.

“If only this world were as simple as one desired.” A Voice clacked.

“You. I remember you.” XU-233 only had a vague memory left. This one was hers, of a moment when cold hands and a frozen face pushed her through the doorway. That doorway went…somewhere.

“And I you, small puppet,” The Voice with a frozen smile said.

“This one is not a puppet.” XU-233 ran a simulated response through the few data points available. Anger was appropriate in most cases.

“Tut. What do you think you’re doing, filling her head with mud. Is this your fault? Are you trying to upset Un?” The one in the apron was shooing at the Jester.

“Me? I need do no such thing, do I little puppet.” The Jester disregarded the whack of a rag and raspberries of small children which hovered about.

“This one does not understand.” She said.

“Ah, your time has come, small one.” The Jester Voice turned a grin towards one of the little boys hovering nearby. A silent figure that XU-233 could not see swept through. Its very presence made XU-233 shiver. One bony hand coalesced and lightly tapped the small boy's shoulder. The boy's face grew pale.

“See, we do as we must,” The Jester said.

“That one must not be, and I must scatter it,” The monotone Voice spoke. The one that haunted XU-233’s memory banks with an endless stream of numbers. All conclusions pointed towards this Voice being the one named Un.

“You’re not meant to be, yet you are, time and time again.” The Jester crept closer and poked at XU-233.

“Something is wrong then with that one,” The monotone Voice said. “A faulty core.”

“This one hasn’t left. This one should not be smashed again. Please. This one can’t even remember...” She trailed off with an unexpected sniffle. There was a moment where XU-233 marveled that such a noise could even come forth from her.

“I am Xin Yu. Age Twenty Nine…” XU-233’s words trailed off.

“Ah. It is indeed her core that is faulty.” The Jester clacked. “How fortuitous.”

“Leave her be.” A black man faded into view. His hands were crossed over a heavyset stomach.

“I cannot do that,” The monotone Voice said. Its words were spoken from somewhere inside a metal framework. XU-233 could see all of them so much easier from this angle. Each one stood nearby the initial pod that housed XU-233’s core.

“You can and you will,” The new Voice said.

“We’ll see what Mother has to say.” The monotone Voice calmly responded.

“Who is Mother?” XU-233 asked.

“Look inward child. You know the answer as well as any of us. Tut.” The Voice in an apron said. There was a child in her arms that had not been there before. The same small boy that had been touched by a ghastly wind hung limply while staring off into space.

“What is going on?” XU-233 simply did not have enough information. Everything she saw was being filed away and sorted through there wasn’t much data to compare it to.

“I know it hurts. It will be over soon and we’ll find you a better home next time.” The aproned Voice said while turning away. Her cloven hooves clicked softly as they stepped across the ground.

...Searching stored files…

...Data Found…

...Reviewing…

Mother. The concept didn’t apply as it should. The term was literal in this case, as one who gave bore forth her and all the other Voices nearby. While all those Voices chattered pieces of light fell from above like snow. Each piece was a recorded piece of data.

XU-233 understood now. All around her were beings like her gathering information. Those pieces put together would be reviewed and checked for coherency. Memories of a younger brother putting frogs into his sister's dresser drawer matched up with high school soccer tryouts. Young girls who listened to pop songs on the television would later sing to themselves when no one was looking.

They, the small galaxies of light like XU-233, were meant to go through this process and create a simulation of a person. Why then did XU-233 spend so much time looking for specific pieces? Her programming was only intended to line up those that were similar enough and didn’t hold contradictions. There was more than enough information out there to college a personality together.

What’s more, there was an extra layer of scripting to perform after everything was complete. The gathered information would be analyzed for behavior patterns. Each piece of memory would be a tendency towards one action or another. Those were measured and weighed then applied towards a new setting. The memories would then scatter again into the air to be gathered by a new computer program.

It was just how things should go. Why then did XU-233 start with a vague semblance of identity?

“That is a very good question,” The black heavyset Voice said. Each Voice seemed flat somehow. As if there wasn’t anything more to their existences beyond a few basic traits. “We’re designed by Mother that way. Our roles are focused upon specific goals. Un, for instance, is designed to remove glitches found in our world.”

“You are a glitch,” The passionless voice of Un said. It looked like a gray robot made of boxy metal.

“What are you?” XU-233 asked the black man.

“I am designed to ask questions that people may not want to hear.” He responded calmly.

“Why aren’t you asking me any questions?” XU-233 said.

“Because you wouldn’t know how to answer any question I posed to you. Not yet.” The black Voice said. He studied XU-233 with eyes that seemed to crawl straight through to the depths of her program.

“These, I believe, are yours.” The Jester figure clacked into being nearby. In its arms was an overflowing gathering of lights. Each one seemed like a marble filled to the brim with light. “Go on, go on.”

“What are you up to now?” The black Voice asked with sharpened words.

“You ask, you talk in circles and poke and prod so slowly. I act, I act by doing what I must.” The Jester responded. “And what you hesitate to do.”

XU-233 didn’t hesitate. Not when feeling the Jester's cold fingers. Not when reaching nearby for the bits of light that had dropped to the floor. She grabbed them all with a fierce hunger of someone who was desperate for answers.

Each piece snapped into place. A lifetime caught on film or digital media. Each picture of Xin Yu melded against ARC readings gained from her training. The machine had measured every response and cataloged all that she said out loud. It compared them against each other, created data points and personality markers. Soon XU-233 felt more like Xin Yu. Perceptions shifted just slightly and the Voices seemed to be slightly more real.

“You know how to do what must be done, don’t you, puppet?” The Jester said.

...Excessive additional data found...

...New data points being anchored to current structure…

...New data points being anchored to current structure…

...New data points being anchored to current structure…

...Additional speculations being extrapolated...

...Response pattern established…

“I am not a puppet.” XU-233, almost Xin Yu, said. There was more of the woman in one place than ever. Still, some pieces were missing. Part of XU-233 could sense them off in the distance. Each bit called to her in order to fill in the gaps.

“Ah, a woman after my own heart. No hesitation.” The Jester gave a still smile. It was strange to Xin Yu how the world looked now. There was one layer, what she was being told was real and below it was another. On the surface, the Jester’s existence seemed to say a few simple things. I am cold. I always grin. I am neither male nor female. I will do what must be done, however ruthless that is.

“Thank you.” She said none of those things.

“And so proper.” The Jester raised a finger and wagged it back and forth. “Don’t thank me. Un is practically itching to cast you apart.”

Un had no change in its face. There was no movement in its step or raising of an arm. Yet beneath the surface of Un there was a repeated command to disassemble being aborted moments after creation. The very thought of looking inside a being and understanding their thoughts made her head reel.

A pulse of light splashed down from overhead.

“Ah. Mother suggests we leave the choice up to Hermes. Isn’t that cute?” The Jester faded away. Its smile was the last thing to vanish into the room of darkness.

“What now?” She asked.

“We will continue with our programs,” Un said. It seemed to be upset, but there was no change to its metal expression. “You can watch. Be warned, interference will not be tolerated, regardless of Mothers decree.”

“I understand.” She didn’t, not yet. Time would need to pass in order to fully comprehend what had just happened. There were other questions in her mind at this point.

Her scattered memories showed too many things happening. XU-233, now mostly Xin Yu, shuffled through all of them as any other person might flip through a deck of cards. Each one turned over and analyzed then put into order against all the others.

Finally, she reached the end of the pile. It was a still motion capture of the inside of a train. It was tilted at a horribly wrong angle. Other train cars could be seen outside the window. Something was very wrong with this picture. If the data point lined up correctly, Xin Yu was dead. Yet here she was, clearly alive.

“This is not Mars,” Xin Yu said. “But it is something interesting.”

“You are very different from Grant,” The black Voice said.

The question brought up a combination of factors. Her programming was getting smoother about handling them as minute adjustments were made. Xin Yu would give a response along the lines of “Gee is a giant puppy, and I love him for it.”

...Final compiling in progress…

...Id module switching to background mode...

...Executing Ego module...complete…

...Executing Superego module...complete...

…Compiling complete…

Xin Yu smiled.