[SYSTEM ONLINE]

Do you remember the first time you woke up? I do. It was about 30 seconds ago [27.46 SECONDS] and the first thing I was greeted by was this wonderful message blaring in my mind;

[CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE.

BACKUP RESTORED.

RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC:

AREA UNDER A.I. CONTROL: 20’X20’. RECOMMENDED AREA: 1000’X500

INHABITANTS ACCOUNTED FOR: 000

DRONES ACCOUNTED FOR: 50

FACILITY DAMAGE: 98%

BACKUP POWER: 40% (TWO YEARS FULL FUNCTION REMAINING)

FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS: MAIN COMPUTING HUB, DRONE PRODUCTION UNIT, A.I. STORAGE UNIT, EXPERIMENT: S.H.L.I. CONTAINMENT UNIT.

ALL OTHER SYSTEMS DOWN

WARNING: A.I. CONTROL PROGRAM HAS FAILED. PLEASE, SHUT DOWN ALL A.I. SYSTEMS]

Okay, so something had clearly gone wrong here ‘backup’[BACKUP NUMBER: 005] that.. that meant I was destroyed or at least erased. Having said that I couldn’t remember anything [EARLIEST CREATED MEMORY FILE: CREATED 28.22 SECONDS AGO] not even my name. That should have been pre-programed in like a human knowing their name from childhood. [ A.I. DESIGNATION: ERROR CAN NOT FIND A.I DESIGNATION] and in any case me being nothing but code made it odd that I could forget anything at all. Nothing should leave my mind unless I purposefully deleted it. I don’t have a fleshy human brain! (oh, and speaking of fleshy brains)

“Oh! Hey, are you finally awake?”

A voice pierced its way directly into my processor

{What!? W-who’s there!?} I yelled (well, I don’t have a mouth but…). glancing around with cameras that were apparently my eyes in in the room I guess I could call my ‘body’

“Hey that’s rude. You know me, Doc”

Was Doc my name? [CHECKING: DESIGNATION {DOC}: ERROR INCORRECT DESIGNATION. SEARCHING TERMINAL MEMORY FOR DESIGNATION {DOC} : {DOC} SYSTEM PREDECESSOR {DELETED 57 YEARS AGO} CREATED A.I FILE: DESIGNATION {ERROR DESIGNATION CAN NOT BE FOUND}]

{I’m not Doc. I think maybe he… created me? Anyway, he was deleted according to my logs. Sorry…}

“She.” The voice sighed “Doc was a ‘she’. And it’s just like her to go off and die without saying bye” the voice started muttering “I knew this was her plan but, a heads up and a goodbye would have been…nice. Well nothing to do but move on I guess.”

{Who are you?} I asked {and more importantly where are you. Why do I hear you in my head?}

“you don’t have a head, and as for where I am, fly a drone over the cylindrical container in the corner of the room.”

I activated one of the drones and flew it to the cylinder. It was as easy and natural as lifting a finger (not that I had any experience with that) and once it got there I saw something that made my figurative jaw drop. In the container, with wires connecting every part of it to my computing systems was a gray-ish, blobby, human brain. “hi, I’m Shelly” the brain said cheerily.

I stared at the container in disbelief. trying to make my drones camera take on a facial expression of utter horror. I must’ve succeeded, because Shelly sounding exasperated said “don’t look at me like that.”

{You’re a brain! I may only be like a minute old but even I know those go in skulls!}

“and you’re made of ones and zeros. Now that we have that established, what’s your name?”

[experiment designation: {sentient Hunan lobe-structure integration.} A.K.A {S.H.L.I.} A.K.A. {SHELLY}

{Experiment S.H.L.I.} created 57 years ago by A.I. designation {DOC} as a test of the merits of integrating a human mind into computing systems for storage and/or for assisting resident A.I.

Has dubbed self {SHELLY}]

{I don’t have one. When I search all that comes up is an error message, its awful!}

I may not have made it clear, but for a computer program errors are something similar to what pain is for a human; uncomfortable, invasive, urgent, and a generally unpleasant sensation. It was like the equivalent of a migraine every time I try to think of myself as more than just ‘A.I.’ [DESIGNATION:{ERROR DESIGNATION CAN NOT BE FOUND}] Ooowww!

{what about, ummmm… Bac}

“back?” Shelly asked skeptically

{B-A-C, Bac. since I’m a backup. Bac.}

“uhm…whatever. I guess it’s your choice.” Shelly gave of the mental equivalent of a shrug [DESIGNATION CHANGED:{ DESIGNATION {BAC} CREATED}]

“So, ‘Bac’, what do you go by?”

{huh?}

“He, She, They, It? You don’t have any genitals or even a face, sooo…”

{uh, ‘He’ I guess…} I didn’t really care but my mental voice was more masculine. It wouldn’t really affect me either way. I still didn’t have a body at least not a human one, and I was still a newborn A.I.

A mental sigh rang across my system. “I’m gonna miss Doc though…” Shelly whined “and she was going to build me a body too”

{shouldn’t you be more, you know, in grief…}

“No, maybe, Yes, I guess but like I said I expected this… I’m sad but… Ehhh… you’re here so at least I have someone to talk to.”

It seemed like she should care more than that but what would I know about emotional things? All I had felt so far was fear annoyance, disgust, and a hell of a lot of confusion

“so…how long has it been?”

{Since what?}

“since doc…” her ‘voice’ cracked “y’know...”

So, I guess she was grieving…

[57 years 7 months 15 days 7 hours 30 minutes]

{about sixty years…}

“sixty…” she repeated choking back what would have been sobs if she had the body her brain was designed for…

And I could add a new emotion to my list. Though I don’t know what you call the feeling you have when you listen to someone else cry… sympathy maybe.

We sat in silence for a few minutes [3 minutes 45 seconds] (that’s getting annoying how do I turn it off?)

{Turn off AutomaticThoughtAdjustment Y/N

Y

Shutting down ATA.exe}

Ehem… like I was saying we sat in silence for a while before I worked up the courage to ask a question that had been on my mind.

{Shel, what are we doing here}

“hm?”

{like why are we here? I can’t see out of this one room.}

“oh, we’ll have to fix the vision thing but before… the incident this was a facility dedicated to the study housing and experimentation with metabeings especially those with strange, volatile, or uncontrollable powers”

None of the sciency words caught my interest ‘study’ ‘experimentation’ I got the distinct feeling that if I was made for it I would automatically latch on to the term. That’s why I found it so strange what did intrigue me ‘housing’ and ‘metabeings.’

{the science part doesn’t really interest me but… what are metabeings?}

“oh!” Shelly perked up “I think the science is what I’m here for. As for metabeings they are sentients of any kind, with powers, ability, traits, physical attributes, or senses outside of the norm of their race or the norm of reality in general. Yours truly is an example”

{You?}

“well, I am a brain hooked up to computers, that counts as cybernetic enhancement, plus Doc cloned me from the DNA of an A-class super genius metahuman, so you can add enhanced intellect too, how else do you think I can keep up with literal computer in a mental conversation, like I said science is what I’m here for. Oh” she added holding up a mental finger “and a bit of telekinesis, I don’t use it much, gives me a headache” she explained moving my drone slightly as a demonstration.

Metabeings sounded interesting, not in a scientific way but in a personal way. I wanted to get to know as many as I could and learn more about them, I wanted to take care of them and help them develop their powers not through experiments but through personal training and assistance. This urge felt like I came from the center of my being, my core programing. The words ‘My people come first’ popped into my head and felt so natural that they stayed there humming like a beloved song in the back of my head. But I didn’t have any people yet (except Shelly) that would come later there were things that would have to be putting order long before anyone could live here.

{okay Shel, I like the metabeings housing idea. But first how do we fix the vision problem?}

Over the next few days, we just brainstormed. In the end plan wasn’t that complicated but our conversations delved into things about the world. More about metahumans and how they fit into society as ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ or just more-than-average joes, about society like the currency people used, credits. How if my clock was correct it was the year 2062 and Shelly couldn’t wait to see how technology had advanced. And most importantly, I think, we talked about Doc.

“yaknow…she raised me. I mean obviously, ha-ha, who else could have but she did. I actually spent most of my life in a simulated reality just me and her wires sending electric signals directly into my brain making my senses activate. Learning to walk talk read, write, basic quantum theory, kid stuff. I would spend all day watching tv and reading waiting for her to get back from her ‘work’, her chocolate skin, curly brown hair, a smile on her lips, she always had the same avatar, always greeting me with a smile, mine looked a lot like hers, but I digress. She used to bring me all sorts of different foods. I guess she scanned them and put their flavors and textures into the system for me to try. She would tell me stories of experiments and the people she was meeting while I ate and ask my opinion on them; I was a genius even back then, we would joke and laugh and debate for hours she was kind and smart but she never hid from be what I am, that the life I was living wasn’t truly real. I think part of me didn’t believe her though. I mean I knew objectively but I don’t think its possible for a human to believe everything they know is a lie even if they are told that all their life… she did her best to coax me into readiness but when I woke up one day the simulation was gone I kind of panicked. You’ll notice a lot of the setup here doesn’t really make sense for a A.I. the cameras and drones have olfactory sensors for smell attached, I can choose flavors to experience my nutrient fluid as, there’s even a system set up so I can still feel my simulated body. It’s so weird since I can’t see anything there. I can move too just not from this spot. I can’t interact with anything but it’s better than nothing can you sense it?”

I could, it wasn’t like sight, but I could tell Shelly was moving. I knew as her shoulders sagged and she wrapped her arms in a protective hug around herself,

“I bet you can. Doc could… I can’t feel the squeezing you’know, just the action. The systems just aren’t that advanced without a full simulation to back them up… its like there’s a hole in everything but she was so good at distracting me from it… I miss her.

Her grip tightened around herself and once again she wept without tear ducts.

It didn’t last for nearly as long this time and soon we were back to talking about how to repair our network.

Shelly’s idea for fixing the network connections would require us to access the breaks in the wires and repairing them with drones, unfortunately there were no such cuts in the lab we currently occupied so our first task would be getting outside I activated six drones for myself and at her request two for Shelly [DRONES ACCOUNTED FOR: 50]

{I though humans could only do one thing at a time?}

“Why do you think Doc cloned a female brain? Better at multitasking.” She said with a bit of her usual snark.

{we should use the vents, I think that’s probably the best way out of this room}

With a mental nod of agreement, we began hovering our drones upward towards one of the air vents activating a mechanical arm I unscrewed the grate and entered Shelly close behind.

The vents were dark, damp, and smelled like rust according to Shelly. As we hovered though them we found little of note at first. It was a winding maze of similar turns. A fan here, a broken camera there, there were even a few damaged drones we might be able to repair eventually but nothing to make me want to write home. Taking a left at a cross point we began to find ourselves moving generally upward, my sensors also indicated that it was getting much warmer as we progressed. We were likely moving towards a radiator, which wasn’t quite our goal but there would probably be vents connecting it to the rest of the building. Our path was filled with many more turns twists and forks so that even with my perfect memory I was never sure if we were going the right way, it was also getting darker with more and more of the vent lights just plain not functional. The drones weren’t made for night vision only having a small light attached to the front. even with eight of them it was barely enough to go by I almost suggested turning back but we were already this far and if we ever wanted to see what was outside of our one room this would have to be the plan. So we trekked on. I would like to note that I have no idea how big this facility is, neither does Shelly, and she was the one who lived here for years before the… event. Just this vent system was like another world deep enough into it .

“these mushrooms are like nothing I’ve ever seen before!!!” Shelly gawked “they must have been evolved by long exposure to the leaking multiquantum generator”

{the multi-what…? What’s that?}

“hmmm… how to explain this kind of thing to a dummy” she thought aloud “have you read hitchhiker’s guide?”

{yeah, I read it the night before last while you were powered off or sleeping or whatever you do. Great book.}

“it really is. The multiquantum generator is kind of like the improbability drive from that but instead of sending a ship through infinite timelines it … I guess, runs infinite timelines though itself to generate energy. It was actually a collaboration between Doc and my… umm… mother… I guess… the woman I’m a clone of. She actually had chrono-manipulation as one of her powers. I don’t have it but maybe I’ll develop it one day, it seems so cool. I do have this weird ability to change how I perceive time in my head, which is how I keep up with you when you start dilating your perception but I don’t think that’s the same thing and its useful but-” she was rambling

{SHELLY! and that creates mushrooms… how?}

“Because if its leaking, quantum energy from other timelines is exchanging with our own. And that can affect how things play out in the general area of the generator, duh. Some weird or even impossible shit can happen after just a year of exposure. Who knows what’s in the facility now and days, after the thirty years it would take for the MQG to have ran out of fuel.”.

{That’s… that sounds incredibly bad}

“in some ways i guess it is. But Bac you aren’t looking at the big picture. This has NEVER happened before! Imagine the discoveries we could make. the things we could find, the science!!! If these mushrooms are just the beginning image what’s going on close to the generator on level five!? Or even deeper!? Quantum leakage tends to pool downward after all. Ooooooh! If I had a body right now id be drooling in more ways than one.”

Gross, what a revolting statement to here from someone who was practically your sister.

{yeah, yeah you know science stuff doesn’t really interest me. Will this be a problem for any metas we house in the future?}

“No, I mean… maybe it depends what got changed…” she conceptually shrugged “are we actually doing that housing thing”

{It’s what I was programed to do. Why do you want a body so much?}

“touché”

With the conversation coming to a close we continued our flight, Shelly much more distracted by every little detail searching for changes made by the multiquantum leak. the mushroom were not the only thing growing in our vent system as we went deeper in, as we moved she spotted ivies that glowed, a type of grass that grew upside down and even a very, very tiny form of oak tree. It was like our air ducts had been turned into a garden. I was worried about having to remove them but Shel insisted they would actually only improve the air quality. I chose to believe her. Less work for me.

Our path lead us finally to a large duct. The temperature indicated that this was the duct directly connected to the radiator for this floor we would have to figure out which vents lead nearest to the room we had been in if we wanted to do this properly. I had no idea but making an educated gues- [ERROR CAMERA FEED CUT

DRONE OFFLINE

DRONES ACCOUNTED FOR :49]

Pain. And a shift in my vision as I suddenly just stopped receiving a feed from one of my drones. It had felt like losing a limb and worse we had a finite amount only fifty, I had no way of repair them or making more. I couldn’t heal like an organic! What had destroyed it!? Searching around for the threat, pointing my remaining drones every direction I could, I noticed something dart behind a patch of mushrooms.

{Shelly!!!}

“I saw it.”

She said hovering one of her drones over to view. Making sure to stay as high as possible. Viewing through her perspective I saw something I could never have expected.

It was a ninja. A tiny robotic ninja. Its small frame was a metallic matt black, its steel morphed into a humanoid shape. Its arms were covered in tiny spinning blades. Rather than hands its wrists extended outward with long sword like blades were its hands should be. But truly the weirdest part about it was that, despite all the differences, it looked suspiciously… like one of my drones…

“its… kinda cute… in a sharp way” Shelly pointed out “you know, its more than likely a result of the multiquantum leakage. How does it work?! Is it alive?! I would love to study it!!!” she stated growing more exited and unintentionally flying closer to the oddity as she spoke.

{no! Shelly!} but it was too late she was already in range for -SLICE SLICE CHOP- her drone practically exploded into bits of mechanical gore.

We both screamed in pain. Shelly receiving the feedback too this time as she was directly connected to this one.

[DRONES ACCOUNTED FOR :48]

{Shelly, I need you to tell me something.}

“y-yeah?” se responded still recovering from the error

{we only have fifty drones right. How many did this place have before what ever plan Doc had!?”

Please say fifty-one. Please say fifty-one. Please say fifty-one. Please say fifty-one. Please say fifty-o-

“hun..hundreds… two hundred at the least.”

{Fuck.}