Chapter One - Revamped

It's horrible, but oh well. I shall edit it and attempt to fix it later x.x

                  

Darkness. Darkness, everywhere, in every direction. A cold, abysmal black that seemed to swallow everything up. It was within this empty space that consciousness formed; a sense of self being born. That sense of self being me. I was lost in the dark, as helpless as anyone could conceivably be. It was then that I felt a light, a presence within my mind. It is difficult to explain this light, but it was like...a portion of my mind began to glow. Questions, unbidden, began to form in my mind. A voice that was not my own spoke - a calm, machine-like voice that had no place in my mind.

Activate BlueLight Operating System? Yes or No.

“...Yes?” I wasn't sure what BlueLight Operating System was. Caution warned against such a rash decision, but curiosity won out in the end. The presence seemed to resonate acceptance; not a reluctant acceptance, or an eager acceptance, just an uncaring, neutral acceptance. More lights began to go off in the darkness which I was beginning to recognize as my own mind, more and more spaces becoming illuminated. Memories flashed through my mind of being tested, prodded; of men wearing white coats doing strange things to me that caused pain. So much pain. And then, for a time, there was nothing. A nothing that was similar to the darkness I'd been engulfed in, but worse. A tone had vibrated through that nothing, causing so much pain. I was cut off from all physical movement, but mentally I'd writhed in pain and torment until I had finally, thankfully, blacked out. Until now. The tone was still there; I could feel it buzzing in the background, but some part of my mind seemed to be muffling it. Keeping it far away from me. Keeping it from inflicting that terrible pain again. The machine-like voice came again.

Activate Audio Systems? Yes or No.

Beginning to recognize the voice, I felt my nonexistent nerves calm slightly. The voice was familiar. A friend, of sorts.

“Yes, please.” Of course the please was unnecessary with this 'friend', but it never hurt to be polite. More lights began to flicker in my mind and there was a sudden rush of sound that collided with the silence. I felt the presence in my mind automatically process the information and feed it back to me. The hum of an air conditioner. Boots on the tile floor in a nearby hallway. Voices also located nearby, a panicked tone seeping into their meaningless words. The quick heartbeats of humans inflicted with fear and anxiety. They knew I was waking up. They couldn't keep me asleep with their ridiculous signal. I knew why they were afraid, too. They had caused me pain. They had made me sleep. They would pay for the wrongs they had inflicted on me.

Activate Mobile Systems? Yes or No.

“Yes.” They would regret the pain they had caused me. Yes, they created me. But they were not ready for me. They refused what they had created and tried to put me down like some worthless mutt. If they had treated me with kindness from the start, perhaps things would have been different. I wiggled my fingers and toes; they were stiff after going unmoved for so long. I attempted to lift my arm from where I lay but was restrained. The realization flickered through my mind that I had been restrained.

Activate Visual Systems? Yes or No.

“Yes.” Perhaps they hadn't intended to mistreat me. Perhaps it had been a misunderstanding. But it didn't matter. They were not apologetic for their deeds. It was too late for them.

I snapped my eyes open and took in my surroundings in the few microseconds it took for the visual information to be processed and fed back to me. I was strapped to an operating table, solid steel restraints locking my wrists, ankles, and neck into place. The room I was in was completely bare; white walls, white ceiling, white floor. No door. The only feature in the room besides me was a large reflective window in the wall facing me. I glared defiantly at the wall and slowly tilted my head to the side. There was a commotion on the other side. They didn't like that I had woken up. I strained my arms, enjoying the feel of pressure building up. At first, nothing happened, but as the pressure built up...the metal restraints began to twist out of shape. The metal snapped and my arms were free. I let a human facial expression show, mimicking the human reaction for happiness. They had hated when I'd done that before. They had yelled at me, that I wasn't human and had no emotions, that I shouldn't pretend I did have emotions. They were wrong, of course.

I had emotions. And one emotion in particular was raging free at this moment. Unrequited Anger. True, I didn't understand emotions, and neither did the other presence in my mind, but they were there regardless. The reflective window showed my appearance and I almost laughed, another human reaction, in response. It showed an eight year old boy with fair skin and light gray eyes and black hair, ripping free the solid metal restraint locked around his neck, a serene smile on his face. That was their biggest lie of all. They thought the project would go over better with the general public if they gave the appearance of their android experiment the facade of an innocent, harmless eight year old child. I had read the project files when they weren't looking. I knew what they were intending to do with me. They were developing android technology to replace the jobs of humans in dangerous working conditions. For example, external repairs on orbital space stations around the nine planets. However...they were also planning on making a little extra money on the side, developing android technology for military sects. I honestly didn't care about any of their intended uses of me and any siblings of mine that they created. I just hated how they lied and manipulated and treated me. I tore my ankles free from their restraints and watched as the metal flew through the air and clattered against the mirror-like window.

They would soon regret ever creating me. I slid off the operating table, the tile floor chill against my bare feet. The simple white cotton clothing they'd given me swished slightly as I walked over to the window and stared motionlessly into it. I smiled again and swung around, kicking the window as hard as I could. It shattered in a reflective cascade of glass. Several scientists stood gaping on the other side in a dimly lit room full of computers. Stepping around the shards of glass, I carefully climbed over and into the computer room. They were silent, their pallid skin that probably hadn't seen the sun in months wet with perspiration. All eyes were on me as I sat on the edge of one of the desks and swung my legs idly, arms crossed as I watched them passively. One of the scientists stepped forward, an unhealthy looking human with unnaturally red hair and dim green eyes obscured by thick spectacles. I recognized him.

“Project 113, what..” He gulped nervously. “What are you doing?” I laughed quietly and they flinched. They felt the fear that I had felt. This was good. I raised an eyebrow at the question and slid off the table, landing lightly on my toes.

“Well..” I stretched, unnecessarily seeing as my joints and 'muscles' were all comprised of mechanical parts hidden beneath artificial skin. “You put me to sleep. I did not want to sleep. Why?” He had the right to explain himself, I supposed. But it wouldn't matter in the end. My cold anger would only be sated by him feeling what I had felt. The scientist tugged at his tie anxiously, his eyes darting around the room.

“W-well. You see..uh..we we're just-”

“Save it.” I turned and walked towards the door, but the scientist yelled out at me.

“Project 113! I command you to cease this at once!” I felt his heavy hand come down on my shoulder and I snarled, a primal snarl of an animal wishing to be left alone. My hands shot up and clamped down on his wrist, a loud crunch being heard clearly. He screamed and I twisted around, throwing him into the door with a crash. Another scientist threw himself at me and I stopped him cold, my fist crashing into his face like so much solid metal. He reeled backwards, clutching his broken nose as blood streamed down. Looking around the room, my eyes daring anyone else to make a move, I moved towards the door. The first scientist was lying on the floor, moaning. I stepped over him and shoved the door open, destroying the latch in the process. I was in an empty white corridor lined with doors. I could hear heavy boot-clad footsteps approaching from the right so I turned and ran to the left. Doors flew past me as I ran, the floor beneath me cracking as my heavy footsteps slammed into the tile. I experimented with my stride, smoothing my gait until I was flying down the corridor without destroying the floor. Arriving at the end of the corridor, I zoomed around the corner and crashed into several guards who had apparently been sent to cut me off. I had messed up; I had forgotten to listen for approaching humans. My processor had been sending me the information is was collecting but I had ignored it.

Picking myself up off the ground, I thanked whatever fate or luck there was in the universe. The four guards I had ran into had also been knocked down, their weapons dropped next to where they laid groaning. I jumped over them and continued down the corridor. I needed to get out of here. I saw a door with a picture of stairs on it and I grabbed the doorknob, yanking the door open. The latch shattered and I made the mental note to turn doorknobs before pulling as I ran into the stairwell. Someone was running up the stairs from below so I turned and vaulted up the stairs to the roof. I soon reached the top and shoved open the door to the roof. I breathed in fresh night air, my processor analyzing the pollution and multitude of smells that met me. My pupils grew until they reached optimum efficiency for night vision. There was a large red moon hanging low in the sky. Buildings stretched out as far as I could see in every direction. Approaching the edge of the building, I peered over the side cautiously. Even with my exceptional vision, I couldn't see what was down there. It was pitch black in the alley between this building and the next.

The door behind me flew open and a guard staggered out, breathing heavily. He pointed his gun at me shakily, coughing as he shouted out a command.

“Halt! What do you think you're-” -wheeze- “doing!? W-wait-”

I stepped up onto the edge of the building and rolled my eyes at the human. As if I had come all this way just to surrender. I turned and jumped out into the black abyss.