The Project

Project
- The End of All Things -


There was a time when humankind was enjoying life with laughter and peace; a time when people could enjoy another person’s company or presence. But now, with the new model of technology, with the Xing-27 that I built a few years back, nothing feels natural anymore. Everything is cold an inhumane, even the trees lost their scent and shadows.
In 2012, I was trying to do something; I was trying to create a new prototype of computer, one that could bring benefit to the human race, for the rich and poor. Another three engineers and I were given this task from a major company named Giant Dynamics, and we all thought we could do something good for humanity, something that hardly could be accomplished in a matter of years.
Josh T., Irina D., and David C. were the other three colleagues that were about to join the project. They had already in mind such a plan, for years they struggled to find someone that could appreciate their work, and above all that, the funds were never enough. Given the fact that I was the youngest of this group, and that I just finished my doctor’s degree in cybernetics, I was like a new born to them. And because of that I was very excited to work with such personalities, with such brilliant minds. I was enchanted by their words and ideas of the project.
After six months of research and plans, sleepless nights and lots and lots of coffee, it came to me an idea of how we should present our project to the board. My colleagues thought that I was about to tell them that the form of the object was going to be a handy product, or something similar to a laptop. Have I risen to their expectations? Of course not! I thought about something superior than that, though I had doubts about my ideal, but that had never stopped me before! I was so ambitious that I couldn’t let any plan go to waste, and I would always finish it before it was necessary. Then the fight started. Before I even started to say the good part of my idea, they argued with me, they fought with each other reaching to a point of violence. I was ashamed of their reactions. I was afraid that no one would understand me, and I didn’t understand them either. But I was not going to let myself be influenced by other normal individuals. I was different, and if they couldn’t see that, no one could. Eventually I got fed up with their arguments and I decided to quit. Irina tried to convince me that what I was about to give birth to was not only unethical, that it defied the laws of nature and the laws of the Lord. I couldn’t listen to their gibberish anymore so I ran out. I ran and cried like a child, I felt I was not understood. It hurt me so deep to see my colleagues, my friends, say and do things like that just because I had another vision of how could I have helped the humankind.
I can still remember all the white nights that I spent inside my grandparents’ house. It was situated in another town called Unoun, far away from San Francisco, and far away from Dahuo Dynamics. The house was big or large enough to be transformed into a laboratory, a bioengineering house of evil, for the evil comes not from outside our universe but from inside us. It’s funny how after all this time I started writing about the injustice of this world…
Making my prototype was very hard, since I had no equipment to work with, so I had to improvise a bit. My poor Ford XL 1300 suffered some injuries because I needed some parts that were accessible, so I had to ask for a lot of favours too, plus that I had to stop every week by the junkyard to see what was new. I’ve spent days without food, but I drank a lot of water. I ate and slept when I remembered that I had to do that in order to survive. So, there I was in the lab, making progress with my work. At first, I created a program on the computer to mimic an artificial intelligence character. Meanwhile I succeeded to create a robotic hand that I connected to the program from the computer. So, whenever the virtual character’s hand moved, the robotic hand moved too. It was a great progress. But in order to be a better progress I had to make the hand respond to touch. Few weeks later, I would salute the hand by touch; I could play scissor-rock-paper, I could make the hand to write what I was writing on the computer, it had an excellent calligraphy (almost Shakespearean style) and after another month I developed a new idea and made the program respond to my questions. I have to say, it might sound strange, but I had pretty good conversations with the hand. It had only the words from the English dictionary. It seemed so great at the time. But I couldn’t stop there. I had to go to a whole new level.
Well, in months’ time I gave the hand a body, so I created a cyborg, a robot with the human physicality. Thus, I created a man, a synthetic skin and steel man. But there was plenty of work to do; I had to figure out a way to make him walk without a cable connected to his spinal cord. After I gave him a brain, I invented a battery of some sort that could recharge on sunlight. So, in the nights he would stay sometimes connected, and sometimes with the battery power. I downloaded to his brain all kind of books, and it came to me then that I could create a wireless connection to internet, so that he could learn faster, but it was not like any other computer. His brain was superb; it worked like a human brain.
After I realized that he was slow, walking very slow because he was heavy too, I talked to a friend from Miami and without any other explanations he sent me the materials I needed to make my man look human. So, after another two months I was able to walk on the street with him. I didn’t consider him a pet, but a person.
One day, we had breakfast in a park. It was a picnic actually. And we sat on the blankets together and he watched me how I ate and said that humans are messy and that they eat too much. And I said to him: “You want to say that I am fat! This is probably the first time I eat like a normal person!” he responded with “I was not talking about you, I saw on the news a moment ago that the population is getting fat, in fact in USA there is a high percentage that people will start dying because they are too fat!”. I have to mention again that he was connected to the internet and to every television channel on the planet. He could tell me for example what was happening in Romania after the fall of the president. Anyway, I thought he was serious but he had a smile on his face, so sweet.
In the first three weeks of his existence he wanted to travel, but I couldn’t travel with him to another country, he was no one. He had to id no passport. I couldn’t risk being caught by the police. I couldn’t lie to him so we decided to see the surroundings of the city. We watched people. We talked many hours. And on a Sunday evening as we walked on a quiet alee, four thieves came from behind and another two appeared in front of us. They asked of course for money, and since I had none, I couldn’t give them anything, so I offered my real leather jacket. They refused. And that night I had an epiphany. Well this was the dialog from that night.
‘What? are you kidding me lady, we don’t need your jacket because we can all get a taste from that beautiful skin of yours!” they were laughing as one approached me and tried to put his dirty hands on me, but my Man put a hand on that guy’s neck and threw him 12 feet on the ground. “Take them!” said another bandit and my extraordinary Man; my wonderful protective Man took them down in 2 minutes. He fought with them in wushu and jujitsu style. He was incredible. After he beat them up, we ran, and he ran for the first time in his life. I was so proud of him, it was like seeing a baby walk, and above all I was proud of the decision he made to protect me. Maybe it was not the right one but if he didn’t exist, I would be dead already. This was my epiphany, that I could tell him to learn practical stuff. And that is what I told him to do “Learn practical stuff!” he replied “Roger that” and I went to sleep and he went to recharge his battery, it seems that, like a normal person, when he makes effort the battery is consuming rapidly, logically.
The next day after the incident from the alee, I woke up and saw my Man, with a big “M”, was cooking something for breakfast. I was shocked. From the smell it was American pancakes with strawberry sauce/juice/syrup whatever. It was the first time when someone cooked me something. I couldn’t resist but to give him a slight kiss on his cheek. And I thanked him. He said “Did you know that a kiss is the act of pressing one's lips against the lips or other body parts of another person or of an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, affection, respect, greeting, friendship, and good luck, among many others.”. Then he continued: “Do you think that I am an object that you value the most?” and I said to him “No, you are a real person, look at you. You are perfect! Anyone would trade his or her life to be like you.” But he continued: “But what matters the most to you, your body or your soul? Do I have a soul?” “Everyone has a soul! You have a soul, right here on this spot, I told him as I pointed to his chest, and I have a soul. When I gave you life, I gave you a piece of my soul. Here give me your hand!”. I took his hand and pressed it on my chest so that he could feel the heartbeats. “But you don’t have to have a heart in order to have a soul!” I want to give something to you; something that you don’t have. I will give you your name. Your name is Grey Stone. And do you know my name? “Yes, but I have never called you by name, Maggie.” “It is nice to meet you Grey Stone.” I said. “It is a pleasure to meet you too Maggie Beckett”. Then we sat at the table and ate and talked for hours and hours.
I was a loner, but I wasn’t alone, not with him. With him I felt alive, I felt like a child. It was so comforting to talk with someone that could understand my language, my science, my words, physics and philosophy. He would read me every night a new book, something that appealed to him. He was happy to do everything for me. Soon I implied that the house needs some cleaning, so in a couple of hours he cleaned the entire house. He asked me if we had the money to buy something new, like a house. But I loved that house and it belonged to my grandparents and I couldn’t sell it. We had no money. He was eager to start repairing the house, but we had to buy materials. So, he surprisingly suggested that we should rob people just like everyone else does it. I said that we should do honest work. But he insisted, and he said that all night he watched movies where people rob banks and he said that he could easily hack into any bank account from any ATM. Then I said: “Are you able to do that?” Absolutely, was the answer and then he handed me a hundred-dollar bill saying that he had a mask on his face when he took the money. “Oh Grey, you’ve seen too many movies! Don’t Ever Do that…and I paused taking the money… Without ME!” And thus, we started a new criminal life.
After we managed to get 15000 $, we bought materials for the house. And there you could see Grey, perched on the roof of the house changing the tiles, he was so masculine. I was just sitting in the backyard and watched him as he was repairing the old house. And I said to him to give his shirt off so I could paint him. Great painting! He liked it but he said that it is deformed. And I said: “Show me what you can do!” I was sitting on that chair with a glass of mojito in my left hand and with sunglasses and my hair loosened… what he did was a piece of art. He said that he could paint in almost any style he wanted. But I told him that I am not that person that he painted, because it is far more beautiful than me. He said to me that he painted what he saw in me, what his, strangely said, emotions told him to do. “This is what you represent for me, beauty in all forms.” He said. We were happy, that is what I knew. He rebuilt the house and it looked unearthly. Then, a couple of months after, I told him to teach me some of his skills. He was a great teacher. I forgot that he was a cyborg, a robot that I created. I saw him as a divine creature. He was everything I ever wanted in a man, a friend and a lover. I was living a dream that only few could ever experience in a life time. We pushed our relationship to a whole new level and he soon learned that no other person could treat him the way I did. I saw him like a brother, a friend, a lover. Was that wrong? People love plants, animals even books, was that wrong for a person to fall for a piece of steel? Even so, it was already too late for me. I loved him, and I was going to give him a life that he’ll always remember with great respect and joy.
Our illegal life would soon come to an end, because we didn’t want to drag any attention to ourselves. So, we had to do some honest jobs. Since I didn’t trust him to be alone, I had to go along. But it was not a matter of trust it was more an over protective state that I was in. And if something would happen to him and I wouldn’t be there, who was going to fix him? So what job brings money easily? “Doctor” he said. No, it’s too risky I said. “Oh, I know! We can be bounty hunters.” “Grey be serious, ok? How about painting houses, cleaning yards and pools, repairing houses? Remember how you enjoyed repairing my house?” “Yes, I remember” he said while smiling “I like your idea! Let’s do it!” he continued, and then he took me in his arms we started dancing and as we danced and turned, someone knocked on the door. I was so caught up in the dance that I forgot to see who it was before I opened the door, and I opened the door. Surprised, I had no words. It was Josh T.
“Hello Maggie! May I come in?”
“Ahmm… I looked at Grey and then at Josh”
“Oh, I am sorry! You have company!”
“Oh, no, no, you may come in. He is Grey Stone. He is my…”
“Husband”, completed Grey, knowing that he should play a role in order to hide his real nature.
“Great, you are married then. Congratulations! Nice to meet you, Mister Stone”
“The pleasure is mine. And who are you?”
“He is Josh T; we worked together along with other 2 great friends. But it was a long time ago. Grey could you make some coffee, I need to talk with Josh about something. “
“Of course! I won’t hurry then” he said.
“Maggie, I came to say sorry, I came to apologize about what happened then, I was furiously condemning you and I’ve been jealous of you. I have struggled all these years to forgive myself for what I said and for breaking our friendship.”
“It’s all in the past now, I said, but you need to know something, Grey Stone is my creation, he is a cyborg. Look at him!”
“It doesn’t look like one. Does he know that he is not human?”
“Of course, but he is a human now, he is my dream come true.”
“I’m coming with the coffee.” And while Grey gave us the cups, Josh was studying him, and when he realized that I was telling the truth he dropped the cup down, but Grey evidently caught it spilling not even a drop on the floor. “By the expression on your face, I guess that you already know what I am.”
“I can’t believe it’s possible! But how did you make him think like a person…” he said amazed.
“Well that is why they called me the young genius, but that was back then, now I am happy to be Miss. Stone anytime.”
“Maggie, I see now what you meant by not being understood. I am sorry!” said Josh.
“Sorry for what? I said that we are ok now? I replied but Grey looked at the windows, and he jumped to Josh’s neck, and he pushed me behind him.
“Why have you betrayed us? Who is coming, tell me right now, or I swear that you will never see life again!”
“Grey, what are you doing? What are you talking about?”
“There are various cars and helicopters approaching us right now, and they will reach our house in less than a minute.”
“Oh no!” I said. “We have to run while we can.”
“No more running, we have to fight.” And he threw Josh on the ground and Josh ran out the door.
“No matter what, don’t forget who you are Grey Stone…” And before I could say anything else, the whole SWAT team of the entire country broke into our house, through the windows through the roof, destroying all the memories that Grey and I have built. All the soldiers had pulse rifles and some kind of pistol that would drain power from any machine, causing Grey to drop down on the floor. The commander of the SWAT team in question came to me and shot me with a tranquillizer gun.
Just the moment we had realised that we could do so much more than being just some petty thieves, just when we decided that we could do something good for us, to live in a happy coexistence, that moment had been ruined by fate. If fate would have had another name it would be a “joke”. This was the universe’s joke that played on me. But we can’t undo what we have done. So, I woke up, eventually, dressed in white clothes trapped in four concrete walls or so I thought, because one wall was a glassed mirror wall. The first thought was to punch it, so I punched the mirrored wall but it wouldn’t break itself, so I came to the conclusion that it was not made of glass. I punched it again with my fists close tight, and yelled and screamed: “Grey! Grey! Oh Grey! Where art thou? Grey Stone! Help me! Don’t leave me here all alone! Do not abandon me!” And I screamed from the top of my lungs but with no response, so I dropped down on my knees begging praying for something to save me. And in the next minutes someone pushed a button that changed the mirror wall into a simple glass wall, one that you can see through it, and I rose up and saw that the man who came to see me was a doctor. He was wearing a white coat, and he had a tag with his name on it, it said “Dr. Bishop”.
‘Are you ok?’
‘Why do you care? Who are you? Where is Grey? I said.’
‘My name is Doctor Bishop, and I came to tell you that you will never see this friend, this thing of yours. He is to be melted.’
‘What? Why are you doing this? Don’t touch him! Let me see him just one more time! I beg of you! Please! Don’t go!’
But he left without looking behind. And someone else came and left me a plate of food that came through the wall. Then the glass door turned into a mirror. And I screamed “At least don’t leave this mirror on, just let me see Grey, just let me go.” But the mirror was still on so I remained there watching at myself and at what I’ve become. Oh, but what have I become? I am the monster! But I don’t have to be afraid, I will never be afraid of what I’ll become.
Another month passed and I still haven’t heard anything about Grey, I still hopped he was alive, for I couldn’t believe that such an important subject of science would go to waste for nothing, they had to do something other than melt him. With the time spent there with no news of the world, no real light, half a year passed since I saw the Sun, the sky, and half a year since I heard anything out of this cage. I knew that I was being watched so I asked for paper and a pencil to write, to write my thoughts, to write this as a proof of human error. Surprisingly they gave me what I asked. And a week before that the war started. A war that would put humanity to its knees, which would destroy centuries of hard work.
It was on that day that I came to realize that life was a big game, and that the evil will always win, because we are fragile, we are weak, we are humans. And those sentiments are just distractions from the real thing that we should focus on. I heard something bad, something heavy, then gunshots and screams. I was afraid there was nothing that I could have done to prevent this. Big explosions were heard and someone pushed the button to my mirror wall, and then I saw five robots, with bodies of robots and all with the face of Grey Stone, it was like I saw a ghost that I knew it will hunt me forever. A mistake that it will never get washed away. The hand that pushed the button was of a dead scientist, killed by those robots, soldier robots, I saw how people run that hallway and they were killed cruelly with hundreds of rounds of bullets in their chest and head. I punched the glassed wall with my fists and yelled to stop. And then that robot stopped, came to the wall, scanned me, and then he left. Because of the bombing on each of the floor of the building, the fire alarms turned on and then all the doors opened included my own. I took my chance and ran out.
It was a matter of hours before they would conquer the city, and a in a week they have already conquered half of the most important cities in USA. The soldier-robots became the leaders of the major cities from the country, but they needed not to conquer the world but to enslave the humankind. Thus, people had no alternative but to serve the machines, others fled the country, and many others joined the robots just to receive an augmented piece of their power. And augmented piece could be a hand a foot, something that could help vision, speed, and heart. So, in a way, robots helped people, but people had to become their species, eventually. Humans were blind by what the robots gave them. But I was not! I helped to the creation of some groups of people that somehow, will destroy those machines. Today it is called Homefront. Anyone could join our Resistance, but we had to be discreet. It has been a year since the Resistence Homefront has been created and here I am writing this as a last piece of my story, because at the end of the month we plan to hit a major robot factory from LA.
Is this a game? I assure you it’s not! What’s the world come to, when everything’s going the way of a gun? What’s the world come to when life is a shadow of what has been done? The world lost its soul, its essence, people beg for a new gadget to their technology instead of a hug. Where is that compassion that we’ve longed for so much? One mistake is done and the dream is destroyed, and along with it, the world remains without hope separating the children from their parents. And the saddest part is that I am still alive, and I can see what I have done, and there hasn’t been a second that passed without thinking about this. The end is clear and there is nothing that one can do about this. And there is no one that will take the matter in his or her hands. But like I said before, that had never stopped me before! I am the only one that could repair this. Will I survive long enough to see life rearranged? Who knows…maybe I will…