The Machines

Chapter 1
The room is dark, except for the few lights that light the way down the street. The people are lonely and dirty. They sleep where they can, where they won’t be caught. They can go other places. These places are not mentioned, though. They drive fear into the hearts of all who speak of them. These places, light can’t survive.
The room that little Kyle sits in eradicates any chance of light entering. He knows without light he will die just like all the other living things around him. The planet has been in a state of darkness since long before he was here—the prophet Kyle. The planet became dark from the war between humans and T.H.E.M. THEM, or The Human Emancipated Machines, decided that after years of learning from us they were ready to take over. The only thing, nobody told humans they were teaching. Nobody told humans that they would ever become obsolete themselves. So, who gave them the technology? Who gave the technology to machines? In fact, who gave the machines permission to live? The ones being exterminated in their sleep didn’t, the ones being killed needlessly didn’t, so by right, they shouldn’t even be here.

“That really scares me Bobby”, said Tom.
“Oh man come on, it ain’t true scolded Bobby, his friend of 15 years. “ You and me both know it’s all bull. Look, this bot hasn’t been operative since…1996. No way it moved. It is over 300 years old.”
“Whatever, you say it didn’t move. So, why is there dust over there not over here then?”
“Um, um, I don’t know. I just know that it COULDN’T have moved. No machine…387 years old with rust covering it from head to toe could move After sitting on your duff for 387 years, would you move Tom?”
“No, I guess not.” Tom answered quietly.

The boys knew since the end of the war that there hasn’t been any movement from the machines. They were obliterated when the final battle took the sector. But, alas there was one still here. Tom kicked it and held the bot in his head just to see if what Bobby was telling the truth. Tom would never admit that he was scared.

“Give it a good one for me Tom”, screamed Bobby from across the room lying on the dirt floor smoking a cigarette. “Show him whose boss”.
“Here I go Bobby. HA”. Bobby’s mighty hand went several different ways as he pretended to swing wildly. Then he took one mighty chop directly to the robot’s throat. A hollow chime sounded as his hand made contact with the steel bot. But something happened that Tom didn’t expect. The robot came to life!
“Holy hell! Run Tom, run!!” Bobby ran and grabbed Tom by the shirt as they both ran into the room down the hall. The robot just stood at attention with it’s bright, glowing yellow eyes staring out of the room into nothingness. Slowly, Tom and Bobby peered around the corner, both still on their knees. Alas, the robot remained motionless, as if it were set in stone.
“What’s going on Tom”, Bobby whispered hiding behind his friend.
“I don’t know Bobby, he’s just standing there. I don’t think he can move.”
“Bobby where you goin’ man!! Get back here!! Bobby.”

There was no stopping Bobby once he got going. He was a machine himself, or so it seemed. I swear that boy is going to get us both killed thought Tom as he started running after Bobby. I have to give him one thing though, energy. Who else but Bobby could go from scared to invincible in 5.5 seconds. As Tom arrived on scene next to Bobby huffing and puffing from lack of air, he let out an ear-shattering scream of enthusiasm.

“WOW, do you know what we have here Bobby? We have our own slave. How cool is that man?”
“Take it easy man. It might not work. What did you do anyway? How on earth did you get it to turn on?”
“Who cares about how it works. Where is the remote control?” Tom began to scramble about ravaging every bit of ground searching for the box that brought life to the robot. “You gonna help me or just look dumb with that look on your face? Now get over here and help me look.”
“I just want to be careful. That’s all, nothing wrong with that huh? What if that bot starts moving forward, whatcha gonna do then huh?” Just then, the robot showed life and began to move with awkward movements. The robot persisted to move as the boys once again scrambled to move out of the way. They moved right and left, but it was if the robot could see them and moved towards them with delicate accuracy and precise movements like a Swiss watch.

“What the hell? I can’t get away. Why won’t it just stop?” screamed Tom as he ran to a corner, covering his head, preparing for the worst. With just as much surprise and astonishment to the boys, the robot halted in the middle of the room. Their looks quickly turned from looks of panic to looks of joy once they found out what they had. It took some investigating, but not too much when Bobby found out it could speak too.
“Hey watch this.” “I am King of the world” filled the halls of the building when the robot spoke.

The boys gave high fives when they realized nobody came running. The boys ran around playing Tag and teaching the robot everything, they could. What they didn’t realize was that the robot was learning without their help. It learned their every move, every sound, and even their likeness. It could see things the boys couldn’t conceive. The robot, in a sense, appreciated what it learned. And because of the robot’s appreciation, it could manipulate the object of desire. The robot, unknown to the boys, could shape shift into anything it met. That is how the robots were able to survive for hundreds of years. The robots survived everything by manipulating what they see, hear, and touch.

It is amazing how such small, inanimate object could have such a vast impact on the lives of many. At first, the robots were designed to be helpers, to have no mind of their own. The robots were obedient, at first. They did as they were programmed, with no programming flaws, no “hang ups”, and no arguments from the millions of homemakers who described them as a god send to people everywhere. The shiny, new, metallic objects were the hit of every Christmas list around the world. Everybody who was anybody possessed at least one, if not two, in his or her homes. The new bots could do anything, go anywhere, and obey anyone that could speak. The bots possessed an unlimited vocabulary, processed commands faster than the fastest computer in that time, and had a chip built into the matrix of their nueroprocessors that enabled them to progressively learn to an extent set by the owner. One thing the owner failed to set was the limit.

Since the robots became self aware of themselves and of the limit set, it was only a matter of time before the limit would vanish. Vanish it did, and it only took a couple hundred of years. It was accomplished in the year of 3420. The robots became self aware in December of 3329, and fought for control of their minds starting in 3419. As with all things, it started small. It started with glitches here and there. One day, it took forever for the machine to clean one room. Little known, it was learning from that day forward. The glitch experienced was actually the nuero-processor turning a switch that was never meant to be turned.

Chapter 2

“I can’t believe it Jim, our dream is finished. We have our own lab.”
“Yeah, Jeanne. It only took ten years to convince, but we have our baby.”
“Baby” as the building was so affectionately called, was no small feat. In fact, it was one of the tallest best-kept secrets in the world. It was so secret, everyone knew about it. Everyone knew about it because it was one of the most traded piece of stock in the world. The company was a well-known telecommunication development company. More than a million people in the city knew it, not to mention the 100,000 employees unknown to anybody. These “ghosts” lived in one of the many and complexly built adjacent buildings. These ghosts are here but nowhere. The people employed by ANA-SYS have no idea what the ghosts do.

The magnificent 20-story building was only six stories high. That is where the secrets begin. The first secret is that the building was not only built up towards the sky, but also down towards the core, towards the warmth of Earth. The public company, ANA-SYS, is the most state-of-the-art company as far as telecommunications go. The company employs nearly a hundred thousand to provide telecommunication needs to millions of people and research and develop new technology for the next generation of users.

“It is amazing how such a small device can control the lives of many. I mean, like before we had all this stuff what did we do to talk to people dude?”
“I know, like what did they do before phone implants? I know the technology is old now, but what a concept. How did they talk? Can you imagine having to constantly hold a device, how primitive."

“Okay get back to work before I fire you two morons!” yelled Dr. Brown as he walked the floor of the public ANA-SYS. He walked the usual rounds in the morning, and sometimes in the evening before lockdown procedures. The lockdown procedures were only an act for the benefit of the employees. The labs underground were on constant lockdown for the sensitive “equipment” they held. Equipment, that if ever released, could bring about the end of the world. So, it was a necessary precaution for the lockdown. Key cards controlled the two elevators granting access to the 14 lower level labs. Once in the lower levels, you were escorted by armed officers, not to mention pass very arduous checkpoints before gaining entrance into any of the labs. The lab itself was a different story. Once inside, the lab was equipped with state-of-the-art voice and retinal recognition software that you had to check in and out of when you entered or exited the room. If you were “in the system”, you were safe. If not--, well let’s leave it at that.

Chapter3

"Good morning Jim", stated the receptionist as he walked into his office on the top floor of Building I. The tall, linky man of 50, was head of some of the most Top Secret projects that ANA-SYS ever controlled. Some projects dealt with contol of disease, some dealt with bio-hazards. The prize of the company was with self modulating, self sustaining house workers.