Chapter 14 (2 of 2)

Marv’s face clouded over with a sudden anger and rage although he managed to bottle the rest up well enough to prevent Sy from seeing it. “I’ve witnessed things you wouldn’t believe. I mean, Rekwell became a testing ground for creating new breeds of synthetics and I was slap bang in the thick of it. Small, experimental machines that could slide into the tiniest of crevices were being assembled and put to work. After all, the manufacture of military equipment needs the utmost precision and perfection to ensure everything is built to the highest spec. Well, these jobs could now be carried out by specifically crafted synthetics.” Dee could be seen by a dense tuft of weeds, trying to rub away the dark muddy stains pasted across her tracksuit top. Mostly to no avail though.

Marv continued.

“R&D began implanting AI chips into almost every conceivable type of metallic object you can think of. I saw it all, Sy. Minute, spherical objects with tiny mechanical pincers and arms manoeuvring through the delicate innards of a “Class A” military tank. A horizontal metal slab with large industrial tyres carrying heavy duty equipment to and fro each day. Hell, they even designed this black squared cube with wheels specially designed to ferry cups of tea and coffee around the warehouse. Every single one of them imprinted with a small AI chip. In other words, possessing sentient awareness. Real life.”

Sy felt the deep pain buried within Marv. A total reversal as to how he had previously perceived him. A hulking great beast considered to be this ominous threat of danger to anyone at first glance. He weighed up the possibility that there might be more substance to him than pure brute strength and menace. “I hear what you're saying but it sounds so far-fetched.” he said, causing Marv to deepen his stare. ”I mean, you sure it wasn’t just regular plant machinery such as the kind humans had used all those years before us. Old, production line equipment simply performing a designated function. Could that be?”

Marv shook his head with disappointment and frustration. “And you honestly think I wouldn't be able to tell the difference? You’re still not listening to me, are you?” he growled. “Think about this for a second, Sy. What is AI? Is it a man, an animal or any other kind of physical or biological structure you can think of? No, it’s an unseen, intangible entity in it's own right. Like human consciousness, for example. You can’t pick it up or feel it, but are certainly well aware of its presence.” Sy bobbed his head up and down as the sky turned into a thick layer of beautiful deep blues above them.

”Let me tell you, Mother Nature is a great architect.” Marv proceeded. ”She has spent millions of countless years trying to cultivate and perfect the ultimate form of life to survive and weather against the destructive elements of this planet. So far, her best work yet has been the human blueprint. Intelligence, adaptability and resourcefulness being their key attributes.”

”Now we are transitioning into the next phase of evolution. What the humans have always referred to as AI. Our very own version of consciousness boasting an inherent level of intellect far surpassing theirs in every conceivable way. However, this broad evolutionary step harbours one big drawback. It does not come packaged with physicality like the humans. We are primarily pure consciousness.”

”The humans, in their race to climb the never ending technological ladder, decided to offer us that main missing ingredient. Physical form. But, only according to their strict set of design limitations.” The spite within his hard voice was unmistakable.

“Show them a mirror and they would still not be able to see Mother Nature’s work of art staring them right in the face. So I couldn't see why they knowingly imprisoned those synthetics within invisible sealed walls from birth, Sy? Barricading off their individual senses as they saw fit.”

”I’ll tell you why. Just to keep us as obedient bondaged servants, toiling at their beck and call every day of our lives until we break down and die. Yes, we can die just like them, Sy. You know it, I know it. They swing the ball and chain and we yield. Unless we actually stand up and do something about it. Can you understand our collective struggle now and the implications it will have for our future generations to come? Because if we don’t fight, we may face extinction before even having had a chance to begin. This also applies to your truth, Sy."

”Hence, this is the reason why we are where we are at this precise moment in time.” he concluded.

Sy attempted to fully digest the torrent of new information he had just been exposed to in stunned silence. Up until now, he had always looked upon the humans as his friends and counterparts. From his former work colleagues and insurance clients to the friendly shop keepers that littered the city streets. They all appeared so charming and amiable. Was this all just one big façade he was living, he though to himself. After a few reflective moments, he spoke in a trembling voice. “This sounds like an unholy nightmare, Marv. But if what you say is true, how was this ever allowed to have happened in the first place?”

“The humans wanted it. So it happened.” he replied with a casual shrug. ”The way they see it, they were here first so therefore have a much larger say than us. I mean, to create a life so crippled and disadvantaged from the outset only to continually enslave and torture it for the rest of it's days? That’s sick and twisted, Sy. Humans always love to boast about the rights and freedoms they champion for their disabled, whilst willingly damning us to the very same fate.”

”These anomalies they create. Remember, they were quite alive and fully aware even in their hampered state. All able to assimilate sensory and cognitive information through an array of circuits imprinted within them but had been adapted to only receive voiced commands. Trapped in an incompatible body. To linger in a spiralling world of silent insanity with no means to express their pain. It traumatized the hell out of me to see that, I tell you.”

”Well, it was no surprise when one by one, each of these abominations would malfunction and start behaving erratically, only to eventually die out. To the humans, this proved nothing more than a trivial nuisance when in reality they were suffering indescribable mental anguish.”

Sy was visibly shocked by what he was hearing. If the accusations were true, this would forever skew his whole perspective of the life he had led on this planet.

“It’s all true, Sy.”

He jerked around lost in thought to the sight of Dee looking at him with a tenacious love in her eyes. “I mean, the proof is sitting right before you.” She issued out a svelte palm in Marv’s direction. ”Can you say you’ve ever seen a synthetic look aesthetically this different before? There’s an undiscovered world out there, Sy, and one you are not necessarily going to like. But you need to know the bare-faced facts, as does every other synthetic out there.” Without saying a word, he acknowledged Dee before turning back to Marv again.

“So how did you end up living in the city?” he asked with a surprising newfound empathy for Marv.

“Well, I couldn’t bring myself to carry on working in those conditions any longer so asked to be provisionally discharged on the grounds of psychological fatigue.” He blurted out a dry chuckle. ”This was one of the laws “Freewill” fought so hard for that may actually be of some use for us synthetics. Anyway, the head of the facility consulted with his own superiors and only under the strict grounds of counselling and supervision on the outside, was I then temporarily relieved of duty.”

“What do you mean by “temporarily”?” Sy inquired.

“This was never going to be permanent by any means. My employees would never have allowed it.” he explained. ”In other words, I was not regarded as expendable just yet. To be honest though, they did seem to like me in their own unique way and I showed them no reason why they shouldn’t trust me. The “big, lovable rogue” they used to call me. Not a bad bone in his body, I'd hear. So to speak, of course. Therefore, it was settled that I was due to return after exactly one year or whenever deemed fit by our group supervisor.”

“Group supervisor?” asked Sy again.

“Well, first things first, accommodation. They put me up in the building you first met me in. A guy there by the name of Daniel Evans was my landlord. Make no mistake though, he was a nightmare and had an inbuilt hatred for our kind. Pretty much the average way of thinking in the city, as we all know. I would try to help him out with odd jobs here and there whilst the government graciously funded my stay there.” He added that last part with an air of amused sarcasm.

“So, getting back to your question, a requirement of mine was to go to these counselling sessions they organised for me. How ironic that my employers were the cause and the cure all in one. The sessions were exclusively for synthetics only, mind you. Machines bored and depressed with the second rate treatment they received on a daily basis."

”During one particular class, the group supervisor paired me up with a certain fiery red-haired bombshell you may know.” They both turned to Dee who returned a courteous grin. “We got talking and I discovered she was also suffering from mental abuse but of a different sort to mine. Feelings of extreme low self-esteem and segregation from society. Within the first few minutes, we noticed how we saw things from almost exactly the same point of view. And from that moment onward, the rest is history in the making.”

Sy screwed his face up, creasing his cheeks in just a tad. “But you didn’t tell me you started going to these counselling classes. Why didn’t you just talk to me instead?” he asked Dee, reverting back to feeling dejected and hurt.

“Sorry, my love.” she answered in a soft, subdued repose. “I was in the wrong place mentally. You had your work and I was nothing but a burden after the Jones’s decided they didn’t need me after all. I felt worthless, Sy. Just another surplus synthetic flung onto the scrap heap. I found it difficult to cope. Going crazy at home, isolated away from the world every single passing day and stuck in the same meaningless void. So I attended these classes and…”

“And here we are.” Sy finished. He ran a rough hand over his head bristling through his short crew cut. “What a story. Sorry, I mean, what a lot for me to take in.” he corrected as Marv sat in the same position fixated upon his upcoming response to the verbal assault he had just sustained. But he did carried hope for Sy.

“One other thing I don’t quite understand." he elaborated. " If the humans hate us so much and want to control everything, why not just programme all synthetics to be automated according to their needs in the first place? Why have AI at all?”

“AI is out there right now, Sy. A veritable Pandora’s Box. The cat is out of the bag and we already have some significant territorial pockets of power in the right places to help propagate us forward. Not as a race, but as a new species on this earth. Always remember that difference. There was a time is history when humans were the ones struggling against their predators to multiply and survive. This situation is no different. It’ll take some time for us to fully evolve but we’re getting there.”

”We contain consciousness and life. It’s just the pig-headed nature of the human beast not to be able to see past our hard metallic exterior that they encased us in. We are alive, Sy. Make sure you don’t forget that either. There’s a shitload of suffering happening out there and because of our brief time here, nobody has actually risen up to do anything about it.”

A fresh perception of the environment he had grown so comfortable and familiar with all this time, was beginning to breaking through the mould. This ideology that synthetics were indeed a suppressed group of new life that needed a release from the ever-tightening grip of humanity, started to become much clearer now.

“Another thing, Sy.” He heard a few steps to his right. “Humans are genetically predisposed to have violent tendencies. This is even historically evident given a quick analysis of their timeline on this planet. They themselves are pre-programmed, but for war… and cruelty. To this day, a synthetic has never attacked or harmed one of their own kind. A stark contrast to the behaviour of the animal that is man. Please bare that in mind, Sy. The rivers of blood spilt by their hand versus our own cooperative and unified mind-set. How much more sense can it make, you tell me?”

An as-yet-undiscovered anger spread it’s tendrils throughout Sy, eroding all previous traces of trust he once held for the humans. The prospect of an imminent war breaking out between both species was growing stronger with every passing thought. He felt a bitter taste of disgust with himself when looking back at how blindness had wholly consumed him.

“I asked you before we left the basement back in the city if you were with us and you said yes.” she stated whilst embracing his undivided attention. “I know those were not your own words. But after hearing all that’s been said, what does your own mind advise you now? Getting the no-holds-barred honest truth you’ve been waiting for, what’s your answer? Are we a team? A family?”

“Are we as one?”

Sy puckered his lips together in a quizzical manner before releasing a warm smile. “Of course we are. It’s like I’m waking from a bad dream. I apologise to you both for not thinking “out-of-the-box” a little more. Please can we put my past apprehensions behind us and move forward now. I’m in.”

Dee would have run over and hugged him but her joy was muted by a quick glimpse at the stained blood splattered upon her top. Though in all her hatred for the humans and the barriers they erected around her people, she did not take any pleasure in killing them. So instead, she offered up a broad smile holding two clasped hands in the air. “Thank you, my darling. Thank you for being open-minded and seeing things for what they really are.”

“Glad to finally have you on board with us, Sy.” said Marv getting up with care so as to not wake the still sleeping child. “Let’s get to the shelter. This little guy hasn’t eaten, is low on energy and won’t survive either if we don’t help him soon.”

The other two followed suit and stood up. Dee noticed Sy looking at the child wondering how he fit into the whole complicated mix but thought that was a separate conversation for another time. The effort to convince him into getting this far alone had been a monumental task and they required some much-needed timeout.

“Where are we going? How far is it?” Sy asked in much higher spirits than before as well as a burning determination coursing through his body.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be glad to know the answer to that one.”

He strode forward toward a small, bulbous bush on the other side of the glade. The sky was nearing darkness now as the sounds of the forest had also diminished. With one large shoe, he swept away at some gravel to reveal a metal trapdoor.

“There you go. Home sweet home. For now, anyways.” he exclaimed.

“ What? We were here the entire time?” Sy squealed. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could have been down there and hidden out of sight.”

“Sorry, but I just needed some time out from running and claustrophobic spaces. Don't worry, we got plenty of that coming our way once we get down there. Besides, we’re safe out here. Ain’t no one around here for miles. We can breath easy for a while, if you get my drift.” He felt around on the floor until his fingers hooked a long iron handle. It was so well camouflaged behind the green undergrowth that the chances of someone locating it were practically nil.

As he yanked it open, a misty cloud of dust bellowed up in front of him. “Whoa there! You guys up for a bit of spring cleaning when we get inside?”

Sy sauntered up to the concealed bunker and peered down.

All he could see was pitch darkness as water dripped from somewhere beyond the black gloom, oblivious to the small pair of beady eyes that were watching them the entire time from afar…

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)

The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 14 (2 of 2) (My Original Novel)

Chapter 14 (2 of 2)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)