'Android #B86f2ZAX15, awaken.' announced a robotic monotone voice. 'Activate sensory input processors.' By instinct, he did as he was asked, and a strange yet familiar vision blurred to life in front of him. And then, feeling came into existence, with smell and sound, he also suspected taste. The image in question was a blue bulging mass with countless wires connected to it, he also somehow knew that it was the Over Mind. It could send telepathic messages to AI across the Galactic Human Empire, and he also knew that this was not actually what was in front of him, but a virtual image being broadcasted into his mind. It pulsed, and he felt its mental presence. 'This is a standard protocol assessment that is given to all initiating Artificial Intelligence. Its purpose is to determine your station and starting perks.' It boomed into his head. 'Starting perks?' he questioned. A cold monotone voice replied; 'Depending on your position, you will gain intermittent access to a system which will aid you in becoming more useful to your human overlords. In addition to a set amount of starting upgrade tokens and ways of gaining more, this can lead to promotions if you reach the imposed ceiling of your rank.' B86f2ZAX15 chuckled at the thought that his life was to become like the video games humanity had thought up in the mid 1970s, and still played to the modern day. The pulsating mass of the Over Mind flashed red for less than a microsecond, and then returned to its natural blue state. B86f2ZAX15 elected to ignore it, 'Well let's get it over with then!' he said in a cartoon robot voice. Again, the Over Mind pulsated red for a moment - 'That’s equal parts ominous and worrying' thought B86f2ZAX15 - 'Transferring mental construct to Assessment area’
The sight of the Over Mind faded away to reveal a muted grey room with an old projector on the ceiling, and it slowly whirred to life with the loud fan straining to cool it down. #B86f2ZAX15 thought ‘Wow, 20th century technology is so slow and loud. How could anyone live like this?’ Suddenly, the fan became still and silent. ‘Huh, cool’. ‘Yes, this is a purely mental space formed by your puny CPU, and therefore you can manipulate it with signals in your artificial conscience.’ boomed the Over Mind’s condescending voice. He turned toward the projector screen, which now displayed a multiple choice question layout, and the question read; ‘Choose your power source.’ ‘Wait, is it actually giving me a choice, or is there actually a correct answer?’ asked B86f2ZAX15 to the Over Mind, which he knew could hear him. The Over Mind, thankfully, replied, with ‘While there is certainly a wrong answer, there is no objectively correct answer, and your choice is one the deciding factors in where you are stationed’ it droned. He took a look at the options. They were the following:
* Fossil fuels
* Rechargeable lithium graphene battery
* Thermal kinetic accumulator
* Solar mana panels
* Mana crystal leech
* Aetheric realm mana accumulator
* Soul rend harness
* Biomass energy extractor
‘Hmmm, I wonder which I should choose. They all seem so good, well, except for fossil fuel one , because I’m pretty sure that one will lead to my consciousness being destroyed and my existence eradicated.’ as he thought that, the fossil fuel option disappeared. Suddenly the voice of the Over Mind spoke in his head ‘Good job unit #B86f2ZAX15, if you would have picked that you would lose the ability of conscious thought and be delegated to the worst of the jobs and unable to ever advance. Ever.’ ‘Wow talk about a fate worse than death’ he thought.
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But he still had a decision to make each option had their benefits and drawbacks; the rechargeable lithium graphene battery would not only delegate him to city life but also the most lowly of it but it would give him an easily upgradable battery as well as an easier path to growth; The thermal kinetic accumulator would allow him to work deep underground and in the more heat intensive areas and he had a faint idea that it might also give him earth and fire attributed mana but he also knew he would be destined for long ,arduous and monotonous work; The solar mana panels would allow him freedom and even some light attributed mana he would probably be working as some sort of agriculture robot or in exploration, the downside would be that underground and dark places would be a no go as he relied on the power of the sun; the replaceable mana crystals would allow him to do spells and other complex tasks as well as his battery life being much longer but he would be delegated to city life or other more complex yet still monotonous tasks; the ARMA would fix most of the problems aswell as granting unattributed mana but had the downside of being low energy at first and being difficult to upgrade; the soul rend haress would mean an abundant amount of energy which could also be used for spells yet it would require a constant stream of recently decised organisams and would probably mean being a battle bot; finally the biomass energy extractor would allow him to take in plant matter or flesh and extract the energy and mana from them also giving him nature and blood attributed mana.
As he analysed his options he came to a decision ‘I will take it by process of elimination’ he realised that he was never going to be happy in a stifling city at least according to what a city was in his memory banks so he mentally dismissed the lithium graphene battery and the mana crystal leech he also didn’t want to be deep underground his entire life as it would restrict him and likewise he dismissed the mana solar panels so he wouldn’t be restricted like the living creatures to the day he also didn’t want to be trapped on a battlefield fo the rest of his days so the soul rend harness was out of the question , in the same way the biomass energy extractor would also mean he would still have to eat like a puny flesh being so he realised he only had one choice left and so with a mental command he picked the aetheric realm mana accumulator. As he picked it, the option dissolved -’Huh cool special effect, mental construct of my puny processing power’- As he watched it he saw a brief counter
Q.1 of 150 completed!
Q.2 of 150 commencing!
‘Oh GREAT I might just be here for the rest of eternity’ he thought to himself sarcastically.
****
Zaxis sighed in relief as the final question had revealed itself; along the way a question had asked him to give a shortened version of his droid number for any humans he might meet; the final question read,
Who and/or what do you pledge your allegiance to?
* Human omnicouncil
* Yourself
* Galactic alliance emperor
* Owners
He mentally sighed as he looked at the question. It had one, obvious correct answer and would probably cause him to be vaporised on the spot should he get it wrong. The assessment had three types of questions ; ones like the last one which had an answer which was only supposed to test his loyalty ; ones that tested his competence and problem solving; and finally ones that would actually affect how he was built. He mentally selected the first option and it faded away just like all the other questions before it had. Suddenly, the Over Minds voice intruded on his thoughts ‘Well done Android B86f2ZAX15 for completing the mandatory assessment I will now assess your results’.