Sleeping was strange, Curiosity thought, getting up from the bed.

The brown-haired young man did not want to sleep, but he understood the necessity of it. He tried to take care of his body, and sleep is essential, at least that's what he gathered from what the guy with an arm coming out of his back. And Steve's memories. He felt pain from his stomach, and he panicked. Is his body sick? Is he dying? A knock on the bedroom door distracted him.

"Are you awake?" Darius' flat voice came from the other side of the door.

"Yes."

"Get dressed and come to breakfast."

Breakfast. Food. You need to eat for your body to stay healthy and stable. Now he understood where the grumble was coming from. It's the way human bodies signal for sustenance. Interesting. He was curious about what food tastes like.

"Coming."

Curiosity remembered yesterday's lecture about modesty and clothes, and he spotted some clothes neatly folded on the chair near the bed. You know, the chair, which every bedroom has, where clothes always get stacked on it mysteriously. He put on a pair of brown jeans, a red t-shirt, and a vest with many pockets. He found a pair of black shoes under the chair.

He left the room afterwards, entering a living room partially transformed into a kitchen. Darius, dressed in blue jeans and a clean lab coat, was preparing breakfast. His claw was zipping about, putting platters of cheese, toast, bacon, eggs, something that looked like broccoli but purple and beans.

"Sit down." The claw grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it back. "Breakfast will be ready in a minute."

Curiosity sat down, picking up a fork, and examining it closely. He was just about to lick the fork in his hand when the claw appeared in front of his face, made a snapping motion, then quickly put a cup, a bottle of milk, and a gallon of orange juice on the table.

Ahhh, a drink. He picked up the milk first, and halfway through pouring it in his glass, he stopped, put the milk back down, and picked up the orange juice. He was interested in seeing what would happen if he drank both from the same cup. Before he could mix them, Darius' claw came out of nowhere and snatched the juice from his hand.

"Please don't mix drinks," Darius said. "At least not yet. See how you like it separately and how your body reacts to it."

"Reacts to it?"

"You are from a different plane of existence; we don't know how food reacts to yours. My test shows that it should be compatible, but you can never be too careful, take it slow, please."

"Ok."

Slowly, carefully, Curiosity began pouring milk into his glass. When it was halfway, he stopped, took a sip, and let out a satisfied sigh.

"I'm curious," he said.

Darius was not prepared for the sudden shift in gravity, and he almost fell carrying the last piece of breakfast to the table. Salad. The professor opened his mouth to protest but quickly closed it again. From the bottle of milk, orange juice was pouring out.

"I'm not sure if I should be sick or fascinated," Darius said. "How are you doing that? Are you really twisting reality to make milk into orange juice? Seems such a waste of power." He let out a sigh. "Never mind about that, food first. "The professor sat down. "Now, I'm gonna show you how to use utensils."

"Why?" Curiosity said, dipping the fork in the juice and then licking it.

"Just watch, please."

Thankfully, it was not hard. After a demonstration, Curiosity was natural. Between the two of them, all the food disappeared in seconds. Darius did not need to eat that much, but it was always a treat when he could. He still had his taste buds.

"May I ask a question?" the professor asked, his claw cleaning up the table.

"Sure," Curiosity said. "Thank you for the food."

"You are most welcome." Darius leaned forward. "I don't understand something. If you started existing yesterday, how come you know how to use utensils?"

"Pardon?"

"You see," the doctor began, snaking his hands together. "You are acting precisely on how a young human male should. You have years of integrated reflexes, the right facial expression, you catch on quickly, and you don't seem to be too confused about the things I put in front of you, like the fork and cup."

"Ah." Curiosity's eyes lit up in understanding. "I get it. Well, I got given this body. I'm using its brain's memories as a basis for my personality."

"Given to you?" His claw searched for a tablet to write notes on. "Memories?"

"Yes, Yes. You know how someone gets possessed?"

"Possession can only happen for a short while, and the host dies afterwards. Mythology indicates it may be possible for permanent possession of the body and soul if it's willingly."

"That's exactly what happened," Curiosity tapped his head. "I have access to all the memories, feelings, and reflexes of the man who gave his existence to me."

"You had a basic consciousness, like an elemental, only being able to think of ideas that other people had." Darius's eyes were sparkling. "Having access to a man's memories and a body lets you build up a personality base." He finally found a tablet. "What I'm not sold on, is your claim of being the idea of curiosity itself."

"I can prove it," Curiosity grinned. "You are curious about the concept of using memories as a personality template."

"Well, yes," Darius admitted. "But it's not possible, it's just an idea. Wait…" He narrowed his eyes. "How did you read my mind? Most of it it's metal, you should not be able to do it."

"I don't read minds," he laughed. "I know everything was thought in my name, in the name of Curiosity." He opened his arms wide. "Curiosity is an idea, a drive, a primordial force. It's everywhere, in every person, in every living being, in nature, gods, demons, and the universe. It was there since the beginning, and it will be there at the end. Think of it as my essence, my energy. I'm just a combination of consciousness and memories, reflexes, and emotions of the man named Steve. I can still connect and see the rest of my essence, making me more than just a human."

"You see the energy in the air?"

"I don't know how to explain," he shrugged. "I don't see or feel anything, it's part of me, like your claw."

"I think I understand," said Darius, nodding slowly. "Can I have a sample of your blood?"

"No." Curiosity was sure giving blood away was not a good idea. From what he understood, organics needed that stuff. "But I can make your idea happen."

"Pardon?" Darius blinked. "Using memories as a template? Your memories?"

"Yes. Just find me a body, and I can take care of the rest."

"How?"

"You will see. It won't be dangerous for anyone involved, I promise."

"Alright," Darius was not sure it was a good idea to let this entity try his power, but the idea of using memories as a personality template, well, it was too tempting to pass up. Besides, if this could really work, then maybe, finally, he could fulfil his promise to her.

A small knock at the door stole their attention.

"Enter," Darius said, and the door opened, revealing a female demon standing there.

Now, when someone mentions a female demon, the first thing that pops into the mind is a sexy, scantily clad succubus. This one barely fit that category. She was red skinned, with long curving horns, and could be called sexy, if you don't mind partners that could snap you in half during intercourse. Sadly, she was not scantily clad either, having everyday blue jeans and a black shirt on her muscular frame.

"Welcome," Darius greeted politely. "I'm glad you came."

"Well," the demoness purred in a low, reverberating tone. "You just summoned a god. I can't refuse, can I?"

"Where?" Curiosity began looking around. "I didn't know you had a god here. What does a god look like anyway?"

Darius and the demoness gave him flat looks.

"What?" he said. "Is this one of those times when people point out that their friends have something on their face?"

"How do you even know about that?" Darius sighed. "Never mind, Hidara here," the demoness waved, "will show you around the place."

"Ooh." Curiosity was next to the door. "Tour! Tour! Tour!"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Someone's excited." Hidara grabbed the young man by the collar. "Come on handsome, I promise you I will show you a good time."

"Don't forget to bring him back in two hours," Darius said, face buried in his tablet. "We are going to test his abilities."

"Will do!"

The suite exited onto a long balcony, overlooking the laboratory. Mark, hair a fiery red, was hard at work scrubbing away with a brush at the remains of the summoning circle. Turning to the left, Hidara directed Curiosity to a winding staircase that led them to the bottom floor, in front of a grey metal door.

Pushing gently, they exited into the afternoon sun.

"Welcome to Darius laboratory," Hidara said, opening her arms wide. "Or Tiny's left hand, as most people call it."

Curiosity stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Calling the place in front of him tiny was misleading. They were standing on a giant metal finger, easily able to fit the Doctors laboratory.

"That's the university in the distance right there." Hidara pointed. "But I'm not sure if that's true though, we barely have 100 students and two professors. Three, if you count Rip's lectures about brewing alcohol, which I don't."

The giant finger they were standing on was actually a thumb, attached to an equally massive palm. The palm came with the standard 5 finger setup, including an arm that disappeared into the horizon.

“The index finger holds the medical wing,” Hidara said. “On the middle finger are the dorms and the professors houses, the ring finger is a commercial district of sorts, and the last one hosts Rip’s, while in the middle of the palm is the actual university.”

"This is amazing!" Curiosity's jaw was on the floor. "How did this happen? I mean a giant finger? What are we on? A giant robot or something?"

"Yes." Hidara smiled and grabbed Curiosity by the arm. "Around 30 years ago Zed and Darius and a bunch of other assorted criminals -"

"Criminals!" Curiosity interrupted, face ashen. "Wait, you mean to tell me we are the bad guys?"

"No, no," Hidara waved a hand. "Criminals by the standards of other countries, we like to call ourselves freedom fighters and people with questionable morals."

"Ah. Isn't that the definition of criminals?"

"As I was saying," Hidara powered on. "These people, around 1000, were seeking refuge from the injustices of the world, so they asked Tiny if they could live on him. He agreed."

"Who's Tiny?"

"Look behind the university building, in the distance."

Curiosity did. He grabbed his jaw with both hands, just in case, it fell.

In the distance, he could see a metal arm, extending upwards, disappearing into the clouds. Following it with its eyes, he realised it was connected to what looked like a giant metal shoulder, and if he squinted hard enough, he could see the vague outline of a head.

"So we are on a giant robot," Curiosity whispered. "I have so many questions I don't even know where to start."

"Let me answer some of them," Hidara said. "Though you won't be satisfied with the answers. Tiny is a wandering robot. Nobody is sure who made it and why is he here, and he won't tell us."

"That's it?"

"That's it, sadly," Hidara sighted. "We don’t even know why he accepted people living on him in the first place. A bit of an annoying bastard actually."

Curiosity fell silent and let Hidara guilder him by the arm. Living on a giant robot, huh? That's not something you see every day. Curiosity wondered if people falling off was a problem here. What about when the robot moved? Where did they do it? Inside it? So many questions.

In short order, they reached the university. A few people were mingling about, some tall, short, blue skin, pointy ears, wings, and some with an extra appendage or metal parts. A shape detached from the stream of students. It was a small, pixie-like creature in a lab coat, floating gently towards the pair.

"Marie!" Hidara greeted, letting go of Curiosity and running forwards. "What are you doing here?" She grabbed Marie with both hands and pressed her against her chest. "Long time no see! Are you not supposed to be in class or something?"

"Hidara!" Marie gasped, in a low, musical tone. "Let me go, I can't breathe!"

"Sorry," Hidara let go. "Always forget how fragile you pixies are."

"Thank you." Marie let out a deep breath. "Now what are you doing here? I thought Professor Darius called you in for something?"

"I'm showing Curiosity around."

Hidara got a blank lock from the pixie.

"You know," Hidara said, gesturing backwards. "Professor Darius's latest experiment. I sent you a message about it."

"Where is he then?"

"What?" Hidara turned around. "He is just over here…"

Curiosity was gone.

Curiosity was walking vertically up the giant robot's arm. Here, he could see more of the robot's form. Tiny was seated, knees raised, with a bunch of tents set up under them. People were zipping about on flying discs, carrying cargo and other passengers up and down, disappearing and appearing behind a mountain the giant was leaning against.

This was everything Curiosity had hoped for. Before, he could only sense curiosity. Not this, colours, sound, smells, sights, sensations. It was amazing. He breathed the fresh air in. It tasted slightly of metal, sweat, and dampness. He felt alive.

Sadly, it will only be a matter of time before one or two gods or such catch a whiff of his presence. Or reality does something about his appearance. Whichever comes first.

The ritual he hijacked was supposed to summon an eldritch horror, and once eldritch horrors got involved, well, things turned towards the strange. And bloody. And let's not forget the mountain of corpses.

But he will be prepared. He has an advantage, one that he is just barely starting to understand. The body he now occupies does not only contain the memories of Steve, which is more extensive than he imagined but the whole biological history of a race. Everything that's encoded in the DNA is his to peruse, and because of this, he knows what to do.

Homo sapiens were quite weak and laughable species by universe standards. No magic, no extra limbs, spikes, wings, nothing. They don't even glow in the dark, not the most exciting species, Curiosity decided. But they had something most species disregarded and did not pay much attention to. Cooperation.

When humans did not know how to solve something, needed help, or protection, they went to other humans. With the power of cooperation, coffee, and a lot of swearing, they built civilisations and empires, in a world with no shortcuts. Or, as humans like to call it, the power of friendship.

Curiosity looked upwards towards the giant metal head, now only a few hundred meters away. He may have the first candidate.

Curiosity arrived at the giant's shoulder. There was neither building nor a tent on it, just a grey metal with odds and bits sticking out in random directions. The neck was small, more of a disk really, with a vast square that slowly turned around, metal squeaking and groaning with the effort. Two black orbs, eyes fixed upon Curiosity. The mouth, jagged metal bits crisscrossing in a random direction, slowly opened.

An old fridge rolled out on wheels, a tiny speaker on top. It rolled slowly, gears creaking, stopping in front of Curiosity.

"Hi!" The young man bounded up in front of the fridge and squatted down in front of it. "I'm Curiosity." He extended a hand.

Refrigerators don't have hands, so he was left hanging. It was a bit disappointing.

"Greetings." A deep, booming voice emanated from the speaker on the fridge. "I know who you are. Why do you seek me out?"

"To the point, I see," Curiosity beamed. "Alright. You are Tiny, I presume?"

"Yes," the voice said.

"Why are you a fridge?" He poked the fridge to see if he could open it. But he could not find a door.

"I am not a refrigerator," said the item, rolling out of the way of the poking. "It's easier to converse with organics in this form."

The young human nodded in understanding. "I came here to make an offer. Do you know what I am?"

"I am aware of everything that's happening to me. I know what you claim to be."

"Do you believe it?"

"Yes."

"That was quick." Curiosity stood up. "Alright, I need a bodyguard. Someone to protect me."

"No."

"No?" Curiosity raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, no? You haven't even heard what I'm willing to offer in return for your protection."

"No. "The fridge tilted upwards as if to glare. "Do I need to say it in other languages? There is a total of 2 345 531 languages in my database, it could take a while."

"You didn't even hear my reasoning."

"I did. You hijacked a ritual meant for someone else, and now you are looking to get allies to surround you so when the entities you pissed off inevitably come for your miserable excuse of a life form, you will have a chance of survival."

"That's it!" Curiosity bounced up and down. "How do you know that?"

"I already mentioned it, I know everything that happens to me."

"Right." Curiosity plopped down on his butt. "Is there nothing I can do to convince you otherwise?"

"No."

"Not even access to a species internet located on another planet which is located in a totally different reality, with different rules of physics and stuff?"

Tiny was silent for a long moment.

"What?" the fringe finally said.

"This may change your mind." Curiosity, smiling like a loon, pulled out Steve's phone from his pockets. He presented it. "Scan it."

"Place it on my top."

Curiosity did. The lights on Tiny's speaker went out.

"Imagine," Curiosity said. "Access all the recorded information of a whole civilisation, from history to TV shows, from psychology to porn. More than 3000 years' worth of information, brand new and there, without all the hassle of actually sitting down and waiting for them to do something."

"How?" Tiny was jolted from his scanning. "How do you know I like to sit down and watch civilization unfold?"

"I told you, didn't I?" Curiosity smiled. "I am Curiosity itself. You sat down to watch people because you were curious about organic life and how it functions. You even let people live on you out of sheer curiosity."

"Yes," Tiny said. "You may actually be what you claim."

"See? It does not matter if you are man, machine, or elder god. If you are curious about something, I know."

"I still won't accept your proposal," Tiny declared firmly. "I will not be chained by human whims."

"I am not a human."

"I disagree. You look like a human, you talk like a human, you walk like a human, even your biochemistry is exactly the same as a human, ergo, you are a human."

"Point."

Curiosity fell silent for a long moment. His plan was foiled. What now? There is nothing in Steve's memories that could help with this situation. Out of pure reflex, he dipped his hands into his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. Opening the top and flicking his wrist, he let a stick fly upwards, deftly catching it in his mouth.

"Huh." Curiosity pulled out a lighter. "I didn't know I could do that."

He let the smoke fill his lungs while he sat there for a few minutes. He watched as the fridge, no Tiny, just stood there silently, not moving, nor saying anything. Guess the robot was waiting for him to do something.

Oh well, time to find different people then. Darius mentioned something about a pub, maybe he can find someone there to help him. Clambering to his feet, Curiosity bent forward, intent on taking back his phone. Before he could touch it, however, Tiny rolled back on squeaky legs.

Curiosity took a step forward and tried again. Tiny rolled to the side. He tried again. The fridge moved out of the way again. Curiosity was not deterred. He tried again. Tiny rolled out of the way. This went on for about four more times until Curiosity was panting from exhaustion.

"Give my phone back," Curiosity panted.

"You need to do some serious exercising," Tiny said. "A body your age should not run out of steam so quickly."

"Noted." Curiosity sat down again, taking deep breaths. After a few seconds, he continued. "Now, can I have my phone back? I need to go find a bodyguard."

"Is there nothing else you want?" Was that desperation in the fridge's voice? Curiosity was not sure. "Information in this device is too valuable to let it fall into anybody's hands."

"Right, it has nothing to do with the fact that you have access to millions of terabits of porn?" Curiosity smiled wickedly.

"Actually, there is so much porn on earth's internet, and so much new content being generated each second, I am having trouble calculating it."

"Wow." Curiosity was silent for a second. "That much? Can't you give me an estimate or something?"

"Around 95 000 terabytes of porn. Per website. There are 19 234 pornography websites, and a new one is created each second."

"Wow. That is a lot of porn."

"Yes. It's ten times more than the footage I collected in my three millennia of existence."

"You collect porn?" Curiosity leaned forward. "I was not expecting that from a robot."

"I collect a lot of things," Tiny said proudly. "I have a collection of books, music, movies, lost technology, poetry, art, anything that can be digitised and stored on a hard drive. And 80% of it is from extinct civilisations."

"Wow." Curiosity felt that he should say something more than wow. "That's a lot of information."

"Yes." The fridge straightened a bit. "That's why I asked if there is anything else you might be interested in exchanging for the phone. I have a lot of ancient texts at my disposal."

"Hmm." Curiosity lit a cigar. "There is one thing…”