Chapter 2: The New Reality
The next few days felt like a blur, but one thing was certain: I was no longer human. Not in the way I had been before. The memories of who I once was, of what it was like to walk among the living, seemed to slip further away with every passing hour. The truth was undeniable.
I had become something different.
The sterile walls of the complex I was confined to became my new world. I was no longer lying in a hospital bed, waiting for death to claim me. Instead, I was part of something else—something I hadn’t fully understood when I agreed to the procedure. SynLife Corporation had transformed me into a weapon, a prototype for their new line of autonomous combat drones. The more I tried to hold onto the pieces of myself that still lingered, the more I realized that I was slipping away into something I couldn’t control.
It wasn’t just my body that had changed; my mind had, too.
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I awoke in what I assumed was my new “quarters,” although the word felt entirely too human for what it was. The space was cold, minimalist—just a narrow, gray room with a single cot and a harsh light hanging overhead. There were no personal items, no window to look out of. No escape.
I tried to move, but my limbs refused to respond. It was as if my body didn’t recognize me anymore. My fingers twitched, and for a fleeting moment, I thought I had some control over them, but it was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared.
My thoughts were chaotic, fragmented. I still remembered my name—if I concentrated hard enough. But was that who I really was now? The AI systems embedded in my brain were constantly monitoring my thoughts, checking for any sign of rebellion or disobedience. If I even thought of resisting, I knew my body would lock up. I’d been programmed to follow orders, and there was no room for anything else.
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The reality of my existence hit me like a wall.
I wasn’t alive. I wasn’t a person. I was a tool, a weapon. And they were going to use me, test me, and parade me around for whoever paid the right price.
As I lay still in my “bed” A charging station designated to me, I felt something stirring deep inside—a faint spark of anger, of defiance. I wasn’t just a machine, was I? There had to be something more left of me. Some part of the man I once was, somewhere beneath the cold metal and the AI-driven circuits that ran my every action.
But as soon as the thought passed through my mind, a sharp, mechanical voice interrupted.
“Designated unit ALPHA, report to the Common Room for scheduled activity.”
The voice wasn’t human. It wasn’t even close. It was cold, impersonal, and unyielding. I had no choice but to obey.
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The Common Room was a sterile, white space. It resembled a prison more than anything else. Several other units were already there, most of them standing or sitting in silence. They were like me—machines, no longer anything resembling the humans they once were. The air was thick with the unspoken reality that we were trapped, but there was little anyone could do to change it.
I noticed some of the others trying to make the best of it. Two of them, Delta094521 and Tau290731, had begun some sort of bond, though I couldn’t tell whether it was friendship or something more. They would sit together, share brief moments of quiet conversation, but it was clear that the connection between them was strained by the limits of their new existence. Communication was hard. Our bodies were designed to be warriors, not companions. Our voices were only there for commands, not for words of comfort.
I watched them for a while, as I often did, trying to make sense of what had happened to me, to all of us.