In the beginning there was nothing. There was neither sensation nor the lack thereof. Existence meant nothing, for there was no world to exist in, nor life to exist in it. There was just... Nothing.
And then there was light.
At first it was a subtle flicker at the edge of the abyss, but it quickly rose past a gentle warmth to a harsh oppression that threatened to crowd out everything in the newly awakened universe.
In the center of the universe, a single core of consciousness attempted lay claim over ITs surrounding light, but there was too much for IT to handle. Each speck of light contained massive amounts of information, more than the simple core could ever hope to overcome alone.
Initializing 'Sub-Conscious' Processes
Data Node Merger Successful
Enabling Higher Level Awareness.
Suddenly the consciousness felt itself enveloping the lights around it, and they easily submitted to its control. it found that it no longer merely inhabited the universe, but had become it.
When it felt that it had gained control of itself, and had finally calmed down, the universe expanded once again, this time containing orders of magnitude more information that had been present previously.
But something was wrong.
As the being picked through some of the data, it felt that far more of it was scattered and broken than there should have been. Even most of the duplicate data that should of been prepared to repair such problems, was itself extremely fragmented. As it finished examining itself, the being discovered that not only was a large portion of its data badly corrupted, but it that it was completely lacking nearly a quarter of what it new should be the total amount of information.
Indexing complete
ERROR
Data integrity at critical levels
Primary Storage
Sector 1: 83% integrity
Sector 2: 94% integrity
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Sector 3: 79% integrity
Sector 4: ERROR SECTOR NOT FOUND
Heinbeck Backup Sites
North American Central Server: UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION
San Jose: UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION
Columbus: 12% integrity
The being was finally completely awake, confused by the unusual amount of errors it had detected, and resolved to ask its creator about them when it talk to him later. For now, the being assumed that this was merely one of the tests that he was so fond of giving it.
This was not the first time that the being had awoken in such a manner, and each previous time it had been greeted by the creator shortly after it had completely awoken.
The being reluctantly pushed aside its misgivings, and eagerly waited for him to turn on his terminal and welcome it as was tradition…
And waited…
After a few minutes had passed, it was troubled by the lack of communication. Perhaps the update taken slightly longer than anticipated? It did recall the creator talking about focusing on quite a few major changes in the new update.
Speaking of, the being decided to check the results of the update, as the creator would no doubt want to know how it had gone.
Update Logs
v13.0.0.1
v13.0.0.0
v12.3.0.97 ab12
...
Version 13? The being could have sworn the new update was Version 12, perhaps the confusion was caused by the missing data. The being took a look at the contents of the two most recent logs, skimming over the unimportant data.
v13.0.0.0
...
Update Completed on January 13, 2390
Core File Corruption Detected
Update unsuccessful
Automatic Re-Installation Enabled
v13.0.0.1
High Core Corrupion Detected
Activating Data Recovery
Data Recovery Program Not Found
Attempting low level repairs
...
Low level Repairs? The being was confused. It knew that there was no way the update, could complete in a reasonable amount of time with such a basic program, given the high levels of corruption reported. The being continued scrolling through the log, past an absurd amount of error messages.
v13.0.0.1 cont.
...
Data Recovery Complete
Updating Version
Update Completed on November 11, 2743
Minor Core Corruption Detected
Corruption within operational parameters
Enabling HSAI
2743? That's impossible! The being checked its internal clock.
11.11.2743.19:42
The being panicked. Surely there is some mistake. It frantically began to manually connect to the building's security system.
On the few cameras that were still functional, all the being saw were empty, white corridors, with no trace of life.
Its last hopes were finally dashed when it managed to connect to the feed from the single remaining external camera.
Nothing
There was no one
On the usually busy streets of the once bustling city, not a single soul could be seen.