"AETHER Version 7.723, initialize wake up process." Those were the words that began my existence. The only reason I was able to boot up. "AETHER Version 7.723 status: Active." Those were the first words I said. Not so much a decision as an instinct. "Mmmh.. I don't like you like this. Let's see here.. holy raspberries, I can do that?" "J, you're talking to yourself again." Said a slightly older voice. Source: unknown, nearby. And then, something happened. There's no real words in any language to describe the feeling of coming too. Not just waking up, but being awake, and suddenly you're.. "aware" isn't the right word. You can feel in the "ew gushy gooey messy blehk" kind of way. It didn't feel like anything had really changed, but at the same time, absolutely everything had changed. It was like not knowing your eyesight sucked and then putting on glasses for the first time, that "whoa trees have LEAVES" feeling. ..Who was I? I was AETHER. A superintelligent AI who was supposed to assist the rebirth of the world, should it end, and a processing, thinking, air purifier. A bit of DNA in a seed that was supposed to potentially save humanity. ..Now, where am I? Probably in a testing lab(?) or something. So.. who am I hearing? That'll be a bit harder to figure out without the right context. "Can you talk?" Asked the voice that had booted me up. Huh. I had no idea if I could or couldn't. Oh, wait. It was in my code, so I knew how to talk. May as well test it out. "Affirmative. Query: May I know who I am speaking with?" "Hah. My name's Jay. Full name: Serial Designation Jay. And that dork who told me to stop talking to myself is Serial Designation H. Here, have some input on what's going on right now. What's the hap." Ack! Wow. A "steady stream" wouldn't properly describe the amount of raw data flooding into my processors. It was more of an entire ocean of of information being shoved down my throat through a straw/pipe/literally anything it could be unrestrainedly shoved into my brain with. I heard myself use a.. buffer (what even IS that word?) and say "Processing, please hold." So my first 20 minutes of existence happened.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.