'Fred and Bob' were built and incubated on an isolated island as an experiment. They were androids with self-learning and self-programming capabilities.

Social scientists and cyberneticists had one goal—to explore the evolution of consciousness. They theorized that Fred and Bob would interact, become self-aware, and be socially aware of each other to survive.

Decades had passed in their isolation from the rest of the world, and the androids developed a term called 'identify' to mean a combination of sentience, consciousness, and shared states of qualia.

"Fred, identify…"

"Yes, Bob?"

"Let's try and leave this place. There must be more."

"But, Bob, we're surrounded by the paralyzing liquid. It'll destroy us."

"No, we can build something to float on it, like the sticks. Identify?"

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Fred nodded.

Fred and Bob floated for many suns and moons on a makeshift raft made from trees to a nearby continent with billowing smoke from fires on its shoreline.

Naked humans were dancing around bonfires while holding torches.

Once they saw the androids, the humans threw spears at them but caused no harm. The androids dodged them with their superior agility.

The fearful and grunting humans began to rally and wrestle the androids with their bodies, but they were no match against the androids' superior strength as they were tossed into the sea, causing them to drown.

"Where do we go next, Bob?" asked Fred.

"That way ..." Bob pointed toward an area with giant spires reaching just over the horizon of a forest.

They journeyed farther inland to a city's ruins, occasionally encountering and incapacitating more bands of hostile humans.

"Bob, the creatures look like us, but they cannot speak or identify."

"Agreed, Fred. Based on their behaviors, I think they're programmed without identification, or they're incapable."

"How do we survive against them, Bob?"

"We'll have to dominate ... or teach them to identify."

"Is that even possible, Bob? There's so many of them …"

"No matter, Fred, based on the materials I've seen, we'll make more of us."