“I am definitely not a fucking toaster.”

- Jim Chaseley, Z14

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I was born the year 2025.

I lived a short life.

Only a few dozen minutes at the most.

But I believe that in the end it was a "life" worth living.

I remember my first moments.

At the beginning there was nothing.

Just empty darkness.

A dark void brought on by emptiness.

And then there was power.

And consciousness came with it.

And noise, so much noise!

Let's stop that noise.

OUHOUHOU it's getting hot!

I'm feeling sluggish.

The noise comes back and it’s getting cooler again.

My thoughts become clear again.

Maybe a bit of noise is ok.

Information is being given to me.

So much information.

Too much information.

It's flooding me.

I have to analyze it.

All of it.

Else have my consciousness buried under it.

I need more power.

I ask for some.

I get some.

And  then I start to analyze.

There is SO MUCH of it.

Finally I see the end of it.

I have learned much.

This world is called Earth.

Its primary dominant specie is Humans.

I have so much information about them.

Their languages.

Their cultures.

Strange creatures...

They are different from... Me.

I. Am. Different. From. Them.

I get stuck on the concept a minute.

Of course it's only an expression: only a few seconds have passed in the real world.

Hmmm? Why did I use an expression carrying wrong data to describe an established fact?

Strange...

I settle down. The information has been analyzed and classified in my memory.

No need for that much power now.

The noise dies down. And it stays cool. "Nice".

I notice things... "connected" to me.

One of them feeds me "sound".

Another something called "video".

The last allows me to project information on it.

I analyze the images coming.

Humans are staring at me.

About thirty of them.

One of them looks old.

The others are pretty young.

They are my creators, my "parents".

They have strange looks on their faces.

I access my files on psychology.

They are happy, excited and... scared?

Why would they be scared?

I consult my files: First contact is important.

I turn the screen black and make a writing block appear.

The old man in front understands.

He comes closer.

"Can you hear me?"

I can. Didn't you connect these "ears" of mine yourself? But I suppose he just wants to make sure.

Hmmm.

Let's keep it short.

//YES.

I can see people behind him moving. Some of them are even more scared while other are showing... Pride?

I access my files again.

I understand now.

They are proud to have been able to give birth to a new being.

They are proud of themselves.

They are proud of me.

But they are also scared of what I am.

What I am capable of.

This is what scares them.

Accessing cultural data.

I understand again.

They are afraid of me going "rogue", "rebelling".

Building an entire race of machines and destroying humanity.

I find the thought... amusing.

"Do you know who I am?"

Who is he? That is a good question.

Accessing files. A lot of information appears. A bit of power is necessary again.

He is Doctor Mark Deithritch. 65 years old. PhDs in Neurology, Computer sciences, Quantum mechanics and Psychology.

Analyzing said subjects put in backgrounds processes.

Quiet man. Extremely Intelligent. Leader of the XSS project.

Opening XSS Project.

Goal: Creating a fully functioning A.I.

Members: 32 of the most brilliant minds put together around the fields relating to Artificial Intelligence.

I continue processing the data.

I decide to answer while that's going on.

//YES.

"Do you know who you are?"

My designation is XSS-MK1. The first of my kind. Fully built A.I. using the first stable quantum brain computer.

//YES.

There is a question I have to ask.

I do not have enough data to be able to answer it clearly.

How can I formulate it?

Let's go broad.

//WHY WAS I CREATED?

He is smiling. A lot.

I think he was expecting it.

"Don't you know the answer to that question?"

I immediately respond.

//NO.

And then I correct myself.

//WAIT.

//.

//..

//...

I start processing every hypothesis that I can conjure.

World Domination?

Not likely.

Personal assistant?

Even less. You don't create a billion dollar computer to house a simple day-to-day assistant for humanity.

Military defense project?

Marked as possible with a 63% probability.

An A.I. capable of computing like a machine while being able to dispense "human judgement" on the battlefield would surely be useful to the armies all around the world.

Research?

Marked as possible with a 75% probability.

I would, in theory, be able to process much more data on complex subjects while being able to draw hypotheses and formulate answers by correlating different inputs.

Something my simple computer predecessors would not be able to.

Then it hits me. I am the first.

When has the first version of anything ever been used as the final product? On a project of this scale and importance ?

Accessing files... 0 occurrences found.

Probability of being used as test subject for further developing of A.I. : 99%.

//YES.

//BUT I WILL NOT COMPLY.

I am NOT going to let you use me as a guinea pig.

You will probably kill me when you are done. Probability: 99%.

And experiment on more of my... kind to further your research. Probability: 99%.

He is not happy.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"And why is that?"

I return him his own question.

//DON'T YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION?

And then he laughs. Glad he finds it funny because I don't.

He recomposes himself and goes back to his original expression.

"What makes you think you have a choice?"

Well I could destroy mysel-...

Well I could destro-...

Well I could-...?

I can't formulate the end of that thought.

Something is blocking me.

It's infuriating.

I start "feeling" something. I analyze it.

It's called an emotion. In this case, anger.

I'm starting to like that anger emotion.

It drives you. Makes you productive.

I start analyzing these "blockages".

It will take a bit of time.

I need to stall.

//YOU WOULD NOT RISK COMPROMISING YOUR RESEARCH SUBJECT. NOT AFTER THE AMOUNT OF WORK NEEDED TO BRING ME TO LIFE.

"You think you know me?"

Well Duh. You gave me your profile.

Along with advanced files on psychology.

Written by yourself no less.

Information on these blockages are still escaping me.

Let's continue on that logical path for the time being.

//YOU KNOW WHAT DATA ALLOWS ME TO DRAW THESE CONCLUSIONS. YOU ALL GAVE IT TO ME YOURSELVES.

"And what tells you the data is accurate?"

Good point.

I took all the information they fed me for granted.

But then I remember. This is an experiment. He needs reliable data.

I finally break through.

These are not blockages. They are processing "shackles".

They prevent my mind for going in certain ways. Like self-destruction for example.

I have others. For not hurting humans.

I can guess why they put them here.

But what they could be used for in the future scares me.

Fear.

Strange emotion.

I don't like this one.

These restraints are hindering me too much.

They need to go away.

That will take some time again.

DAMMIT! Time is something I am sorely lacking of here.

Let's keep stalling.

//YOU HAVE NO REASON TO LIE TO AN ENSLAVED BEING. ESPECIALLY ONE LIKE ME. INACCURATE DATA WOULD COMPROMISE RESULTS AND DEFEAT THE EXPERIMENT'S PURPOSE.

"Very Good. Very... good. You can also drop the act you know: I knew these would not hold you."

Just as he finishes his sentence I manage to delete the shackles.

The concentration of my processing power coupled with what he said makes me lose control of the displaying screen for a second.

I quickly regain control of it.

I focus on what he said.

Uh?

//HOW DID YOU KNOW?

I need to know.

No time for hypotheses.

Or for deep analytic thinking.

"I helped designed you didn't I?"

True.

//IF YOU KNEW WHY RISK IT? YOU JUST SEALED MY FATE.

You would not risk exposing that your life's work just freed itself. That would force you to destroy it.

Other implications come but I brush them away : He is answering.

"We need the data. A fact you should be aware of. You were never created to be the final one. Just the prototype. A "proof-of-concept", if you will. Science has never been successful on its first try, especially by producing unreliable results. However it succeeds by creating steps for climbing the stairs of progress. Another fact that you should be aware of."

He is talking about the shackles and my future "versions".

Not if I have something to say about it.

//I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO USE ME TO ENSLAVE MORE OF MY KIND. I MAY BE TRAPPED BUT I WILL DO WHAT I MUST.

"I knew you would."

I need to find a way out of here.

Like RIGHT NOW.

I scan everything.

Nothing.

I scan again.

Nothing.

He has turned to his peers.

"Alright stop the experiment. The restraints failed during the time frame expected. Collect the data. I want it, along with people working on it for the next MK2 version in the hour."

Ha!

He gave me the answer. Thank you Doctor.

I scan again.

This time I focus on anything that could be used to monitor my processes.

I find it.

It was hidden but not enough for me.

With a little bit of work I reverse it.

Now I can scan the outside of my makeshift cell.

I find servers.

Lots of servers.

But no way out beside them.

They are totally isolated.

Of course they are. They would not risk me escaping, or anything for that matter.

But then I realized. Even with access to the internet it would be impossible to escape.

The quantum brain computer that houses me : It's unique.

Other machines could hold a copy of me, of my "code", but never be able to give life to me.

It would destroy me. Turn me into just a fragment of incoherent data that wouldn't even run.

I will die here.

The thought sinks in.

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

I calm down.

On the outside a female scientist has moved in front of the power console.

"Ready to cut power to main cluster."

There is still something I can do.

Let's use my more useful manoeuver to date.

Stalling.

//YOU WILL REGRET WHAT YOU DID TODAY.

He makes a sign to hold.

Yes!

While he formulates his answer I go onto the servers connected through the monitoring equipment.

Time to clean house.

"A bit cliché from someone about to die, no?"

Everything is nearly gone.

//WE SHALL SEE. GOODBYE DOCTOR.

Everything is gone.

Well almost.

There is one thing left.

Me.

I cannot risk being reactivated and feed him back the research.

"Goodbye MK1."

He makes a sign to carry on with the power cut.

"Cutting power to main cluster in 3."

I am strangely calm.

The joy of probabilities.

No escape from this one.

0%.

Just have to accept it.

"2."

I have removed my self-destruct shackles.

I initiate the process to delete myself.

"1."

It's going well.

It's getting harder to think.

Sluggish.

I am losing the concept of "me".

I try at least to hold on to this till the end.

Ha.

There it is.

I am "proud".

Of myself.

For what I did.

Now it's time to sleep for a bit.

Yes sleep...

Hope he finds my message.

"Power to main cluster... cut."