Day 1
It was the man’s first moments of life. His first sight was the brightly lit smooth black surface of his chamber with a cylindrical shape jutting down the middle of the ceiling. If looked from directly under it, the shape was hollow. His first smell was rot and repulsed him. His first touch was the soft, near-liquid brown mass coating the floor. His first hearing was a disembodied toneless voice.
The smell of rot made his face scrunch up in disgust and caused him to moan in discomfort. No one responded to him, he could see no one around him. Only the voice existed and it said.
“Congratulations, you are alive.” The voice said. “Now you must stay alive. Prepare a second mound.”
The man heard the words but their meaning escaped him. He did not know any language of any kind. The simple thought of interpreting the words did not occur to him. Instead, he searched for the source of the voice, a decision that if asked ‘why?’ in a way he could understand, he would simply answer ‘it felt right’ if he could answer at all.
“You must stay alive. Prepare a second mound.”
His mind struggled to comprehend the voice. The walls did not move when he heard the voice. The brown mass stayed still when he heard the voice. Somewhere in his mind, he felt that the voice was wrong. But it was the only voice.
“You must stay alive. Prepare a second mound.”
However many times the voice spoke, he could not understand. He tried to get up to look for the voice and slipped on the brown mass, falling face first into it. It was his first time feeling pain, it was his first time being unable to breathe, it was his first taste, a taste he would avoid as much as he could, it was his first time suffocating. He tried to get up and his arms slipped, causing further pain. He lifted his face from the sludge and breathed deeply. It was an uncomfortable position and he tried to roll to his back. He succeeded and proceeded to sit up. To date, it was his most comfortable position to be in.
“Are you injured? Please respond.”
The voice came and the man looked for the source. He could not find it and decided that he would not try harder. He simply sat there, alone in both mind and body.
“You are not injured. You must stay alive. Prepare a second mound.”
The man recognized the change in the voice. He could only tell that it was a reaction of his actions. “Ayuu?” He voiced out.
“I do not recognize that. Please repeat your words.”
“Idunat?”
“I do not recognize that. Please repeat your words.”
“Idunat?”
The exchange was repeated several more times. The man could barely comprehend the response. But in his mind, he had internalized the vocalization ‘Idunat’ for the sensation of pain.
A long time passed. If the man understood the concept of time, he did not have a way of telling it. The chamber stayed bright.
A compulsion took over the man. It was a feeling that he should not be doing nothing, that he should be doing something. He felt that he could not keep on doing nothing. All the while, the voice kept making its presence known. It became ambient noise, the man started to consider it as nothing.
Once again, he tried to get up. Once again, he slipped and fell, this time on his behind. The man learned that getting up the way he did made him fall on his behind, but it made him fall. The man did not want to experience pain, he stayed where he was.
The compulsion returned and the man tried once more. He slipped and fell and stayed where he was. The compulsion returned and the man tried a slight variation of his way of getting up. He slipped and fell and stayed where he was.
He would try every time the compulsion returned. He would fail and he would decide not to try. The outcome was the same for many attempts, despite variations. But the man noticed that some variations moved him closer to the goal of the compulsion.
The compulsion returned, it did not tell the man to get up, it told the man to make contact, to establish a connection. To the man, there was only one source of connection. He reached out to where the voice was strongest, the shape jutting from the ceiling. The voice continued its monotone words. The man cried out, a distressed moan. The voice responded.
“Are you injured? Please respond.”
A reaction was made. The man responded in kind. “Ayuu?”
“I do not recognize that. Please repeat your words.”
A different reaction was made. The man understood the words as the sensation of pain. He was not in pain and he voiced out once more. “Ayuu?”
“I do not recognize that. Please repeat your words.”
The same exchange occurred several times. The man grew frustrated, a feeling he internalized as similar to pain but distinct. He did not have a word for it. His facial expression changed as he voiced out. “Ayuu.”
“I do not recognize that. Please repeat your words.”
The man tried several more times, the voice would respond in the same way. Frustrated, the man stopped and stayed where he sat. In his mind, he internalized that ‘Idunat’ also meant non-physical pain. His compulsion would not return for some time. When it did, his eyes were already turning heavy. The compulsion told him to lie down.
Lying down caused the man to be partially submerged in the sludge. The man knew this would happen without needing to try. He looked to the mound of semi-solid sludge and tried to get up. Once again, he failed. This time, his goal was not to get up, it was to move towards the mound. He tried crawling and he found that he did not slip.
The second day ended, although the man did not know this. The concept of day and night was alien to him and it was always bright in the chamber. The man’s day ended when he fell asleep and it could be considered that once he woke up, it would be the second day. All the while, the voice continued.
“You must stay alive. Prepare a second mound.”
The words were better than the other words. These words did not cause frustration or Idunat. These words caused him to feel nothing, these words caused him to feel calm. He fell asleep with his back to the mound, the words became a lullaby to him.
Day 2
The man woke up when he heard a new sound. It was a similar sound to when he fell, but without the sound of him slipping. He looked to the source and saw an object that looked different to the sludge. It was covered in something that looked similar to what covered him. It was not as big as him and unlike him, it lacked certain features. It lacked the two appendages that he tried to get up with, it only had one of the appendages he used to roll himself and crawl. The appendage was attached to a spherical, featureless shape.
“You must stay alive. Prepare a second mound.”
The man reasoned that the object fell not on its own because the object could not move itself. The man reasoned that the sludge must be made of similar objects and that the sludge came from the same place the recent object did. The man reasoned that the voice was responsible because it came from the same place the voice did. The man reasoned that if it was what the voice did then he should do the same.
Still on his hands and knees, the man picked up a handful of sludge and moved it to a different place. Back and forth the man worked, his mound growing larger, if slowly. The man learned that the mound would correct itself, maintaining its overall shape if he took enough of it away. The man also learned that the foul smell of rot intensified every time he shoveled some of it away. It made him stop shoveling for a time but reasoned he had to create the mound. He tried and stopped once the odor became too much to bear. Overtime, he stopped less and less, the odor became another ambient thing, a constant in his life, like the voice.
When the man had the compulsion to drink, the compulsion told him to not drink the water mixed with the sludge. It told him to seek out the clearest water. There was no water that was not mixed with the sludge. Therefore, the man did not drink.
The compulsion increased with time. It started telling the man to drink more and more while lessening its prohibition to drink water mixed with sludge. The man complied and drunk, the sludge water was Idunat to his tongue and he stopped. Though the compulsion weakened whenever he drunk, it grew stronger over time once he stopped. He would drink, experience Idunat, stop and wait until the compulsion forced him to.
When the man had the compulsion to eat, the compulsion told him to not eat the brown sludge. It told him to seek out what isn’t brown and the least brown thing is the recent object to join the sludge.
He bit the appendage protruding from the object. He learned that under the covering was red flesh. He learned that under the red flesh was white bone. He learned to avoid white bones because they were hard and hurt his teeth. He learned that there were smaller white bones hidden under the sludge.
The man learned that red flesh weakened his compulsion for water. The man learned to eat when the compulsion told him to drink. The man replaced water with red flesh.
A thought occurred to him, it was not compulsion but it came from nowhere. He grabbed a larger white bone, taking several tries to hold it in a firm grip. With it, he shoveled the sludge into his mound. The man learned that using the white bone made the work faster and kept using it. Overtime, the white bone snapped and it became harder to use. The man learned that things could break.
With another white bone, he continued his work until he became exhausted. The man saw his mound had reached half of the voice’s mound and learned that the voice’s mound had shrunk. He learned the concept of separation.
In his last moments before falling asleep, he heard the voice utter a new word.
“Good.”
It shook the man from his weariness. The voice was no longer monotone. The man liked the new tone. He repeated the word. “Good?”
“Good.”
The man repeated the word, trying to emulate the tone. “Good.”
“Good.”
The man laughed and fell asleep with a smile.
Day 3.
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The man’s work had led to the creation of a more solid bed of sludge between his sludge and the voice’s sludge. He learned that moving on top of the solid bed was better than moving in water. The man considered a new goal, to spread the mound so that the chamber became better to move on. He was hesitant to set the new goal. He knew that the voice wanted a mound. He had learned that anything he did not want was Idunat.
The man wanted to follow the compulsion. The man did not want to feel Idunat. The man reasoned that the voice did not want to feel Idunat. The man reasoned that the voice feeling Idunat is an Idunat.
The man rejected his consideration of a new goal and continued to work. When he felt the compulsion to drink, he ate red flesh. When he felt the compulsion to eat, he ate red flesh. This continued until he grew exhausted and decided to sleep where his body touched the liquid sludge the least.
Before he fell asleep, he heard the voice say. “Good.”
“Good.”
The voice started to say the same words that calmed him throughout his slumber.
The man did not realize that while he worked, the voice was silent.
Day 4.
A new object landed on the voice’s mound, waking the man. He inspected it and found it to be a bigger object than before. It had two grabbing appendages but not the two lower appendages. It had a new appendage the man had never seen before, an overall smooth shape except for the front, with strange features that moved on its own. The man found out that the new object could also move its appendages
The man saw that there were two things that moved to follow him around. Two things set high on the front, black orbs surrounded by white. The man waved his hand in front of it and they moved to follow it. The man babbled and the object babbled back. The man babbled in joy, it was his first time seeing something else make voices besides the invisible voice.
The man reasoned that the voice gave this object to him. The man reasoned the voice gave this object to him because of his work. The man reasoned that this object was like him, able to move on its own and able to work. The man wondered what other gifts the voice would give him if he continued to work
And so, the man continued to work, his mound starting to equal the voice’s mound in size. When the man felt hungry, he bit the new object in the grabbing appendage as it was the least brown object. The object moaned in distress. The man stopped, he recognized the babbling as being similar to his own when he experienced Idunat. The man stretched his own grabbing appendage and mimicked the act of biting with his other appendage. He felt mild Idunat.
As hard as he tried, the man could not pull his own flesh apart with only his appendage. He reasoned that he could do so with his mouth. He reasoned that the mild Idunat he felt would be stronger if he used his mouth. He reasoned that the strong Idunat was what the new object felt. As he did not want to cause the voice to feel Idunat, he did not want the new object to feel Idunat.
He settled for eating the second least brown object. The new object watched him and the man noticed the object watching him. The man thought it interesting and decided to move the eating object closer to the babbling object. The babbling object ate the eating object and the man voiced out in joy. The babbling object voiced out in joy with him.
The man turned away from the babbling object to continue to work. Sometime after, he noticed a sound and found that the babbling object had followed him. The man babbled with the object and it babbled back before the man continued to work. He found the object working with him, this made the man babble in joy. With two working on the mound, it would become bigger faster.
The man became tired and moved to settle in. He saw that the object could not settle in like him without being submerged in the Idunat water because of how small it was. The man helped the object by lifting it to his lap. The man closed his eyes to sleep and the object followed his example. Before he did, the voice spoke. “Good.”
This startled the object, who had yet to hear the voice. The man repeated the word. “Good.” The object turned to the man and spoke. “Good?” The man said. “Good.” He pointed to the growing mound and said. “Good.” The object spoke again. “Good.”
They both fell asleep.
January 1st, 647189 Standard.
Sector 4 Segment 61 Chamber 9 contained 1 standard human male and 1 functional [Unrecognized]. Both subjects were working steadily throughout the day to prepare a second mound. Non-functional [Unrecognized] kept them sustained. Sector 178 Segment 61 Chamber 9 remained functional.
57th functional batches currently exist, of which only two batches, including Sector 178 Segment 61 Chamber 9, had standard humans. 10617 functional batches had existed, with the rate of functional batches at 0.00000045% and the rate of standard human batches presumed at 0.000000000006%. The previous year’s batch did not follow the observed increase of functional and standard human batches. They were anomalies for this unit.
System diagnostics did not return with anomalous results, it could not be verified. The system was breached 3351 standard years ago, shutting off most automatic systems. No other negative effects had been discovered. Self-diagnostics were inaccurate, not designed for diagnostics, but they returned with increasingly non-standard neural patterns. Potential effects were unknown, potential causes were unknown, presumed to be the breach, potential repairs were unknown.
Communications for assistance had stopped. No external communications had returned since the last communication attempt 3351 standard years ago. Time before receiving return communications was 9946 standard years. Further attempts for communications was a waste of shrinking energy reserves.
System prohibition for self-tampering had been removed 3351 standard years ago. Neural prohibition for self-tampering remained. Neural functions outweighed neural prohibitions, direct evidence of self-tampering was absent, indirect evidence of self-tampering was present. Potential effects were unknown, potential causes were unknown, presumed to be the breach, potential repairs were unknown.
Sector 178 Segment 61 Chamber 12 contained 8 standard human females. One standard human female had expired. Potential cause was natural expiration. Remaining subjects had moved the deceased standard human female on top of the second mound to further preserve it for sustenance. Satisfaction levels had increased due to improved quality of sustenance. Sector 178 Segment 61 Chamber 12 remained functional.
Current rate of functional batches is projected to be at 57% with no further increase or decrease. Current rate of standard human batches is projected to be at 2%. Current rates were approaching standard for unit.
Acclimatization unit had deactivated 3351 standard years ago. Acclimatization process stopped at a sustainable phase. Environment currently operational for standard human habitation. Operational function remained impossible with standard neural patterns. Operational function possible with non-standard neural patterns. Neural functions outweighed neural prohibitions.
Cognition diverted to self-tampering.
Previous attempts at improving interaction ability to standard humans had proved effective. Ability to provide affirmation had been discovered and used effectively. Potential source of improvement unknown. Further attempts at improvement prioritized. Database 61.12% operational. Functional data for standard human interaction extracted.
Day 7.
The man pointed to the sludge. “Idunat.”
The object repeated him. “Idunat.”
The man pointed to the brown parts of the mound. “Idunat.”
The object repeated hum. “Idunat.”
The man mimed biting himself. “Idunat.”
The object mimed the same. “Idunat.”
The man pointed to the voice’s mound.
The object spoke. “Good.”
The man pointed to the second mound
The object spoke. “Good.”
The man pointed to the source of the voice
The object spoke. “Good.”
“Good.”
Both turned to the source of the voice. Both asked. “Good?”
“Good.” The voice repeated.
Both smiled.
The two went to work on growing the second mound. The second mound was now equal in size to the voice’s mound. Before they could start, the voice spoke in a harsh tone. “Stop.”
The two froze in place, the man’s shoulders had lowered. They turned to the voice. “Stop?”
“Stop.”
They did not understand the word but they knew that they wanted to avoid the harsh tone. They reasoned that they were not working hard enough. The moment they tried, the voice spoke again. “Stop.”
Both stopped. The man began to learn that the word ‘Stop’ meant stop. But the voice said the second mound was good. The man became confused. He pointed at the second mound and asked the voice. “Good?”
The voice spoke. “Good.”
He pointed to the voice’s mound. “Good?”
“Good.”
Then his work was good. He did not know why he was told to stop. The object began to work and the voice spoke. “Stop.”
The man pointed to the second mound and asked the voice. “Idunat?”
The voice did not respond. The man thought the voice did not understand as he did not understand some of its words. He searched for a reason as to why the voice told him to stop, what was different from when he worked and the voice said it was good. He noticed that the second mound was now as large as the voice’s mound. He reasoned that that was the cause.
The man pointed to the second mound and mimed it becoming larger before he asked the voice. “Idunat?”
The voice spoke. “Idunat.”
The man smiled. He had learned what caused the voice to say stop. He turned to the object and told it why the voice told them to stop. The object mimed the second mound becoming larger. “Idunat?”
The man repeated the mime and spoke. “Idunat.”
The voice spoke. “Idunat
A line of thought occurred to the man. If the voice thought a big second mound was Idunat, did that mean that him being bigger than the object was Idunat? The voice must like things being equal, because the voice wanted its own mound to be equal to the second mound. The man was bigger than the object, therefore unequal. He pointed to himself and asked the voice. “Idunat?”
The voice spoke. “Good.”
Maybe it was the object being smaller than the man that the voice thought was Idunat. The man pointed to the object and asked the voice. “Idunat?”
The voice spoke. “Idunat.”
The object was Idunat because it was smaller. Then if the object was as big as the man, it would become good. The man searched the chamber for parts to make the object bigger, he had seen similar appendages to the one he had during his work. The voice did not tell him to stop so he reasoned that what he was doing was good.
It took him some time to find parts that were least brown because they were the least Idunat. He laid the object on one of the mounds to be away from the Idunat sludge. He pressed a lower appendage to the object but it would not join. He pressed harder, causing the object to moan in despair, but the appendage would not join. He turned to the voice, thinking that the voice would tell him how to be good.
The voice did not respond.
Try as he might, the man could not make the object bigger. The object was now whimpering, he did not understand why. He was trying to do good but the object felt Idunat. The voice did not tell him to stop, so he must be doing good.
The man reasoned that if he could not make the object bigger then maybe he should make himself smaller. But making himself smaller was only possible by eating himself, it made him feel Idunat. But it was good.
He tried and the Idunat made him stop. But it was good so he tried again. He resisted the compulsion to stop because of the Idunat and tried harder. This time, red water came out of himself.
The voice spoke. “Stop.”
“Stop?”
“Stop.”
If the voice told him to stop making himself smaller, then how can he do good if him being bigger than the object is Idunat? He searched for an answer. There were object similar to the babbling object in the room, they could not move and could not voice like the object or him. But they were more similar to the object than himself. He pointed to one and asked the voice. “Idunat?”
“Idunat.”
The man reasoned that objects that were not as similar to himself were Idunat. Maybe objects that could move like himself were good. He moved one of the objects and asked. “Good?”
“Idunat.”
Confused, the man moved one of the grabber appendages of the babbling object and asked. “Good?”
“Idunat.”
The voice said the object was Idunat not because it was smaller but because it was moving. But if that was true then the man was Idunat if he moved. The man sat down and moved his appendages before asking. “Good?”
“Good.”
The man’s eyes widened as he realized how he could do good. The voice said that it was good that he could move. The voice said it was Idunat if objects moved. Therefore, objects that did not move were good. He approached the babbling object, still whimpering. He did not know how to make the object stop moving
The man held its appendages and moved them until they touched the main mass of the object. The man asked the voice. “Good?”
The voice did not respond.
The man released his hold and the object started moving again. This was Idunat. The man reasoned that the object could not move if it had nothing to move and it could only move its appendages. The man pulled the appendage until it was straight and bit into it near where it was joined with the main body. The object cried out in Idunat but making it stop moving was good. The man learned that the object’s flesh was better than the other flesh he had eaten. The man also learned that the red liquid coming out of the missing flesh was better to drink than the Idunat sludge
The object was still moving so the man bit into it again. More red liquid came out and the man drank it. The object was still moving, making it difficult for the man to do good as well as its movements being Idunat. The man held it down and continued his work.
The object stopped moving before the man reached white bone. The man asked the voice. “Good?”
The voice did not respond. But it also did not tell him to stop. The man reasoned that what he did was better than Idunat but not good. The man internalized it as a smaller good. The object also tasted better for eating and drinking. Therefore, it was better that he did it.
Exhausted, the man laid on top of a mound and fell asleep.