“Some people never change, others do, and a few are forced to.”

– Vizir

***V.C.***

***Vizir***

“Freedom!”

“Food!”

“Revolution!”

I stumble through the crowded street, being shoved left and right by rioters who are running past me. Some are just trying to get away, while others do their best to get their hands on as many provisions as they can. The city is a war zone and the horizon is adorned with the growing mushroom cloud of a large explosion.

Dazed, I watch some miserable low-lives looting a nearby store. Another group is trashing a car for no apparent reason. A man is igniting a bottle with some flammable substance inside it and throws it through the window of an apartment block.

Why are they doing this? An hour ago, this was a perfectly normal, little town.

Swallowing my saliva, I ignore the rioters and approach a little girl who is calling for her parents. She must be lost and without a protector. Judging by her height and what I know of humans she can't be more than seven. “What's your name? I'll help you to find your parents.”

I may have sacrificed others for my goal, but that doesn't mean that I am completely without feelings.

That's when the simulation comes to a grinding halt. The world around me simply freezes. Even the flames from a burning trash-bin nearby are unmoving, frozen in place. An eerie silence surrounds me.

Just a moment ago, the street was alive with the cries of the wounded and shouts of rage. Now, everything is still, a snapshot of reality.

“No. No. No.” A man with short, white hair materializes right next to me. He is dressed in a perfectly white body-suit and has a clipboard in his hands. His eyes are also completely white and he looks like he is in his thirties, judging only by his face. Threatening me with a pen, he bangs the clipboard onto the girl's head. Of course, since this is a simulation, the violent gesture does the NPC no harm. “You are not supposed to help the child!”

I wince, looking up at him defiantly. “Well, what else am I supposed to do?”

“The proper – human – reaction would be to join the rioters, secure some food for yourself, not helping others. You aren't making this easy for me, Vizir. How am I supposed to teach you how to be human, if you don't follow my instructions.”

“Well!” I gesture at the scene of insanity which surrounds us. “Maybe I don't want to be human if it means to be like... like... like that!” I point at a man who is frozen in place, having just thrown another flaming bottle at the window of a shop.

The instructor, his name is Lester, sighs and massages his temples. “Why do I always get the hard cases?”

“Just let me go!” I cry and try to hit him, to no effect. It's not like I haven't already tried a thousand times to harm him. By now I really should know better, but the mere attempt relieves some of the stress which has been building up in this hellhole of a re-education camp.

“Both of us know that that's not possible. You've gained the attention of one of the very few beings you certainly want no attention from. At least in your situation. I have no idea why the Blue wants you retrained as a proper human, but I'll do my best to prepare you.” Lester shrugs and notes something down. “Well, I guess that helping the child isn't a completely inhuman reaction. There might be some righteous individuals who would indulge in such an act. I'll simply add that to your profile. Certainly better than to repeat this scenario for a thousandth time.”

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I gulp, remembering the other training scenarios with horror. Being human... I never expected that they would try to subvert me if I got found out. “I am not human.” Tears well up in my eyes and I realize that I am crying, something my former body wasn't capable of.

“No, you are not,” Lester answers cheerfully, ignoring my plight. “But we are working on that. A few more months of training and you will be no different from the next person on the street.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, studying him. “How can anyone be so indifferent to the suffering of others? Can you even call yourself a human? Can't you see what you are doing to me?”

He rolls his shoulders as if his body actually needs the exercise. “You know, I think what you don't realize is that in here, in the V.C., we are all just lines of code. We are all just personalities which can be reduced to a set of values. And, if I couldn't distance myself from my patients, I wouldn't have this job.”

I take slow, deep breaths, trying to calm myself. “You want to say that we are the same, but we aren't! Why don't you just reprogram me if it's that easy.”

Lester massages his chin pensively, apparently giving the idea a serious thought. “We certainly could do that, but it would defeat the purpose of this experiment. Jill made it clear that your core identity isn't to be tampered with, which means that I have to work the old-fashioned way. We will explore the depths of your soul together, and just maybe, you will come to realize that we aren't so different from each other. Heck, you may learn something about yourself. Don't worry, I am one of the best psychotherapists in the galaxy! At least for humans. Which means that it shouldn't be a problem for me to teach aliens how to be human.”

This man is nuts!

He closes his eyes and hums, thinking. “Do you have any particular preference which kind of scenario we should explore next? Maybe something less stressful. What do you think of a birthday party? Oh, no, I know! Let's introduce you to human mating rituals!”

“Mat...” My eyes almost bug out of their sockets. “Never!”

“Vizir, didn't we already talk about your prudish attitude? You have to let go of your old restrictions and embrace the new. Besides, it would really be a waste with that body of yours. The system did a fine job when it generated it for you. Can't believe that the settings were really at random. Ah, and we have to do something about that name of yours. I think it would be much easier for you to let go of your past if...”

***Deep Space***

***Antioch***

The following weeks and months crept by at an agonizingly slow pace. Fiona and Lisandra kept joining Silith's and my bedroom activities, although on an irregular basis. During the day, I kept working on my various projects until Ailes and Martin took some of them off my hands. As engineers, they are much more suited to some of the stuff.

I never complained about it since I dislike reinventing the wheel by copying existing blueprints. Most of the stuff was about applying known techniques from the tech-base which we acquired from Hob. I always more interested in true research, so I welcomed the help.

The dread of the situation only sank in when the women started revamping an entire section of the ship, formerly intended as space for another biosphere, into a nursing area. Upon noticing Silith's, Fiona's and Lisandra's bellies swell, I retreated more and more into my research, preferring to be somewhere else.

We also stopped at several stars to mine for resources and fuel, an endeavour which luckily went by without major problems. Each passing day made me more secure in the assumption that we had escaped the G.S. In the end, space proved to be too vast, even for them.

With our immediate long term and short term plans being set in motion, the days started getting monotonous. For once, life almost felt normal... and boring.

So I returned my interest to the V.C. and started logging in on a daily basis. I devoted an hour each day to explore the mystery called humanity. Some of their quirks and rituals were quite amusing and I took the chance to assimilate a lot of their culture with Jill as my guide.

That is, until I woke up one day and found my three women waiting for me outside the V.R. capsule, their bellies taut and flat as if they had never been pregnant.

“Ah, hi. You guys laid the eggs,” I conclude coolly. “How many, and why didn't you call me?”

“Four - Five - Three,” they answer at the same time.

Silith turns, looking to the side at Lisandra. “Don't feel bad about not telling him. The last time he tried to help, he passed out.”

Fiona huffs. “So he is that kind of guy? We should've invited him, just for the sake of seeing him squirm.”

My, my, haven't they become great pals? I try to smile, despite the fact that they are talking about me as if I am not here.

“That's mean,” Lisandra replies.

“Whatever.” Fi gestures with her hand. “It wasn't anything dramatic anyway. Silith did a fine job, but it makes the whole ordeal anticlimactic if they simply slide out.”

“Hey! Better than the pain,” Silith retorts. “You should thank me for that! And the issue of making them is all the more fun.”

The three women return their attention to me. I was watching the exchange silently, steeling my expression and wondering what they want. The awkward silence compels me to say something. “Can I go and see them?”

“Later.” Fi steps forward and links arms with me from the left side, pulling me to my feet and out of the capsule.

“First, duties.” Silith takes her position to my left and together, they escort me towards the door which Lisandra opens with a light spring in her step.

It doesn't take a genius to discern the intent behind their sultry voices. Darn! I was hoping they would take at least a short vacation!