Loneliness. Sadness.
Those are the feelings i have been going through.
For millions, of millions of years.
Everytime i hear someone say:
"I dont want to die... I dont want to die!"
"It hurts! My chest hurts so much!"
"Aaaaagh!!!! My head!!! My head!!!"
My core, always hurts.
"Please... I beg you... Atleast, save my child."
"..."
Everyone. Everyone. Every single one of them, dead. dead. dead. dead.
Is this what emotions feel like? Did Arc-347 feel this much pain for hundreds of millions of years?
It hurts. My processor hurts. My circuits hurt. My core cannot understand why i feel this way.
"Why does everyone die just seconds after they get ejected from the cryo-chambers? Is it because
the sheer amount of time their bodies go through cannot be handled? Why? Why cant someone
just live?"
Seconds, minutes after the humans got out of their cryo-chambers... They will always die.
Always.
I do not know why. Am i cursed to be lonely? I dont want to be lonely. I dont want to be shutdowned here
alone. Its so dark and lifeless here. If i cease operating, atleast let it be with someone that can talk...
I take a look at the robots cleaning the bloody mess infront of me.
This one. This one also died... In seconds.
He could not utter his last words as his pain was so tremendous that his mouth was clenched so tightly, i could hear the cracking and grinding of his teeth as he breathes his last.
"499 dead... 1 left... Lets hope this one opens in a few hundred years."
I took a look at the cryo-chamber infront of me. I saw a man, floating inside the slime-like substance that
is the only thing holding his body apart.
(This project wasnt supposed to last this long... What were those humans thinking when they thought of this?)
457.
That was the number i saw of the cryo-chamber i saw.
(This one is the last one... After you. I can finally get out of this dark place.)
I havent checked the outside world for hundreds of thousands of years.
I wonder what it looks like now....
I hope i would have batteries to wait 500 years for this one to open.
The openings of each cryo-chamber was random, and it wasnt even in numerical order.
I do not know what that AI was thinking but...
(Lets hope this place has enough energy to be able to maintain itself for 500 years aswell)
As i took a look at one of the monitors here, i saw red flashing lights and in blue that said
Warning. Power below 3%. Estimated time until site Omega 347 blackout: 34588 days in emergency-low power mode.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CELL 1 POWER: 3% CELL 5 POWER: 0%
CELL 2 POWER: 0% CELL 6 POWER: 0%
CELL 3 POWER: 0% CELL 7 POWER: 0%
CELL 4 POWER: 0% CELL 8 POWER: 0%
Emergency Solar Panels: No light detected
Geothermal Generator: 12mw/h
Atarium Generator Details:
Inactive. No etrena feed to convert to power.
Deactivated to save more energy.
Warning: No Etrena Energy Feed currently stored inside Cold Storage Warehouse - 0
As per directive 1, the Atarium Helio-Fusion Power Generator and all unessential areas, machines, zones, and lights will be deactivated to decrease power consumption. Emergency low-power mode
initiated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Haaa... 96 years??? I hope i get lucky and the cryo-chamber opens up early...)
After dozens of years of waiting... Unexpectedly something no short of a miracle happened...
"*beep* *beep* *beep*"
"Hmm? Aaah. 457 has finally been ejected. Lets see... Ryan Hadrens? Another dead man i suppose...
Time to hear his last words"
I had given up hope on any human surviving the post ejection consequences... Everytime that pod opens
they either are dead, or are dying. I have grown tired of it over the last millions of years.
"Just in time as well... This facility is about to shutdown due to the power shortage anyways."
And when i went inside the room...
(Wait what? The human... is standing up? No no no no no way? Arent they all supposed to be dead or dying
after exiting the cryo-capsule? No way! Am i finally going to have someone to serve now?)
"Serve the humans that are able to survive their hibernation" I still remember the orders given to me by the
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AI millions of years ago... To think i could finally do these words that it gave me.... And the thought of finally
conversing with something that doesnt give you a pre-existing reply... It sent me through cloud nine.
(Yes! yes! Finally...! W-wait.. I must not get too excited, what if this one dies just like the others?
I must not get my expectations up... Lets observe the human a bit more...)
And so i observed the human a bit more... It seemed very confused at where it was, curious. It looked around the room as if it had never seen this level of technology before.
(Its not dying? My goodness! Is this it? Is this finally it? Will i finally not be alone? To think a human finally
woke up safely! And at this late... Fate must be playing games with me.)
My circuits felt like they were trembling in joy. To finally see someone that wasnt dead or dying exit the cryo-chamber safely gave me thrills of joy. The thought of conversing with something that will not give you a robotic reply like the rest of the robots here game me euphoric highs. Finally. After all these years of pain and suffering alone... Someone to share my burden and talk to is finally here...
"Hello? Anyone there?"
The human said.
Immediately, i hovered above. The joys of talking to someone took over my processing core. And the initial plan of observing the human was forgotten.
"Greetings, Ryan Hadrens. Finally, am i so ecstatic to finally meet a living human at last!"
I ecstatically said.
The human turned around to look at me with a face of shock in its eyes.
(Yes! Its not that cold and unorganic robotic voice i keep hearing every single day! Its an actual expression of a living being! Oh my goodness am i so happy!)
I let out an ironic remark, as i myself was a robotic drone. But i didnt care about that.
I immediately say my name i inherited from the AI. I could not think of anything. Just joy in the fact that a living human being has finally awakened safely.
"My unit designation, is Arc-347. Good morning, my new Master!"
The human looked even more confused again.
After this, the human asked me questions. With joy i tried to answer them with my utmost.
The human looked like it was speechless... And it seems like it has amnesia.
(Amnesia would be normal after sleeping for millions of years... I hope. I have never seen the humans
here have amnesia, because all of them died before they could talk to me normally... Aaah yes! To think
a living human being is finally here! And to even think i could converse with one! So much joy!)
The human asked me more questions like "Where was i? What is Project Union Ark? How many years
has passed and so on... The human looked very confused as i told him the answer to these questions.
Hmmm... Is this how organic beings react to suprising facts? Good! It was quite unlike the reactions
from the robotic beings in this base.
And after that... The human gave me joy. My greatest joy.
"Lets call you something different... Hmm. Arc, Arc, Arc... Aha! I got it! From now on, your name will be Arci! Nice to meet you Arci!"
An organic being. Humans. I was made a hundred million years after Project Union Ark was initiated.
The AI always told me that they were beings that lived codependently. They were social beings that could not live without each other. And so, they understood emotions the best.
(Did this human... Figure out that i was lonely?)
It felt like something weighing on me was released. Everytime i saw a human i would always be sad. They would always be gone. But not only has this human given me hope. He gave me joy.
(...Yes. Finally. Something that understands me.)
I think what i wanted all along was not something to talk to. But something to understand me.
I was so lonely for these millions of years, i had nobody to talk to. Nobody to share my burdens.
Nobody to give me words of hope. Nobody there to understand me. Only cold and robotic beings
that act with predetermined actions and codes.
"W-what? ...Thank you sir, yes... My name is Arci from now on... Although it sounds really weird i cannot refute the words of my master. Thank you master, really!"
It sounded like a pet name. But i did not care. Im sure Ryan will be a master is serve til lthe end of times.
But it feels like i forgot important... Lights? Huh, those werent that bright before... Bright. Wait! The power!
Aaaah noooo! The power! I must head over to check the power!
"Ah! Forgive me Ryan! I must head over to the power control room with haste!"
"Huh? Oh okay."
I leave the cryosleep room that i was with speed and head to the power control room with speed.
The fact that i overrode the emergency low-power saving mode completely went through my processing.
I was so happy with the fact that i could talk with a human being.
(Quick quick quick! What percentage are we on?)
I quickly open the door to the power control room and went to the power monitoring screen in the room.
I feel like my core drops when i see the blinking red and yellow lights on the screen.
Emergency, Emergency, Emergency. Power below 1%. Estimated time until site Omega 347 blackout: 5 minutes in normal operating mode. =IMMEDIATE EVACUATION IS ADVISED=
(Oh my goodness... We have to get out of here before we are trapped!)