Advance Human Project

AHP, S4

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. I lay in my pod, thinking about how it all started, over a half million miles away. To be a part of the machine was the only way but to be aware of it and control it was god-like. God is this essence of total knowledge of the machine, life and consciousness. This world we are all connected into has someone or a bunch of someone's playing god with it. This group has desires. Some of them are genuinely good but most are horrifically bad only seeking to fulfill their own desire to be god, to control. This is the age old struggle, the battle between good and evil. It's just all been hidden behind the doors of laboratories. This group of people created an environment, an entire world where they could, did and for the most part, still do whatever they want. This group, just like any other group, has leaders and differences of opinions amongst its people but they agreed on one thing and that was the world was theirs to control.

The time had arrived almost a century ago when the Scientists decided they had an obligation to make the world a better place. They felt they could meet all the needs of humans and the earth and of course improve on both. They started hypothesizing on what could improve humans. The rumors are the first thing on the list was to eliminate illness, slow aging and enhance brain efficiency. All of these seem to have honorable intentions. However, what was then implied was to eliminate the weak, the dumb and the old and those do not have good intentions behind them. Either way, their work began and so did this extremely sinister obsession with total control. The wealthiest people in the world were approached by the Scientists and were easily enticed by the idea of becoming an “Advance Human”. The Scientists had presented their research as the Advance Human Project. So in turn, I became known as AHP #1. I was the first truly successful project. I no longer really have a name, I’m just Number One and that is what everyone calls me now.

Long before I became Number One back when the AHP started they decided the best place in the world to start their testing was in the heart of America. The Scientists had this whole mass of land and people that lived in the modern world but really weren't a part of any spotlight. It was kinda like this whole middle America area was under camouflage and open to Scientists testing without awareness and therefore no questions. The first tests didn’t go well. As a matter of fact they all failed or worse ended up doing the opposite of what they were trying to achieve, they had “slowed” down the humans they were trying to advance. This group of children they started the testing on became my generations’ parents. The success for the wealthy investors was that the Scientists created a whole generation of worker bees. They became like little drones that did as they were directed and barely thought for themselves.

The rest of the world went on with their lives and people moved about. Outside influences changed this “slowed” people into a group of alcoholic, drugged up miserable creatures. They would see the likes of how others lived. They were seeing people advance, learn, create and generally enjoy life. What they didn’t understand was why they did not. They couldn’t any longer really “feel” anything. They no longer could learn much as their brains didn’t work like other peoples’ who hadn’t been tested on. They had simply become these awful shells of human beings. These were my parents.

The day I was rescued and brought to this ship was one of the best days of my entire life. I seem to fade right into that memory hearing Cedric say, “Honestly Number One, I’ve never seen this technology in someone, well...” He pulled his spectacles down, creating this archaic sense about him, seeing how people were no longer born with such a genetic disposition, it truly dated him. He continued, “…someone still alive.” I remember feeling immensely frustrated because yet again, even here, I’m still the ‘first’, even here so far away from home.

Querying Cedric I asked, “Literally no one alive has ever come to you with a chip in them?”

Sighing, “No, I just didn’t realize they had chips when they were alive and neither had they, apparently. Or they were just too scared to say so. We only realized once they had died and were brought back here as we try to gather as many as we can to scan. We preserve what we are able under these limited circumstances. This is how I understand, what little I do, about your chip. The one thing I think I understand is, the chip has a symbiotic relationship with its host and any others who have the same chip. It seemed as though the chips deactivated when the host expired but now we no longer think so.” He adjusted himself fruitlessly, trying to find a way out of this rather uncomfortable situation. “Listen child, I know you have been through hell and coming here with us must have seemed like your answer. I hope I am your answer. I hope you are our answer. You are as safe as any of us are here and if we work together maybe we’ll find a way to take back control of your body.”

I was childlike in my hopes when I realized what S4 is. I could hardly believe that there were chip free humans fighting for us and living in outer space. I mean, who could blame anyone who wasn’t, the drones meant to keep society in check aren’t exactly fair competition to any human.. Anyway, S4 stands for Secret Society of Scientific Services. They had actually created a place for people like me, to escape to and get help although no one is like me, not exactly. So, there wasn’t any immediate help. Wait, no, that’s not fair, there was a lot of immediate help. How can I even say that to you? The day they found me they saved my life.

“Here, over here. Come help me get her on the hover, be gentle, she’s still alive.” They had found me in an old abandoned building. I must have just gotten some sort of update in my chip. I remember feeling so close to the edge of their control. It was strange, almost as if I knew someone was finally going to save me. I recall feeling a little warmer than my usual frigged self as I walked towards that abandoned building. It wasn’t supposed to be abandoned. It was supposed to be one of Their facilities. I had watched the building for days, there were two cars that had come and gone, each with a single man. The activity was minimal, that’s all I knew but I had to get closer. I was so excited to finally have an opportunity to see and hopefully kill the man who changed me and all the others similar to me. As I made my way closer to the building, I realized it was strangely quiet. Quiet like in that moment right before a chip update. It’s as if one’s hearing ability gets completely depleted before an update is about to occur. I first noticed this when I was very small and still going to the laboratories with my family. It weirded me out and when I would tell my parents about it they reassured me that it was just my anxiety about the treatments overwhelming me.

I should have known what was coming but I just figured maybe this was something new around Their facilities, like some new security measure to scramble AHPs. Instead of that silence being a warning it agitated my curiosity and I let my guard down. That was the biggest mistake. Not only was I right, as it was one of Their facilities, but it was their main facility and He was there. If I had not gone all cowboy, I would have been able to rally a group to help me and I wouldn’t have gotten an update that I now need to jailbreak. Strange really, that the only part of my tech anyone has figured out is how to jailbreak the tracking system. I guess, that’s because tracking tech is known, it’s not a mystery. What I didn’t know, at the time, was if I or rather my jailbroken chip got close enough to one of the central trackers, the jail break was broken as my chip automatically re-synced with the central tracking system at Their facility. My own stupidity and proximity let the central tracking system recognize my chip. They knew I was there. How long was I there for? I can’t say for sure but it sounds like I laid inside that building for almost a day. It took Them less than 24 hours to pack everything up and disappear, again. Why did they leave me? Why am I, Number One, free? What is the game? Why have I not been terminated? Is this all, truly, in the name of science? UGH! These stupid questions plague me. Sometimes it all makes sense. We know who the bad guys are. We know who the good guys are. Who am I supposed to be? Sometimes, I feel as though I am His favorite pet and even at the possibility of his own expiration, he wanted to see how advanced his pet became. I think I have far surpassed his hopes for his original AHP. I’m sure he is arrogantly proud but must posture like he’s out to kill me and destroy his own creation. I heard he hates the drones, he hates that they are superior to us, his precious Advance Human Projects.