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Fabricated

A synthetic reality

By John EvaPublished about a year ago 13 min read
3
Fabricated
Photo by THE 9TH Coworking on Unsplash

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room.

Tick

For two and a half minutes every Thursday she could see it. It was dark and imposing. It frightened her, as it stood for everything that was unsafe. Evanora was safe.

"Here's your dosage Mr. Fausche." She dropped seven pills into the palm of the swiftly aging human.

"Thanks Delta." Delta was not, in fact, her name. Her name, if androids had names would be her model number. D-313. Delta was the name that Thomas Fausche had given to her. It was in these subtle ways that Thursday became something she... looked forward to?

Delta was unsure if androids could look forward to anything. Thousands of publications had already been produced analyzing the emotional capability of androids, robots, and artificial intelligence. Nothing definitive had ever been established, but it was well regarded in the scientific community that though there were similar synapses linked, emotional response was nigh impossible.

If a human sees another human crying, there may be an emotional response for example. The human may cry, may comfort the other, may inflict more damage. All of this is often dependent on whether the person in question has had breakfast or not.

If an android sees a human, they may cry, they may comfort, or they may inflict pain. This is all the result of programming though. Therefore, the essential difference between humans and androids is that one has better programming, and no one knows which.

As for Delta, she was perfectly happy to belong to Evanora as a med-model. She made pill deliveries to just under a thousand persons every day. This number fluctuated occasionally with deaths and births but it never became unmanageable. Especially since she didn't have to sleep.

Home androids were given a sleep function back in the early 3000s so that owners would feel less weirded out by their superiority. Medical androids however benefited society most by being awake, and active.

Tick

One of Delta's favorite things to do was ponder. As she did so, she could feel her circuitry expanding, feel new thoughts take residence in the ram and storage. Why were humans so squishy? What had happened to make humanity live inside of Evanora? What lay outside? The last question, and perhaps the one that mattered most to Delta, always made her feel.

Feel in a way that doesn't belong. It was hard to put into words or logic, but even thinking about the outside world filled her with senses that were completely real, and wholly foreign.

"Here's your dosage Mr. Fausche." She said, his door swung wide open and if she peered just so, she could catch a glimpse of the window in his kitchen. He'd fuddle with glasses, and need to go get something- a looking glass or some other bauble. All of that time Mr. Fausche spent doddering Delta could ponder the greatest mystery of them all. The outside.

It was dark mostly. Small bright lights shone through a blanket of black. Blues and purples filled the view and strange creatures flew through the sliver of sky she could see. It had so much color and darkness that it pained her.

For entire minutes after leaving Mr. Fausche, Delta would wander around in a helpless daze and grieve for Evanora. Why could she not hold that beauty? The all mother, the ark, a source of absolute life, and yet devoid of the things beyond that window. Like darkness, and chaos - an enticing world of danger that Delta wanted? Desired? Craved? She couldn’t be sure. The uncertainty in and of itself was intoxicating. How could a purely artificial construct doubt so?

Perhaps she was a defective unit. These ‘thoughts’ would pop up at inconvenient times for Delta. For example if she was defective, then who was to say that her dosages were correct? Sure it’s possible to be defective in some ways, and not others - but this was not the case with androids. Androids had to be perfect. Imperfection was scrapped.

The amygdala is a small organ in the middle of the brain that alerts the nervous system that one is afraid. Stress hormones pour throughout the body and that kick starts fight or flight responses. Cortisol, and adrenaline coming in tandem. Androids have simulated responses that act as fear, but technically they don’t ‘feel’ it the way that humans do. Except being scrapped. All androids felt the fear of being scrapped.

Tick

“Here’s your dosage-” Mr. Fausche wasn’t at the door. Delta had knocked and waited the allotted time, probably a simple human mistake. She waited. Then knocked again. No answer. It was possible for a human to be at a social gathering, but most knew what time their med-bot came, and these pills were mandatory, a regulation by Evanora herself.

Seconds passed. A minute. Two. If he didn’t answer the door she couldn’t peer into the vastness beyond. Didn’t he know how important this visit was? She had access. She could get in if she wanted to. She could even say it was on the premise of wanting to ensure that Mr. Fausche received his weekly dosage.

She waited another small moment, and then heard the curious clatter of things. It was so small that at first she thought she had imagined it, but androids don’t have that capacity. There either was a sound, or there wasn’t.

Leaning in closer to the door she looked around first. Evanora would know of all things that happened within her, but could she say why? Delta decided that she would put it to the test. Delta selected the key settings from her hand and unlocked the door. A soft click and she was standing inside the lonely apartment.

Lonely, not for the fact that she couldn’t find Mr. Fausche, but the way everything was. Fully furnished with the human fascination of ‘stuff’ but devoid of a certain life. Devoid of being fully lived in.

The pressing mystery at the forefront of thought of course was, where was Mr. Fausche? The mystery that was all-encompassing and had enraptured her without notice however, the one that took control swiftly over every other circuit or impulse of desire was there. The window.

Tick

The window stood ajar, peering out into that great expanse of beyond. She could now get as close as she wanted to. Who cared if Evanora found out. What was the crime? What if Mr. Fausche walked in? She would simply say that she admired the view. Only a half-truth. She did admire it, but it had become a part of her conscience. In the way that once a person sees beauty for the first time they are compelled to write, or to sing, or to admire, simply for the existence of itself.

Trance-like she maneuvered around the worn kitchen table and chair and stood facing outside. Rich colors danced in the night sky. Velvets of purple and orange. Brilliant streaks of yellow and green fought in patches of swirls. Getting closer she could see the far landscape of craters and mountains. Giant fingers stretched outward and upward, faces of pain and stoicism scattered upon a scarred rocky land. Jungles of deep and lush red and green slithered in between the fingers of stone. Rivers of clear and silver water poured forth from angry and shivering mouths.

More real than any painting, more ambiguous than any dream. Close enough that she could reach out and touch it, and further away than she dared dream to go. Among it all, and meandering in her own conscience was that deep rooted panic, and fear that had settled and found a place in something akin to a soul.

She was delighted and terrified, and for the first time in her life she could never imagine why anyone would choose to be here when they could be there. A small rustling near her caught her attention. The clatter that at first drew her into the apartment.

A small piece of paper fixed just below the window. A note.

“Dear Delta '' - The handwriting was scribbled with pencil and just legible enough for an android to be able to piece together.

“I have gone onward toward the outside. I’m afraid I can no longer be trapped here in this comfortable prison. I must chase this wildness and hope it does not unravel me. I enjoyed our brief moments. Enjoy the view.”

Tick

Turning the note over she read the small postscript, even less legible than the first portion.

“You may help yourself to any of the reading materials in my library. Model no.1 in particular is very interesting.”

She still had deliveries to make. She closed the window and placed the note in a pocket separate from all the medicines. Instead of going to her compartment tonight, she would come here instead. Before she left she perused the library and took the only book on the desk. A small leather bound tome, with gold leaf. Stamped in the upper right corner was the number one.

She made notes in her mind to come back for a few others. “Compendium of ancient arithmetic”, “On Magic and Science” to name a few. She had never known Mr. Fausche was such a studious man. These books were rare finds, more than a few of them weren’t even in her registry of known texts, including the one she held in her hands.

Her rounds had a newfound monotony to them. Focusing was never difficult for an android, and dosages came as second nature, but she found herself wondering more and more about the book she had taken. A brief glance at the contents revealed that the book was entirely handwritten. More of a journal than a book.

As soon as her rounds were over she decided she must head back to Mr. Fausche’s residence and gather up all of those precious texts. If not for herself than certainly for a library or for Evanora’s database.

Tick

Had she talked regularly to other androids she could’ve known. If she had taken a peek into any other residence she might’ve come to that conclusion. Had she even managed to look into modern history or the goings-on of policy she would have realized. But she did none of these things, and so when she went back Mr. Faushche’s and saw it swarming with Evanoran knights she was shocked. Towering giants of poly-steel and weaponry. Shining swords swinging by their heavily armored frames. The Evanoran knights were near mythical in appearance and yet they were there.

Some were hauling out books by the dozen and either shredding them on the spot or placing them in sealed containers and then into a carrier van hunkered fifty feet away from the complex. “Seal off that abomination,” called one of the guards, and her mind immediately thought of the window.

It is not in an android’s nature to deceive or behave in intrinsically deceptive behavior and yet Delta felt herself slowing down and turning in a direction that was far, far away from this scene. The thought of the journal she had hidden in her bag grew hot in her mind.

“D-313, stop.” A knight stepped out from the busy apartment to call out to her. She obeyed and turned around.

“What is your business with this apartment, do not lie.” The frame was a knight. The voice was not. Visor brimming with a ghostly blue light, the voice of the heavens emanated through the vessel.

Evanora.

“I was coming to see if Mr. Fausche was in, as he never received his weekly medications this morning.” A half-truth, told on the basis of fear of the absolute power in this world. Evanora would see through this. Surely she would.

“Then you still have the medication I presume?” Delta held out the small handful of pills that would’ve belonged to Mr. Fausche had she gotten the chance to give them. The knight walked closer to Delta. The shredder could still be heard furiously chipping away at the written sins of the human known as Thomas Fausche. Delta placed the medications into the knight's hand.

“Did you go inside the apartment?”

“Yes.”

“What did you see?”

Tick

“Everything” - was what Delta wanted to say.

“An empty apartment. I thought Mr. Fausche must have been at a social gathering. His bed was unmade so I made it.” Another lie. She couldn’t stop herself. She figured the more bland details she added, the better.

“And the kitchen?"

“There were no audible signs of life coming from the kitchen so I didn’t search there.” A reasonable response from a reasonable android. The solid white mask of the knight revealed nothing.

“It was well that you didn’t, Mr. Fausche’s body was found in the kitchen, he will no longer require your services” A lie from Evanora? The voice sounded just as ominous as before, but did Delta make it up, or was there a touch of relief?

“Thank you mother.” Delta turned to go.

Every step felt weighted. She could feel the cold stare of Evanora. Long after she had left the knights gaze she felt as though she may burst with the pressure of being watched.

Tick

She kept a normal pace so as to not attract attention. Her compartment was just large enough that she could move about without restriction, and lay down to sleep, she needed no further amenities normally.

At that current moment the journal she had kept hidden was begging to be opened, to be read, and pondered. But what if Evanora was still watching? The giant pressure had ceased, but there was nothing unknown to the all-mother. Or was there? Obviously she didn’t know about the window originally or she would’ve closed it sooner. She didn’t know about the books, or she would’ve shredded them sooner. She didn’t know about Delta’s deceit or she would have been scrapped.

Delta opened the journal.

Tick.

The beginning made little sense, and the middle even less so. There were descriptions of the early androids that fused technology and human matter. Detailed explanations of gene splicing with advanced circuitry. The first tests of emotion and sentience wrapped around accounts of errors in all of the early models. Failure after failure. A thousand years of not being able to figure out android life.

She read on, and on, devouring the book in only the way that an android can, and then.

Tick.

The last few pages detailed the creation of .01. The first modern android. Built by Dr. Adrian Fausche. The same surname as Thomas. Years of experimentation had led him to give up on the enterprise of androids until his son developed an overwhelming illness. To fix his son, Dr. Fausche implemented his entire technological arsenal and assimilated the two. The death of his son was announced the following week, and .01 was built the day after.

This process continued onwards for a century, and then two. It was developed further and further, until the difference between androids and mankind became more and more distinguished. This new breed didn’t need to eat, didn’t need to sleep, they were immune to disease.

Tick.

The last few lines of the book walk the reader through entire generations of different model numbers with different features, but ultimately the truth was written on the last page, as a conclusion penciled in by android .01 Thomas Fausche.

“We’re all human.”

Tick.

Deta felt fear then. A true and inescapable fear. And then she heard Evanora clear and in the deepest core of her being.

Your time is up Delta.

science fictionfuturefantasyevolutionartificial intelligence
3

About the Creator

John Eva

I just like writing.

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  • Antoinette L Breyabout a year ago

    Wow,not the ending I wanted, but a good read , kept me interested all the way through. The ending left a bit in my stomach.

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