His decides to perform a self diagnostic procedure.
"...Running program."
His eyes flash blue, and a list of names appear in the top left corner of his vision, each corresponding to different components of his body.
//CPU FUNCTIONAL;
//BP... 58%;
//RAM... 80%... CELL_1... DAMAGED;
//ROM... 40%... CELL_3; CELL_4; CELL_5... DAMAGED;
//SUPERIOR_LIMB_1... FUNCTIONAL;
//SUPERIOR_LIMB_2... FUNCTIONAL;
//INFERIOR_LIMB_1... FUNCTIONAL;
//INFERIOR_LIMB_2... FUNCTIONAL;
//VISUAL_IMPLANT... FUNCTIONAL;
//AUDIO_IMPLANT... FUNCTIONAL;
//CHEMICAL_IMPLANT... FUNCTIONAL;
//TACTILE_NETWORK... FUNCTIONAL;
//HAPTIC_SENSORS... FUNCTIONAL;
.
.
.
LOW_FUNCTION INITIALIZED;
"...What?"
He questions, the word coming out slowly, quietly from between his lips. He doesn't feel any different despite this message.
"..."
Silently, he raises his hand, slowly clenching his fist. It feels the same. So, he does it again, only using more force.
"..."
There's something else he studies, though. And it's the fact that it was harder to clench his fist the second time.
He tries a third time, only this time, his hand doesn't ball up any faster than the second. A fourth time, and he gets the same results. Despite using more force intentionally, he only ends up using the same amount of force.
He can't exert himself. There's a limit to what he can physically do. His body is weak and frail as he is.
Lowering his arm, he takes another look around. His eyes scan everything in sight, drinking up the piles of damaged androids.
Slowly, he takes a step forwards, heading towards a faint blue light glowing in the chest of an android resting against one of the conglomerations. Its body is mangled. Fingers twisted, elbow bent backwards, and its clothes are all but recognizable. He can't even see its skin tone, it's all been washed away, leaving nothing but its plastic outside. All he CAN tell is that it appears male.
He steps closer, kneeling and gripping its head to look deep into its eyes. He doesn't know why he's doing this, but he feels it's what's right. Maybe this is what a human would do.
Those grey, discoloured eyes look just like Gabriel's, and just like own whenever he would stare into her eyes whenever he'd see his reflection in those orbs.
He reaches with his other hand for its temple, and a soft clicking sound is heard as he presses his finger against a small, invisible pad. He holds it there for a few seconds, and then a small space opens up behind its ear.
A series of RAM cells, rectangular in shape appear from within the android's body, seemingly stored in claustrophobic spaces which connect with the rest of the unit, and he takes them out all together. Holding them in his hand, he reaches up to his own temple, and presses down on it. The same happens, and he removes one RAM cartridge from his own self, receiving a notification in return:
//WARNING! RAM_BELOW_MINIMAL_LEVEL;
He ignores it, inserting in the first of the cells he's found into his framework.
"Run diagnostic. Cell 1."
He says aloud, and a message appears in his vision:
FUNCTIONAL
Without further ado, he presses down on his own temple, letting the cells return back into his body, before standing up and receiving another message.
//RAM... FUNCTIONAL;
He turns his gaze back around, and finds another android laying on the ground about half a dozen meters away from him. He approaches, kneeling down just the same to look into its eyes. This one...
Its eyes are glowing.
A male, clothed in a casual white T-shirt and denim jeans, as well as a pair of sporty shoes, its green oculi look deep into his.
"...Are you 'alive'?"
He asks it, softly forcing it to look into his eyes by cupping its cheek with one hand. The other rests on its chest, trying to find a 'heartbeat'. It's dim, but it's there, and so is the life in its eyes. Its jaw opens and closes, but not a sound comes out. It's clearly trying to tell him something.
"Your voice box must be damaged. I will connect to your unit. Prepare."
He lowers his head and body until their foreheads meet, and he closes his eyes as it continues to watch him.
"Initializing link."
Its eyes flash green, and... lots of things enter A's mind. Things that humans call 'memories', 'voices', 'expressions', but there's something else... something he's not quite understood yet.
00100010 01010011 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110 00100000 01010111 01101000 01111001 00111111 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01101111 01100010 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 00111111 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00101110 00100000 01010011 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01001001 01010100 00100111 01010011 00100000 01001110 01001111 01010100 00100000 01000110 01000001 00101101 00100001 00001010
With a sharp intake of air, A pulls away from the android, falling backwards onto his rear. It reaches out with an arm, grasping at his foot. His leg kicks and flails wildly while he attempts to get away from it, to not have to listen anymore, yet his link isn't broken yet.
00100010 01010111 01001000 01000001 01010100 00100000 01000100 01001001 01000100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01000100 01001111 00100000 01010111 01010010 01001111 01001110 01000111 00111111 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01001100 01001111 01010110 01000101 01000100 00100000 01001000 01000101 01010010 00100001 00100000 01001001 01010100 00100000 01010111 01000001 01010011 00100000 01010010 01000101 01000001 01001100 00100001 00100000 01010011 01001000 01000101 00100000 01010100 01001111 01001100 01000100 00100000 01001101 01000101 00100000 01001001 01010100 00100000 01010111 01000001 01010011 00100001 00100000 01000100 01001001 01000100 00100000 01010011 01001000 01000101 00100000 01001100 01001001 01000101 00111111 00100000 01001001 00100111 01001100 01001100 00100000 01000110 01001001 01001110 01000100 00100000 01001000 01000101 01010010 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100111 01001100 01001100 00100000 01001011 01001001 01001100 01001100 00100000 01001000 01000101 01010010 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100111 01001100 01001100 00100000 01010100 01000101 01000001 01010010 00100000 01001000 01000101 01010010 00100000 01000001 01010000 01000001 01010010 01010100 00100001 00100010
Again, his 'mind' is overrun with its thoughts. Vivid and lucid, the images it displays to him change, becoming gruesome, hateful portrayals of... death.
Yet it's the death of the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Yet he doesn't know who she is. Who is she? Why is she in his head?
It's grating against his conscience as he finally manages to break free and stand up straight with heavy breaths. He's never experienced this before. Is this fear?
It's so much. It's too much. Too many thoughts that cloud his self. Even if he got away, it still won't stop. He clutches his skull, feeling more 'memories' drill into his head, 'thoughts' he can't comprehend. Violence that he doesn't understand.
00100010 01001001 00100000 01000100 01001001 01000100 00100000 01010111 01001000 01000001 01010100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01010111 01000001 01010011 00100000 01010100 01001111 01001100 01000100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01010011 01001000 01001111 01010101 01001100 01000100 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01001100 01001001 01010110 01000101 01000100 00100000 01000110 01001111 01010010 00100000 01001000 01000101 01010010 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100111 01001101 00100000 01001110 01001111 01010100 00100000 01001010 01010101 01010011 01010100 00100000 01000001 00100000 01010100 01001001 01001110 00100000 01000011 01000001 01001110 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01000001 01001101 00100000 01000001 01001100 01001001 01010110 01000101 00100001 00100010
He can feel himself reliving the life of this android, learning about it, learning how to 'love', learning how to 'please'. How to act.
YOU ARE READING
The Machinations Of Greed
FanfictionOnce upon a time, there was a lonely robot who had no-one but shackles and chains holding its arms, so... he wanted more.
