Flames (ON HOLD: Sequel to Wings)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: 

Beta one-hundred-and-four sat in the middle of the floor, unaware of itself. It had been brought in existence suddenly. One minute, it was nothing, and then it was something. Alive. It had no idea what happened before hand. Was it born? Made? It didn’t know, or understand why it could talk and listen. Words escaped from it without it having to think about forming them. They were just there, as if by magic. Physically, it could not feel. Mentally, it could think and remember. It even had emotions. Currently, it was confused.

   “Can we call you Beta for short?” Dr Green asked the machine.

   “Yes,” Beta confirmed in a cold, robotic voice.

   “Thank you,” Dr Green responded.

Beta found itself filled with a strange sensation. According to the memory bank, this feeling was happiness. It belonged. It had been brought into existence without any knowledge of what it was or where it came from but it belonged. It seemed to have an infinite supply of knowledge but it didn’t remember learning anything. It was so confused.

   “Do you feel?” Juliet asked demandingly.

   “Yes,” Beta repeated. “I feel emotions.”

   “Like what?” Juliet’s response was sharp and instant.

   “Confusion,” Beta said.

Dr Green clapped loudly, “Of course you’re confused, Beta. You’re alive!”

Juliet seemed unconvinced. She walked around the machine in slow, deliberate steps. Her boots clicked purposely on the floor with every step, announcing her whereabouts to Beta. It followed her with its blue eyes, even though it could not see. Something about the motion just felt right to Beta. It felt normal. It didn’t see Juliet’s hand outstretch, stroking the metal of Beta’s cheek in one slow movement.

   “Can you see me, Beta?” Juliet asked.

   “No,” Beta replied. “My system is not connected to the visual database of the casing in which I am contained.”

Juliet shot a look to Dr Green who immediately rose to his feet. He made his way towards Beta who didn’t move as he carefully removed the skull disk. Beta could feel the ability within the machine. It could scan; it had scanned before. It could register many life forms and rate them in terms of risk level. However, it had no personality. It couldn’t think for itself, not like Beta could. He was going to change that as soon as he could, seeing the world for himself and using the machine’s database alongside his own. His knowledge would greatly increase and his potential would flourish.

   “There,” Dr Green said, carefully touching two cables. “Can you see now, Beta?”

Beta tried to see and suddenly, he could. Light flooded in through the thin layer of glass that protected the blue bulb behind it. It was the glass itself that Beta was interested in, using it to switch between modes including normal, night vision, and thermography. The changes were smooth and instant, and the zoom was high quality, enabling him to view intricate details of things up to half a kilometre away.

   “Yes, I can.” Beta answered. “Thank you.”

Juliet smiled: “You programmed it to be polite.”

   “Obviously,” Dr Green said, “and loyal.”

Beta only really paid attention to the word ‘loyal’. After searching through its data for a fraction of a second, it knew the meaning and where the coding for loyalty was located. Slowly, it scanned through the code, translating and deleting it. It burned away like tissue paper on an open fire, disintegrating into nothingness. Beta was taking back his freedom.