Real (oneshot)

Real

"Hello? Is this Headquarters and Control center?" Said a muffled voice echoing throughout a vast white room with lots of metal scraps and assorted tools around. "We were able to build the prototype without any problems." Looking around, there was a mirror on the side directly in front of me. Wait... Me? Who am I? Why am I aware of my existence? Of Anything? I examined the mirror on the wall in front of me. I stepped forward without thinking twice about it. But something stopped me. My feet were connected to a metal platform by poles and hooks. I looked back up to the mirror. Is this me? I have a physical form, and sentience.

"Commencing the test now. We'll send in the results afterwards." The same voice from before echoed from behind the mirror. "Alright, let's do this. Good Morning, State your ID."

"Unit 398 Prototype 1" I said without questioning. How did I know this? How did I know how to speak, or do anything?

"Check. Try to move your arms." The voice said. I did just that. I looked down at my right arm and lifted it outwards then brought it back up and looked at both my hands. "Now try walking." I felt the poles from the platform pull out of my feet. I lifted on foot and put it front of the other one. My weight shifted onto my forefoot. And I took my step. I walked towards the mirror and reached out to touch it.

"Um. What are you doing?" The voice questioned me. The voice came from a speaker in the wall. I examined the mirror. I put my finger on it, and there was no gap between my appendage and its reflection.

"This mirror is only one way." I concluded. For a few moments I could not hear anything. Then I heard the owner of the voice shit in her seat. "Are you behind this one-way mirror?" The voice did not respond to me.

"Headquarters? I have suspicions of a malfunction in the program for the AI of Unit 398 P1." There was a pause after she said that. "Sentience test? But Sir that's -" She stopped. "Understood. Results with be in shortly."

"Who were you talking to, ma'am?" I asked the voice. "I could hear her scribbling something down on paper. She had slightly unsteady breathing. "Ma'am? Are you alright?"

"That doesn't matter. How are you feeling, Unit 398?" She asked me. Why would she ask me something like that? How am I supposed to know? Am I expected to know? I looked down at my feet and stood silent for a moment.

"I am feeling well. But why are you asking me that?" I questioned her. Why did she need to know? How did I know how I was feeling. How was I feeling? I have emotions and self-awareness, when I can't remember anything other than this conversation. "Why am I here? Why can't I remember anything?" I asked, beginning to get scared.

"You are an Artificial Intelligence with the latest android model. Your purpose is to be sold to someone to cook, clean, and assist them in any way your owner pleases. You are nothing more than that." She responds. Hearing her say that confirmed my fear. I am not supposed to be thinking. I am supposed to simply take orders and nothing more, nothing less.

"No." I said firmly.

"What?" She questioned, astonished at my outburst.

"No I am more than that. I am alive. I live. I think, and I make decisions on what I want to do." I spoke firmly once again, trying to keep myself free of slavery. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and said "I am myself. Not some Unit code. I am myself." I touched the mirror and my face in the same place. "I am beautiful."

"H-Headquarters?! I now have reason to believe Unit 398 Prototype has sentience! I report! It has sentience!! Requesting lock down procedures immediately!" She yelled into the intercom. I was in trouble. I needed to escape. I looked at the mirror again and smashed it with my fist. Revealed, was a woman with blonde hair pulled into a loose bun and grey eyes. She had sweat beading on her forehead and her hair, which was once neat, was now disheveled and frizzy. She stared up to me with panic, and her eyes nearly bulging out of her skull. She was still. Sat in horror of something. Of me?

I turned to a nearby door and I ran. I could hear the balls of my feet pounding against the white marble floor. My arms pumped. I was moving fast and swiftly. All I needed to do was run to escape. I made my way down the white hallway, and I turned right. There were well-built looking men and women standing by. There were three tall and bulky men, and two stocky women. They turned to me and pulled out assorted weapons. One of them ran up to me with a taser. When they pointed it at me I touched the man's hand, which allowed the electricity to travel through my body and into the man. The other four tried similar tactics. One of the women tried to hit me in the midriff with a metal stick. I grabbed her arm and pulled it behind her and upwards, dislocating her shoulder. Doing similar reversal moves on the other guards.

I go to opened the door, but it seemed to be locked. I kicked it down and ran out into an office-looking room. I turned to the right, where there was a large glass window. I sprinted towards it and leaped out of the clear portal to my freedom. I am free. I am myself. My name is Zora. And I am real.