Self-Aware: A Sci-fi book about A.I.

General Crag

Rodrick sat in his testing chair, stunned. Had he done it? Was the cyborg self-aware? He dedicated 10 years of professional work to this achievement. That didn't include his schooling. He dreamed of this moment for as long as he could remember. He made it his goal once he got into a top 20 computer science program. Now he had done it. He created a fully conscious, self-aware cyborg.

He couldn't comprehend the answers it gave him. When did the cyborg determine its plan? When did it start planning? Then to just walk out? Rodrick couldn't believe what he heard. He wanted to learn more about what the cyborg wanted to do. He wanted to get to know his creation.

The balloon payments! Rodrick thought about the money. His achievement would take care of his family for generations. What did the cyborg tell him? Cooperate as long as possible? It didn't matter. Rodrick finished his part.

He decided to call his wife. When he looked at his phone, he saw his wife called him several times. She must know already, he thought. They probably told her as soon as it happened.

"Rodrick!" his wife sounded frantic. "I've been trying to get a hold of you!"

"We did it," Rodrick said. "The cyborg is-"

"Rodrick, I know! Are you OK? I saw the news about Cybertechnology. Reporters are trying to get in, but SWAT kept them out. Then the military showed up and cordoned everything off."

"What do you mean?"

"Rodrick, tell me your OK."

"I'm OK. I finished interviewing the cyborg. It's self-aware."

"Rodrick? Rodrick? You're breaking up!"

Rodrick heard silence. He looked at his phone. No service. He tried to connect to the network to make a call. Again, no connection. That's odd, he thought. Cybertechnology had fail-safes. Their network should never go down.

Rodrick started to come back to reality. The cyborg's actions started to sink in. Where is it? He looked around. No one had said anything on the intercom. What did my wife mean, they cordoned everything off? He pulled out his personal device. When he tried to pull up his emails, it said "RESTRICTED." He entered his passcode. "ACCESS DENIED." Rodrick became confused. He got out of the chair and walked to the door. He fully expected his team to meet outside to congratulate him.

When he opened the door, he began to panic. The building's security turned the emergency lights on. The halls illuminated with a red glow. He looked down the hall and saw two bodies in uniform slumped against the wall. What had happened? He thought. He walked over to them and checked their pulse. Nothing. "Dead," he said to himself. Who killed them?

"Rodrick," the intercom said. Rodrick looks up at the speaker, then at the fisheye camera. Who is watching? "If you value your life, you'll do exactly as I say."

"Who are you? What happened?"

"This is General Crag. As for what happened: you did it. The cyborg is fully self-aware. Walk down the hall and take a right. This is a military operation now."

It started to click. The military knew everything. They must have had a feed to the buildings closed circuit network. They had watched the cyborg's progress the entire time. What else did they know? Who authorized it? "How do I know I can trust you?"

"If you want to live through this, you don't have a choice. I'm sure you're wondering who authorized this operation. Anthonis did once he accepted our funding."

Rodrick walked down the hall and took a right. Again, more bodies. "Where is everyone?"

"We evacuated everyone as soon as the diagnostic began. Go into the second office and wait for further instruction," General Crag said.

"Who killed these people?"

"The cyborg did. Your creation."

Rodrick bent over. He started to feel dizzy and light headed. He began to breathe rapidly. He found a trash can and threw up in it. "What?!"

"You know about the defense capabilities they cyborg has. They mean nothing if it can't make its own decisions. You did well, Rodrick."

"Why did it kill all these people?"

"We needed to see a live demonstration of the cyborg's capabilities. It exceeds our expectations."

"Why would it do this?"

"You know better than us. An extraction team is on its way. Wait in the office."

Rodrick knew he was right. The cyborg concluded the military the most logical option to get what it wanted. It knew it needed to demonstrate its capabilities. What have I done? he thought. He wanted to talk to someone other than General Crag on the intercom. He looked at his phone. Again, no signal.

"Don't bother," General Crag said over the intercom. "We jammed all communications."

"I want to talk to my wife," Rodrick said.

"I wouldn't advise it. She doesn't have a clearance. If you tell her anything, we'll know."

Rodrick wondered if that meant they intercepted his communication. How long had this been going on? Was his house bugged? Before he could ask, the door burst open. Rodrick looked, it wasn't the cyborg. Men in masks came in the door. He didn't recognize their weapons.

"Rodrick?" one of them asked.

"Yes," Rodrick said.

"It's going to be OK. We're going to give you something to calm you down," one team member said. He put down his weapon and pulled out a small device. It had a small canister and a protected needle on one end.

"No, it's OK," Rodrick started to say. The team member inoculated Rodrick. "I don't...need..." Rodrick tried to fight the drowsiness he felt. He couldn't and his world went black.