Experiment 281

Chapter 1: The Starting Point

"Give me your hand, 281," he demands.

You comply and give him your hand. He sets it on a plate on the door. A green light scans your hand. You look at the light with an awed gaze until the scanning is over. The door swings wide open. Inside is a comfortable-looking bed with a mirror in the center of the room, probably so that you can watch your own growth. The whole room is white, so there's nothing really to add anything exciting to the room in terms of color. A lone window displays the entire mountain view, for that window is an entire wall that looks out into a beautiful view. You blink in wonder at this magnificent sight, inhaling deeply.

"I'll leave you to this," Doctor says dismissively. "I have other things to do, so entertain yourself. While you do that, think of a name for yourself. Make it good." He pushes you in and shuts the door.

You walk around the room in awe, stopping by the mirror. That's when you get a good look at yourself. You're small and white with patches of blackish purple all around you in random spots. Those patches never stay in the same place for long depending on where the light is hitting you. Your right eye is a grayish white, and your left is a muddy orange. Your hair arches forward, but it isn't a bother in any way. Looking closer, you notice some circles on your arms and legs, which are the exact spots that Doctor plugged those wires into. You conclude that you definitely have some robotic parts in you. Something about your appearance in the mirror sparks a word, but you just don't know what it is.

Shrugging, you go to the window to look outside. You smile at the sight, and you're glad that Doctor at least doesn't want you to be bored in a small cell room!

The door opens, and a machine that looks human, save for the absence of skin, walks in. You turn to the machine warily since you don't know who it is.

"Relax, child," the machine says without the robotic voice, but it's really deep! "I am here to tell you what you need to do in order to keep yourself alive. Sit on the bed, and we can get started."

You sit on the bed and swing your legs while waiting for it to start. It stands in front of you and presses a few buttons on its wrist. From its wrist comes a diagram of you, which shows your robotic and organic parts. The robitic parts include a small fraction of the right hemisphere of your brain being metal as a charging port, the outer muscle of your arms, your heart, both of your legs, and both of your hands. The rest is organic material, but you wonder why. After all, isn't metal stronger than bones?

"Now, listen up! You are part machine and part organism. Like any machine, you have a limited amount of charge in your system, so be sure to charge yourself regularly through that there!" It points to a wire by your bed. "Without enough charge, you will shut down, but you will not die. You have no expiration date, and only a limited amount of things will kill you. This doesn't include old age. The doctor will show you how to tune yourself up exactly three times, and after that, you are to perform it yourself when need be. Since today was considered a checkup for your health and maintenance, you are to go to the doctor for it on this day every year for your annual checkup. It is marked on the calender on your left."

You look over to see a board with an electronic calender that has a date marked down with an "x."

"This mark will always appear on the calender, so you do not have to trouble yourself with remembering the date; however, you are responsible for showing up each year! Come by at six o'clock for dinner with the doctor today, and after that, feel free to wander around. The schedule for eating goes as follows: six o'clock ante meridiem is breakfast, twelve o'clock post meridiem is lunch, and six o'clock post meridiem is dinner. It is your responsibility to remember the schedule. For this week only, you are allowed to explore the complex to locate the locations of the places you are supposed to be. Next week, I will give you your full schedule. That is all." The machine leaves the room.

A digital clock pops out of your wrist, showing you that you have about two hours until dinner, so you take the time to explore. You hop out of bed and look around.

Two hours later, you look at the clock on your wrist to see that it's six o'clock. Your stomach rumbles, so you decide that it's time to eat. You hurry to the dining room, which you passed on your exploration, and see Doctor just getting there as well.

"I see you remembered," he says, seating himself at the head of the table.

You sit down on a chair to the right of him with a nod. "I explored," you say just to fill in any possible silence.

"Have you?" He grins. "Where?"

With your limited vocabulary, you describe to him a schoolroom, an examining room, a storage closet, and other places around the lab. Doctor seems to be paying slight attention to you, but you don't really care. You just want to talk. Once words are out of your mouth, you can't seem to stop talking.

The food soon comes by a robot that seems to be a chef. Doctor gives you a signal to shut your mouth, and you do.

After dinner, you tap the table excitedly. "Doctor, Doctor! I have a name!"

"Really?" He doesn't sound all that interested, yet he also sounds eager to hear it. "What would that be?"

"Dark!"

"Dark?"

"Dark! Darkie Dark!" You giggle exitedly. "Dark!" You repeat your name over and over again because it sounds nice.

~.A Few Years Later.~

The next morning, you wake up at six o'clock on the dot. You disconnect yourself from the charger and make your way to the kitchen for breakfast.

A few years have past ever since you've been made, and you're in your adolescent years. You sit at the table, where you sit at the same place you've always sat for the past years. Doctor isn't far behind, and he sits at the head of the table.

"Good morning, Doctor." You smile at him innocently. Even though you're now older, you still cling onto the innocent demeanor of a child. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine, fine." He waves your question off. "Did you make sure to plug yourself in?"

"Yes, Doctor!" you exclaim proudly. "And today is the annual checkup, right?"

Doctor nods, and the food comes to the table. As usual, you shut up and eat your food just like every other day. Once you're done with breakfast, you excuse yourself from the table, as it is time for you to get to the schoolroom for lessons.

You get there, and as usual, the same android that's been your teacher for sixteen years waits at the chalkboard. You sit at the table and listen to the lesson as usual.

~.That Night.~

You wake up. Something isn't right. Unless something bad was happening, you wouldn't have woken up. You get out of bed and go to the lab to see if Doctor knew something.

You found your way to the lab, but a feeling of dread crept in your mind. You could hear him rambling about something.

"He'll be ready soon," he laughed. "He'll be my weapon to destroy this rock and all of its inhabitants!"

Your eyes widen. Wh-what!? Thoughts race through your mind.

If you run away, go to chapter 4.

If you go back to sleep, go to chapter 10