Warning before reading : Remember english in not my first language. There will certainly be mistakes here and there… ;-) It's still time to run away 8-P
Note: This story is not a sequel to "Humanity", but occurs in the same time and place. "Humanity" was from Marcus' P.O.V. It's now time from John's.
I THOUGHT I KNEW OUR ENEMY
by Roselyne Marot
John Connor was standing with his most trustful men in this underground room. He was facing the unconscious creature, tied with thick and resistant metal bounds and chains. Its arms were outstretched like he had been crucified.
'It!', John corrected himself mentally. The thing immobilized in front of him was nothing else but a machine. With its torso open, revealing cybernetics part, none would be fooled. Yet there was an unusual expression on the unconscious Terminator's face. Something new to John. An expression a latent pain and tension a real human would have bore in this kind of situation. The few Terminators he once allied with – a long time ago – never managed to express that kind of feelings.A chain was tied around its forehead, keeping it from movements if it was to come back to consciousness.
'When it was to come back to consciousness', John corrected himself. These things always came back to consciousness, unless you exploded their cyberbrain with an explosive charge or a heavy bullet.
'Or when you crush them', the voice of his mother in his mind recalled him about the first encounter with a Terminator back in 1984.
But this one seemed different. Kate leant towards him and confirmed his thoughts in a whisper: "This thing is something we've never seen before…"
At this very moment, the Terminator opened his eyes. Everyone tensed naturally, but the Terminator got a strange reaction. It acted like it was blinded by the light and displayed an expression of dull pain, clenching his eyes for a few seconds before slowly opening them and looking around. The lost expression in the Terminator's clear eyes hit John unpleasantly, even thou he showed no emotion. From an outsider's point of view, the Terminator would have looked more like a human (if you forgot about the wound) and John like a Terminator.
Actually, if you didn't look below the chest, you could think the cyborg was human.
Connor could now understand why Kate had prevented the men from destroying him after they discovered about his true nature in the medic center.
'Destroying it! … its true nature!', John corrected himself again. This didn't bode well, if he was humanizing this Terminator. They were in front of something new, probably sent by Skynet to destroy them all.
'He was with Kyle, God damn it!!', John reminded himself, clenching his jaws. 'He could have killed my father at anytime, and the machines would have won the war!'.
'IT was with Kyle! But maybe Skynet hasn't discover yet Kyle Reese's future role in the whole war, that's why he's still alive'
The previous Terminators were already hard to pick from real humans, unless you had dogs with you. Those artificial bastards were like stick-in-the-ass when it came about emotions, and it was a way to recognize them, had you no dogs around. Maybe it was their lack of emotions that made the dogs feel bad…John was unconsciously afraid to bring a dog in this room. What if the dog didn't bark? Would that mark the end for them? It he was confused in front of this creature, while the cybernetics were clearly apparent, and clearly showing about its true nature, would a dog be confused as well?
John considered the Terminator as he (it!) tried to move its head – in vain, and casted anxious looks around him. It never tried to break the metal block restraining it, as any other Terminator would have done.
Kate was right: this thing was clearly different from what they had faced before. A new advanced model from Skynet labs? Probably.
"Where am I? Who… Who are you?".
John Connor didn't know if the others felt as well the panic tone in the Terminator's voice but he didn't want to check. If it could imitate that well that emotion, what about the rest? What about their safety when they'd face an army of them, unable to discern them from real humans?
"Decline yourself", John simply said, still wondering how to really talk to that new model. He realized he had been about to ask "who are you?". He was almost humanizing this thing again. It was probably part of Skynet's plans. He saw the Terminator frowning and passing a tongue on his dried lips. A very humanlike reaction. John almost puked when the Terminator answered in a slightly shaking voice: "My name is Marcus Wright."
The last Terminator model they all knew, still looked like emotions autistics. To be able to teach emotions that fast to the new model, without premise of emotions in the previous models, could only be explained in one way.
Implemented memories.
"You think you are human…". It was not really a question. John was thinking aloud. It was through our memories that we could define who we were. It was our memories that shaped our personalities, and our personalities that allowed emotions. Did Skynet implement its Terminators with human memories so that they could hide easily amongst real humans? … Waiting for a specific trigger to switch them into extermination mode?
He felt Kate tensing on his right side, as if she had jumped to the same conclusions.
"I am human!". There was a slight trace of despair in the Terminator's voice. John felt his men becoming nervous. This was no good. He felt them exchanging gazes and was pretty sure of what was on their mind. Very soon, they'd start thinking: 'it reacts like a human… It must be human somehow'.
Yes, if this was a case of implemented human memories, maybe the Terminator wasn't faking its emotions. Maybe it was somehow undergoing that despair and dismay. John had witnessed in the past that sometimes Terminators – had some correct switch been activated – could act in a more noble way than most humans… could almost be better 'persons' than humans… could also experimenting what 'sacrifice for others' sake' meant. If now they were to have human memories… Maybe this one was 'really' thinking he was a human. John could almost feel sorry for him.
(it!)
Connor stepped forward. It was time to implement real Terminator-memories into this one. And to remind his men that this was an enemy. The resistance leader walked towards the Terminator, with caution in case of a wild action from their prisoner. His men were levelling up their weapon, ready to shoot at first sign. He saw that the Terminator was looking at them, but not in a threatening or evaluating 'terminator-ish' way. More in a bewildered and uncomfortable way. John step closer, his fists clenched, until he was but two feet away from the machine.
"You and me…"
The Terminator brought its attention back to him but didn't try to attack or to free itself. It just stared at him with the gaze of a lost child. John hesitated briefly. Yes, this thing was dangerous. There were too many emotions in there.
"…we've been at war since before either of us even existed".
John felt as if he was more trying to convince himself where the enemy lays than to recall this Terminator where its place was.
"You tried killing my mother, you killed my father".
Mentioning this made things easier for him. Sometimes hate can be like a good fire, cleaning all deadly hesitations like it was dry wood. After all, this Terminator had travelled with Kyle for awhile… Probably not knowing who Kyle really was!
He leant closer: "But you won't kill me!". He had spit out the last words, realizing all too late that if the Terminator wanted now to show its real face, he was dangerously exposed. What has he just said? 'You won't kill me"?
'Watch your step, Johnny! You're tempting fate…'
But the Terminator didn't show any threat. It was just staring at him with a lost gaze and his mouth agape as if he was startled. A questioning frown appeared on its face. John felt something was wrong. This Terminator was way too good. If an army like this was released by Skynet, humanity wouldn't probably stand a chance. A part of humanity would be wiped away because they would be too trustful… And what would be left of humans would enter a paranoid era where they would shoot at each other at first suspicion… You know… just in case… And on aside, the Terminators would be eating pop-corns, watching the show and scoring the points.
John heard the Terminator speak again, with a shaking voice all-too-real: "My name… My name is Marcus Wright… I… I don't understand what you're talking about… Who are you?". The rising panic seemed real in his voice. John felt suddenly a sparkle of pity for the cyborg. He had seen in the past that Terminators could be loyal when well programmed. Technically, they were loyal to their program. Come to think of it: in his childhood, his best-friend had been a Terminator! They could learn. Hell, they could almost feel!
'I know now why you're crying… Even if it's something I'll never be able to do…'
It was something his Terminator friend – Uncle Bob - had once told him when he was a child, before committing suicide in an attempt to protect humanity from Skynet. The attempt had been a failure. Skynet was here.
'…Even if it's something I'll never be able to do…'
Suddenly, John knew that this Terminator would be able to cry. He was sure of it! By the way, did it really ignore that it was a Terminator?
'You want to play fool with me?', John came up with a decision. Let's see how far the emotions in a machine could go. He was suddenly very curious to see its limits.
'So Johnny, why do you feel sad for him?'. The little voice in the back of his mind.
' "IT!" ', John mentally yelled at himself. He chased the thought away, raising a careful hand to the left side of the Terminator's head. He pulled on some locks, and released the heavy chain keeping the head still. He saw the Terminator blinking in surprise and stepped backwards.
'You don't know how he'll react"
'IT!'
'Well, if the emotions are real, he, or it, will not like what he'll see'
John clenched his jaws. For the moment, this was the ultimate test he could expose the machine to. The wound would have been lethal for a real human. It was pretty impressive – one could see the back spine through inexistent lungs - but certainly not deadly for a Terminator. Technically, the Terminator would just see an appearance inconvenience, but wouldn't "panic", as it wouldn't prevent him from accomplishing its mission, whatever it was. John's eyes raised from the wound to the Terminator's face, and in the latter's expression, John could almost read 'oh yeah, the wound'. The Terminator held his gaze for a little while before lowering its eyes.
'It's okay', John thought as the gaze of the Terminator went down. 'It will not scream. It just has human memories implemented…'
The Terminator's gaze finally rested on his wound.
'Because if it screams, that means he is--'
The look of pure terror on the Terminator's face broke up John's train of thoughts. It breathed deeply…
And let go an authentic scream of horror that echoed on the wall and sent a very disagreeable feeling down everybody's spine. Like a very bad omen.
'-- a former human turned into a cyborg… and who ignored it…', John concluded his thought, feeling that his knees had gone liquid. He had to put a hand on a table nearby to remain stood.
Was it Skynet's new plan? To take away humans, modify them, and send them back to their loved ones with a deadly trigger inside of them?
-
"I think I knew our Enemy…", John Connor whispered when Marcus Wright's screams lost their strength. Only those close to him heard what he said next.
"… But I don't know if we can win this war…"
THE END.
Think about it for awhile… ;-)
What defines us as humans?
(warning, the list below is not restrictive ;o) )
Our physic appearance? Our knowledge? The languages we use to communicate? Machines can imitate.
Our body composition? Our organs? Nowadays, more and more people live thanks to artificial organs and prosthesis.
We do imitate the machines.
And with the partial cloning of living tissues (already in process for human surgery purposes), the machines could be equipped like us if one would want to give a try.
Our complex personality? It comes from genetics in a part, and from our social experiences in another part (what's left is the Soul, but people are quite shared about the Soul existence ;o) ) ). Thus, it is mostly based on memories. Memories could be implemented to a machine. In the future, with a big enough storing system, one could implement a lifetime memory into a computer. How do we know we are human? Because we just remember so?
Our capacity of having emotions? These days you can surely get more emotions from your cat or dog – or your step-mother - than from your blender… But emotions come mostly from our personality and our memories (thus, for the machines, see point above).
Our capacity of making mistakes? Nowadays, a machine can make a mistake, but it's mostly due to the lambda-user behind it… A human, thus… (all helpdesk workers here will agree with me ;o) ).
Our capacity of learning from our mistakes? Nowadays, computers can store experiences, and eventually compare them, listing them with keys, to eventually return to it later. It still has flaws compared to us. Why? Because for us after awhile, and generations, experience turns into instinct. Computerly speaking: "An automatic process turning always in background in a loop, independent of consciousness, with high-priority on resources allocation". Through generations, we learned that "instinct is good" through the most useful of them all: self-preservation instinct.
Machines don't have it…. Yet ^^ Because no one imagined how a program could reproduce instinct…. Yet ^^
(come to think of it: if a computer had self-preservation instinct, it would kill most lambda users for provoking (windows) system crashes ;o) ).
Our self-preservation instinct?
We want to stay alive. We want to protect our own kind. Machines don't "care" because they don't have the conscious of existence.
(yet! ;o) Remember Asimov's three laws of Robotics? If today's reality was yesterday's sci-fi, what can we imagine of tomorrow's reality?)
"I think, therefore I am"
So far, it is our consciousness of being alive that can define us as humans. Actual Artificial Intelligences are far from that level.
But what if one day, in the future, they accumulate experience, memories, etc… and one day "POOF", they reach consciousness of "existing"? This subject was mentioned in "Blade Runner" as well as in "The Thirteenth Floor". (you'll never see your characters in WOW the same way as before ;o) )
If today's Sci-Fi becomes tomorrow's reality and machines starts saying the "I think, therefore I am"? What will be left for us? Our soul? The fact that we will go on even after our body is destroyed? Well, with so many people trying to prove that the soul doesn't exist, we are in a deep shit, I tell you! ;oP
This won't happen tomorrow of course… But keep it in a corner of your mind… ;o) Just in case… ;-P Hee hee :o)
OUR SENSE OF HUMOR AND AUTO-DERISION:
Machines could store jokes in memory, but to be able to make fun of themselves, they must do the "I think therefore I am"
To return to John Connor: in this story, he freaks out at the idea of humans being turned into cyborgs. But the other way around: cyborgs learning to be humans, would be probably be more dangerous for humanity, don't you think? ;o)
Sorry again for my terrible English. Hope you managed to understand a little ;o)
Thanks for holding on until now, you can return to normal activities.
Heaven Ice Day (Have a Nice Day)
- Roselyne Marot