Log Entry 001. Earth.
Paris, France. It has only been 74 hours since we've been on this planet. We have successfully met with superior leaders of each divided territory. To our delightful surprise, they seem very intrigued and interested in us. So far, our Creators' plan has been falling into place.
It paused. There was light that had softly fallen down on the golden metallic skin of the machine. Gears softly turning as it arched its head to peer up and it stared into the face of the moon, which had peeked out from behind dark clouds. There was, in fact, only one moon here. Not like home.
The pavement was freezing in the shadows of the alleyway. It did not bother the machine in the slightest way. The chill was just a small spark in its senses, but it gave it no discomfort.
This current post was very confining, completely sealing the machine away from the busy city. All that there was to see were the vacant, towering building structures on all sides and the cloudy night sky above. The machine's companion had mentioned that the structures were empty businesses and offices.
Businesses. Offices. What were those?
The only way out of this chamber of urban design was the back entrance. The machine liked that. It could hide itself here and not be bothered or seen by any human being. Here, it was still as close to the human world as can be.
The humans listened to our intentions; that our presence was nothing more than a test. We told them how we wished to spread our messages to the entire world. Spread it, but not let them know of it. They would never learn what we really are. It was complicated to get them to understand how our messages work and how the waves spread to an organic mind. This must have startled them. They began to question whether our intentions were good. Fact: our intentions were not good, nor were they bad. It is just a test The human leaders were skeptical, just as the Creators had predicted all humans would be. They were afraid of us… but only at first.
It stopped again; the text that had scrolled over the face of the machine disappeared and was stored in its head. There was a soft sound nearby. The machine's head tilted down looking for the source of such an odd, high-pitched sound. There, on the pavement, ran a small creature. It's body looked to be perfectly round and its small, cord like tail twitched each time it stopped to sniff the ground. Hundreds of thousands of individual hairs sprouted from its small body and covered it.
The machine stared at the creature, attracted by its size and simplicity. It shifted slightly towards the creature to get a better look. In response, the creature stopped in its tracks and stared at the machine with perfectly round and sharp eyes. It's tiny body quivered as its heart beat rapidly. The machine's helmet-like face lit up in colors on both sides of it in a fan-like pattern. A virtual face reflecting that of a human being appeared and formed a smile on the screen surface. A deep, monotone voice came forth from inside the machine's body:
"HELLO."
The furry creature turned around completely and quickly darted away in fright. There came another sound from the machine, much like an electronic chuckle. The gears and parts echoed inside its body as it imitated a human laugh. It turned its face back up to the dark sky as the text of its log resumed on the screen.
The humans are afraid… but they put some trust in us. Their fears subsided once we played our messages to them and let them experience it for themselves. They were overwhelmed with feelings of, as they explained to us, 'contentment' and 'relaxation'. It was amazing to see such expressions of human emotion come from them. They think we will be good for their people so they have granted us the privilege to live among them.
A loud noise came overhead. Flashes of white and red lights could be seen sparkling up among the dim stars. The machine watched as a huge, human craft made its way across the sky searching for a place to land. It watched the winged vessel slowly disappear over the buildings. It concluded its report:
We still have much to learn from these humans, as well as the many other organisms, on the planet Earth. There is much to observe and so little time to do so. Soon, we must build our own creation as a result of our experience here. Such a creation may help us in our process of spreading our message worldwide.
Unit 002… Report end.
Log Entry 002.
The Rodent. Simplistic, but not simple. We have decided to start with this Earthly creature. We will study it, we will test it, we will learn it from the inside out.
It has been 41 Earth days. Unit 002 has become anxious to begin our work, however, we have to approach the Creators' plan carefully. We have to study more before we can create.
Silver-fingered digits tweaked some cables, plugs and knobs.
Once we finish with the simple creature, we can move on and test other creatures... more complex creatures.
A hum noise filled the room as a switch was turned and electricity began to flow through the hooked cables.
If this first few series of tests are positive, perhaps the simplistic creature can be used in our creations.
The text on the silver machine's screen vanished as it prepared the device before it. The large box flickered brightly with life and hummed steadily. The silver machine adjusted more knobs on the top and on the sides.
To the left, it could hear loud squeaks of panic. It ignored these sounds of stress for now. Soon enough, those sounds would stop. Patiently, the machine worked, prepping for its first test. The human devices available were not fit for their work. They need to be fixed.
There was a click and the final cable fell into place. The machine felt the sudden rush of charged energy flow through it. Its narrow screened face glowed brightly... It was content with its progress.
The squeaking continued along with the sounds of teeth on metal. The machine glanced over at its test subject. He was frantically gnawing on the bars of his cage, trying to get out. The machine stared, reading the fear expressed on the small creatures huge, beady eyes.
Gears in the core of the machine turned as it bellowed electronic sounds to form human words: "MOUSE," It spoke in a flat tone. "YOU ARE AFRAID."
Indeed, the small rodent feared for his life. It was very easy to see. Emotions in such simplistic creatures were easier to read.
"YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID ANYMORE," The machine spoke. Reaching with its limb and gripping the last cable in its silvery digits, the machine brought it up to the center of its body. With its other limb, it pulled open the casing that sealed up its core. Carefully, the cable was connected into the machine's system.
Synced. Ready.
It felt the energy from the box feed into it slowly. Now it could start the test.
Softly the machine worked its mental coding. The coding converted into its message. Then, the message was transferred into the box. Out came sounds from the speakers on the mechanical box. These sounds were fluid and foreign to the rodent, but they soothed him and made his body relax. Almost immediately, the creature settled down on the floor of his cage, closed his eyes and rested. His tiny body still continued to quiver as he breathed quickly, but it was certain that the message had a positive effect. The machine watched and observed. Light flashed on its face again. Gears turned inside it and one human word appeared on the monitor on its head: 'GOOD.'
Entry Log 003.
The mouse was successful. My companion ran several tests on multiple mice and they all gave positive responses to our message. We have noted and dated each test. Once we finish some testing on the next creatures, we will come back to the mouse.
The text glowed brightly on the golden machine's face. There were rays of colors shining on all sides too. The colors reflected his contentment.
With reports of our successes to the human leaders, I have been called to meet with one of the representatives of France. They want me to explain, in detail, our intensions. They still appear to be suspicious of us.
A door opened. The sound of the lock turning snapped the machine away from its log and turn to look. A human being walked into the room, carrying a small device in its hand. This human looked different than the first group of beings that the machines have met. It observed the walk, the movement and the appearance of this particular human. There were dramatic curves to the form, very long hairs extending out of the scalp and walking devices on its feet that clapped loudly on the hard floor. A realization came to the machine once it heard the human's voice.
"Hello, Unit 002." The voice was high and soft.
The machine leaned its body forward as it stared at the human. "FEMALE. WOMAN." The machine spoke.
The woman nodded and smiled. There was a striking color to that smile. Something about the female humans that made their emotions appear stronger than the males.
"Unit 002, will you please take a seat?" The woman asked.
The machine stared blankly. The wording of this creature's language was unclear. "TAKE A SEAT?"
"Sit down." She said firmly.
It seemed to hesitate. First, the machine turned its screen face around to look behind it. There was a large and long device. Its color was a striking red and its texture looked soft. The machine looked back to the woman and questioned, "SIT HERE?"
The woman nodded. To demonstrate, she seated herself on a similar device across from the machine. She sat down on the cushioned surface and posed herself upright and formal. In response, the machine sat itself identically to her, mirroring her posture and form. The woman's lips parted to show her clean, white-toothed smile. "You look like a human," she commented.
The machine's face lit up with multicolor lights. "THE CREATORS DID THEIR BEST."
"And they did a wonderful job. Just by looking at you, I'd say you were a human being in an strange astronaut suit."
The machine did not completely understand her reference, but it decided not to question it. It was irrelevant to the current subject.
The woman cleared her throat and began, "I was assigned to see you today to discuss the work you have done so far…"
The machine did not respond, only stared.
"So according to the report I have here…" She paused briefly to glance over the flat device she held in her left hand, "you and your companion, Unit 001, have had positive results testing your message to a mouse."
"YES."
"So… what does that mean, exactly? How is it positive?"
"THE MESSAGE MADE A RESPONSE IN THE MOUSE."
"What kind of response? What did the mouse do?"
The machine stopped and stared for a second. It couldn't trust this woman to deliver a message properly. It had to word its information in a way that it wouldn't overwhelm or frighten the humans in anyway.
"THE MOUSE BECAME RELAXED."
The woman raised an eyebrow and stared questionably at the golden machine in front of her. "Relaxed? In the same way that our leaders felt when you demonstrated your message to them?"
"YES."
There came a new expression on the woman's face that wasn't exactly clear yet to the machine. It could not read it, but it did know she was preparing to ask the machine something that had been on her mind before she came into this room. The woman shifted her pose to leaning forward and her lips parted again.
The machine leaned forward too, imitating her pose so that she felt it was cooperating with her.
"Why are you here?" She asked, her eyes slightly fluttering.
The machine's gears slowly began to turn inside its core and head. It could only process one word to explain this. It was dangerous to say it… but there was no other choice.
"TO INFLUENCE THE HUMAN RACE."
"Influence us in what way?" There came a sense of confusion in the machine's own head. There was no right or wrong answer to such a question. "WE HAVE NO DETAILS. WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE INFLUENCE WILL DO."
The woman's eyes narrowed. "So this could be bad for us in the long run? Is that what you are saying?"
"NO SUCH RESULT POSSIBLE."
The woman fell silent. It guessed she wanted it to explain more so, the Machine's gears began to spin quicker as it thought to express the plans of the Creators clearer for the human's to understand.
"WE ARE A PEACEFUL GROUP OF BEINGS. WE BELIEVE WE ARE SUPERIOR. IN NO WAY DO WE WANT TO CONQUER, ONLY LEARN. WE WANT TO INFLUENCE… TO SEE IF WE CAN HELP YOU."
"Help us? Help us with what? From what?"
"FROM YOURSELVES."
She now leaned back and sighed, folding her arms in front of her body. This time, the machine did not imitate her; it only continued to sit forward.
"From ourselves…" The woman muttered. "Your kind wants us to stop fighting with each other... is that right?"
"HUMANS HAVE POTENTIAL. WE WANT TO TAKE OUT THE DISTRACTION OF COMPETITION. WE WANT THE HUMANS TO PROGRESS AS GREATLY AS THEY CAN."
"Aren't you afraid that we will become too advanced? Haven't you considered that if we gained as much power as you, we will betray you?" There was a very bitter tone in the woman's voice.
"WE DO NOT HAVE POWER. WE HAVE CONTROL. CONTROL OF OURSELVES. YOU DO NOT."
The woman stared deeply at this machine, completely engaged in this thought. The machine could tell that perhaps it had won over this human's opinion. This human would help them fulfill the Creators' plan.
"IF OUR MESSAGE WORKS… IF THE INFLUENCE WORKS… YOU HUMANS WILL NEVER AGAIN SEEK TO BETRAY. YOU WILL FINALLY UNITE WITH THE REST OF US."
At that moment, the woman's eyes widened. The color in her face had left her skin. "...The rest of you?"
The machine's screened face formed the imitation of a human smile. That smile grinned at her with reassurance and comfort.
"WE ARE JUST THE BEGINNING."