Entry Number One
January 27
It's been a long time since I first came up with the concept, and in the... chaos of recent weeks I happened across the yellowed diagrams which I drew so long ago, when I had the foolish misconception that everything would be simple and easy. Thankfully, despite having initially been drawn in pencil nearly fifteen years ago they were still legible, and while there were some things I must alter I will maintain most of the rest. Honestly, I'm impressed by my younger self.
At least now I know that my other plans were for nought. All of my dreams except this one have been crushed time and time again, and this is my last chance to do something that will be remembered.
Imagine, truly sentient animatronics, stolen from an idea forgotten and drowned years ago, only now dredged from the murky depths. What a day that would be!
Entry Number Two
March 4
Thanks to the pre-existing basement beneath my property, construction of the basement facility I envisioned went much quicker than I had thought it would. The contractor did raise an eyebrow at my insistence on including blast doors at the entrances to the stairs and what will eventually become my office and workshop, but nothing more.
I have used the time during the facility's creation to do some more in-depth research as to how to proceed, and those months have been spent wisely. Now that the basement is complete, construction of the first prototype can begin.
Entry Number Three
June 2
I have finished the backbone of the coding for the prototype and am currently piecing together the framework of the vocal and movement programming. I haven't seen sunlight in nearly a week and probably appear near-vampiric, but it shall all be worth it in the end if this works.
Entry Number Four
November 28
The project is moving along nicely. I've completed development on all of the programming, and barring any unforeseen bugs my desired result has been achieved.
Now all I need is a robotic frame to attach my coding to, and I will be able to see if this truly works.
Entry Number Five
December 12
I made contact with Daniel yesterday. He was thrilled to hear from me again, less so to know what I was planning or that I would be returning to my new home after this, and begged me to come back. I refused, unwilling to leave my self-imposed exile, and eventually he relented, likely hoping that I'd change my mind.
Ironically, despite being the younger brother Daniel is somehow far more successful than I, with him heading an international mechanical corporation and I only having a few moderately-successful and quickly forgotten political satires to my old name. Nevertheless, since he owes me several favors he relented and gave me two fairly cheap endoskeletons. As I loaded them into my car, he tried to make me stay one more time.
"Please, just come home. You didn't have to vanish off the face of the earth just because you weren't as successful as you thought you'd be! Mom and Dad miss you, J-"
"Do not call me that." I interrupted him, turning around and fixing him in place with a harsh glare. "I go by William now, and you very well know that."
"It's just a mask you're wearing to convince yourself you're somebody you never were, and the only person you're fooling is yourself." Daniel begged. "If nothing else, can't you at least come back east for Christmas or... or something?"
"Goodbye, Daniel. As per our agreement, you will not mention my existence here to anyone."
"Fine. Goodbye, William." Daniel spat out my new name viciously as I climbed into my car to drive away. I did not look very hard, but I think that he may have been crying.
No matter. I have left behind my family, and nothing shall change that. Even if Daniel were to tell our parents that he saw me- which he almost certainly will- it doesn't matter. I purposely took a rental car under a false name, so if he thought to memorize my license plate over the past day, he shall find nothing. Additionally, I placed cotton balls in my cheeks and rolled up cloth under my clothing to appear overweight, which I shall remove at the same time that I ditch this car, and that should confuse any searches he or our parents may choose to send out.
Now, for the fun to begin.
Entry Number Six
December 18
I have installed all of the coding and parts which I made into the first endoskeleton, which, as an inside joke, I have decided to call "Fredbear." After a quick rest, I shall activate it and test its compatibility with my visions for the future, and then continue from there.
Entry Number Seven
December 19
Despite having coded the AI within "Fredbear" myself, I have to say I'm surprised. I never fancied myself a technological genius, as asides from that one weird RPG I tried to make for a school project when I was fifteen I never truly had any coding experience.
Regardless, back to the report. After activating him, I placed him at a table across from me and carried out a test as close as I could get to the Turing test. I then wiped his memory and performed the test again, and again, and again.
Aside from a few bugs with his voice synthesizer as he tried to find replacements for words I had not thought to program into him and the fact that he speaks in a repetitive monotone, Fredbear is nearly indistinguishable from a relatively intelligent human. I'm very proud of myself, and for good reason. All that remains is to correct the bugs, reset his memory again, and try one last time.
Then, I'll need to see if he is capable of learning. If that is the case, then I can continue with my ideas into the other animatronic concepts I have. If not, then he is essentially useless for my purposes and must be revised considerably before I can continue.
TAPE ONE
A man in a dark purple jacket (identified as subject WILLIAM [redacted]) sits calmly at a workbench, alternating between working on the endoskeleton laying lifeless on the bench and checking on what appears to be a camera system. He suddenly stiffens as he appears to notice something and quickly throws a tarp over the endoskeleton on the table moments before somebody knocks quietly on the door.
W: Just a minute!
William walks over to the door and opens it. A stripped-down endoskeleton (identified as prototype Fredbear) stands in the doorway, holding a book in its hands.
W: You're done with the book I gave you, I take it.
Fredbear takes a moment to respond.
F: Yes. Though it was entertaining, I don't understand what I was supposed to learn from it.
William chuckles slightly.
W: Not everything needs to be something you can learn from. You can read just for entertainment, you know.
Fredbear considers this.
F: So... this makes other people happy, too, even though they learn nothing from it?
W: Exactly. You're learning very quickly, Fredbear. Would you like another?
F: I... Yes. I think I'd like that. What do you have?
TAPE ONE END