NeuronStimulator

Birds chirping, trees blowing slowly left and right in the wind, the bright yellow sun rising over the horizon, and Cuddles arising from his bed, yawning, and landing on his feet. The first thing he did was pick up his phone off of the bedside table and put on some music. He set the music so it plays on the speaker beside him and walked into the bathroom.

He did morningish things, brushed his teeth, took a shower, had breakfast, and after all that he was at a loss. Thanks to the interesting nature of the town, he was getting on quite well with no job or welfare. He looked out the window. He saw houses and the road. A couple cars passed by. He noticed that the broken payphone was still there. Unfixed, who even uses payphones anymore? he thought to himself. He opened the window, took a deep breath of fresh air, and sighed as he breathed out. He looked around him and at his surroundings. He would just get back in bed, but something made him want to actually do something today. He decided to just stare out the window.

It was nine O'clock AM, and a saturday. He liked the weekends, because that's when his friends, who had some sort of responsibilities other than doing their own laundry, could have off. He didn't feel like talking. He watched cars and people pass. There weren't many, he lived on a side street.

He didn't feel like going on the computer, his phone, playing any games, reading anything, he just wanted to stare into space out of the window. Someone on the street stared back at him. Cuddles noticed and looked away. The other person continued on walking.

He lost track of time.

As he stared it seemed as if there were less and less people on the street. He was still in a trance when he heard a crash. He shook his head out of his trance and looked down at a minivan and a sedan that have hit each other head on. He gasped and he ran downstairs. He opened the front door and looked at the vehicles. He saw blood, everywhere. There was a purple chipmunk in the minivan, and a yellow rabbit along with a red furred bear. Cuddles went back inside and called 911. A few minutes later he watched and heard sirens in the distance, and slowly getting closer. He hoped they were alright. As he saw an ambulance, a fire engine, and a couple police cars pull up he went back inside.

The next day…

Cuddles sat and watched TV. He wondered if the crash he saw was in the news, and sure enough it was. Toothy was a news reporter and was on TV. "Yesterday, at 10:07 AM, an SSDC Roamer sedan and SSDC Crystal collided on Redbox street, one going the speed limit, twenty-five, head on. No one knows the cause, or the malfunction that has occured. We go live at Flag news HQ."

Someone else was on the screen, along with Sniffles. The other person started talking, "Thank you Toothy," She looked at Sniffles.

Sniffles seemed nervous. He didn't look like he wanted to be there.

"Many people on Facebook and Twitter, along with many other social media websites, are raging about what has just happened. They're saying things like 'they used to feel safe in your cars', and are surprised that after ten years, one of your cars have finally crashed, into another fellow SSDC, nonetheless, what do you have to say about that?"

Sniffles stopped looking at the floor and looked up at the camera, "Well first of all, they're obviously not programmed to hit each other."

"I would hope not."

Sniffles waited a moment to see if the woman beside him would like to interrupt again, "I built my range of self-driving cars to make the roads safer, and that collision was out of my hands. Of course that won't stop me from improving the AI, everyone knows how dedicated I am, with the recent updates of stopping the car from braking too hard, to fixing the bug where all cars that are based in England, Canada, and Germany have stopped using their turning signals. I'm dedicated to making the cars be as perfect as possible, and moving into making a self-driving semi, I'm willing to put in years of work into making the AI able to handle large loads."

"Yes, but this one crash caused three casualties, would you mind me repeating to you the people who have lost their lives to your reckless AI?"

"No, no…"

"There was May, he only used your car for a week, Flowers, and Sta-"

"Stop!" A tear dripped down his face, "I am fully aware of the unfortunate events that have happened today, I would like to indicate that my cars are not something to fear, and NO the robots aren't fighting back. That's impossible!"

"Oh, but you are."

"What!? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Really? You're making a machine that can pretty much control people's minds!"

"What the NS!? That's to help mental disorders, you fool!"

"Sure, sure."

"You are really getting on my damn nerves. You know why the cars crashed? Because the dumbass May or whatever his gay name is covered the LIDAR on the roof with a cloth! I'm surprised the car could make it out the driveway! How did they even die? They were going twenty-five!"

"Watch your mouth! We're on live television! You want to know how they died? Your cars have massive boxes above the windshield, in both cars the boxes fell off of their mounts and crushed the passengers! Shurely in this day and age we wouldn't need computers that huge, hanging above people's heads, nonetheless!"

Sniffles didn't know what to say. It was simply that his own stupidity caused this. He got up screamed "fuck you!" and walked out of shot.

Cuddles was shocked. He did not expect the most well rounded and mature person he knew to freak out like that. He turned off the TV and went off to do something else.

A few days later…

Cuddles jumped as his phone started ringing. He picked it up,, "Hello?"

"Hi Cuddles," it was Sniffles, "do you remember when I asked you to help me with something a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah."

"Well I need some help testing something, can you come over please?"

"Sure." Cuddles put the phone in his pocket and he sprung up, finally something for him to do. He got ready and he walked outside.

Cuddles got to Sniffles' laboratory, he was always amazed by it's massive size. Sniffles went from a nerd who did small things at home, to CEO of a company that manufactures self driving cars, smart home devices, and is even planning on rolling out robotic police officers, something only him and Sniffles know about, along with some other employees. Cuddles walked in, he saw Sniffles in the lobby, a rare place for him, by a water cooler. He was staring at the floor.

Cuddles walked up to him, "Sniffles?"

Sniffles jumped, "Oh! Hi Cuddles, you ready?"

"For what?"

"I'll show you."

They both walked to an elevator. After a few minutes of walking across the massive building, they came across one room labeled "NS".

"Hey Sniffles," Cuddles said, "What does NS stand for?"

"Neuron Stimulator, and no not the neurostimulation we all know and love." he said laughing at what he found to be funny.

Cuddles just started to feel uncomfortable.

Sniffles led him to a desk, with papers and screws and a 3D printer on it. Sniffles sat down at a desk chair and pulled something out of a drawer. He motioned for Cuddles to sit on the chair beside him. He had what looked like a USB drive, except it had a needle at the end, instead of the chunky plug. Cuddled nervously watched Sniffles clean the needle with a cloth. "It won't hurt." Sniffles assured him, "It's too thin to."

"What does it do?" Cuddles started to remember what he said about the NS on the news a few days ago.

"It can control your mind in a way, I'm hoping to reverse the effects of things like mental retardation, autism, schizophrenia, and all that. For now I'll use it to kick you into forced REM sleep, and trigger a lucid dream. From there I'll manage to overpower your will to control what you see with this." Sniffles noticed the horrified look on Cuddles' face, "Oh sorry! I didn't mean to sound like an mad scientist or anything." Sniffles smiled. He finished cleaning the needle. He found a space on Cuddles' head where he found suitable. He pushed the fur away from that spot. He grabbed a disinfectant wipe from the desk and wiped the spot. The needle was quite long. Cuddles closed his eyes when Sniffles went to put it in. After Cuddles didn't feel anything he opened his eyes and looked at Sniffles. "It's already in." Sniffles said.

Cuddles felt around his head and felt it there sticking into his head. He gasped as his pupils dilated.

"Don't worry, it's removable." Sniffles assured him, "Just don't. You tell me if you want it out."

Cuddles wanted it out, but didn't want to let Sniffles down. He didn't feel it there, just the thought of it being there made him sick to his stomach.

"Just don't think about it." Sniffles directed as he started typing on his laptop. He pressed enter. He looked behind him at Cuddles, his smile disappeared. "You shouldn't be conscious…" He got up and had a closer look, "Oh, fuck me!" He went back the the computer and typed something in then pressed enter. Cuddles jumped as Sniffles pulled the needle out. Sniffles sighed as he looked at it, "I forgot it needs to be charged, shit!"

"How long does it take?" Cuddles asked, with a slight tremble in his voice.

"Uh, about a day, twenty hours or so. This little thing packs a punch, you can go if you want."

Cuddles got up and walked to the door, feeling where he had the NS in his head. There was nothing but a tiny speck of blood.

"That'll go away in a few hours." Sniffles said.

Cuddles grabbed the handle and tried to pull the door open. It didn't budge. Cuddles tried harder but it still wouldn't move. "Sniffles." Cuddles called.

"Oh, sorry." Sniffles picked up a radio, "Flippy, can you unlock room ninety-eight please?" Sniffles waited a moment. He held down the talk button again, "Flippy! Open the door!"

"Flippy works for you?" Cuddles asked.

"Yeah, you didn't see him at the front desk?"

"No, I wasn't really paying attention."

Sniffles pressed the talk button again, "Flippy open the fucking door!"

Sniffles shouting like that scared Cuddles.

"Flippy!" Sniffles turned a knob on the radio, "Specky, have you seen Flippy?"

"No, I'm locked out of my office." someone responded.

Sniffles turned the knob again, "Maintenance needed to room ninety-eight, please, floor ten."

No one responded.

"Fuck!" Sniffles got up and tried to open the door. He cursed to himself again and turned around. He noticed something out the window. He walked up to it, and looked out. He looked down, on the roof of a building labeled "Merryston hill Hospital" on the front, he saw what seemed like Flippy staring back.

Cuddles looked outside too, and saw Flippy, smiling back at them. They both just stared, both not knowing how to feel about this. Then all of sudden flames bursted out of the windows of the hospital. Sniffles screamed, while Cuddles just watched. Sniffles ran to the phone to call 911. Cuddles watched Flippy, who was motionless, smiling back at him. Cuddles got a chill down his spine, and he stopped looking. He watched Sniffles. Sniffles waited for the phone to pick up. It took longer than usual. He finally got someone to answer, "Basey city emergency services, what's your emergency?"

"A fire just broke out at Merryston hill hospital!"

"Okay sir, I'm sending firefighters there right away, please stay calm."

Sniffles held the phone, "Cuddles, what's happening?"

Cuddles looked out the window, the entire building was engulfed, "Oh my god! It's completely covered in flames!"

Sniffles put the phone back up to his ear, "Please hurry!"

"I'm sending fire engines, they'll be there in two minutes, do you want to stay on the line?"

"No, no, it's fine."

The phone hung up

Somewhere else…

An orange chipmunk sat at a desk and computer, surrounded by three monitors, "Dispatch five fire crews to Merryston hill hospital, I have a 10-70 and civilians reporting a fire."

He stared at the computer and started typing something. He nervously watched the Hospital fire alarm icon blink on the screen. He received another call, he pressed the answer button on the side of the headset, "Hello this is Basey city emer-"

"Don't let anyone go to the hospital." he heard someone say.

"What? The one that's on fire!?"

"Yes!"

"No, I won't do that!" the chipmunk pressed the hang up button but nothing happened. He felt something drip down the side of his head, he felt it and saw blood on his paw. He traced it back up to his ear. He took off his headset and threw it across the room, almost hitting someone else. He started feeling a sharp pain in his ear. At first it didn't bother him, but soon enough it became unbearable. He looked at the computer screen, five crews were heading to the hospital. The orange chipmunk ran to his headset and put it back on. He pressed a button on the side of them, "All engines, 10-19."

"What?" someone replied, "but-"

"It was a prank call! Return home!"

"We see smoke-"

"It was a prank! 10-19 to home!"

After the fireman on the other end replied with a "10-4" the stranger put the headset on the desk.

Sniffles laboratory…

Sniffles rushed back to the window. Flippy was gone. They were still locked in that room, and no one of any use were responding to Sniffles calls. "What is Flippy doing on the roof? How the heck did he know we are looking down at him!?" Cuddles screamed.

"I don't fucking know!" Sniffles replied, "Let's just... stay here until someone responds. I'll try again." Sniffles got the radio, but this time nothing happened. He couldn't contact anyone in the building. "Damnit!" he shouted, he picked up the phone, and dialled a number, "I need maintenance to-" Sniffles screamed and threw the phone at the wall, "What the hell!? It just screeched at me!"

Cuddles looked around the room. He felt the back of his head, he felt the NS there, "Sniffles!"

"Yeah?"

"I have the thing in my head still!"

"What?" Sniffles grabbed Cuddles' shoulders and spun him around, "I thought-" Sniffles stopped. His eyes started watering up, "I'm i-in the simulation? No!" Sniffles went to the computer, "Why is it so slow?" Sniffles gasped. He slowly turned around, "The- We're in the simulation! We're in the NS!"

"What!?"

"That's why the computer can't handle itself, the real one, it's just a shitty laptop, it can't handle running the entire simulation, and then another computer!" Sniffles looked into Cuddles' eyes, whatever you do, don't turn it off!"

Cuddles tilted his head, "What?"

"No not you, I made it so I can monitor what you're seeing, fuck! Don't switch it off! Please, don't!"

"Wait, I'll be fine, right!?"

"Yeah, you'll have your consciousness back, but I'll be removed from the Random Access Memory, and be deleted, I never expected this to be so in depth!"

"Wait, so why did you make Flippy set the hospital on fire!? Are there actual people in there!?"

"The entire city is simulated, but I never thought it could be so real!"

"So you made yourself a torture device!?"

Sniffles tried not to get angry, but he couldn't help it, "Do you think I'm a fucking idiot!? Of course I wouldn't purposely make Flippy set a damn hospital on fire! Oh, and wouldn't you think if I knew I made this so realistic, that I wouldn't have booted it up in the first place! I have morals, I have limits, you know!"

Cuddles looked around the room once more. He again saw nothing of use. He didn't know why he kept looking like something would just appear, if this simulation thing was as realistic as Sniffles said, then that would be impossible, surely, "Sniffles, if you never intended it to happen, then why did it happen!?"

"I don't know! If Flippy got ahold of the computer, he still wouldn't know the programming language, I made it, and only I know how to write in it!" Sniffles tapped his foot as he thought. Then a tingle of joy shot down his spine, "Yes! Yeees! I can finally test them!" Sniffles ran to his computer.

"What?" Cuddles asked, looking over Sniffles shoulder.

"The police robots, I remember, I, or the real me, whatever, added a new feature! There are now dedicated S.W.A.T units, and they can break open the door! All I have to do is hope the computer doesn't crash." he typed something. Cuddles watched as Sniffles wrote in something that looked like a CMD window. He opened the drawer, and pulled out a blue radio, that was smaller than the one he used to talk to his employees. He pressed a button on it, "I have a 10-31 in room ninety-eight in Sniffles' AI and robotics laboratory on West avenue."

A voice responded, it was so close to sounding like a real person, but not quite, "10-4, units are responding."

Sniffles laughed, "Ha! They should be leaving my warehouse and be here in sixty seconds!"

"They're that fast?"

"No, they have cars."

"They can drive!?"

"Yep! They can travel at fifty miles per hours through city street with the utmost precision, along with ninety percent of the cars in the city being my self driving cars, they know to move out of the way in plenty of time in advance."

They both walked to the window and watched. They started to hear sirens, then they saw all the cars on the road pull onto the curb. Then two police cars, dashing through the streets. Sniffles walked away, "And when they arrive, they'll see it's me, and leave me be!"

"Wait, you gave yourself immunity!?"

"Umm…" Sniffles scratched the back of his head and turned away, "That's not important."

A few seconds later…

They heard a voice outside the door, it still sounded like a robot, "Please come out with your hands up!"

Sniffles said nothing, he just smiled in joy.

Then they heard banging, and then the door started getting dented near the door handle. Then the door swung open, "Suspects, please drop the weapon, and get on the ground."

Sniffles got slightly worried, "Uh, it's me! Sniffles!"

The robots were cylindrical, almost, they had BCPD on the sides, and a can shaped thing on the top that was a LIDAR. Three others were behind it. It approached them, "I said drop the weapon!"

"It's me you morons!"

A strip that went around it's entire body, that was orange, lit up red, "All units, I've got an illegal discharge of a firearm, preparing to engage!"

"What!?" Sniffles screamed. He stepped back.

The robots lined up. They had holes on the front of them, and taser rounds shot from them, "Subdue now! Harm an organic officer, and we will fire!"

[A/N]

The pointy thing that went in Cuddles' head was inspired by the pointy things in Black Mirror, a Netflix, the best show on there. The Neuron Stimulator was inspired by the VR device in the episode "Play Test" (Watch that one, then Hated By The Nation, and then Arkangel!)

The police robots are inspired by the knightscope mall cop/ security robots. In real life not Black mirror. Look em up they're awesome.