(Alfred's Pov now. still in the past.)
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Ivan was awake.
Smiling.
How is that possible?
I had designed the chamber to rebuild Ivan while he was shutdown. Once he stepped into the chamber he would immediately shut off and would only "awaken" when I turn him back on. So did he override the system?
It was too much thinking for me at ten in the morning, so I just shrugged off the thick coil of worry beneath my stomach that seemed to swell with the dilation of my lungs. Walking over to the bed chamber, I gazed through the glass at Ivan and could not suppress the surprise I felt when he pressed a smooth pale palm against the surface of the translucent wall between us.
Ivan's grin seemed to be contagious as I let out a bark of laughter and pressed my own tanned palm against the surface so it mirrored his larger one for a quick second, before I punched in the code; which drained the metal cylinder of the peach orange gel and slid the well lubricated door open.
I didn't have time to react as the AI lunged at me, and for a split second I was scared thinking that Ivan had lost control.
Only to be completely proved wrong when his arms were wrapped around me and swung me around, forcing me to grip onto the steel biceps.
Literally speaking of course.
I let out a faint cough/wheeze when the arms around my torso tightened, forcibly contracting my chest and forcing air out of my lungs. This must have caught Ivan's attention because the next thing I knew I was lowered onto the freezing cement flooring and Ivan's hand was soothing through my hair murmuring what sounded to be apologizes.
With a flourish Ivan stood up and clapped his large hands together and ran to the basement door saying something about making a breakfast especially for me.
But seeing as there was no one else in the house besides Ivan and myself, and Ivan refused to eat human food who else would he have made it for?
Finally alone I leaned back for a second, and almost had a heart attack when my hand brushed something that felt like ice.
Slowly turning my head, I gazed down into lavender chains and dead gears.
Why was the prototype here?
No...There is no way...He couldn't have!
With a quick jump up, I ran over to my work bench sifting through the papers on top and stopping at a ripped open package. My hands quivered as I lifted up the off orange envelope and held it into the light.
I could almost feel the blood in my veins freeze as the hair on the back of my neck prickled and goose bumps broke out across my exposed forearms.
Why did I even make that stupid chip? It was still in its early beta stages, and I had still wanted to do intensive testing on it, but now it was permanently embedded into Ivan's circuit boards.
Why was I so stupid?
It was because I wanted to be the first one in history to be successful in making an AI that not only looked and preformed humanly but had its own emotions and thoughts.
Wanted to become a hero.
To be praised, because of my intelligence all over the world, And because of a silly dream what did I create?
Maybe not now but soon enough the chip will corrupt Ivan's memory boards and replace them with false memories. To put it directly, it would literally build Ivan a past and erase everything I had originally installed him with.
What kind of monster did I create?
I jerked out of my thoughts and I automatically tensed when I heard the basement door reopen and Ivan call me to breakfast, before shutting the door again leaving me to my thoughts like a rabbit to a pack of ravenous wolves.
I shivered at my own mental image and smoothed out the crinkled edges of the package that must have been crumple while lost in my thoughts.
Sighing I shifted my weight from foot to foot trying to buy myself more time; until my stomach entered the match.
Face Ivan and eat or rot in the basement.
My stomach immediatley won the match, and was declared the champion.
Hurray! The Iron Stomach is once again reigning champ!
Without a second thought, I tossed the empty envelope onto the piles of disorganized papers and jogged to the basement door.
I fingered the cool brass knob before, with a flick of my wrist, was greeted with the sweet smell of apple butter: and, like a magnet, I was dragged to a warm stack of apple buttered toast.
Throwing all caution to the wind, I dug into the delicious toast completely forgetting about Ivan and where ever he was creeping.
When the toast was finally devoured, I sat slumped in the chair lazily, taking small sips of my drink that I never remembered buying. But I must have bought it, right?
Right?
As time went on and my glass got empty, I felt like I was in The Matrix.
Time seemed to slow down and my eyes continued to host a rebellion against me as they both decided to shut a moment later, submerging me in darkness that sent prickles of heat down my shoulder blades and into the backs of my knees.
It hurts.
A loud pulsing danced in my head.
Not really dancing; but clawing and screaming.
Peeling back layers of my scalp and plunging its fingers into the soft, vulnerable tissue of my brain.
I must have made some sort of blubbering noise, because the next thing I knew Ivan was staring at me and dragging the edge of his fingernail against the curve of my ear; which sent a shiver of...something through me.
The world had no sound, but Ivan must have been saying something because his mouth was moving purposely and the chains in his glass eyes seemed to tighten and coil around each other in both promise and pain.
After what seemed like hours, my hearing came back gradually; but Ivan still was not making any sense.
Saying things like "Don't worry" and "They won't hurt you again." did not mean any significance to me, it must have to him the because next he was nodding in what seemed to be self assurance and then next he swept out the door.
Like a leaf dead and empty curling around the wind for one last dance before it was condemned to lie face first in the mud while hundreds more above jeered and laughed above it.
When I heard a multitude of locks sounding together and forming a prisoners symphony, my resolve thickened and curdled in my blood.
Like hell am I gonna lay back and let Ivan keep me in here!
With out thinking, I have been doing that a lot, I ran to the window and my curtained freedom only to freeze when my hand brushed back the thick cloth allowing me to take in the sight before me.
My hands smoothed over the surface of brick, and reality hit me.
Maybe...this would be harder than I thought.
