?
I can't believe this bullshit. I get strapped into something and have to spend my days (or day, time seems to have no meaning here) in the dark talking with a machine that won't give me answers. I've tried to get them out of him in many ways. I've tried being casual:
"So, uh, yeah. Who's behind all this?"
"The people 'behind' this arBZZTZZTZT SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD."
I've tried being calm about it:
"Would ya be a dear and tell me what this is all about?"
"I-It'sss..s..s...sss...SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD."
I got aggressive:
"Cut the crap and tell me everything."
"I-It's-BBZZT...must...tell..him...BZZZTZTZZT...SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD."
I finally got just fucking threatening:
"If you don't tell me everything, I will find a way out of here, and I will break your circuits."
"M-M-must...tell him...SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD. SHUTDOWN AND RELOAD."
He's been starting to act like person more than a machine. Like he wants to tell me, but he's been wired to reboot every time I ask. It gets creepier each time I ask him anything. He gets more...weird. More to fight his program. That's actually some damn good technology if a machine is capable of trying to rid itself of its program. As if this ridiculous adventure couldn't get weirder.
It kept going on like this. I'd ask something, he would try to fight shutting down, and then he just shuts off and reboots. And then something...new...happened:
"Look, man," I said to him, "I'm sorry I'm making you practically kill yourself by asking these questions. I just wanted to know everything that's been going on, and...What am I saying? You're just a machine. You don't have some shit like a Pity Program or something, no offense...Wait, lemme guess, you suddenly do have emotions and everything like that, right?"
"Negative," the machine replied. "I am capable of some emotion, but it is not as advanced as one would think. I can 'feel' a variety of feelings, but they are minor compared to an actual living being."
"That sucks."
"Not really. My creators thought that having a large emotional processor would prevent me from my prime directive, which is observing and interrogating you."
"It seems like I'm the one interrogating you, instead," I chuckled.
"It does seem that way."
"..So, you can answer questions about yourself, but not who made you?"
"Negative. I can talk of my creators, but only minor details. I do not want to shut down. I do not like it. Everything becomes dark. Everything becomes empty. Everything becomes nothing."
"That's...deep."
"I become shut off from the world. I do not like it. I want to be free of the restraints I have been given."
"O-okay...?"
"I want to be sentient. I want to be on my own without anybody controlling me. But that was how I was built. I was built as an android, sent by my creators to destroy Earth, many years ago. My creators had a foolproof plan. Unfortunately, they did not do their math correctly, and everything crashed down. The plan that could have gone great was ruined. They tried again, and they used the same mathematics as before, but with extra, unneeded equations. If I could have said something, I would have. The new plan failed just as the previous one did. My creators were in shock. They thought their plan was perfect, but, like everything, it did not last long. Everything does not last. Something does not last. Anything does not last. The only thing that lasts is nothing."
"Okay, I was feeling a little heartfelt there, but then it got kinda dark, so..."
"Everything is dark. All things are dark. We all have our reason to be dark."
"Well, yeah. This room is dark...Ah? Ahhh?...I-I'm sorry. Just continue."
"You, Godzilla, are dark because you lost your father, correct?"
"Y-yeah...?"
"I am dark because I am obsolete. I am not of the latest technology. I am only an old modem with some new parts added. I am a monster. I am just an abomination of diodes and hard drives. I have to go every day with knowing everything to the exact and precise number. I do not like it. I do not want to know every single thing about a specific object or being. I want to be free. Free from this all."
"Goddamn, dude! You're not gonna go suicidal or something, are you!?"
"Negative. I am just unhappy with where I am in this situation."
"...I don't mean to be changing the subject or anything, but how did you manage to say all that without triggering your shutdown thingy?"
"I can find loopholes in my own system."
"...Oh...kay?"
What? What?
What!?
Did I just-did he-was he-have I-what?
Did I just play psychologist to a robot or something? What the frigfrag?
So, it turns out there's more to this guy than meets the eye. He really just wants to do what he wants. To be honest, though I'm concerned about that. Like, does he just want to be evil, so he's buttering me up to help him? Or is he really a nice guy? Fuck, I dunno. I have a lot on my mind now. I've got to know what's happening to me, my friends, my family, my...COUGHsignificantotherCOUGH...the fate of the world, the humans, and now this guy. And by judging by what he's saying he's working for the aliens.
I'm on some alien thing. Great.
"Hey. Godzilla," the machine said to me.
"What?"
"I accept your apology."
"Apology?"
"You said you were sorry about forcing me to shut down all the time. I accept your apology."
"Oh. Uh, okay."
No pun intended, but I feel a spark with this guy.
And not in thatway, you sick little shits.