It's not easy to be an android trying to be a human in a human's world. There
are so many different things - actions, feelings, and whatnot - that can inhibit
your progress. For instance, human speech - it was the most difficult thing that
I tried to learn. So many sounds, characters.....just trying to write the
language was hard enough. There were many instances where I just about gave up.
But something drove me to try again and again. Maybe it was Uncle Albert
pressing me on, encouraging me. Or maybe it was the fact that my own father
didn't believe in me. I wanted to prove him wrong - he thought that I was just a
ro-
......android, that wasn't capable of doing the things that humans
could do. He was also confused - he could have sworn that he had
programmed a human speech module into me, so why wasn't it working? Everyday he
would poke and prod at me, trying to find out what the problem was.
Uncle
Albert had more common sense than Father did. One day, I was just about in tears
because I still couldn't talk, read, and write. I was already two years old, and
although I had finally learned to walk, I still couldn't do the other simple
things that humans could do; Xavier could speak. He was even learning to read -
why couldn't I? Uncle Albert approached and knelt down in front of me. I looked
up at him through sorry green optics; he smiled at me and said,
"You are
still having trouble, yes?" I nodded.
"Well, I think I can help you with
that problem. Okay?" I sniffed and nodded, grateful.
Out of the two of
them, Father and Uncle Albert, it was Uncle Albert who was more like my father.
Maybe it was because Uncle Albert already had a son, and he knew how to handle
children. Father and Mother didn't have children; they couldn't have children
because of Father. He was...incapable of having them. So he did the next best
thing - created a son. But he surely wasn't treating me as his son, more like
what I really was - his creation.
Uncle Albert helped me up, and I
followed him into the laboratory, in the basement. He had me sit up on a cold,
steel table. I was getting a little nervous, another feeling I had discovered.
But Uncle Albert's gentle smile reassured me, and I felt a little less
nervous.
"I want you to ask your CPU to do a full system scan. Check for
any and all programs and protocols listed," said Uncle Albert. "When the scan is
done and you are given a list, read it to me."
I nodded, and said, "Full
system scan - subject
DRN000."
---INITIATING...---
....................
....................
....................
SCAN
COMPLETE. LIST ALL RESULTS?
"No, only .EXE and
.PRO."
---LISTING...---
EXECUTABLES
EMOT.EXE
HYPER.EXE
PWRMNGMNT.EXE
STARTUP.EXE
SYSCHK.EXE
SYSSCN.EXE
SHUTDOWN.EXE
PROTOCOLS
EMOT.PRO
HYPER.PRO
PWRMNGMNT.PRO
STARTUP.PRO
SYSCHK.PRO
SYSSCN.PRO
SHUTDOWN.PRO
END
LIST
"Well?"
I started to read off the list, and wondered how
in the world Uncle Albert could understand me. To him, and any other human for
that matter, my speech should have sounded like a bunch of pings. But he
understood me. I stopped reciting the list, and looked around. Next to me was
some sort of machine. Perplexed, I said another executable. I watched, amazed,
as words came up on the small LCD display - human words. Although I could not
read the yet, I understood that Uncle Albert could translate my Machine Language
to his human tongue! Incredible. I was impressed and grateful.
Uncle
Albert chuckled and said, "I'm going to assume that you understand what this
machine does, so carry on with the rest of the list, please."
I did just
that. After I was finished, Uncle Albert stood in front of me, chin in hand,
perplexed.
"Hmmm....I could have sworn that Thomas said he had put in
that module. But if the list you just told me is correct, then it looks like he
forgot to put it in."
I must have looked angry, because Uncle Albert
waved his hands.
"Oh, no, don't take it personally. Your father has a
tendency to be rather absent-minded at times. He most likely just did forget to
put your language module in, but thought that he did That's all right - we'll
just install one for you now."
I nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Uncle
Albert!" I said. He smiled and patted me on the head.
"You're quite
welcome, little one. That is why your father and I make such a great team - he
does most of the creating, and I do most of the programming. I also do what he
forgets to do, such as in this situation." He walked over to a tall closet and
opened it. Inside were hundreds upon hundreds of different chips, all neatly
organized. Uncle Albert searched through the shelves, picked up a chip, and
examined it. When he was satisfied, he came back over to me.
"Now then,
in order to install this, I'm going to have to deactivate you for a short
period. When I reactivate you, you will be able to speak, read, and write in 100
different human languages."
I stared. 100 different human
languages?! I couldn't believe there were that many - I had thought there
was just one universal language! It seemed that I had a lot more to learn about
humans.
Then there was that other word - deactivate. I knew what
that word meant - it meant that I would essentially die. But Uncle Albert
had said that he would reactivate me...and I trusted him. I looked at
him, and lay down on the table, without him ordering me to. Uncle Albert usually
didn't have to tell me to do something for him - it was like I somehow knew what
he wanted me to do. Once I was situated properly on the table, Uncle Albert
opened up a control panel on my right arm, waved at me, and flipped a switch,
which ran the "SHUTDOWN.EXE" program.
---SYSTEM SHUTDOWN
INITIATING---
READING PWRMNGMNT.PRO
READING
SHUTDOWN.PRO
................
................
SHUTTING DOWN
EMOT.EXE
SHUTTING DOWN HYPER.EXE
SHUTTING DOWN STARTUP.EXE
SHUTTING
DOWN SYSCHK.EXE
SHUTTING DOWN SYSSCN.EXE
After my emotions program
was shut down, I lost all sense of emotion. It was strange.
SHUTTING
DOWN PWRMNGMNT.EXE
And then the world went
black.
---SYSTEM STARTUP INITIATING---
READING
PWRMNGMNT.PRO
READING
STARTUP.PRO
................
................
LOADING
EMOT.EXE
LOADING HYPER.EXE
LOADING SYSCHK.EXE
LOADING
SYSSCN.EXE
LOADING SHUTDOWN.EXE
NEW MODULE
DETECTED!
LANG.MOD
OPEN?
"Y-yes..."
OPENING
LANG.MOD...
LOAD LANG.PRO?
"Yes."
LOAD
LANG.EXE?
"Yes."
READ LANG.PRO?
This was it -
the moment of truth.
"Yes."
READING
LANG.PRO....
...............
...............
RUNNING
LANG.EXE
A new sensation overwhelmed me. I could feel the program
running, and I couldn't wait to test it. It was giving my CPU all sorts of
information. I wanted to say something. I wanted to say something that expressed
my gratitude to Uncle Albert. I opened my mouth, and Uncle Albert watched me
intently.
"Thank you."
My eyes widened. I had spoken. Uncle
Albert smiled widely.
br "You are quite welcome, little one. Let's
further test your new program, yes?"
I grinned.
"Yes!"
"Good! Now then, I'm going to show you a paper with words
on it. I want you to read me the paper, understand?"
I nodded, and Uncle
Albert handed me a sheet of paper. It was a poem. I looked at the characters
whose meanings had eluded me for so long. They were so easy to understand - how
was it that I had thought they were so difficult? I began to read
aloud.
"Kokutan no Itten ["Ebony Heaven"]
Watashi no
himitsu... [My secret...]
Watashi no kurai no mimoto... [My dark
past...]
Hidoi... [Terrible...]
Itami hidoi... [Terrible
pain...]
Watashi wa kanashii..." [I am sad...]
This poem...it
was so full of sorrow. I looked at the date - circa 1850. An incredibly old
poem, considering it was 20XX. No author was listed. Whoever it was that
wrote this must have been a tortured soul, I thought. So caught up was I in
my own thoughts that I didn't even realize Uncle Albert talking to
me.
"Huh? Oh...sorry, Uncle Albert. I was thinking."
"Oh, that's
perfectly all right. But you're doing it - you're talking! And you read that
poem flawlessly! Wonderful job - now we know for sure that the module is
operational. Shall we go and show off to the others?" he grinned.
My grin
matched his. "Yeah!"
Together we walked upstairs and into the rec room,
where everyone was just lounging around. It was Mother who first saw
us.
"Oh...Big Brother, and..." She trailed off; they still hadn't come up
with a name for me, in the two years I had been running.
Go
figure.
I frowned slightly at this, but then Uncle Albert nudged
me.
"Go on," he whispered. "Say something."
I nodded, then looked
at everyone in the room - Father, Mother, Aunt Sarah, and my cousin,
Xavier.
Xavier and I had become very close after spending two years with
each other. He had even given me a nickname, derived from my Mechanic's Code -
DRN000.
"Hey, Zero! Wheredja go to?"
I gave a half-smile and said,
"Oh, just downstairs to the lab."
The look on everyone's faces was
priceless, as were their reactions. Father's mouth was hanging open, Mother had
clapped both hands to her mouth, Aunt Sarah had put a hand to her heart, and
Xavier grinned widely.
"Hey, wow! You talked!!" I nodded and
smiled.
"Yeah - Uncle Albert installed a language module in me." Father
approached us.
"A-albert...you...?"
"Yes, Thomas. You forgot to
install one in him."
"Oh..." He chuckled. "Absent-mindedness
again...sorry," he said to me, with a lop-sided grin. "Well...glad you can talk
now!" I nodded.
"And I can write and read, too. In fact, I am able to
write, read, and speak in 100 languages, including Chinese, French, Spanish, and
English." Xavier gaped. I grinned proudly, and then turned to him. I had given
him a nickname as well...in fact, I called him by it every time we were
together. But he had never been able to understand me, of course. Now he
could.
"Yes, X...pretty neat, huh?"
"X...? Heh...you gave me a
nickname, too! Cool!"
"Now we can actually talk to each other," I mused,
excited. Xavier grinned.
"Hey, yeah! That'll be neat!" Under the watchful
eyes of our family, we sat over near the couch to just talk. X asked me all
sorts of questions. We had a nice time just talking, while the adults all sat
around us, amazed that I made that quick of a transition from mute and
illiterate to android prodigy of language.
I went to bed that night
feeling as if I was flying through the air, nothing holding me
back.
Ah...sleep. You may wonder, how is that possible? Androids don't
sleep. No, we don't, but we do go into an idle state, where we recharge our
energy so that we can function properly the next day. It's like sleep in that
respect - we put our systems on hiatus until we get a full eight hours worth of
recharging.
Anyway.
The next day, I was sitting in the big arm
chair in the rec room, when all of a sudden I heard the strangest sound. It was
high-pitched, but it didn't sound bad. In fact, it sounded pleasant. Intrigued,
I got up and looked for the source. When I got into the hall, I bumped right
into Xavier.
"Oof! Oh, hey, Zero! What's
up?"
"It...stopped."
"What stopped?"
"That noise...it
sounded weird. High-pitched or something."
Xavier looked at me for a
moment, scratched his head, and then brightened.
"Oh! Did it sound like
this?"
He pursed his lips, and blew air out of them. I heard the noise
again - it had Xavier who had been making it. I jumped back, surprised. Xavier
stopped and giggled. Confused, I stared at him.
"What was that?" I
asked him. He grinned.
"It's called whistling. Pretty nifty, huh? Want me
to teach you how?"
"Um...sure."
"Okay! Here's what you do - just
put your lips together like this...and then you blow! Simple."
I nodded,
and tried. It took me at least 20 minutes, in which Xavier spent laughing
hysterically at my face - it must have looked strange, me trying to blow air
from my mouth, my cheeks puffed out and lips pursed. An interesting sight, I'm
sure.
I was becoming frustrated. Annoyed, I clenched my hands into fists
and blew as hard as I could. Scared myself half to deactivation when the
shrillest whistle came from me. I jumped and clapped my hands over my mouth. I
looked over at Xavier - his eyes were shut tight and his hands were over his
ears. When he didn't hear my shrill whistle again, he looked up at
me.
"Okay...that was good. Just try and tone the volume down, okay? Try
it again."
I did, again and again, until I perfected my
whistle.
"Great! Now try and make a tune out of it," Xavier told me. I
didn't know the first thing about making music, and I told Xavier this. He
thought for a minute, then snapped his fingers.
"I know! We'll put the
radio on, and you can listen to some music! Maybe that'll inspire
you."
"I hope so, X."
"Don't sweat it; c'mon!" We went into the
rec room and sat in front of the radio; Xavier turned it on.
"Now, tell
me when to stop," he instructed. I listened to station after station, but I
didn't hear one song that I liked. After ten minutes of flipping through
stations, Xavier was just about to call it quits.
That's when I heard the
most beautiful music.
"X! Stop!!!" I shouted.
"Huh? Oh!" He
stopped at the station.
"What kind of music is this?" I asked,
bewildered. He listened to the song for a little.
"This? I think it's
called blues," he answered. "Why?"
"I like it," I said simply.
"It's...calming. It makes me feel good." Suddenly, a tune popped into my head,
and I began to whistle it.
There isn't an android nor Reploid activated
to this very day that doesn't know that tune. Every time it is heard, I am
always thought of. For it is the tune that I whistle whenever I appear to help
those who are in danger; it is the tune to let my little brother know that I am
nearby. It is my theme song, my trademark.
That song is my very soul...if
an Android could ever have a soul.
I didn't even realize until I
heard applause that I had attracted an audience. Surprised, I looked up - the
entire family had heard me, and had come to see what all the whistling was. By
this time, I was used to all the attention; I stared blankly at
everyone.
"Was that...you?" asked Father; I nodded. "Amazing...absolutely
incredible..." he muttered.
"It sounded like blues," remarked Aunt
Sarah.
"Yeah," said Xavier, "he likes blues a lot. We were flipping
through radio stations and he made me stop on the blues station."
"Well,
it was Xavier who taught me how," I explained.
"Of course," Xavier
replied. "That's what friends do."
"F-friends...? What is
that?"
"A friend? A friend is somebody who cares about you, somebody you
can trust in and tell everything to, and not worry about it 'cause they'll never
tell. A friend is someone who you can share stuff with, talk to, and..." he
added with a sly smile, "...teach stuff to."
"A friend is all of this?" I
asked. "It sounds like a wonderful thing," I added wistfully. "But I guess only
humans can have friends...right?" Xavier shook his head.
"No. We're
friends, you and me," he said.
"We...are?"
"Of course!" He
smiled.
That sentence made me feel more human than I had ever felt by
speaking, reading, and writing. It made me feel wanted and loved. It was the
best feeling I had ever experienced.
"Hmm...interesting," said Uncle
Albert afterwards. "I think I've just come up with a name for our little
nameless android here."
"Really?" asked Mother. "What?"
"Blues."
