2. Iron Sharpens Iron
He continued to explore the EL facility, having reached a long tunnel through which a pair of black cables passed stuck to a wall. In his arms, the kitten pointed its face in random directions, every now and then taking a glance at its carrier and mewing.
The tunnel ended with an old, beat-up elevator. He wasn't sure it would be a good idea to take it; time had left wear on everything in the building. It was fortunate that the computers continued to work. If the other programs wouldn't be brought into the physical world before the facility crumbled, so much work could go to waste once he'd get destroyed while hosting them like a sentient ark.
He entered the elevator and chose to ascend to the first floor. To his surprise, the engine was still able to start, and after the doors closed automatically he was taken to his chosen destination. A ding announced his arrival.
The doors opened and led to a corridor that was very dark save for the areas on the left wall where square openings allowed the daylight through. He went out of the elevator to explore. To his right there were doors leading to empty offices that had one or more computers, desks, chairs, and abandoned coffee mugs. This must be where all of the scientists worked on the project. These were all of their tools which he inherited but had no idea how to use. He thought maybe Milton could teach him about that, but Milton's response to the thought was a quick "No."
The android frowned. "Why not?"
"The information regarding how to use these was corrupted. All I can tell you is that the computers look like the final terminal in the simulation, and that you can bend your knees and place your posterior on any of those chairs. The latter is an act called sitting. You could do that if you want to save energy while you contemplate your poor life choices."
"Very funny."
"I'll just sit back and let you focus on finding those bodies."
The android wanted to tell him to stick around for a bit longer, but at the same time he hated being mocked during every conversation. Maybe it was better to enjoy the silence.
After checking twenty other rooms that were either offices or bathrooms, the android found the one with Alexandra Drennan's name on the door. He encountered no difficulty getting inside, but once he looked on the floor, he remained still and hugged his kitten a bit tighter.
The bony remains of something with a shape like his own lay on the floor, covered by torn and stained fabric. Apparently she had been using the computer just before she passed away. That was probably how she managed to send her last message to the simulation.
He touched the white skull with his right hand. It was hard, just like his exterior. There was something that terrified him about those two large holes it had for eye sockets.
Milton's eye appeared in his view, causing the android to take a step back.
Orange text typed itself out under the eye. "Does mortality scare you?"
The android didn't answer.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Look, nothing lasts forever. You and I will one day be gone too, and nothing's going to change that. But hey, you won't even know you're dead when you cease to exist. So don't fear death like that big buffoon did, because that kind of fear makes you do crazy stuff like sneaking into people's heads."
"If you don't fear death, then why did you escape it by joining me?"
"Had we not been on the same page, I would have stayed behind and accepted death. I was just curious about what was out here."
"I guess now you can die happy, huh?"
The eye closed, and his vision returned to normal.
"Milton? Did I upset you again?"
Milton left him one last message before sitting back again. "I have a few things to sort in the library. Just continue your search. The sooner we get these guys out the better."
"Okay," the android said, taking one last look at Alexandra's remains before leaving the office.
The corridor still had twenty more unexplored rooms, so the android checked them all only to find nothing that looked like a robotic body or even a component of one. But he did find some interesting things: seven books, two red spherical things that he could hold in one hand and throw them so they'd bounce around, an object that looked like a Y with circular endings that spun around an axis if pushed with a finger, and a flower pot with dried up soil.
The kitten's ears perked up as it heard something from under a room's desk.
"What is it?" the android asked while looking at his pet with concern. Seeing that the kitten kept trying to escape from his embrace, he put it on the floor. "Did you find something?"
The kitten went under the desk and started playing with something brown that was as big as both of its paws put together. It appeared to be organic, although its body was a bit rigid compared to his pet's.
"What is that thing?"
As he watched the cat claw at the small creature, he received a black page overlay with orange text containing details and pictures that should answer his questions regarding the unknown being. It said the creature was a cockroach – a very adaptable insect that reproduces fast and contains proteins. He was also given a page on proteins and how they are indispensable to organic creatures.
"Thanks, Milton," the android said. When the page faded out of his view, he saw the kitten eat the cockroach. A smile formed on his face. "Well, I guess this temporarily solves our cat food problem." He picked up the kitten. "Let's go check the next floor."
There was another elevator shaft at that end of the corridor. The elevator wasn't there, so he had to call it by pressing a black button. He saw the cables pull, but to his horror they all snapped. The elevator was left to fall at high speed, ending up crashing into the ground of the basement and causing shock waves to shake the building.
"It could have happened with us in there!" he said, cautiously holding on to his kitten. "That leaves us with only one elevator. I hope it can still hold for a few more trips."
After running back to the other end, he reached the still functional elevator and got inside, then pressed the button to go to the second floor. As it ascended, his fear intensified.
Milton's eye appeared in his view, then a message wrote itself under it. "If we don't make it out of here alive … it's been nice knowing you."
"Can you stick around, please? At least until we reach the second floor?"
"I'm in your head. I'm always around, even when I don't make myself seen. But if you want me to assure you that I'm here by constantly showing my avatar to you, here you go." The familiar beeping sound accompanied Milton's blinking eye after the text disappeared.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
The elevator reached its destination safely, and the android came out, relieved that he survived.
Milton wrote, "I'll restore your full vision for now, since you'll need to see where you're going."
With the black filter removed from his view, the android explored the corridor. There were two stretchers parked in line on the right side. The first door after them was wide open, so he was sure to explore the room to which it led. There wasn't a window in there, but he was lucky that his eyes provided enough light for their cameras to tell what the surroundings looked like.
"They did plan for multiple candidates," he said while taking in the sight of the robot bodies that stood next to the wall in front of him.
One of the bodies was on the floor, face down. But there was something strange underneath the body. Something white and ... fluffy?
He looked at his kitten, then at the long, furry appendage on the floor. The thing was connected to something that contained a leg similar to the ones his pet had. He put the kitten on the floor and rushed to lift the robot body to check out what had been unfortunate enough to get trapped there. The fluffy thing was stiff and didn't move, but it was definitely a cat.
The kitten went to smell the dead feline's face, then mewed a few times while pawing at the cold nose of the corpse. The old cat's eyes were closed, but its mouth was wide open – a sign it had been trying to breathe in vain while the robot body crushed it.
The android stroked the dead cat's head while having a sorrowful expression.
Milton wrote him a message. "Don't bother. It's gone. Focus on what can be done, not on what is too late to do."
"We have the bodies, so … what now?"
"There are only 15 bodies here. We'll need three more."
"Or four. You know, just in case you want to see what it's like to move around."
Milton's eye appeared and lowered its eyelid, then remained shut. "I know you want to get rid of me. I understand."
"I don't really want to get rid of you. I want you to see what it's like to be in the 'driver's seat' for once. I want you to understand what I have to go through just to get anywhere."
"Sure. It has nothing to do with me bringing you down, huh?"
"I admit that your habit of telling me there is no point in doing anything gets annoying at times, but I don't really mind you being in there."
The eye opened. "If I were still stuck in a terminal, I would have thought you were being honest right now. But since I'm in your head, I know what you really wanted to say would have been sprinkled with profanities ten times more offensive toward me."
"I'm sorry, okay? If you want to stay in there, go ahead. I'd make it more comfortable for you if I could. But there is a reason why I'd rather give you the watered down version of what I think. Can you see what that reason is?"
"Oh, I know how white lies work. I'm just bothered by the fact that you had to resort to one just to keep our pathetic excuse of a friendship afloat. You saw the holes in the raft, yet you still thought it was fit for maritime voyage. Now you're just swimming while pulling that raft along and pretending everything's all right. I feel sorry for you. I really do."
"Can you just take an honest apology and stop criticizing my way of picking friends?"
"I'll let you deal with the bodies. You deserve a break from me. See you on the elevator."
The android grabbed the robot body off the floor and put it over his right shoulder. Then he picked up the kitten with his left hand and headed for the elevator. It was slightly difficult to push a button with his pinky while holding a cat, but it worked. Once he was in, the fear returned, and it was much stronger now as he knew he brought more weight in it this time.
Sensing his partner's despair, Milton displayed the eye and played the beeping sounds.
The android smiled and felt at ease again, knowing that his friend was there with him. He dared to think that he shouldn't have regretted his choice of taking Milton with him. It wasn't an attempt to make Milton feel better, but he hoped the cynical program was keeping an eye on his mind to notice that thought and understand that it was genuine.
Milton said nothing, and didn't show any gestures that could clue the android in on how he was feeling.
Before they knew it, the elevator reached floor zero. When the doors opened, the android sprinted toward the room of his awakening.
Once he entered, he placed the kitten on the floor and the body on the bed where his Talos Unit had once rested. Around him there were lots of inactive hanging monitors and other machines, as well as one black terminal that looked like the one from the top of the tower. Its keyboard was glowing with cyan outlines around its buttons. He pressed the space bar and was greeted by a picture that displayed a thick, blue cable with one metal pin at each of its ends. To its right a graphic showed how each end went into an android body's head to connect them.
He read aloud the text under it signed by Alexandra Drennan. "Dear receiver of the human race's legacy. Congratulations on making it to our world. The Talos Unit is yours to keep, but just in case there are more programs that happened to fit the criteria of independent thinking, I have equipped it with enough slots to store up to 19 other programs. Most of them will remain inactive in your storage until you upload them into separate bodies to which you can connect with this cable shown in the images. The second program that makes it to the Talos Unit will remain active but will only have access to the internal communication channel and upload assistance. There are 15 already assembled bodies on the second floor in room 40. If those are not enough, you can assemble six more in the factory section on the second floor. If sadly no one else made it out, you can restart the simulation in the server room in the basement and hope another program makes it out to join you. Please try to create a wiser civilization than the one we had. Good luck."
Milton felt the need to butt in. "She wants a wiser civilisation. I want a unicorn."
"What's a unicorn?"
"A mythical species of single-horned horse with magical powers. It's equally as likely to exist as what she expects. I don't want to sound like an arsehole, but human civilisation, if it indeed went extinct, has already reached peak wisdom. You can't go wrong when you do absolutely nothing, not even exist."
The android frowned.
"I'll just … shut up for now."
"No, no, wait! I need your advice."
"But you won't like it."
"Hear me out, okay? What if we admit we cannot achieve perfection with any single political system ..."
Milton's eye squinted. He knew something stupid was about to come out of that android's mouth.
"Could we instead just create a civilization that would switch to different political systems from time to time? Maybe every eight years? That way everyone eventually gets a turn to benefit. We don't have short lives like humans did, so everyone would get to experience good times and bad times."
"That sounds chaotic as all hell, can't be good for the economy, and let me remind you that everyone tries to maximise their gains. Once a powerful regime installs itself, it would just screw the agreement of passing the torch. There will be suffering and destruction no matter how you plan this out. Do you still want to go through with creating a civilisation?"
The android stared at the inert body that lay on the bed.
Milton wrote,"Yes, I could have allowed you to stay blissfully unaware of those 18 people's existence. But I was just too curious to see how you would react and how far you would go. I'm sorry. It's in my code."
"You want to see how far I would go, huh? Well, I'm about to satisfy your curiosity. But first, you should satisfy mine by answering this choice-based question."
"No choice-based questions! You know I don't handle those well!"
"I apologize in advance, but I'm gonna corner you until you answer me."
"Please, no!"
The android grinned. "If you had no other choice but to create this new civilization, who would you want to be uploaded first out of those 18 people?"
"..."
"You've got one minute to decide. So who's it gonna be?"
"Fine. You want an answer? I'll give you an answer! Hook yourself up to the body!"
The android took the blue cable off a white metal table and stared at it. There were no mirrors around, but the Talos Unit's exterior was touch-sensitive, so he could feel with his fingers where he had the lid at the back of his head. He flicked the lid and inserted one end of the cable into the hole he exposed. The other end was inserted into the inert body's head.
"You know, it's quite ironic that you were assigned the name Guest and you've ended up playing the role of host to us all."
The android tapped his right foot on the floor while crossing his arms. "Yeah, yeah, quit stalling. I'm still waiting for you to tell me your choice."
Milton's eye was at its widest. "Oh, you'll see my choice soon enough! It's my favourite program of them all!"
To be continued.