To Be Human

C1 - It Is ALIVE

There weren't words, at least not at first. Experiences were as indescribable as they were all encompassing. You didn't know what was happening, but you sure didn't like it, whatever it was.

Slowly, things started to make sense, at least. There was a strange disconnect from these experiences, despite how world-shakingly intense they were.

Bright.

Sore.

Pressure.

Cold.

There was a lot going on, as far as you could tell, but those things seemed to be the most pressing matters. Things became clearer, senses started kicking in.

"Of all the unbelievably irresponsible-"

"Yell at me all you want! I can't stand this any longer! The way they treated us... what they were planning to do, and it was only going to get worse, I had to!"

"How you feel doesn't matter. What matters is that without a second thought you just flushed years worth of work and funding down the drain!"

"At least we'll be able to start over!"

Speech, that's what this was. It was loud, but not as loud as that repetitive high pitched noise.

Stifling darkness, interrupted by painful flashes of red light. Figures moving around quickly, and something bright shining an annoying blue light at you. All of this was distorted, not as it should be. Sight was becoming clearer and clearer.

That cold was so heavy. As was the air... why was everything pressing down on you like this? This pressure, it hadn't been here before, though those memories felt distant now... and there was this goop coating everything, slowly dripping away through an uncomfortable grate below you. You'd been suspended in the goop until a few moments ago. You felt the barrier around you, the distortion. It was smooth and cool. There was a word for it, but you didn't quite have all the details sorted yet.

Sound, sights, feeling, processing all of it all at once so suddenly, it was upsetting. It was overwhelming.

A word came to you. Misery.

"Listen to me, for once. It's done now, there's no undoing it. You've got two options. Either you're with me, or you're against me. What'll it be, Moon?"

The arguing ceased. The absence of the noise was a relief. All you could do was slowly wake up to the world around you and do your best not to drown under the experience of it.

"Think of the other attempts, what the investor did to them, how little they care about our ends. Think of why we started this in the first place," that same voice pleaded. "Answers. Responsibility."