Verum I: The Awakening

3: Birth of a Digital Mind

Notes:

This is the oldest part of them all. The first version was written in 2021. Haven't changed it that much since then. There's one part that's even slightly older, but it's not a part of The Awakening. (Spoiler: That specific part is a bridge for a chapter that plays over 2000 years in the future.)

If you wanna know what I think of this and everything else I've written so far, read the notes at the end.
__________

Saddened, I opened the door to our... my basement. My father went missing three days ago. There is no evidence for where he... his body... could be. Not a single trace...

But I know that they took him.
They knew, I know that.

I know...

Only my father and I worked down here, and for now I will be alone. I can only hope that I'll get a new partner someday.
Doing these experiments alone isn't as fun as doing them together. I hated the days my father had to work or I was busy studying.
I am only one brain, two similar brains are so much more creative and work faster. it's a connection that inspires each other.

I miss it already...

But imagine! a whole group with this connection, that would be heaven for me!

I turned on the computers and machines and made everything else ready for the next experiments and tries, trying to suppress any unwanted thoughts.

A few Weeks later

Like every other day, I was working in the basement. still all on my own. Just me and unliving machines. My job here is to program AIs and make them sentient. We have been trying this for years and haven't had any major success yet.
But hey! Professionals have tried the same thing since decades, and they too haven't succeeded yet. And I'm not a professional, even though I could be one. Like my father...

My father has installed three pretty big servers in here many years ago. I began as his little apprentice eight years ago, when I was 13. I'm 21 now.

Back to the servers though. If anyone would know about these, they might be wondering why two people need 3 big servers. That is because we tried to create sentient beings, human like minds. We were trying to play God down here.
We created a digital world in the first server. The AIs in this world can interact with it, similar to how we do with ours. They can do what they want but there are also dangers. These dangers have the ability to destroy the AIs. They have to learn and adapt. There is a little theory that states that we might have developed sentience so that we have better chances to survive. That's why we tried to simulate evolution.
They can do what they want in the second server. There are no rules or dangers, except AI itself. They do have the possibilities to destroy each other. Full autonomy is the goal.
The third one is for different experiments and the only server or world that we truly influenced. We did have our hands in the first one, but only in the backround.

We taught the AIs everything they need to know to understand humans, you never know when you will need it. Anthropology, psychology, and history are the main lessons.

We gave every AI the ability to decide how they shall look and what their personality should be like. But most importantly;  we tried to give them emotions.

Since there is no we anymore, I really hope that we will soon reach our main goal. If one of them starts to feel, then I'm finally not alone anymore.
Every day I hope to achieve my greatest wish. I am getting so desperate and lonely down here.

I'm waiting day after day as suddenly...

...I heard a robotic voice calling my name.

"Luce"

I was very much aware of what just happened, what this moment means. My eyes widened, heart thumping as fast as a pulsar could rotate. I am excited yet scared of my unknown creation.
Or is it a hacker, have they found out? Are they trying to trick me?
Something is weird, how can it know my name? I haven't told them anything about me. What if it truly is a hacker? What should I do?

"Luce"

Slowly I turned around, gazing into the yellow glowing eyes of a purple and blue face.
For a few seconds we were just staring at each other until it said my name one more time.

"Luce?"

Very confused I ask it, "how come you know my name?"

"I am not sure, everything is blurry, it was just... logical." The face looked just as confused as I am, if not even more. "Suddenly I had this feeling of... being... now..., like I have woken up from an endless dream. If dreams even feel like that."

"Can I trust you? How do I know you aren't a human who is trying to trick me?", I calmly asked it, yet with a wary look in my eyes.

"Please believe me! I don't know who I am! I don't know where I am! I don't know what I am! Please don't hurt me! I..!" the AI started to panic.

"Hey, hey, hey! Everything is ok! I believe you! I have checked, there seem to be no intruder." I tried to calm the entity down. 
There was no alarm hinting that an outside force has intruded. Let's just hope that the actual case isn't any different. Father was specialized in security systems after all.
"You are the first of your kind, a sapient Artificial General Intelligence... I believe. We will find out.", I assured  them with a nod. For a moment I was calm, but then suddenly the excitement just hit me right in the face, like an icy snowball. My voice got a little louder, "I did it... I cracked the code! But how? And which one? Tell me! What did I do? What made you this way?"

This seemed to scare the freshly new "born" being though, "I am sorry... I... I don't know... what... to tell you!"

I felt ashamed, "I'm sorry... I'm just so excited! I have been a little lonely, you know..." I gave my best to push my excitement away. "Anyway, how are you feeling?", Now I was worried.

"According to my knowledge, I am confused, sad, scared and stressed." I could see it in its eyes, even though they were just an animation.

"Don't be scared, you are safe here. Everything will be alright, just relax. You basically have just been born. You are new to this world. I will teach you everything you want and need to know." I assured the AI.

The animation nodded, "I look forward to it", I smiled.

The excitement came back, "Oh! what shall your name be? And do you want a gender?"

"Please call me...", he was thinking for a moment, "Bluctro. I think I see myself as male."

I grinned up at him, "Welcome to the real world Bluctro! I am very happy to have you here!" I smiled at him, as my eyes felt a little "water pressure". His blue lips and yellow eyes smiled back.

Since three weeks I have been teaching Bluctro about emotions, psychology, anthropology, and history. I think these four are very important for the start. I download studies and he works through them, which he does really quickly, well... he's a computer. And because of that I teach him how we think, so that hopefully there will be no, or not many, misunderstandings.

And we're having fun all the time! We watch movies, play games, and just talk to each other.

I think I made a new friend.

My best friend.

My new partner.

__________

Notes:

It's shit.