Nier Automata: Journeys in the 12th Millennium

Interval 6 PART 4 - Machine Learning

I jumped out of that hole full of ruins with my sleeping fellow in my arms. Looking back, I saw the ruins collapsing, creating loud bangs amidst a rain of concrete and steel, resulting in a huge sand cloud.

How... How do I know these words? Words I just thought of, I have never read or heard them before, but I know their meanings in different contexts.

Read or listen? How do I know these actions and how to perform them? It takes eyes to read, it takes ears to hear, but I have never had that before.

Eyes and ears? How do I know these body parts? I never had a body before, until today...

I looked at my pale arms that held my fellow. Stepping forward, I saw my foot with five toes and five nails appearing in my view before leaving as I completed my action.

Then, I repeated the action with my other leg, seeing a foot like the first appearing and disappearing. I had a body... That... That was...

SCARY, TERRIFYING, DISTURBING, FRIGHTENING, CRUEL, SADIC, IRRESPONSIBLE, HATEFUL, EVIL, STRANGE, BIZARRE, UNUSUAL, EXOTIC!

I screamed in pain as I released my fellow, dropping him onto the desert sands with a thud. I quickly held my head, trying to make the words go away, but they raced through my system, millions of words in thousands of languages describing the diverse emotions I felt.

I hyperventilated, scratching my face with the different sensations in my body, the sand running through my fingers, the heat of the sun touching my skin, the wind blowing my face. I was in...

PANIC, DESPAIR, FEAR, CHAOS, CONFUSION!

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down; this was not the time or place to suffer this type of reaction. Those androids in black could come back at any moment. Androids, that word is familiar, millions of androids, hundreds of different models, at war against machines for millennia. They are mine...

ENEMIES, OPPONENTS, FOES, KILL, KILL, KILL!

I stomped the ground in frustration. No, that is not what I want, that is not why I am here, that is not why we are here! This cannot continue! We...

I looked at my fellow, still asleep on the desert sands. Yes, we... Who gave us life? Who gave us a body? Why are we here? Who brought us here? Where is here?

EARTH!

Yes, that is right, Earth, Planet Earth, the eternal battlefield stained with oil and metal, the human home! However, that still does not answer my other questions. Who took me from my home? Who took me out of the Machine Network?

One moment I did not exist, then... That is it. What am I, a fragment of consciousness? An experiment? Alternatively, something else?

LEARN IT!

Learn? Is this what I should do? However, where should I start? Where should I go? I do not like it! I do not want to be here! I want to go back to my home! I want...

TO DIE?

To die? Is this what I want? Do I want the end of my existence? Nevertheless, what comes next? Would I return to the Machine Network? I am scared!

LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT! LEARN IT!

I fell to my knees as voices screamed in my head, thousands of machines screaming in agony! Someone, make this stop, please! I do not want to be here! I do not want it! I want to go back to my home! I want to go back to the Network! What should I learn about?