By the Fading Light

Prologue

I acutely remember the second I came into awareness. To be fair, I remember everything. I can't really forget, but... The moment consciousness seeped into me, and I became aware of what was going on around me was especially clear in my memory banks.

I wasn't completed yet. Pieces of me were still missing, and I couldn't move any part of my body. But I could see. And I could hear. And I could feel the gentle, calloused hands of my creator cradling my head as she beamed wide with a slightly yellow smile. She looked so proud to see that I was conscious that I wanted to smile back, but I couldn't move my lower jaw. Perhaps it hadn't been attached at all.

Instead I blinked twice and she made a delighted noise. I will never forget it. It was high pitched and seemed to bounce around the metal walls of her lab. She flapped her hands excitedly as well, and I could feel some of the cool wind brush my circuitry.

"Okay, okay, sorry to pull you in now, but I'm going to have to put you out again until I finished. I just couldn't wait to test out if the AI actually worked! Here, let me just-"

It cut of there as I was shut off.

Next time I came into awareness, it was to destruction and chaos and another robot flipping me into awareness. The first thing I noticed was how malicious they seemed to be grinning at me.

The second thing I noticed was my creator on the floor with a hole in her chest.