YouTube: Dream Gamers: Book 3: The Humatronics

Chapter 4

So far, the experiment was going as planned. Nothing abnormal was happening, and to Jack's dismay, it seemed that the experiment was going to work. Even though this was a huge breakthrough, Jack was the only one who knew that even though it may seem like their consciousness wasn't there, they were fully aware of what was going on.

It may have seemed like they couldn't remember what happened beforehand, but the truth was, Jack had investigated, and was doing his own mini experiment on the A.I.s, and they actually did remember most of what they had lost, but only when the A.I.s were set to at least Level 7. Any lower, and they would only remember that someone had wronged them, if at all. Level 3 and lower, they would be nothing but mindless robots, and at A.I Level 0, they'd power down, as they could not function. Humatronic Freddy was a little odd, though. Unlike the other Humatronics, he was barely responsive at A.I. Levels 1 and 2. He'd have to be set to at least Level 3 to perform basic tasks.

Jack wasn't just doing this for the main experiment for Mark, but also to see if there was a way that he could get around the firewalls and find a way to shut the program down, temporarily and permanently. If the energy they had retained was still sustaining, they could get their lives back. And just for good measure, he had made sure that he was given master's access to commands.

He had set his specific secret commands to retain the information of their living names, and not just their code names. In private with Jack, Freddy would be addressed as "Jordan", Bonnie would be addressed as "Cierra", Chica would be addressed as "Bethany", and Foxy would be addressed as "Isaac". These names would only be used by Jack, and would never be used in the presence of anyone else.

However, Jack wasn't just doing this for the good of the innocent lives that were lost, but also to try and retain all of their memories, so that once all of this was over, they would go back to living the same life that they had been. This was a life that Jack understood, a life revolving around YouTube. Jack was disgusted at Mark's actions once he found out the identities of these siblings. Mark had always respected other YouTubers, no matter how large or small. These siblings had run a channel for three years, called "VenturianTale", that was one of the greatest group channels Jack had ever seen, next to the Game Grumps! Admittedly, Jack had only started watching these videos after the experiment started, and he did it in private. He had taken it upon himself to see who these people really were inside.

Once basic testing was over, Mark had recruited two more friends; Matt and Ryan. They were here for extra help on the testing. Mark had also decided that it was time for environmental testing. The first test was in the Safe Room, and the group was aiming to assess how each of the Humatronics would perform in a blackout. Ryan was stationed in the room in case something were to go wrong, so that he could report on any mishaps. Everyone else was in the security room. After this test, the Safe Room camera was to be taken offline.

Mark sat in front of the screen showing the live footage of what was going on. Bob had just finished configuring the night vision mode, Jack was monitoring the A.I.s, making sure they stayed at a constant Level 3, and Wade was getting ready to shut off power to the Safe Room.

"Jack," Mark asked. "Are the A.I.s steady?"

"Yes," Jack confirmed. He wasn't lying, the A.I.s were perfectly stable.

"Ryan," Mark radioed into the Safe Room. "Are you ready?"

"Ready!" Ryan said, excited to see how the Humatronics would perform.

"Wade, cut power to the Safe Room," Mark commanded. "In three... two... one!"

The power was cut, and the night vision kicked in. Ryan was sitting in a corner on the far side of the room, with night vision goggles to allow him to see better. However, as soon as the power was cut, something immediately went wrong.

"The A.I.s!" Jack shouted. "Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy have reset to 0!"

Indeed. Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy had collapsed almost immediately, but Freddy remained standing.

"What about Freddy's A.I.s?" Mark asked.

Jack kept watch on the A.I.s closely, and at first, everything seemed normal.

"They seem norma-" Jack froze mid word. Freddy's A.I. had just risen by one Level.

"Jack?" Bob broke in. "What's wrong?"

"Freddy's A.I.s..." Jack stammered, terrified. "They're rising. They're rising on their own!"

"Can you stop them?" Mark ordered.

Jack furiously tried to stop the A.I.s, but they just kept rising. 6... 7... 8...

"I can't stop them!" Jack yelled in panic. "Freddy's A.I.s are going so high, he'll probably end up killing Ryan!"

"Ryan!" Mark called, panicking. "You need to get out of there, now!"

"Why?" Ryan asked, oblivious to the danger he was in.

"JUST GET OUT OF THERE!" Mark shouted.

Before Ryan could do anything, however, Freddy was looming over him.

16... 17... 18. The A.I.s continued to rise, as Freddy's rage continued to build. But then, he spoke.

"You... You agreed to help keep me mindless... You... MONSTER!"

19... 20. Freddy's A.I.s had maxed out.

The cameras cut, leaving nothing but static.

"Ryan!" Mark shouted.

Just then, screaming was heard. Ryan!

"Wade! Get the power back on, now!" Mark ordered.

"I'm trying!" Wade said, spastically.

Then, the screaming stopped.

"Freddy just shut himself down!" Jack reported.

Wade finally restored power to the Safe Room, and the five men ran to it to make sure Ryan was alright.

But when they opened the door, they gasped.

Ryan had been ripped apart.