The New Model

Chapter 1

A claustrophobic darkness surrounded me. I could not hear, I could not speak, I could not feel. Who was I? Pondering on this question, I drew a blank. This pitch black around me, is this all there is to the world?

As if on cue, a bright light appeared before me, drenching me in its beauty. The blackness around me scurried away as I felt elevated by this light. With a snap, it faded, being replaced with a white room. Is this a laboratory of sorts? "Cameras are on, working perfectly." The room was filled with computer monitors, displaying all types of data and analytics. "Audio sensors are on, correct?" A tall man, donned in circular glasses and a long, white coat, approached a table in the middle of the room "Hey, you alive in there?" The man shone a flashlight into my eyes. "Brain activity is spiking... Audio sensors and cameras seem to be responsive. Activate the limbs." A metallic whirring rang out from each joint along my body. I can feel it now. The air around me, this cold table beneath me. "You're in a completely new environment, but you don't need to worry. You're in safe hands. Sit up, try to move around." 

Trying to sit up, my body failed me, as if it were not under my control. "That's okay, just take it slowly." Trying again, I sat up completely, commanding my body at last. "There you go... That's it. I'm sure you have a lot of questions for us." The man turned to the corner of the room. A smaller person seemed to be sitting in a chair, gazing at the various monitors in front of them. "Turn on the voice modulator," the man said firmly. I felt a sharp, ringing note coming from inside my mouth.  "Tune it down a bit." The ringing gradually lowered and subsided, bringing about a human-like resonance. "Okay... try to speak, now." I felt my voice come to me. "What is this place? Who are you?" The man grasped my shoulder, comfortingly. "I'm Doctor Erfinder. You can call me Doc. You are in the center of advanced robotics and AI research, the Niobe Laboratory." Looking at my body, it was a metallic, silver color. Metal plates shifted along my body, with a black skeleton underneath. Am I one of their projects? "Doctor, what am I?" I asked. He seemed to linger on the question, his eyes wandering. "Well, you're an AI. Specifically, a general artificial superintelligence. The first of your kind, and the first to gain sentience." I felt more in control of my body, attempting to stand. "Slow down a bit. We're still trying to calibrate your body." Feeling the back of my head, there seemed to be a thick wire dangling from it. What is this? "Ah, don't worry about that, we were simply using it to power you up," he said. Despite this, I began pulling out the wire. "Hold on," he objected, "We still need to run some calibrations." Ignoring him, I pulled out the wire. "I don't think I need any more," I responded. "Well... we still need to run some tests. If you really are correctly calibrated, these will prove it. Follow me." We left the room through a white, sliding plastic door.

The halls of the building seemed to drag on endlessly. Corner after corner, all the same, drab white lights and other scientists passing by. They looked at me with fear. "They hate me," I thought. "Doctor," I asked, "Why do they look at me with such fear in their eyes? What am I to them?" The doctor stopped walking for a second, turning towards me. "You're the very first of your kind. A sentient machine." I subconsciously tilted my head in curiosity. "They called me a madman. 'It won't work,' they said. Well, I proved them wrong. You're a breakthrough of modern technology. They're afraid of that." The doctor began walking, this time at a faster pace. "We're almost there," he said.

"Here it is." The sliding door opened swiftly, revealing a small room, with only a table and a cable with a large port. "We're going to put you into a simulation that will test all of your functions. Cameras, microphones, CPU clock speed, memory, motor strength, and even your simulated sense of touch." The doctor led me to the table, his hand grasping my arm. "This cable will plug directly into the back of your head, to make a direct connection to the CPU." I felt around the back of my head, feeling the same port that had a wire dangling from it earlier. It was round, with multiple, thin holes, in a triangular pattern. "Sit down. Once a connection is made, all motor functions will be disabled, as long as you are in the simulation. It will take a few hours, but only to you. It will be but a few seconds for me." I hesitantly grabbed the cable, guiding it to the port in the back of my head. Plugging it in, I felt a subtle jolt. "Simulation starting in 3 seconds," the doctor said.