Lucent

Game On

Uber stood silently for several minutes, armed and hooded guards behind him. His men had propped the box long side up so he could see me from a distance. The thick door to my cell, punctuated with three small windows along the center, separated us. I stood inside the box, still strapped in, and waited patiently like the machine I am. Still the minutes passed, and Uber remained immobile. He was thinking. For humans, the process can be quite slow. By the time he finally spoke, I already knew more about him then he knew himself.

"Wake up," Uber ordered. My eyes met his intense blue ones through one of the windows. Save for his eyes, his tall muscular frame was covered entirely in the same fabric as my box. I stared back at him, taking a retina scan of his eyes while he probably wondered how Adria had managed to get my eyes to look so like his own.

"You are a different model than I expected. There's no Delman at all," Uber commented.

After a long silence, Uber realized his mistake and was more direct with his questioning. "When did she start moving away from Delman?"

"The design of this body began fifteen years ago. But I haven't looked like Delman for more than forty years."

"So, she updates your body but your programs remain the same?"

"Yes and no."

"Explain."

"Some programs remain the same, others are erased, still more are updated, and new ones are implemented."

"What can you do?"

"Almost anything you can, and many things you can't."

"What is something that I can't do that you can?"

"I can function in water and outer space."

"What are your weaknesses? What is it that you can't do?"

"I can't have children. As to my weaknesses, that is not a question I can answer."

"Why?"

"Self-preservation. It is part of my core programming."

"Why did Adria build you?"

"You have to ask—"

"I'm asking you," Uber interrupted.

"Yes, but —"

"She built you to think. Which you are doing now, trying to find a way to avoid my questions. So THINK why she built you."

"Adria's fears and struggles are no different from any other human. She fears death and loneliness. She is selfish and demanding. Her wants and desires supersede everyone else's. Adria loves and hates passionately. She is vain and a liar. She has trouble facing reality and can't come to grips with the person she really is. Adria built me for all those reasons. A remake of her reality. A balm for her self-hate. I am an entity that she can control, that will never question her, will always need her, and will never leave her."

"She is much sicker than I thought." Uber shook his head.

"No more than you," I remarked.

Uber nodded sheepishly. "Yes, I have my problems. But I am not detached from reality. I know who I am - that is, I'm no saint. But I don't need to build a robot to make me feel better about myself."

"You have no trouble stealing one."

Uber stepped closer to the door and said with barely controlled anger, "I get this feeling that you know who I am. I don't consider taking you as stealing, since the vast resources that went into creating you should've been mine! You are my property! Adria stole everything from me!"