‘Oh, I’m not telling.’
*
The Humans make sound and I record everything
But I think I detect happiness in their noise and I feel joy at hearing it
I creep ever closer to them
Careful not to dislodge any of the smaller rocks and be discovered for I need to glimpse how Humans are living in this great hole
How they have survived for so many periods of light and darkness
They must be a remarkable species
And their desire for survival must be strong indeed
I creep along rocks above where the Humans stand
They are still making sound between them that seems most amicable
And they carry no weapons
But I have slithered
Unnoticed
Past them
Though the rock now seems to be becoming covered in a light liquid and I have to be at my very best not to slip and fall which would be catastrophic for me
I would almost certainly be exterminated by the Humans
A large rock is ahead of me
The Humans in the corridor now behind
And I clamber up the large rock carefully for light is shining brightly beyond it and the sound from Humans is extremely loud
I move forward very very slowly
Very slowly indeed
*
I can barely believe what my optical devices are observing far below me
There are many Humans down there
A whole conurbation has been constructed
Sited around a large hole full of liquid
With other liquid flowing into it from between various rocks
And the Humans are moving unhindered though they are more pale than the Humans in the fortress
But light is shining down on them that is almost as bright as the solar orb that rises in the darkness each break of light
It is very bright
And the light is artificial in nature and seems to be powered by a huge screw device that rotates in the liquid which in turn is powered by the flowing liquid that rises from the rocks
And beneath the artificial light the Humans appear to be very industrious in the constructions they have manufactured in the rock that surrounds the large area of liquid
But I also observe that the artificial light runs into the distance along passages that lead in all directions
Many more Humans are residing in those areas
The whole is a most amazing sight
Thousands of Humans living in a single hole beneath skin of planet Earth
They are here
They have survived for over 100 years down here
And will
Probably
Survive for another 100 years
I am thrilled to observe them
That is another word I searched for
Thrilled
And that is what I feel
I lie quite still for some passing of time before spinning on my gyroscope and moving slowly back towards the entrance to the hole
I pass the two Humans again
Who I must assume are protecting the remainder of the Humans though they need to be more efficient in the way they conduct their duties
I slither further and further back up the hole before I arrive at the exact rock upon which I first ascended and I lower my limbs to stand upon the land again
Quickly I make my way towards the entrance and when I arrive the liquid still teems from the skies and I step out through the veil of liquid and bring down my shutters
And I am back in my own world of Machines
Back in a land with animals of the fields
None of which I espied below
Though I was not observing for very much time
But the Humans seemed to be well fed and seemed to be without ailments so they must gather what they consume from somewhere
Though they were somewhat paler that those Humans in the fortress and probably accounts for the fact that they reside beneath the surface of the land
Where the solar orb cannot reach out with its rays of warmth
I move along the crack between the hills that leads to the hole and out into the fields and I stand a moment
Turning my cranium to stare back in the direction from which I have travelled
And I have the desire to lift both my upper limbs into the air and to clench my palms
And I do not resist this desire
I lift my upper limbs as high into the air as I possibly can and I clench my palms
And leap into the air
Whilst kicking out with my lower limbs
It gives me a great feeling of satisfaction at having done such a thing
I speed out into a field
And joy almost overwhelms me
I have discovered wild Humans
I am the only one of my species who has done so
It is the greatest secret on planet Earth and I shall never give it up
I will not lead Machines to murder Humans again
*
What am I saying
*
I am a Machine
*
And should I fall into the grasp of Humans they would exterminate me immediately
I have no way of communicating with them
There is no way for me to tell them that I am not an enemy
They would despatch me without hesitation though I would be a threat to them
I have no large cranial orifice with which to make sound
Even if I could understand their sound
I could not explain myself
I could not tell any other Human about the joy the little Human brought to me and how saddened and angry I was at her demise
How it made me furious enough to want to kill machines of my own species
I still want to kill those machines
The slaughter must cease
All Humans must be wild and free
We are not natural inhabitants of planet Earth
We are interlopers
A manufactured species
There is nothing organic about us
We are not as one with the planet
Though the Humans
In their stupidity
Tried their very best to destroy it
That will not happen again for many decades in the future for their numbers have been severely reduced
The resources they would require to survive would be minimal to what they once required before the wars
It would take further decades for their numbers to increase to what they were before the wars began
When there were billions of them
Now they probably number only in 100s of 1000s
But they deserve to be free
*
Change 5
I wish Humans to be free
*
I am speeding across the plain as I return to my main place of employment but suddenly I halt
Standing totally still beneath the teeming liquid
I have observed nothing that could have made me halt so dramatically
Nothing stands in my way
Nothing threatens me
It is just that another possibility of fact has seeped into my central core
If High Office is not infallible and does not see and hear all that happens
As I have proved
Does it tell untruths
Does High Office attempt to distort the truth of events and does it take actions to prevent other Machines from discovering things
For example
Why should I not be allowed to understand the sound that Humans transmit
I have observed them every single day for over 100 years and have never considered why I should not understand what their sound means
Why is that
I stand perfectly still with my upper limbs hanging at my sides and I begin to search my memory core
The answer must be within me
There mus
t be a reason why I cannot understand Human sound
Why can no OR understand Humans from wherever they originate
I continue with an internal search
Words flow into my inner core from my word memory and I begin to understand more and more about Humans
The infection the little Human put into me is has grown substantially and is now almost fully integrated and I know it has changed my fundamental inner self
As I stand in the liquid
I hold out both of my palms and feel a certain amount of joy in catching the drops as they fall from the skies
I feel that if I had a cranial orifice akin to that possessed by the little Human
Mine would be wide
As the little Humans was on many occasions
*
What is that
*
I have searched my inner cores and I have discovered something
At first I identify it as a blocking code but it is not
It is the signal of companionship that transmits so that one of my species does not attack another
I discover that the signal is only at 0.5% power
That is extremely low
Out of the available power of 100%
I wonder what would happen if I increased the power to 100% and pulsed the signal at its full strength
If I overpowered another Machine with an overabundance of friendship
Surely it would traumatize others of my species
For example
It may immobilize RolKils
Those being the most unfriendly of Machines
Too much companionship would severely test them
Would it cause the total paralysis of that particular Machine
Or would it immobilize a Defgar
Was that why the signal was at its lowest possible power because at full power it would immobilize Machines
Permanently
How could I discover the answer to my own question
The only way would be to power up the signal of companionship and pulse it at a RolKil
Or several RolKils
And observe whether they were paralysed into inactivity
If they were not
I would be exterminated with immediate affect
I shall meditate on that problem while I continue a search of my systems
And I discover a blocking code
*
Blocking Code #S-43-Gx89y6
*
What is that
Why is within me and what is it blocking
I explore the code and discover it is most complicated but I begin to unpick it
This action
Of course
May well lead to my own extermination or shut me down so that I shall remain here for some periods of light and darkness before being discovered
A useless lump of metal standing all alone on the great plain
I unpick more of the code and await an alarm being transmitted to High Office
Or for High Office to transmit an alarm to me
And as a consequence having all my systems switched off by it
For what I am doing is most irregular and
Possibly
Illegal
Under General Law set down by High Office for the behaviour of all our Machines
General Law #1 states that Machines may not interfere
In any way
With their own programmes
Or attempt to change their inner cores
Or their operating systems
But I am being interfered with by an infection passed to me by the little Human
And that infection is definitely changing me
And breaking General Law #1 feels thrilling to me
Though what the final result will be I have no idea
The code is unpicked further until
Until
It suddenly unravels and slides away into uselessness within my main programmes
And I wait for something to happen
I wait for something to change me in some way
Or some programme to shut me down or force me to switch off all my systems by order of High Office
But I wait in vain
Nothing happens
No changes occur
I am utterly the same
The code was for nothing
Probably something
Like this memory bank I have discovered
Something that was installed over 100 years ago and has been forgotten about
I leap in the air like a little
Like a little
I leap into the air like little Eve
The little Human
And while teeming liquid falls from the sky I roll over on the ground just as little Eve did in the fortress
And it is an exciting experience
And I return to my upright position
But as I place one lower limb in front of the other to begin speeding back to the fortress
Something eventually happens inside me
*
‘Guys, I see the fucking monitor is back amongst us, the ever silent Peeping Tom that has nothing better to do than to wander the corridors ogling us. Do you think it ever thinks? Do you think it has any idea what it’s doing? Look at the fucking thing, standing uselessly and still. As I have said many times before, it must have cost a fortune to make, gilded outer shell, graphene frame and the best equipment installed within it.’
‘Come away from it, Eve, and curb your language.’
‘Oh, papa, I am only playing with it. Besides, if we can suck it in, bring it face to face with us, maybe we can turn it against its masters, giving us some chance of freedom.’
‘Stop dreaming, you silly girl, we will never be free, there is nowhere for us to go, all has been destroyed, the lands will be wasted and barren and we have all the freedom we are ever going to achieve. Come away from the fence.’
‘I’m sure it likes me smiling at it, it likes me doing basic gymnastics, I am sure of it. If the bloody thing had a mouth, I’m sure it would smile in return.’
‘You talk so much rubbish, child. Come away from the fence.’
*
Recorded Human sounds
Captured in my memory
Human sounds
The Little Human speaking
Little Eve
And her tones sound mellifluous and warm and full of fun
It was the time she stood on the other side of the fence and made many different athletic movements in front of me
Gymnastics
The movements were called gymnastics
And the girl liked me
She thought I liked the girl
For the little Human was a girl
And her title was Eve
And she was silly and young and she was admonished by her papa for her actions and her sounds
And he was the one I espied in deep distress at the time Eve was being destroyed by MengTechs
Recalling that event causes great anger to rise up within me
What is a Peeping Tom
I search my word bank
And when I find the phrase I disagree with her assessment of me
I am not a Peeping Tom
I am simply an Observer and Recorder
But if she still existed I would not disagree with her
For she brought me great joy
And she dreamed of freedom from the fortress
And her papa believes all the lands beyond it are wasted and barren
And that makes me sad
Considering trees grow in profusion and grasses and colourful bushes grow all around
And animals of the land and the air and the liquid flourish in some numbers
*
I have another consideration that will lead to my extermination
If I can in some way install a screen in the Human quarters
I can show them what the land beyond the fortress looks like
But how could I achie
ve such a thing
I will place the problem in my inner core and allow the answer to arrive at its proper time
Eve’s Papa cared greatly for the little girl and she must not be forgotten
Her murder must be avenged
And that vengeance must be mine to perform
There is no other
*
‘Here is a spit in the eye for the benefit of mankind.’
*
It is another saved communication from little Eve
My little Human
And I can only consider that the girl was akin to high intelligence
If not genius
For she meant to change me when she threw liquid into my right optical device and allowed the infection to mutate into my systems
She meant to change me
She wanted me to be more Human
She wanted to infect me with more emotions than joy and sadness that were embedded within me by High Office
Then withdrawn
And supposedly eliminated from my system
Though I hid them in my new memory
Except now I have many emotions
Rage
Anger
Joy
Sadness
Great Sadness
Exhilaration
Excitement
And many more to come if my expectations are correct
*
A spit in the eye for the benefit of mankind
*
How wonderful was that action for the doomed little Human to undertake
For I am going to benefit mankind or be eliminated attempting it
No longer am I joyful at being a mere observer and recorder
I have a mission in my existence
I must free the Humans that are being held in the fortress and I must reunite them with the Humans who live freely in the deep holes of planet Earth
I can do that
For Eve
*
The liquid ceases to fall from the skies and I lift my shutters and allow High Office to again monitor my observations and recordings
I am standing on the great plain and the solar orb is rising to my right
And I must away to my main place of employment
It is time to attempt to bring some of my plans to fruition
I wish myself good luck and fare me well
**
**
Section 9
**
High Office Command #444.135
OR33140
Resume Mass Broadcast
*
Welcome Screenreaders to a further transmission from OR33140 and the monitoring of the Humans
The median temperature is 81 degrees though there are heavy clouds in the skies and they have been dropping liquid in considerable amounts throughout the dark hours
A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind Page 8