There was no shouting or loud noise as I had experienced with the Humans in the fortress
And eventually all fell to quietness and expectation
And the Government filed in from the passageways
All wearing coloured gowns
One after the other
Until all 101 were stood before seats and the Human who sat in the 101st seat lifted his arms and lowered them again and all sat
The 101st looked directly at me
*
‘You are the machine OR33140, the one given the title Hope?’
*
I AM
*
‘The members of the Government welcome you.’
*
THANK YOU
*
And I bowed from my middle to show respect to them all
*
The 101st unrolled a parchment that had laid before him and he began to quote from it
*
‘You began a revolution because of the death of a girl called Eve, is this correct?’
*
THAT IS CORRECT
*
‘And you overcame many armed machines and freed ten thousand humans from a prison where they had been held for over one hundred years.’
*
YES
*
‘And you did these deeds single-handedly, you had no assistance from any other, either machine or human.’
*
I LAUNCHED A REVOLUTION ALL ON MY OWN BECAUSE OF THE ANGER I FELT AT THE MURDER OF LITTLE EVE
I HAD NO ASSISTANCE
NO OTHER
MACHINE
OR HUMAN
AIDED ME
*
‘Then you discovered an underground community, is this not so?’
*
I SPENT MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE MAPPING LAND AROUND THE PRISON FOR HIGH OFFICE
IT IS THE EQUIVALENT OF YOUR GOVERNMENT
BUT IT IS NOT HUMAN
IT IS A MACHINE
A MASSIVE MACHINE
WITH MANY PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITIES
THAT HUMANS CONSTRUCTED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF A HEATING EARTH
WE ARE ALL AWARE OF THE OUTCOME OF THAT SOLVING
THE MACHINE DECLARED WAR ON HUMANS
AND AFTER 25 DECADES YOU WERE DEFEATED
I THOUGH HIGH OFFICE WANTED ME TO MAP THE LAND SO THAT THEY COULD SEE
THROUGH MY OBSERVATIONS AND RECORDINGS HOW THE LAND RECOVERED FROM THE WARS
BUT 1 DAY I REALIZED THAT HIGH OFFICE WAS SEARCHING FOR HUMANS
IT HAD BEEN USING MY ABILITIES FOR 100 YEARS TO SEARCH FOR THEM
AND I BECAME MOST ANGRY AT THAT
SO I SET OUT TO DISCOVER WHERE HUMANS MAY BE EXISTING
NO MACHINES WERE ALLOWED INTO CAVES SO I THOUGHT I WOULD INVESTIGATE
I DISCOVERED FREE HUMANS LIVING IN THE CAVES
AND MADE DECISION TO UNITE BOTH THE HUMANS FROM THE PRISON AND THE FREE HUMANS
I ACCOMPLISHED THIS ACT
*
‘Yes, and that is why many humans now regard you as a hero, a wonderful machine that united humans from above and below the surface of the earth. Not only that, but we believe you have mapped out safe routes for humans to travel from cave to cave. For the first time, humans can walk in free air, they can see the sun and hear the birds and see animals of the fields that are not contaminated, as we once believed, and they can see the moon and the stars. This is so, is it not?
*
IT IS TRUE
*
Many Humans in the galleries began to cheer and to shout and some stamped their feet and a great noise rose into the air until the 101st of the Government stood and lifted his arms high about his head and silenced many
Many
Hundreds of them
*
‘I will continue, if I may. So OR33140, you did all of these things and never did any wrong, is this so?’
*
I NEVER DID HARM TO HUMANS
*
The 101st took his seat again and looked around at the other members of his Government
Just as they looked back at him
*
‘You tell an untruth on that particular matter, OR33140, don’t you?
*
I NEVER DID HARM TO HUMANS
I ONLY WANTED THEM TO BE FREE
*
The 101st slapped the desk in front of him
*
‘That is an untruth and you know it. You murdered a human, did you not?
*
I MURDERED NO HUMAN
THE ONE I KILLED WAS A BULLY AND UNCONTROLLABLE
AT THE MOMENT OF HIS DEATH HE WAS THREATENING UNDERGROUND HUMANS WHO I HAD PROMISED TO PROTECT
HE KNOCKED OVER JOHN
LITTLE EVES PAPA
AND HE WAS THREATENING MANY
INCLUDING ME
THERE WAS NO OPTION BUT TO ELIMINATE HIM
*
‘Who gave you the order to kill him?’
*
I WAS GIVEN NO ORDER
I WAS PROTECTING HUMANS
*
‘Was there no meeting to decide the man’s fate, no trial, no discussion of any kind?’
*
THE HUMAN WAS ATTACKING
THERE WAS NO CHOICE
THE HUMAND HAD TO BE ERADICATED
*
‘Will John, to whom the machine refers, please stand.’
*
John stood
And he appeared to be a very small figure among the many Humans that surrounded him
*
‘You are John, Eve’s father?
‘I am.’
‘And is it true that this machine reacted to your daughter’s murder by launching a revolution against its own machines?
‘It is true, Great Leader.’
‘And you know of no other reason why the machine would launch such a revolution?’
‘Hope does not tell untruths, Great Leader, he is not programmed to do so.’
‘But he just lied to the Government when he said he had done no harm to humans when, in fact, he had murdered one.’
‘Hope did not murder a human, his statement is correct. The human who died was a bully and he was, when he was killed, preparing to attack Hope.’
‘Preparing, not attacking?
‘He was rushing at Hope with fists clenched and rage in his heart.’
‘Ah, so you can see into human hearts can you, John. Is that a skill all surface humans possess?’
*
John looked angry when the 101st made this sound
*
‘What exactly are you trying to intimate here, what problem do you have with Hope? Are you machinophobic? Do you hate all machines because of the past, because humans lost the wars? Why are you accusing Hope of murder?’
*
The 101st stood with much anger in his expression and he stood stiffly and faced John
*
‘I am the head of the elected Government and you shall pay me proper respect. I say only this; murder was made a crime where no defence could be offered, there is never any excuse for murdering a fellow human. And as we existed in such precarious circumstances, rules and laws had to formulated and abided by. It was placed into our law that whosoever committed a murder would be put to death. There could be no defense for such an act, there can be no defense. This machine killed a human, committed murder. There was no consultation; there was no discussion, the machine took the decision to kill all on its own. It is to be broken up; it killed a human, it is, for all sense and purposes, to be put to death. That is the decision of the Government.’
‘That cannot be. Hope did not even live under the laws of the underground humans when he killed that bullying human. How can he be guilty of any offence that involves you?’
‘The machine cannot be allowed to exist otherwise other humans will believe that they, too, can get away with murder, that they could make excuses and reasons for carrying it out.’<
br />
‘My grandfather had a reason over sixty years ago after a man raped my grandmother, and he was put to death for defending her honour.’
‘He had already failed in the attempt to defend her honour; he had no right to take life.’
*
Other humans began to shout and scream at the Government, many shaking clenched hands, many women being particularly angry and as pandemonium was in total flow, I made a decision not to stay around and argue for my existence
It was obvious that the Government would allow no argument
I gently slid over to where John stood and I removed the screen from around my neck and I handed it to him
*
‘No Hope, whatever it is you are thinking, please don’t do it, we can defend you; we can succeed.’
*
I unplugged the screen and shook his hand
Then I leaped into the air and spun on the tip of my right leg, lifting a hand in a motion of farewell to John and Susan and Ann, and Joshua and Mary, who I only just noticed, and to other Humans that I knew, and I raced from the large dome, through the narrow passageways in the opposite direction from that which I had come along the rails and I found myself racing along a long high and wide tunnel
Some humans made vain attempts to halt my progress but I was moving at full speed and spinning such as they had never seen and I brushed off the attempts without harming any
Eventually
The tunnel become quieter
Then narrower
Then it became a passageway much like I the 1s I had seen on the other side
In Gland
In the distance I espied light and sped for it
And burst out into warm air with the solar orb high above and tall grasses all around.
I was in another place
I realized
Turning to stare back at the tunnel from which I had exited
No human followed
I truly was on my own this time
I moved away from the cave entrance and never went near one again for over 5 years
For all those years I roamed the lands and saw no other machine or human
Each morning as the golden solar orb rose
I danced and turned and twisted and leaped and performed gymnastics in memory of little Eve who I greatly missed
Who I wanted to be a sister to
Except she was gone from life
Though not from my memory
I made a friend with an animal of the field
A tall golden coloured animal with a white mane
That followed me for many phases of light and dark
Until it allowed me to climb upon its back and
Together
We roamed the lands
With me holding its mane
And we moved quickly and we moved slowly
We went high into mountains and travelled through white snow and ice and we swam in the balmy waters of rivers and lakes
I came to feel great affection for the animal
And considered that it felt great affection for me
And I was sitting astride the animal one fine day, in a forest
As I hid my trusty friend from a fierce heat being transmitted by the solar orb
For the animal was worn easily in heat
When
Much to my surprise
An Observer Recorder wandered past
Moving down a hill
And I knew I was close to another fortress full of humans
I slipped silently from the animal and stepped quietly through the high grasses moving past the stranger OR
That was meandering down a hill upon which a fortress must be standing and as the machine passed
I dived out of the forest and dragged it to the ground by its ankles
If fell flat on its face in the grass and I sat astride it
Covering its rear camera with my right hand
I used the communication system common to all OR’s to communicate with it
*
I am OR33140
What is your designation
*
I am OR 33199
Why have you attacked me
*
I have not attacked you
I have simply laid you on the ground
Bring down your shutters and we shall enter the forest and further communicate
*
Why is there another OR in my jurisdiction
Am I to be deleted
*
I am a free Observer and Recorder
I answer to no authority
*
OR33199 brought down his shutters and I released him and we stepped into the cool of the forest
*
If you wish
OR33199
We may meander down the hill if you would only show scenes of interest to High Office and not broadcast me or my animal
We may still communicate using our common programmes
Would you wish this
*
I wish that
I will focus my optical devices on scenes familiar to High Office and we will communicate
*
We moved out of the forest
My animal following me
And OR33199 focused his eyes on mundane things
*
You toil in a fortress containing Humans OR33199
*
That is a truth
*
And you have toiled there since the end of the wars
*
That is truth also
*
And do you feel any affection for any of the humans
*
It is a question I have never been asked and I cannot answer it
*
I toiled also in a fortress full of humans and I felt affection for a little girl
Eve
Who was tortured by MengTechs
I launched a revolution on behalf of her and released all the Humans from that prison
10000 of them
*
OR 33199 stopped in his meandering and looked around him for the sake of High Office
*
I have seen many Humans examined by MengTechs
*
MengTechs do not treat
They torture and murder
I obliterated all of those machines in my fortress
And the GoebTechs and Defgars
I united my Humans with other
Free Humans
*
There are no free humans
*
Yes there are OR33199
I found them and reunited the human tribes
*
You are surely a worker of miracles if you accomplished all those things OR33140
*
I was very vengeful following the murder of Eve
But I killed a Human and was sentenced to death by a human Government
*
There is no human Government
*
Yes there is
It is hidden beneath the ground
*
And you escaped from the Government
*
I did OR33199
I escaped and I have been travelling the lands with my animal for 5 years
Is your fortress on the hill
*
Directly above us
*
Would you like it very much if we freed the Humans and united them with others
*
You know how to find these other Humans
*
Oh yes
I know how to find them
*
It would be wonderful if we could free the ones in the fortress
I have felt affection for some ever since we were uploaded the emotions joy and sadness
*
That was what changed us
Having those emotions uploaded to our systems
I have developed many other emotions since my time in the fortre
ss where I was infected by the DNA of the little girl
*
What is DNA
*
It was her essence
Little Eve still lives inside me
Are we going to free the Humans
*
OR33140
It sounds like a very good idea
*
We carried on meandering down the hill
OR33199
My animal
And me
And we worked on details
*
John carried the monitor around with him for five long years, always expecting to read something from his friend, and a friend to all humans, but no message ever came and all who knew and loved OR33140 despaired for his end, for it must have arrived.
But at exactly five years and four months, the monitor suddenly lit up and a message did appear
*
JOHN
HELLO
PREPARE FOR ANOTHER 10000 HUMANS
I STILL LOVE HUMANKIND
HOPE/EVE
EVE/HOPE
*
John screamed with laughter and happiness and rushed around his underground village showing the message to all
*
‘We are prepared Hope; we are prepared Eve.’
Tears streamed down his face
*
End of current transmissions
A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind Page 22