by G. L. Argain
“Why is your skin so red?” said the android.
“It’s the genetic muscle mod. Muscles that are more ‘efficient’ require more oxygen and therefore more blood. The mod accounts for increased blood pressure, tendon strength, all that stuff. Did I get that right, Juvir?” Juvir nodded.
“So you’re just blushing all over?”
Andrew the red human said nothing.
“So go on,” said Anzem. “Ask us how we did it. Splitting you into two separate bodies was a very difficult task!”
“I don’t wanna know how, I wanna know why!”
“You had gone insane,” said Juvir. “And if not, then you were bound to become insane. The best way to resolve this issue was to either ‘wash out’ your brain or create an artificial brain that still maintained your personality.”
“Then why do I not have just one body with red skin and a robot brain?!”
“It’s safer this way. Your intelligence is best used for the political aspects of an AOIB officer, and your brawn—which Andrew utilizes over here—is best used for the combat aspects when we go to war. So a smart, artificial being plays the role of political representative while the toughened organic being plays the role of military officer.”
Ignoring the fact that Andrew was just called a military officer, the word “war” struck the android’s mind very unpleasantly. Were the AOIB and the Selentors really going to go through with this supposed war? All because Andrew showed up at their doorstep?
“We know that you aren’t fond of the fact that a war is going to be taking place. And even more so that Andrew’s kind is going to play a role in it—”
“Then don’t do it! Do go through with it!”
“It was inevitable! Even if we never met Andrew, we were bound to discover the Selentors’ illegal activities in time. Our conflict regards the humans, after all; we want to keep them safe, but the Selentors want to take over Earth for the sake of colonization, business, and resources. No regards for the people. It’s time we settled this once and for all.”
“And don’t act so harshly on this,” said Andrew the red human. “It’s not as though we’ll let the humans just die to the hands of the Selentors. Once we gather enough, they will actually give us an edge in the war!”
“How exactly?”
“…I tell you the details later.”
“No, dammit! I wanna know now!”
“It would be best that you don’t know right at this moment,” said Juvir, “considering how emotionally unstable you’re being.”
“I have a reason to be emotional!”
“And what reason is that?”
“My entire race is going to be used as pawns in an intergalactic war that they never even asked for, let alone any of their business!!!”
“Well, at least he figured out the details on his own,” said Andrew. “And it’s my race, not yours. You’re just a copy made on an engineer’s whim.”
“SHUT UP!!!”
The android stormed out of the room through an open door, running aimlessly through the halls. No one ran after him. Anzem and Shul stood in their place, wondering silently how he could have been so upset.
Juvir turned to face Andrew and said, “Congratulations on officially being dubbed an intel-being, by the way. How are you feeling from all of this?”
“Pretty well, thank you.”
“That’s what we aimed for. From all of the abuse you went through with the Selentors, I was unsure whether you were beyond repair or not.”
“Well, even if I didn’t go through all that abuse, it feels like I’ve…changed. Changed for the better by undergoing this reconstruction. I don’t see this business about war or aliens all that bad anymore. In fact, I see it as…sort of exciting.”
“Just don’t get too carried away. You are a military officer, after all. You’ll be directing all of the humans once the war really begins, and you’ll need a stable mind along with a strong body. Need a food pill?”
“Sure.” Andrew took a pill from Juvir and ingested it without hesitation. “What’s an intel-being, anyway? It’s seems so inconsistent between what I think it is, what the Selentors think it is, and what the AOIB thinks it is.”
“It’s complicated—there’s a lot of characteristics that must be held for someone to be named an intel-being.” After a short pause, Juvir changed the subject. “Remind me later to refine INT-EH1’s programming. His spontaneity could become quite a hassle for us.”
“Will do.”
Meanwhile, the android found himself in front of a mirror that took up the entire size of the wall. He discovered the new face, the new body that he possessed now. As he stepped closer, he noticed something different about the irises of his eyes. Up close, he realized that the pupil was similar to that of the eye from a digital camera, and his iris was just a series of tiny plates that moved in and out to the center. A robotic eye. There were no blood vessels in the whites of his eyes. There were no wrinkles, skin tags, pores, zits, or anything abnormal on his face. There wasn’t a trace of hair—not even on his scalp. He stepped back, looking at his body as a whole. There were no genitals, no nipples, and no belly button. He still looked like he had muscles though, or at least what were designed to be like muscles. He was no longer seven feet tall; like he was on Earth, he was six feet tall again, from the looks of it.
He turned around, vaguely feeling as though something was on his back. Upon the sight of his back came a feeling of shock. On it was a tattoo, or perhaps some other kind of imprint, that read “INT-EH1.” He had no idea what it meant, but according to the AOIB database, it went as such: INT referred to the fact that he was an intel-being. The E stood for Earth, the H stood for human, and the 1 meant he was the first of his kind—a human—to ever be turned into an android in AOIB history.
And yet, knowing that he was a hunk of metal, he did not feel as though he was different or oppressed mentally from when he was still organic. He was conscious. He was a living being—artificial, perhaps, but still technically living and autonomous. He could think about his feelings for the war. He could think about his memories back on Earth. He could think about thinking. He was self-aware.
What does this say about organic beings, then? Organic humans are conscious, autonomous hunks of meat, so having metal and rubber instead of meat shouldn’t end up being that much different. Right?
This mind of his…how did it move from Andrew’s mentally-damaged brain to this artificial one? How did he still remember everything about his life? Or rather, Andrew’s life? Did they really just transfer the personality from Andrew’s brain into his? Or was there some sort of database about his personality stored onto a computer and reworked, ready for use for the AOIB?
The android began to have a headache from all the stress. He never before thought it was possible for an android to have one. He sat down with his back against the wall, moved his legs so that they made narrow triangles perpendicular to the floor, rested his elbows onto his knees, and buried his face into his hands.
To Be
Continued
In
Book 2