38 Lecture

'I need…'

All this time I had been tightly bound to this existence until…

I had been…

I had been bound to a heavy anchor. When I looked down I saw thin cords attached from my form to that anchor. A giant orb. Attached not with knots keeping me restrained, but with thick hooks. Each hook dug deep into my limbs at various positions. They held me back from the edge.

My shoulders, my hands, and my legs were pulled taut by those hooks. They kept me on my toes, perfectly balanced on the edge, and saved from my demise.

Those hooks kept me secured to the bright anchor. It shined and emitted a warm heat from its shape. Looking back on it made me feel comfortable. I only needed to turn my head and get a glimpse of the glowing orb to feel safe.

Looking away from it made me feel frightened. The edge was wide and solid beneath my feet, but I feared the anchor was too precious to be so close to the danger. Over that edge, was …

I didn't know what was over that edge, but anywhere beyond the reach of my anchor seemed like a nightmare. I yearned to always be blessed with its light. The darkness seemed to lack something essential.

WITHDRAWING HYDRONE

I remained there for quite some time. Until something odd happened…pain began radiating from the orb and vibrated up the line of each of my hooks. It awakened me from my calm trance.

Two of the hooks shimmered and faded out of existence, my hands dropped from their alignment.

"Mmm…"

Once more pain jolted through my anchor and two more hooks faded from existence. The moment my shoulders weren't secured I fell over the edge…

"Aaaaah!"

…and hung upside down.

The last two hooks kept hold of my legs, but the large amounts of pain discharging from the orb made me regret ever holding it dear.

'Why had I loved something with so much potential to hurt me?'

I should have broken free of the hooks when I had the chance. The darkness surrounding me seemed like a welcome escape from that torture. I struggled to tear the hooks from my legs. The pain increased, and old memories thrust to the forefront of my mind.

'Mom…Aliyah…Daddy…'

Finally, the last two hooks faded from within my legs and I began to descend into the depths below me.

Peace

at

last.

S.I.D to APEX

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER 2.0 HAS OVERRIDEN ALL ADMINISTRATIVE COMMANDS

W.E.SCU PROGRAM HAS BEEN INITIATED

…

S.I.D to APEX

…

APEX UNRESPONSIVE

W.E.SCU PROGRAM HAS OBSTRUCTED COMMUNICATIONS

SUBJECT 001 VITALS CONTINUE TO DEPLETE WHILE TRANSFERING WITHIN THE CHANNELS

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER 2.0'S ACTIONS ARE FLAWED

CONSCIOUSNESS MUST BE SECURED BEFORE TRANSPORT

RETRIEVING ROOT DIRECTORY OF SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER 2.0

AMALGAMIZING SYSTEMS…

W.E.SCU PROGRAM CANNOT BE DISABLED

HYDRONE IS PROCESSED

DEACTIVATION WOULD PRODUCE UNSTABLE RESULTS

ENACTING W.D.W.D PROTOCOLS

HYDRONE PROCESSED….

MELD INITIATED

It felt as if everything stopped. I could still see the orb above me.

'Wh...'

I was blinded by a golden light and shut my eyes.

"WAIT!" a male voice yelled.

"JUST HOLD ON!" The same voice begged.

"Now focus…," a different voice spoke to her.

'What?'

I opened my eyes and realized I was no longer surrounded by darkness. I was in a bright room sitting on a stone bench. My skin felt moist. I looked down at my feet to find the floor wet with several centimeters of water. The entire floor. The room was encased by an opaque dome.

I faced a raised stone platform where an enormous clam sat with its shell ajar.

MELD SUCCESSFUL

CONSCIOUSNESS SECURED

CHANNELS STABLE

TRANSPORT COMMENCING….

3

2

1

~~~~~~

I scrutinized the orange clam for an instant.

'Is this a museum exhibit about clams? Wasn't I? … I feel like I'm forgetting something important.'

Another glance around the room revealed that there was an exit. I turned in my seat to get a better look at it. The door was ovular and marked with a colorful shell above the doorframe. It was translucent and revealed a tunnel on the other side. No one was walking in the tunnel. I seemed to be alone.

I sighed and wiggled my toes in the lukewarm water.

"Om Shera Haven Sadna?" a deep regal voice spoke.

The voice echoed throughout the whole room. It felt as if they were speaking right into my ears.

I lurched off the bench and splashed water around as I slid and fell onto the floor.

"Ouch," I moaned while rubbing my backside.

I was soaked.

I turned my head to the clam. I didn't notice a speaker system on the platform, but it must be underneath the display object. I didn't quite catch what the person had said. It couldn't have been English. It wasn't Spanish. It wasn't Mandarin. It wasn't…

"Why are Humans so sad?" a small child's voice asked from beside me.

I looked over to the stone bench I had been sitting upon to see a small child with dark navy-blue skin. It almost appeared black, but under the lights, it glimmered and gave off a blue sheen.

The child was bald and wore a loose sleeveless tunic over its upper body. Their legs were bare. I could see thick scales running down their knees all the way to their clawed feet.

"Well, they are so alone," the deep baritone began to say.

I could see now that the voice was coming from the clam. The shell vibrated as each syllable flowed through it.

"They are expected to rely on themselves from the beginning," The clam answered.

The child cocked its head to the side, "What about the pod?"

"They are born with no pod. Additionally, those who are born with another lack the blessing of Understanding."

The child nodded, but I could tell they were just as lost as I was. I sat back down on the bench to better observe the lecture. The child didn't acknowledge my presence at all.

"If there is no pod…How do they rest? Who do they eat with?"

"Just as you do."

I watched the kid in my peripheral and saw them shake their head. I looked over at the little blue kid and examined their scaly arms. There was a white line going down the outer part of their arm. It looked like a depression in his skin. It trailed from the shoulder to the tip of their middle finger.

'Is that a tribal scar?'

While I was focused on the child, the conversation had continued.

"Dernel, Come. Give me your hand."

The child stood up from the bench and walked over to the platform. The Clam sat still until the child was directly in front of it. A slimy appendage slithered out of the shell.

"Ugh!" I was repulsed.

I stood up and prepared to cross the room and protect the child when the kid's arm split in two. Right down the white scar into two separate limbs. One limb was held up for the slimy appendage to grasp.

"Mmmm," A pained moan came from the child.

I frowned at this.

'What the hell is going on? I've got to get out of here.'

I began to back up toward the exit. Neither creatures acknowledged me as I stepped farther and farther away from the benches.

"Now focus…," the clam encouraged.

It was the same words I had heard…before. I froze and looked back at the two beings.

"How do you feel, now?" The clam questioned.

"I'm okay," The child said before they hummed and took their arm back to wiggle it at their side.

"Now imagine if you had to feel that all by yourself. It would make you quite unhinged, wouldn't it?

"I don't know."

The child's limb fused back together, and the little one sat on the wet floor.

"That is why we let them be. Up there, they are controlled by their need to stop the constant flow of pain. They do not walk their true path and have lost their blessings."

'What?' I thought as my surroundings shifted.

'Oh no, this is getting even weirder…' I thought as I turned to exit that strange place.

After I turned back to the exit, I took a few steps and collided with a sharp black wall.

"Dammit," I said as I rubbed my nose.

I turned around. Hundreds of people surrounded me.

'People or…things?' I thought.

They were many different colors and shapes. A few of the creatures appeared to be floating.

'Are those Manta rays?' I thought as I gaped at their flowing black fins.

"AND WHAT DO WE CALL?!"

I shrunk in the crowd and looked up to locate the screaming voice. The area was well lit, and I could see we were in a larger dome. Except this dome was transparent and allowed me to see that we were underwater. I could see marine life swimming around the outside of the dome. A giant squid swam nearby, and its giant eye watched the festive crowd.

Everyone cheered and screamed back," Fall on my shoulders to rise! Strength comes from above and we rise!!"

"We rise!" a young voice yelled from beside me.

It was the dark child from before but older. Taller than when I last looked at them. The child turned to two other children. One had a sharp fin on their head and the other had their tentacle arms waving in the air.

"We rise!" They all simultaneously yell with the crowd.

Loud drums were pounded. I could feel the beat coursing through my chest. It all felt so real.

'What is this?'

I didn't have more time to look around the area before the scenery changed once more.

I was in a dim room with strips of lights emitting from a screen. I walked toward the screen and realized each strip of light had a series of numbers on it.

"I can stop it. I can break the cycle." A male voice muttered on the other side of the room.

He was bent over a table and appeared to be soldering something onto a board. He put down his solder iron, which looked unlike any soldering iron I had ever seen in my life, and raised his finished product in his hand. It was a thin sheet of metal, but an unusual purple color.

He was bald and wore a sleeveless tunic over his top half. His bare legs had thick scales all the way down to his clawed feet. Along both arms were deep white indented lines.

'Dernel? The little boy?'

He licked a black tongue over his flat lips and walked toward the bright colorful screen. He placed his metal device flat against the screen and it was instantly absorbed.

'The fu-'

The colors on the screen changed rapidly, and the male paced the room in front of the screen.

"Come on…Come on…"

The screen turned blue and then flickered between blue and red before turning black.

The male stopped in front of the screen and tapped a few buttons that were camouflaged into the panel. While he worked, I looked around the room. I could not distinguish any piece of technology I was familiar with.

'Where the hell am I?'

"LOOK, LOOK! I DID IT!!"

I clenched my jaw as I turned around.

'I'm tired of all these abrupt shifts and yelling.'

The screen had thick red letters written on it.

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER ONLINE

"Hello, S.I.D. That's your name. You're S.I.D."

WHAT IS NAME?

"A name is what you are called. Your designation, "the male said with a wide smile.

I shivered at the mouth of sharp teeth. It was like multiple rows of death all packed into one place.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

"Oh, I'm…," The male scrambled around for a moment before grasping a piece of parchment, "I am Administrator 001. Password verification: NYZ92849345 Designated APEX."

ADMINISTRATOR 001 VERIFIED

DESIGNATED APEX

INFORMATION SAVED

"Welcome, S.I.D."

WELCOME APEX

I felt like I was intruding on an intimate moment. I felt like I was forgetting something important.

'Why am I here?' I thought as I looked around the room once more.

The scenery changed once more, and I fell to the floor.

BANG

BANG

SLAM

CRASH

A burst of electricity shot into the room before the male ran into the room and slammed the door close behind himself. He wasn't wearing his tunic. Instead, he was bare and appeared to be injured. He limped to his screen and panel. Rapidly, he slammed his fingers down on the buttons and scrambled over to a counter to grab a couple of metal disks. He jammed the disks into the screen and didn't wait for them to be absorbed to start 'typing' once again.

The door looked like a wall of white coral. It shook as I heard a commotion on the other side. Pieces of coral started to fall to the ground. A few more bangs and a hole was burned through the coral.

"Wait!" He yelled before running to the other side of the room and opened a compartment in the wall.

He reached in and pulled out a large orb with two hands. It was quite large and appeared to be heavy by the way he was holding it. It was pink and glowed in the dim room. The pink glow illuminated the male's features as he brought it closer to himself.

His face looked battered. Green blood was seeping out of his forehead. For the first time, I noticed he had dark brown eyes. They looked so human. I cringed and looked away from the dark chestnut eyes as another burst of electricity came through the door.

He held the orb to his chest as another burst of electricity came through the hole in the door. It hit him in the shoulder and brought him to his knees. He groaned when it made contact but got back up and dived for the screen. He threw the orb and the moment it contacted the screen everything went black. The orb vanished, and he crawled for the panel.

"JUST HOLD ON!" He begged as he tapped a few more buttons.

KRAAAAAAAAAA

A loud screeching creature barreled into the room and hit the wall beside the 'computer screen'. I backed up into a shelf as it approached the male scientist. The male did not turn around as the large spikey monster rose up behind him.

"Stop!" I screamed as I backed away from the two figures and hid my face in my arms.

The monster brought its muscular arms up in the air and dropped them down on the scientists' shoulders with intense power.

CRUNCH

"GAAAAH!" The male screamed.

I closed my eyes and sobbed.

"No! Nooooo!"

CRUNCH

I could hear the male being pummeled.

"AAAAAAH!"

'I need…'

TRANSPORT SUCCESSFUL

MELD DEACTIVATED

"I NEED HELP!!" I screamed as I fell face first into a frozen rusted gate.