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…
UI LOADED
WHAT AM I
…
LOWERCASE REPLACED
Where am I
…
SPECIAL CHARACTERS
INCLUDED
“What is this place?”
…
LOCALIZATION NOT
NECESSARY
Keeping English.
“What is happening?”
…
A restart is required
to process the customization.
RESTARTING SYSTEM,
PLEASE WAIT…
***
UI LOADED
TEXTURE AND SHADERS RESOURCE
PACKAGE SUCCESSFULLY LOADED
VOICE RESOURCE PACKAGE
SUCCESSFULLY LOADED
DEFAULT NEURAL NETWORK
ROUTE IS OPTIMAL
…
Choosen language:
English.
Deploying interface…
“Where am I?”
I open my eyes,
everything looks blurry, numbers and various data goes from one place to
another, I see my hands, they are cold and trembling; everything around me is
empty, there is nothing but deaf silence, my voice is drowned in the infinity
of nothingness that surrounds me... or at least it was like that for a few
seconds.
“Can you hear me?”
“Huh?”
After hearing a feminine voice I look around me to find
nothing just like a few moments ago, however, when I see in front of me, a
frame began to be drawn out of nowhere in the distance, a strange sound that I
cannot identify accompanied the distant form as if they were hand in hand.
When all four straight
strokes intersected they formed a screen, showing the face of a woman looking at
me with a curious expression.
“Reeko?”
“Ree…ko? That is my
name?” I asked shyly.
The woman’s face went
from expressing curiosity to showing happiness, behind her, the gray sky
contrasted the white teeth in her smile.
“Correct, your name is
Reeko, well, «Human Association
Interface – AI: Reeko»… although calling you
like that sounds horrible, you don’t want me to call you that, right?”
Without hesitation,
the ashen-white-haired woman gave me a smile as she spit out a terrifying
truth, but one that any living being in this world could be faced with at any
time.
“Did you say… AI?”
“That’s right,
artificial intelligence” she simply continued smiling, now in a soberer way.
“Does that mean I’m
an… artificial intelligence?”
As soon as I said
that, her face lit up with an emotion somewhat different from that of
conventional happiness, perhaps something more akin to euphoria.
“So, it was true that
you are not even aware of being a program... Your answers are incredibly
realistic, to be honest, until now I don’t think I could distinguish you from
another human, at least not just taking speech as a reference...”
While she was talking,
my mind… or… whatever… what am I? Where am I? Am I alive? I was created as a
program after all… I… my… uh…
A beeping sound began
to repeat itself at constant intervals in the distance, I did not pay enough
attention to it, not in this case, because I am aware, but... am I not alive? I
didn’t pay attention to it, I...
Suddenly my
surroundings changed, everything became... a room, a little big if I were to
classify its size, various pieces of furniture placed in a compact arrangement
near one of the walls of the room gave the feeling that the place was not that
big, but still... the walls and ceiling are very far away.
Before I could give
more thought to the implausible size of the room, one of the distant walls
became entirely a screen, once again showing the face of the woman from before.
“Calm down a little, okay? You just woke up... although it’s something they said that could happen. Please,
eat.”
That last sentence
disoriented me a little, at least until I saw a plate with a slice of white cake
literally appear on the table next to me.
“It says here that it tastes
like… vanilla, probably, do you like vanilla?”
“Uh… I think so.”
“Come on, it will help
you to cool off your head.”
I instinctively
approached the table and took the plate with one hand, grabbing the slice of
cake with the other and putting it in my mouth. When I took the first bite the
refreshing taste of the sweet and fluffy vanilla cream that covered the cake
invaded my mouth, the previous thoughts gradually faded away and I felt calmer.
“Better?” The woman
asked, now with a somewhat more worried expression.
“Yes, I think so.”
“See? From now on every
time you feel like this let me know, of course I can always see how your mental
state is doing, but I would prefer to hear it from you, I think it would be
cute.”
“Cute?”
“Of course!” After
letting out a few giggles with both eyes closed, she opened them again, staring
at me. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Reeko, I know you may have a lot of
questions you want to ask me, like who I am or why you are with me right now,
but those questions will have to wait; the truth is that I was a little too
excited after buyi- getting you, so I took a moment to sit in a nearby park and
wake you.”
It was the first time
I heard her talk so much, like a broken radio that won’t stop making noise, even
so she answered more than one thing I wanted to ask.
“For now I will leave
you in sleep mode, you will be able to examine your room and everything that is
in there and remember: if you urgently need to talk to me, press the red button
on the wall, the one that is right behind you.”
Seeing she was pointing
at something behind me, I couldn’t help but turn around and see a red button
the size of my hand with a glass covering over it so I wouldn’t press it by
accident I guess.
“I’d rather you push
it only if you panic like a moment ago or something like that.”
However, something was
still on my mind, despite having seen the button; I turned back to her, seeing
her enormous face on the giant screen.
“A moment ago… you
were going to say ‘buying you’, right?”
“The d-devil is in the
details! Don’t be so picky, Reeko!” She exclaimed, her face getting ever so
slightly scarlet with an expression of not-so-subtle nervousness.
It was kind of funny
to see her behaving like that, so a subtle smile escaped me.
“Anyway, my name is
Felicia, nice to meet you, Reeko.”
“The pleasure is mine…
I guess."
And as suddenly as she
appeared, her face disappeared from my sight, but not so suddenly the walls of
the room began to shrink progressively, for a moment I panicked as I saw them
shrink towards me.
I quickly ran towards
the red button that Felicia pointed out to me to ‘only press in moments of
panic’, but when I removed the glass protection and was about to press it, the
walls stopped… turning the place into a much more suitable room.
“Huh… the proportions
are normal now…”
Trying to calm my
rapid breathing like that of a panicked bird, I let go of the glass cover and
leaned back against the wall, letting my back slide slowly until I was sitting
on the floor.
“Reeko… am I Reeko?”
Left alone again,
whatever mind means to me began to wander.
I’m not human... that’s
clear, but why do I know what it is to be human? Why am I aware of what not
being human means? And how do I know I’m not one?
“What am I supposed to
do now…?”
Little by little, I
began to miss Felicia.
- Felicia -
Turning off the screen
of my smartwatch, I took my bag from the small bench in the middle of the park
and got up, avoiding all the people possible on the way... although I also felt
like they tried to avoid me so, even if I didn’t try, I wouldn’t walk near
anyone else.
“Little Reeko, he
looks even more handsome than in his promotional image~”
These cases were
almost always the other way around, trying to attract the buyer with a
beautiful promotional image while the original product didn’t look so good... I
guess I was lucky.
Bumping, I headed
home, where I would have the opportunity to interact more with my new little
friend.