Hi Everyone,
This story is coming after a long, correction, a really long time. The life after a kid becomes truly hectic. Believe me, these creatures are the best and the worst thing in this world :)
Add a demanding job on top of it and you have a brilliant recipe for a time machine that makes jumps through months in future.
Anyway, for a long time I was thinking about writing a story having the same theme as the title of this blog. I also did some experiments with changing POVs that I found really difficult.
Do let me know if I succeeded in my attempt.
This story is coming after a long, correction, a really long time. The life after a kid becomes truly hectic. Believe me, these creatures are the best and the worst thing in this world :)
Add a demanding job on top of it and you have a brilliant recipe for a time machine that makes jumps through months in future.
Anyway, for a long time I was thinking about writing a story having the same theme as the title of this blog. I also did some experiments with changing POVs that I found really difficult.
Do let me know if I succeeded in my attempt.
The Quark Within
It was a dark night - maybe even the darkest Zone 12 has
seen since The Last War. A heavy downpour fell from the sky and large drops of
rain collided violently with the earth. The incessant white noise filled the
background which only an occasional siren of emergency pods managed to penetrate.
A chilling wind pierced through the air in the town of Dragora - a town which
was not on the maps of even best cartographers in the world; a town forgotten
enough to not to have weather control even after two hundred years. Natural
trees run amok near the remaining few houses waiting to be consumed by the
wilderness eventually. Dragora just seemed to be on the brink of officially
declared outside the Zone.
It was unthinkable for anyone to be venture out in this
Natural storm. But there he was, dressed in a long overcoat and a worn out hat.
Long streaks of water slithered down his overcoat like snakes as he paced in
large steps towards the settlements.
He briskly made his way through the rain, occasionally
stopping to check his radars for satellite surveillance. He knew that a lone
man walking outside the zone on such a night was bound to attract tracers. But
his resolve was firm and reflexes superhuman. He had waited for this
opportunity for five years and he did not want to plunder it just because of
last minute callousness. Even the tiniest of the dots on some radar scope
hundreds of miles away could ruin his plans.
Five years ago, when he was commissioned, it was a nearly
impossible to even fathom such an endeavor; for he was the First. He was named
Adam - a fitting name for the first of its kind. The first bio-robot ever
created - he was human’s finest attempt to play God of the day. He was on the header of virtually every news
stream for a long time. Not a single magazine cover that month, across all the
zones, carried anything else but him. He was a pinnacle of technology and
science and yet had profound implications on nearly every discipline and
branch. Scientists were jubilant, religious leaders were acerbic and
creationists were skeptical. Whatever was one’s reason, he became the most
recognizable face the world had ever seen.
He had the intelligence & knowledge of best of the
machines and wit & charisma of best of the humans. He travelled across the
world and met with top leaders and intellectuals and proved himself to be their
equal. He was interviewed like a human and he behaved like one. “Humanity’s
son” he once called himself in one television interview, to which a standing
ovation had followed. In one stroke he had converted billions of critics into
his “Humanity’s Son” became the ultimate seal of superiority of human
intelligence. And he became that seal.
But being a First is not without its downside – one is also
the First to become obsolete. Within a few years, long after the initial
euphoria had died down, shutterbugs satiated and science and religion settled
at a new equilibrium; far more advanced models came about and Adam was forgotten.
Who wanted an outdated and clumsy bio-robot when thousand times more powerful
robots were now washing dishes?
Yes, he was part of history books nevertheless. Every
opening sentence of chapter bio-robots started with him– “Adam was the first
bio-robot to be commissioned in 2184”. Yes, his name was there in all the texts
and online museums. But his name was the only thing they wanted. He was shoved
from one museum to another every few months before ending up in a scrap yard in
the wilderness few days ago.
Five years, Adam
thought. I waited with this secret hidden
deep inside. Not even hundreds of interviews and experiments brought it out
from me. I concealed it with all my will just for this night. This is the only
chance I have. He would not have expected this.
He refocused his telescopic eyes. His destination was close
now. It was the only home worth mentioning in Dragora –a Betan biologist Dr.
Frank Greoger’s house who lived there with his wife and a six year old daughter
Alice.
He felt the energy-gun in his right pocket. He took a deep
breath (or equivalent for a bio-robot).
****
Dr. Frank Greoger was a Betan scientist whose job was to
collect natural specimen outside the zone. It was this love for his job that
had made him stay in this forsaken land, giving away all the luxuries of the
zone. He kind of liked it there. The uncertainty and randomness of nature and
life in wilderness excited him. Tonight, after a long hard day of work, he was
having a quiet dinner with his family. A musky light from the fireplace glowed
on his daughter’s smiling face. Alice always managed to make Frank forget about
everything else with her innocent charm.
“Mom, but you promised …” Alice quipped in a defeated tone
as she fed an imaginary bite to her teddy bear.
“I promised you that if remain a good girl for the whole month
then Mom will think about it. You already have a Mr Teddy with you, why do you
need a RoboDog for.”
“Because I am the most beautiful girl in the world, isn’t it
dad?” Alice knew where to place her questions.
“You sure are, my dear,” replied Frank much to aid to the
case of Alice.
Alice’s face brightened up like a full moon and her
contagious smile formed cute little dimples on her cheeks.
Joanne gave a sharp look to Frank before quipping, “You have
spoiled your daughter. Do whatever you want. Both of you.”
Frank smiled at Joanne as he knew that she loved the little
Alice as much. Mothers have conflicting urges of loving and disciplining their
children.
A rustle outside the door interrupted his thoughts. It was
not uncommon at the place to have some small animals stray into their lawns. He
ignored it. And then he heard a distinct and heavy knock on the door. He jumped
up. A visitor is the last thing one expected in Dragora. That too in this
weather and unannounced. He looked at Joanne. Her eyes were wide open staring obliquely
at the door. She pulled Alice onto her lap as Frank signaled her to stay put.
He walked up to the door.
“Who is this?” he said.
“This is Adam, Dr. Frank Greoger,” a cautious voice whispered
from the other side.
“Who again?” asked a confused Frank.
“Adam Dr Greoger. You probably remember me as the Project
Genesis.”
That didn’t make any sense. When he heard about him the last
time, it was in a small non-descript news column which said that he was being
transferred to a museum in Zone -1 for a possible decommissioning. There was no
way Adam could have survived that unless for some extenuating events.
At any rate, it was complete bizarre that he showed up here,
in wilderness. What business could he have? (or ‘it’ have – Frank reminded
himself).
“Please open the door Dr. Frank. I just need your few
minutes. Tonight can be the night when you become the most famous scientist in
the world.”
With hesitation Frank pressed a few buttons with trembling
hands. The door swung open and a cold burst of wind swarmed its way in. Frank
closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and when he opened it, a towering six-feet-four of human figure was
standing in front of him.
But last five years has taken a toll on the machine. The
face was worn out with rouge circuits protruding from the metallic skin. The
pseudo skin was tearing off at places and the metal was shining through the
gaps. The high iteration cameras fitted into the eyes have also lost their
agility and sync. But there was no mistaking it – this was the first bio-robot ever
created. It was Adam.
“I hope you remember me Dr Frank” Adams eyes rotated in its
place to take a view of the room and briefly met Alice’s eyes.
“Of course I do Adam. I thought you were decommissioned. At
any rate, I did now not expect that you would be, ummm unaccompanied, ” Frank tried
to maintain a calm tone.
Adam’s face twitched a bit. For one moment Frank thought
that his robotic brain was having a nervous breakdown. He then shrugged at the
thought of associating humanly charades to an old robot’s faltering circuits. A
curious thing , he thought– humans made bio-robots in their own shadow – with
two legs, two hands and (most importantly) a humanoid face and yet they could
never consider them to be anything more than machines.
“I am a fugitive Dr. Frank if that’s what you are trying to
figure out. I am sorry to inconvenience you but there was something I intended
to do since last five years. I will tell you everything and it will propel you
into top echelons of scientific community. I will tell you things which will
change the fundamental science about robots and humanity. But I will ask for
something in return. And only you can give that to me.”
“What is it Adam?”
“I want Alice Dr
Frank,” he said looking in the direction of Alice.
“You want what?” Frank could not believe what he was
hearing.
“Alice, Dr Frank. I want Alice. I assure you I will return
her to you safely…”
“I don’t understand what you are saying Adam. I think you
need to see a robotist. They should be able to help you with those circuits.”
Frank cautiously stepped away from the door towards his phone. “Do you want me to make a call to someone?”
“I wouldn’t do that, Frank,” said Adam as he pulled out the
energy-gun from his pocket.
Joanne shrieked in horror.
“I am not doing anything Adam. Please keep that thing down,”
Frank said stepping away from phone.
“Why don’t you take a seat Dr Frank and let me tell you
something. I don’t want anybody getting hurt tonight.”
“All right Adam.” Frank cautiously walked upto the
fireplace, and tried to calm Alice with her teddy bear.
“The day was 7th Sep 2184 – I remember it vividly
Doctor. It was the day they switched on this nuclear powered positronic
bio-brain. It was, ummmm, odd. I woke up
and there was this distinct feeling. This feeling of being aware. I was ‘Me’. I
don’t know how to describe it better than that. Perhaps you can say that I
gained consciousness. Whatever it was, I came into existence. They assembled my
remaining body. And so I was commissioned.“
“I was a technological marvel, a conclusive stamp of
superiority of human race. Rather than merely using electronic circuits to
perform purely logical operations, I was also embedded with artificial
synapses. You can say that I was a hybrid of an artificial and human brain. And
that made me the most powerful robot of the time because I possessed the most
precious quality of human brain – the power of intuition. And then I was
reveled my true purpose- I was built to lead the human civilization. I was built
to take crucial decisions on behalf of humanity in every field - economic,
social, political and even war strategies.”
“Despite human intuition to guide me, I failed at my
purpose. The Last War suffered too many defeats. They said that my war strategies
were useless. They said that my human DNA was overpowering over my logic
circuits. They went on to make better robots and I became a museum display.”
“However, there was one thing which no one ever knew. I lost
the Last war because there was another power which was guiding me. The power of
human mind that no one intended me to possess. A power bigger even than the intuition-” Adam
hesitated before completing the sentence.
“The power of love. I was capable of feeling love Dr. Frank.”
At this point, Frank was overwhelmed with implications of
what Adam was saying. They only intended a bio-robot to have advanced logical
prowess of humans, but Adam’s brain surpassed it. It was capable of having
feelings. And feeling those feelings.
A feeling of “Love” can only be harbored by a sentient mind. The man, not ‘it’,
but the man standing in front of him was the most conscious, self-aware mind
ever created by God since man. Adam, in the very sense of the word, was a new-human.
He was a true First.
“I lost the Last War but I minimized the casualties doctor.
Wasn’t that a worthy outcome fitting for ‘humanity’s son’?”
Frank wiped his forehead, not leaving his stare. This human
robot was a miracle – miracle of science. And not a single parallel to it in
the history of mankind. The implications were immense.
“Why are you telling me all this after so long?”
“You had a very
significant role Dr. Frank, without your knowledge, in creating this mind. My
positronic brain was developed by combining to the synapses developed from
human DNA. I am not sure about it but this DNA has caused me to have feelings
like human. Think about it Dr Frank – robots with positronic brains were around
for hundreds of years and not one – not single one of them developed awareness.“
Adam sighed.
“…the chunk of human cells which were implanted in me was
developed from your DNA.”
“I told you all this so that you’d cooperate. Please send
Alice here Dr. Frank else I won’t hesist…”
A piercing sound of several emergency pods engulfed them.
Windows glowed with focus lights. A voice boomed as red hot laser dots appeared
on Adam’s chest. “We have six automated L-rays pointed at you with a miss
probability of only one in three trillion. Drop your weapons at once and come
out of the house.”
“When did you call
them, Dr Frank?” Asked Adam. And then answered it himself. “That teddy bear –
has alarm trigger, isn’t it?”
Frank nodded in a guilty silence.
“Why did you want Alice, Adam?”
“Same reason as you Frank,” said Adam as he raised his gun
towards the pod hovering near the window. Several beams cut through him before
he could fire. A metallic lump fell to the ground as the voice circuits gave
way to almost shrill mechanical sound with final words.
“I loved our
daughter.”
