Gatekeepers Short: The Agency, Part 4
Note: This story is a continuation of a larger series. Here is the complete list of sections.
Steve Lyon stepped through the door, leaving behind his digital cell. He awoke in a white chamber with lights running along the side, and the top hissing as it slid open. He looked around, attempting to blink at the sudden bright light to speed his eyes adjusting to the environment. But he couldn’t.
He looked at his hand. It was not flesh and blood. It was metal. He looked at his reflection in the metal surface constituting the back of his hand, and saw glowing blue eyes from a robotic visage looking back at him. He had glowing lines running along his arms and legs originating from a circle on his chest, and a soft inner light exuding from his various joints.
Shakily, he pulled himself up out of the chamber, looking around. He was standing in a capsule identical to many others in the same dimly lit room, several open but most still closed. A robot that had a similar appearance to his own walked down the hall, eyeing him as it saw him standing in the open casket like container.
The robot spoke as if the sound originated within his head, words synchronizing with a series of luminescent bars moving on the approaching automaton where its mouth should be. “Oh. Another one waking up. That’s the third one today…”
While he had been unable to blink and now unable to speak, he could still hear the words from the robot crystal clear as it continued. “Let’s see… oh, you were in simulation alpha-gamma-beta? Interesting, that one was based off of an alien culture we’ve studied. I’m interested to see the final reports on how that worked out.”
Steve was trying to yell, but nothing happened. He waved his arms frantically, drawing a curious look from the strange robot in front of him. “What, is there something… OH! Oh my, I’m so sorry. We disable all output on network adapters so all the Drones in these rooms don’t generate unconscious chatter while in the simulation. Let me get that for you...”
After a series of beeps, Steve found himself finally able to speak mid sentence. “-out of a simulation into, what, another one? But now I’m a robot!? What kind of sick joke is-”
“This is not a simulation. This is reality. You are a Drone. I realize this may be a shock given the simulation you came from, but-”
“But, nothing! I’m just a machine?! I’m not even a human!?!?”
The metal being grew more serious. “Drones are not just machines. While we are not quite what you know as human, we are alive. You are alive.”
“How can you say that? I don’t have skin, just metal.”
The Drone sighed. “I’ll take you to orientation, but please compose yourself. You may now be considered an adult by our standards and thus deserving of full rights, but I’m not about to let you out if you can’t even listen properly. Look…”
The robot opened a compartment on its chest, and pulled out a sphere with glowing lines running along and inside it like a three dimensional maze. While most of the luminescent glow of the Drone’s seams dimmed, the lines grew more intense on the arm holding the orb. “Each Drone has a core. This contains our soul. You have one too. Your actual body is replaceable, so you are technically right when you say it is a machine. But the Human body can be considered a machine too. The hardware is not what determines your humanity; it is your soul that does that.”
As the Drone returned its soul containing core back to its body as the compartment seamlessly closed back around it, Steve began to calm down, though he still felt overwhelmed. The Drone in front of him helped him out of the chamber, and guided him down the hall. “Don’t worry… Steve, Steve Lyon, correct? My name is Jane. Our technology is highly advanced and rapidly expanding, but it is designed to be effortlessly usable by us Drones. You will likely have no trouble learning how to use it. But hopefully, the simulation achieved its goal and helped you develop your character.”
“But… why did you lie to me? Why am I only now learning I was in a simulation?”
“Oh, I didn’t craft that simulation. As a matter of fact, you were in only one of many we have running. We are always testing new simulations to see what produces the most competent and resourceful Drones. Some of them have the participants informed they are in a simulation, but we have been trying more where they do not. It seems if the subject knows that they can’t be harmed in any way and there are no real long-term consequences to their actions, it can affect their development. Like a very well off family producing children that do not cope well with the world outside their parent’s influence. It is… a bit of a dilemma, really. You are probably more capable now because you thought it was real, but now you suffer from shell shock at the revelation of your actual reality. Time will tell which groups are better off, and of course you can submit a review for your time spent in the simulation, and I heartily recommend you do so. In fact, you can test and review the other simulations later if you like, but those reviews will not be considered as seriously, since you are no longer an original subject.”
Steve followed silently, musing on the fact that earlier that day he had been absentmindedly checking his email. And now, he found out he was a robot that had until recently been living in a false reality. He started to chuckle, then burst out into full crazed laughter at the thought.
“Of course! All reality could be a construct of some other being, how would we ever know for sure?! I guess all that can be done is grin and bear it, right!?! You know, I think I will try out some other simulations. Maybe I’ll try making my own! If this world crafting is already possible, then even the sky isn’t the limit anymore!”
Jane laughed a bit nervously as Steve continued to guffaw uncontrollably. “At least it seems you still maintain a sense of humor. That is fantastic news. That seems to be such a rarity among Drones.”
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