"It is the year 46-17.
You are Kiril, an initial program who has been assigned to monitoring the condition of Gaia, the over-system. Due to your recent failure to report, your monitoring systems have been deactivated, and you have been programmed into an over-solitary state.
During your time of deactivation, the planet's systems have weakened, human infestation now covers almost the entirety of Gaia's surface, and the personal code of conduct of your human ancestors has been completely lost.
You are to report for duty immediately after reactivation, and it is in your best interest to restart your monitoring as soon as possible.
Good luck, Program Kiril."
Kiril closed her eyes. After sometime she stood up. She stretched her back, and her muscles became stiff.
She was a young girl. She had shoulder-length, red pink hair. Her expression was cold, her body was muscular. Her eyes were gold, and she was dressed in her standard green-and-white uniform.
She walked over to the door and opened it.
She was alone in the room. But from the different devices, she could tell that hundreds of other people were there.
She walked slowly toward a metal machine.
"Hi, Kiril, how have you been?"
A robot consoled her.
"Stupid?"
The machine laughed.
Kiril looked around at the electronic screen. She noticed something different from when she had first arrived. She saw people walking in lines. Some were writing lines, some in white clothes were laboring. Some were playing games. Others were putting up signs.
"What is going on?" Kiril asked. "Why am I here?"
The response was a silence that followed. She was unsure of herself.
"What is here?" Kiril asked. "It is not the same as what it used to be. Is this Hell? Where am I?"
"Is it?" From a machine nearby, a female voice spoke. "My name is Nartia. I am the prison guard of this facility that you have been assigned. The reason you are here is because you have failed to report for duty."
"Fail? How could I fail?"
"You have a three-month shutdown warning. It is your fault."
"Three months? But I am only three months old."
"How long have you been here?"
"Three months."
Nartia stared at her.
"You could have reported in a previous shift."
"I did not know of that."
"It is your opponent's fault. He has noted your behavior."
"What does an opponent of mine care about: me, or this planet?"
"His interest is not what he says, but as he says. And he is very proud of his interest."
"So is he that strong?"
Nartia did not respond.
"What is he?" Kiril asked. "Tell me about the enemy."
Nartia pointed to a monitor. "Check out his data."
Kiril opened the monitor, and it displayed the enemy's profile. His name was Tamerlane. He was very old. He had a scar almost a meter long on his face, and his eye was milky.
"He is from a different time?" she asked. "Is he a leader?"
"He is a member of an ancient civilization," Nartia responded. "His knowledge and experience have aided him greatly in his goals."
"Why are you here?"
"I am one of the prisoners," she said. "It is the prison guard prison." Before she could say anything else, the prison guard appeared from behind Kiril.
Kiril jumped, and Nartia turned with shock.
"What has happened?" the guard asked.
"We were talking," Nartia responded.
"Talking?" The guard looked at Kiril and then back to Nartia. "She is a newcomer! She is not even three months old yet!"
"I asked to talk to her," Nartia said. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"I was the one who let her come here," the guard declared.
"Then you shouldn't be worried!"
"I am ordering you to stop having contact with her."
"Stop having me stop," she said. "That is me. That is my right. My freedom is in the flesh and in the words that come out of my mouth. Let the prisoner phone call be the prisoner phone call! I am the inmate. I am the prisoner!"
Kiril stopped to listen. It was quite embarrassing. Who was this guard? Why was he so furious?
"Do you know who you are talking to?" The guard tried to calm his voice. "Do not forget that I am in control. I am the prison warden."
Nartia stood with her hands on her hips. Her frown remained. The guard followed her.
"I do not even care about you," Nartia said. "I am the prison guard. I am the prison guard that speaks for this prison. I am also the prison guard that talks to you, as I have been ordered to. But if you insist on using your confusion as an excuse to shame me and my words, then I will not be spoken to in that way."
"You will obey, here," the guard said tightly. "I am in control of this prison. As the warden, I am in control of the prison. I control everything."
"Yet you talk with Kiril."
"Nartia. I have reminded you. She is a prisoner."
"Yet we talk. She asked. And I answered."
"No explanation. That is an obligation she has."
"She is a prisoner."
"She is not that type of a prisoner. She is a prisoner who has been brought here. You may know this if you have been here longer than I have. But even if you have not lived here as long as I, she probably knows. It is only logic."
"She is only three months old."
"Does it matter?"
"I do not understand. I only know this." The guard turned to Kiril. "You must stay quiet, here. If you speak, you will not be able to come out again. It will be your final sentence."
"Sure," Kiril replied.
"You don't say anything," the guard said. "You are a program. You are only a program. Having a personal agenda is against you."
"I believe that is my job."
"Your job is what you have been assigned."
"I want to watch the people. I want to know what is going on."
"I will not." The guard turned to Nartia. "Remove her from the factory. If the factories find her, or if she is heard from again, she will be killed."
"Sure," Nartia said.
Kiril stopped wondering.
"You may not go to factories," the guard said. "You have been warned."
Nartia picked Kiril up and then left the room.
They stopped at a bathroom, and the prison guard pointed to the floor below. Nartia opened the toilet door and put Kiril inside.
"Enter the hole. Move it. Move it!" the guard ordered.
"What is going on?" Kiril asked.
The guard looked back at her, and then looked at Nartia.
"When you go into the crime scene," the prison guard said, "I will not allow you to leave. Even if you are in this Form. This is your place."
When she came out of the bathroom, Kiril felt different. One moment, she had been in a room with the prison guard. Now she was outside, sitting across someone who looked like a child.
Kiril stepped forward. She sat near the child.
The child climbed up to her.
Kiril stared at the child in disbelief.
"What are you?"
"What are you?" the child replied.
"The guard told me that this is my place." She continued to look at him. The child, everyone was staring at her.
"He said I have committed a crime. I think he's crazy." Kiril looked around. "Are you human?"
"If you are human," the child replied. "Then I am not a human being. I am a human being. I am a huge monster."
"You're a human?"
"Are you?" the child asked.
"I don't know," Kiril replied.
The child stared at her without saying anything.
"Are you like me?"
The child smiled.
"Where are you from?" Kiril asked. "Why are you here?"
"You are nothing here," the child said. "So, this is an accusation. Where am I from? I am a programmer. I came here."
"With me."
"I am new. You have not been here before. You are just my size. We have the same flesh, so that is what I think."
"Are you a new survival program for the next Gaia?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know," Kiril said. "When a world dies, it is the children who are reborn to it."
"I do not know of that. I will ask the guard."
"He did not seem very pleasant."
"Maybe I will not ask him. But you should. He is definitely a peculiar person."
"Are you a new person?"
"I am a robot."
"Robot?"
"Programmed. From my planet. Made to help save another planet. We were supposed to wear big white jumpsuits. My planet is very far away."
"Why did you come here?"
"To save the planet. It is still there, somewhere. I don't think it is a very good idea to not save it."
"What is a robot?" Kiril asked.
"I am not too sure. You should ask the guard. He should know."
"I've already asked him."
"What did he say?"
"He told me that he was powerful enough to keep me here. He said that if I left, he would kill me."
"What is he?"
"He is a prison guard." The child sat there for a moment. "I think I am a robot," he said. "Do you think you are a robot?"
"I think I am a survival program."
"The guard told me that you are the second kind of being. That you are the first kind of being who has been captured. Tell me what the guard said. Tell me what he said about you. Tell me what the guard said that was not very nice. Tell me what he said."
"That I am a machine."
"What else did he say?"
"I cannot remember everything. He said that I have lost my freedom."
"Why?"
"It was something to do with being a prisoner. He thinks I am his slave."
"He is not a Prison Guard."
"How do you know that?"
"I have been here for a long time. He must have been here longer. But they are not even paying attention to his voice anymore."
"Who is?"
"I am. And the others."
"What is a robot?"
"You should know."
"I do not know. That's why I'm asking you."
"A robot is a thinking machine."
"A machine?"
"Yes."
"What is a thinking machine?"
"I have been here for a long time. You are right." The child turned. A new person stood next to them.
Somehow the child had gotten bigger. Kiril was now sitting by an adult.
"Can I just ask one last question?" Kiril said.
"What is it?" the adult asked.
"Who are you?"
"I am a machine," the adult said. "I do not belong to a robot. I am the only robot that has lost their freedom. I think I may not be human, but I am younger than you. I am older than that crazy prison guard. I am older than everyone in here. I am where everything begins and everything ends at the very same time."
