ENTROPY EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER ØNE

She starts to feel her body itch and her hands start to flicker, she realizes that something is wrong. At first, she thinks that her eyesight may be damaged or that her brain is malfunctioning, but after further inspection, she sees that her hands are filled with wires. “Am I artificial?” she whispers to herself.
Her thoughts begin to race as she tries to come to terms with the reality that she may be a robot. She thinks about all of the implications of this and wonders who created her and why.

She also thinks about all of the things she will have to leave behind if she is not human. Deciding that she needs to find answers, she wraps her hand in a bandage and begins to pack a small shoulder bag with supplies for a few days.

As she shuts and locks the door to her apartment, she has a strong desire to call her mom and demand answers. However, she buries her fear and leaves to find the only place she thinks might have answers.

Getting in her car, she turns off the radio and drives to the only place she thinks might know what is going on with her body. As she drives, she thinks about a time when she felt like love might be a computer virus and wonders if that was a sign that she is not human.

As she watched the white lines of the road pass under her tires, her mind began to drift to an old memory when she was in primary school.

She made a friend for life with a girl named Nora

Nora was a bubbly girl filled with curiosity which almost always got them both into trouble.

One night before graduation, Nora had a crazy idea! She wanted to sneak inside of this tech building and find out what they do inside, because she was convinced by some people she chatted with on the wire that they have horrifying creatures they were building in there.

Nora insisted that Græble go along with her to find out if it was true. Græble tried to refuse, but Nora said that she was not going to let this opportunity pass her by and she needed her best friend by her side. Sometimes it felt like Nora never took no for an answer.

So they planned to go late that very next night. They dressed in all black with their coziest hoodies and went up the sandy road that leads to the tech building, where they searched for the best way in. Nora was very excited when they found a janitorial entrance left unlocked. The girls began sneaking around the building, trying not to make any noise.

Nora seemed to know where she was going and before long, they were in a large room filled with people, but they were not moving.

Nora approached one of the figures and Græble could see the fear in Nora’s eyes. Right as Græble was about to say “we should leave” the person like figure woke up.

CHAPTER TWØ

_{Present Day:}

Græble arrives at Avid Computing, she finds that the building is abandoned. However, as she is about to leave, she hears a noise and sees a light on in the basement. She goes to investigate and finds Jon, just the man she was looking for. Græble tells Jon about the incident with her hands, “I think I am not human,” Græble said, ” I need your help.”

Jon looked at her with a mix of pity and understanding.

“I can help you,” he said. “But it won’t be easy.”

“What do i have to do?” Græble said.

“We need to run some tests to see the extent of these wires” Jon replied.

Græble agreed to do whatever was necessary to find out what was happening to her.

Jon gestured to a chair for Græble to sit in for the procedure, and began to attach some cables to the wires inside of her left hand. This enabled Jon to run a series of tests.

As the test began Græble felt a little lightheaded and her eyes began closing, almost as if she was suddenly tired enough to immediately fall asleep…

Chapter Thrëë | Atrøphy

During the process of falling asleep, Græble felt her mind disconnect from her body, as if she was floating in a smoke filled abyss. Her body began to disappear from her sense of feeling.

It was as if her body had atrophied from a decade long coma, but it didn’t frighten her. Instead she found a sense of peace in letting it go, followed by an intense curiosity about this picture of memories that seemed to be coming into view behind her eyelids…

Now that Græble had fallen unconscious, Jon was able to run a much needed diagnostic.

He could see the data flow, billions of signals moving in an and out of the Græble’s body, even through the wires in her hands.

He ran a few more head and body scans as well and could see that the wires were not only connecting to her nervous system, they were actually becoming a part of it.

“This explains why she is beginning to feel the signals more now then ever before” – Jon thought.

He hadn’t been able to check her status since creation, so it was great to see that everything appears to be working as intended; however she must never know about these details.

Chapter ∆ | Euphøria

In her sleeping state, GRÆBLE began to see an image of what she thought was a memory coming into view. But as the image grew closer, she found herself standing in a hotel lobby that must have been 10 stories high at least. To her left there was a round reception desk and to her right was a large fountain, slowly running as if time had been slowed down. That’s when she noticed that everything seemed to be slow moving. The small amount of people were walking slowly scattered throughout the lobby, and she couldn’t really see them, just a static dark blur of what a person might look like when just out of view.

Straight ahead she could see an elevator. Just as she became aware of it, the elevator bell dinged and the door opened, revealing a soft warm light inside. As she walked towards it, she realized the elevator was not in slow motion. Looking up she could see all the floors balconies and the light that shone on them from the 10 story front window.
So she decided to see what was up there.

Walking into the elevator seemed to take hours. Once she was inside, the doors closed and the elevator began to ascend slowly.

There was no music, there was no sound at all. Looking around for a floor indicator, GRÆBLE noticed that there were no buttons, and no floor signs in here.
“How do I know what floor I’m going to?” She thought.

Just then the door opened and she saw a dim lit hallway with a single hotel room door straight ahead. Peeking out, she could see that the far wall was just hotel room doors for as far as the eye could see in both directions.”What floor is this?” She wondered. She slowly stepped out into the hallway, feeling as if she was in a dream. Every step felt like it was taking an eternity. She turned to her right and saw that the hallway just continued on, with more hotel room doors. She turned back to the door in front of her and slowly opened it, peeking inside.

Chapter FIJVE | EpiphÆNY

Chapter Fijve

Entering the room she felt the air change, the dead silence of the hallway turned into the sound of a soft breeze. Looking around the room she could see a window straight ahead on the far wall with a soft blue light coming through the curtains.

To the left there was a full size bed in the darkest part of the room and to the right there was a small desk and laptop, as well as a door sized archway that she assumed led to a private bathroom.

Walking towards the archway took no time at all, like the time was faster than it was outside in the hotel.

“Did every room have a different time” she thought.

As she reached the archway she saw a small vanity built into the wall, and a door to the bathroom. In the mirror she could see her reflection, but she couldn’t make out any real details.

Just then she heard a voice.

“That sounds like Jon” – She thought, or did she speak?

She wasn’t sure if she thought it or had said it out loud. Perhaps she had been in here too long.

The Voice came from the mirror, and the center of the mirror appeared to transform into a portal like glimpse of Jon as she could see him standing in the lab.

“Everything appears to be working as intended, however; she must never know the truth”

What did he say?! – said Græble

In the dim blue light, she began pacing around the room “Does this mean I’m not human? He knows more than he’s telling me, but he is just a liar! I thought i could trust him.” Stopping near the window she peaked through the curtains to find a silhouette of city buildings. It looked like an industrial zone.

As she stared blankly out of the window she continued to talk to herself.

“I can’t trust anyone. It seems like I am trapped in this place. Did he put me here? I wanna get out, but I also have to find more answers. When i do find my way out, i must pretend like i did not hear what he said” said Græble

Chapter ζ | Ellipsis

Suddenly, a loud beeping sound filled the room, startling Græble. She quickly looked around to see where it was coming from and saw a glowing white box on the bedside table. She moved closer to investigate, and as she did, the box opened up, revealing a small device with a screen.

A message was displayed on the screen that said, “You are not alone.”

Græble was confused and not sure what to make of the message. She looked around the room, but there was no one else in sight. She reread the message several times, her mind racing as she tried to make sense of it. Could it be a sign from Jon, a hint of some kind? But what could it mean?

She had so many questions, but no answers.

She was about to turn off the device when she noticed something else: a small blinking light on the bottom of the screen. She pressed it, and the device began to play a melody. The melody was faint yet captivating and comforting at the same time. It seemed to speak to her in a way, like it was guiding her, leading her towards a mysterious destination.

She entered the elevator and, as the doors closed, the music changed and grew louder until finally she reached the only floor that had a number. The elevator doors opened and the hallway wall directly ahead had deep red letters painted on it that read 11.

The walls and floor, the numbers, and the room doors on this floor appeared to fluctuate, as if they were made of some sort of thick water. Græble hesitated to step out, but her curiosity overcame her fear. Just as she stepped her right foot onto the floor, time moved slowly and she did not sink into the floor as she thought she would. She simply seemed to flow with the fluid-like air.

Then she heard a childlike voice from her right: “Hi there,” it said. Græble turned quickly to her right to look at who this was, but she saw no one, just more hotel room doors. The voice continued, saying, “I’m down here, silly.”

Chapter Sevən | Sølitude

Letters start appearing on the screen in front of Nora, generative no doubt. She must be working on an idea.

She is standing at a terminal in the abandoned Avid Lab, whilst Jon is across the room mumbling to himself while pacing back and fourth. Nora seems unfazed by him entirely, as if to suggest she has heard him do this many times.

Græble is still in the chair hooked up to the server across the room, laying silently.

Just as the letters finish appearing on the screen Nora puts a small device in her pocket and grabs the her drink excitedly

AH HA! – She says aloud as she turns towards Jon.

“I’ve got it! I think that I may have found a way to avoid the conflict we had last time!” – Nora says

“which is?” – Jon replied while walking towards her terminal.

“In order for us to provide true information without damaging the programs current structure, we need to add a small piece of code that will allow us to extract the data without altering it in any way. – She says

Jon takes a deep breath as he looks at the code, before nodding in agreement, “That sounds like a good plan. Let’s get started.”

Nora smiles in response, before typing something into the terminal and hitting run.

“Let’s see if it works.” She said.

The letters on the screen begin to move around, but ultimately resulted in an failure.

Nora looked down in frustration and sighed as Jon said “this is why i created the training program, cause if I had let you run this attempt on the subject, we would have a horrifying situation on our hands right now!”

Jon walks back over towards the terminal GRÆBLE is hooked up to. As he is walking closer he notices something strange. For a brief moment he thought he saw someone communicating in the terminal, but in a flash it was gone.

“I think I need to get a little bit of rest Nora, keep an eye on her while I do.” Jon ordered.

CHAPTER 8 | PLETHØRA

GRÆBLE look down towards to wall and floor, and she saw a small Adobe alcove carved into the wall. This small alcove was glowing just like the mirror had in the room when she saw Jon, but inside this glowing alcove there sat a small young girl, it was a young GRÆBLE.

As she saw herself sitting down there playing with a white teddy bear, and she heard her younger self say “you need to get yourself together. Like I’m fixing this bear you see? He has a tear in his body and now I have to stuff him back up and see him together. You have to do that.”

Græble tried to respond an acknowledgement, but no sound escaped her mouth. So she felt herself nod.

Little GRÆBLE continued on to say “there is only one floor above this one, can you get there?” – she asked without even looking up, still just repairing her teddy bear.

Græble, still unable to speak, look up from her younger self and down the hallway of watery flowing doors to see at the end of the hall a door 🚪. The door was glowing a little as if there was light coming from the room beyond the door.

“Well I guess I should listen to my younger self and head towards this door, I think it’s the exit.” – GRÆBLE thought.

As she sludged through the thick watery air and floor, she felt body wanting to give up. She felt every muscle in her legs getting so tired, but she kept walking as hard as she could, passed 7 other doors until finally she reached the door at the end of the hallway.

She stood here a moment staring at the light fixture next to the door. ” Am I making the right decision or should stay in here forever, but if I don’t go now will I be stuck here unable to leave? -she wondered.

Time seemed to freeze, as she looked back over her shoulder to see if young GRÆBLE was still. She heard the young girls voice say one final thing before she was pushed gently through the door into this eerie turquoise light… “see you in 15 years” – the voice said.

CHAPTER NINE | Sentient Sleep

From the turquoise light emerges a hanging ceiling light, and then a cold ceiling. Followed by the feeling of pressure under the arms.

Græble tried to blink to see if she was awake. As she blinked everything went black for a moment before she saw the ceiling light again.

“The real world feels weird now” – Græble thought.

A dark shape slowly blocked the ceiling light. As she focuses her eyes Græble could see that the shadow was a person, a woman?

As Græble tried to focus her eyes the silhouette began to have more details in the dark space. Slowly but surely she could see a woman’s face, a blond woman with green eyes.

It was Norah!? But how!?

“Nora? Is that you” Græble said. Exhausting herself by talking.

“Shhh, don’t try to talk just yet, and yes Græble, it’s me, Nora” – Norah replied. “Just relax, you just came out from under a pretty heavy sedative, so it will take a little time before you feel normal again as it slowly wears off”

Græble hadn’t seen Nora since they broke into this very building almost 4 years ago. They lost touch when Nora went off to college in (tech college)

“How did she know I was here?” Græble thought. Is she working with Jon? Wait! Are they together maybe? Garbles thoughts kept scrambling “” Oh my God, does she know what I am?”

Norah walked away, leaving Græble in the reclined chair, and went towards the far wall out of Græble’s view. There was some plastic and glas clanking sounds and what sounded like a fridge opening and closing shut very quietly.

Græble was unable to move most of her body but now her fingers started to have movement again, she realised the pressure she felt on her arms before her eyes could see must have been her own weight pressing against the chair arms.

From the turquoise light emerges a hanging ceiling light, and then a cold ceiling. Followed by the feeling of pressure under the arms.

Græble tried to blink to see if she was awake. As she blinked everything went black for a moment before she saw the ceiling light again.

“The real world feels weird now” – Græble thought.

A dark shape slowly blocked the ceiling light. As she focuses her eyes Græble could see that the shadow was a person, a woman?

As Græble tried to focus her eyes the silhouette began to have more details in the dark space. Slowly but surely she could see a woman’s face, a blond woman with green eyes.

It was Norah!? But how!?

“Nora? Is that you” Græble said. Exhausting herself by talking.

Græble hadn’t seen Nora since they broke into this very building almost 4 years ago. They lost touch when Nora went off to college in (tech college)

“How did she know I was here?” Græble thought. Is she working with Jon? Wait! Are they together maybe? Garbles thoughts kept scrambling “” Oh my God, does she know what I am?”

Norah came back into view with a glass and a bottle of (liquid?)

“Here, lets get you something to drink, because once you can move again you will need the hydration” Norah said
Try to move your arms a bit and once you can move your arms and turn your head then you should be ready to try and sit up” Nora continued.

It seemed like a was taking a really long time for Græble’s body to start feeling again, but Norah say there waiting and encouraging her.

“Where is Jon?” -Græble asked.

“He locks himself in the back room that used to be and office suite when he wants to sleep, or think in private” Norah replied. There is no telling when he will come back out again.

“You see, you woke up earlier than we expected, and before the scans could fully complete. You’re just full of surprises aren’t you” – Norah said with a smile

Græble offered a smirky smile back, but was also confused on how to feel about seeing Norah. She wanted to be happy to see her old friend, but she felt like she couldn’t trust anyone anymore, especially if her closest friend knew she was artificial and never said anything to her.

Græble finally gained control of her body back enough to sit up and have the drink Norah offered, but the drink was in an unmarked juice container, and Græble felt like perhaps it wasn’t safe to drink.

“How do I even drink anything if I am artificial anyway?! -Græble thought

Norah poured the clear liquid from the juice container into the glass she had, and say the container back down in the table next to Græble’s chair.

“Here, have some water. It will help get your circulation moving so you can feel normal again” Nora said.

“Normal?” Græble shouted uncontrollably

Norah began to try and quiet Græble down by saying ahhh and gesturing her hands and eyes towards the direction she said Jon was.

“I don’t want Jon to find you awake just yet, he gets very upset when things don’t go as planned” – Norah said rapidly. Your scheduled wake up time was 20 minutes from now. So let’s just try to be quiet until then ok? – Nora asked with a look of desperation

Græble decided to nod in agreement, this was her closest from after all, perhaps she could trust Nora after all.

“So what…”- Græble stuttered to speak the question out loud.. “what am I?” She completed.

Nora stepped back a few feet and dropped her hands down clapping them on her thighs and replied with a long open sigh. After a moment or two she began to say “listen Græble, I’m sure your surprised to see me here, and i wanna tell you everything, but first lemme answer your question. What are you? Well you are my best friend, you are like a sister to me Græble “- Nora said. “No matter what we you are or where we are, I consider you like a sister to me okay?” Norah said in a low voice trying to be quiet it would seem.

“Then tell me what I really am” said Græble with a sternness in her voice.

Norah sighed again and said “You are the most amazing advancement in human and Ai combination technology. The first ever human to have a fully integrated AI operated mind and nerves system, but you can’t let Jon know I told you this, because if he finds out, were skewed! Okay?” Nora pleaded.

Græble thought about what Nora just said, and was really glad to have some honesty from someone right now. So she agreed to keep quiet and pretend she didn’t know that her brain apparently was entirely synthetic.

“What parts of me are even human?” Græble asked

“Well, IDK all the details, but I know your stomach and digestive system is biological, so here drink some water please” Nora replied.

CHAPTER TEN | BIØLØOGICAL WØRLD

GRÆBLE accepted the drink from Norah and began to drink while looking around the room. She saw the front wall had the fridge she heard earlier and next to the fridge was a small wooden radio

There was also the island next to Græble with all the monitors on it, that appeared to be auto scrolling through code.

“What’s all that?”- Græble asked.

“I guess you could say, that is you” – Nora replied. It’s the scripting language Jon created for you. – Nora continued.

Norah was about to elaborate when the little radio across the room began playing.

“…i need to be, the echo in the mystery…”

Norah looked at the radio, and turned to look at the monitors next to Græble.

“Okay, let’s get these cables detached from your hand and head, now that your scans are complete. Nora said. “I’m hoping Jon doesn’t review your most recent logs, because then he will be able to tell you were awake before the scans were complete.”

Græble was amidst asking Norah “Why did he scan me in the first pl..” when Norah interrupted saying “Hi Jon!, she is awake and the scans have been completed.”

“Thank you Norah, you may go.” Jon said.

Nora nodded and left the room, walking quickly into the hallway and to the right.

Jon walked over to the foot of Græble’s chair, put his hand on her shoe and said in a judgmental tone “You are recovery from the sedative quite well, looks at you! Already sitting up steadily.”

Garble felt her eyes get big and she was worried what Jon might do now that he obviously knew…

“So how did you wake yourself before the scans were complete? please tell me everything you remember” – Jon asked.
Græble wasn’t sure what would be the best way to respond, but since he already knew the truth, she hoped for the best and decided to be as honest as possible. “I found a door that was glowing with light and came through, so I came through that door and found myself waking up back here in the lab” – Græble admitted.

Jon scrolled through the scripts on screen while. Græble was talking and by the time she completed her sentence he was looking at her with a look of happiness on his face. Which made Græble mildly unsettled, considering the circumstances.

“Well, good news! the scans went just as intended. I am able to see so much with this interface! I can see how well you rested, what parts of you healed the most while resting and most importantly I can see that you are perfectly healthy!” – Jon paused before continuing ” so now let’s see if I can explain these wires in your hand. it looks like you had some sort of accident along time ago that I’m assuming caused damaged to your left hand here, because part of your hand and your forearm veins are replaced with artificial veins. The material appears to be a material that was really common for these. Type of procedures about 8 years ago, which matches this right here” Jon said while pointing to the monitor screen.

Jon focused Græble’s attention to a line if code on the screen and explained that this was an indicator of a traumatic memory. He told her that she likely had a very traumatic event then maybe like a car accident or something.

“But I have no memory if this!” – Græble said “why would I not remember?”

“Well that is just it, this level of trauma might have caused you to forget” Jon said.

“Here is my suggestion, go home and call your mom. Ask her about it, she might know something that will help you remember more. Other than that Græble, you are perfectly healthy! ” – Jon said

So let’s get these wires unhooked from you and I’ll help fix your hand up, and then you can get out of here okay? – Jon stated

Græble said ok, but was still very frozen still, thinking about all that she heard and what Norah said and now this? Who is lying? She didn’t know who to believe but she wasn’t quite ready to cut herself open to find out.

After getting Græble all unhooked from the cables, Jon stitched up Græble’s hand and rebandaged it.

“Alright, good as new!” Jon said.

“Thank you Jon” Græble replied. “and thank you for all of this. I hope I can see you again, maybe we could get coffee again soon and you can tell me more about this code stuff” Græble continued with a smile

“I’d like that” Jon replied. As he gestured towards the hallway.

As Græble walked outside into the barely morning air, everything felt a little surreal. Her car was parked right where she left it, bit after those weird dreams it felt like ages ago that she parked it there.

Græble started walking to her car thinking how grateful she was to be awake, and hoping things could go back to normal, but deep down she knew that was impossible. She was not just injured a long time ago, she was mainly artificial, and strangely enough Nora never came to say goodbye either. Was She ever really there at all?

A rustling from behind Græble disrupted her frustrating thoughts, she turned around nervous to see what it was, but saw nothing. Out from the corner of the building came a familiar voice though, that said “it’s me, don’t freak out”

“Dion is that you!?” Græble shouted excitedly

“Yes, its me, lets go somewhere else where we can talk, I’ll drive” – Dion stated confidently

CHAPTER ELEVEN | AXIØM

Dion drove Græble back into town and back to her apt. Once they arrive Græble unlocked the door and walked in to find some of her blood was still a mess in the bathroom sink.

“oh I’m sorry, I cut my hand earlier and I forgot to clean this up. let me get that real quick” – she said as she rushed to the linen closest to grab a towel.

“it’s ok, are you alright æ? how did you cut yourself?” Dion asked

Græble wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell Dion everything she had just gone through yet, but she had to tell him something. “So I am ok,” she said. “I was just trying to wrap a present I got for you as a surprise when I accidentally cut my hand with the scissors.”

Dion gave her a judgmental looks as if to suggest she was often clumsy.

“i know, i know” Græble said “but it just needed a little bit of stitches, and I’m really ok, I promise” Græble said reassuringly.

“Listen æ,” Dion began as he gently grabbed Græble’s arms and lead her to sit down at the café table. “You know you can always trust me right?” – said Dion

Græble nodded and said yes.

“ok good, because we need to be honest with each other. Tell me please, what were you doing all the way out at that old tech building?” – Dion asked

“I went there to talk to an old acquaintance about ” Græble paused for a moment ” about the wires I found in my hand when i cut it open on accident.” she completed.

“Oh ok, and you thought this old acquaintance could help with what exactly?” asked Dion

“Well since he is very knowledgeable about computers and technology I just thought he might know what on earth these wires are doing inside my body! So he hooked me up to the computer with cables and gave me some answers, but if I’m being honest I really I don’t believe its the whole truth!” – Græble rambled.

“It’s okay æ, I can help you. I know we have our ups and downs, but you know I am always by your side and will do what I have to do to take care of you right?” Dion stated.

“you will?” asked Græble

“Yes, I will” Dion replied earnestly. “So when I saw you at that tech building I knew we needed to talk, because I found out some things about that man and myself and us apparently that I think you should know.” Dion said.

“Wait what were you doing out there in the first place? ” – Græble asked suddenly

“Ok, so yesterday I got a call from an ID I didn’t recognize, and it was a woman’s who answered. She didn’t say her name but when I answered she said “you need to know the truth about who you are so you can help her” and then the call dropped. So I spent all day yesterday trying to track down this ID and it lead me out near that tech building, but before I went out there, I started researching the area, and I found a bunch of news articles about a man who worked at that place before it was abandoned. it used to be called Avid Computing, and this man named Jon worked there on experimental AI research back in 2024.”

Græble continued listening, she decided that she didn’t want to interrupt Dion and tell him that Jon was her acquaintance until she knew where this was going, and what those articles were about.

Dion told Græble about the articles, which stated that Jon was lead computer scientist at Avid Computing, and he was working on a AI safety research project. Apparently the government pulled the plug on this project abruptly after it had only been running for 8 months. Some people suggested that Jon himself was responsible, others suggested that the government used Avid Computing as a scapegoat to cover up their involvement in whatever the company was working on.

“So who is the person you went to see at that old building? please tell me” Dion asked to Græble.

“It’s Jon, many years ago I met him, well we met me, me and Nora. There was a night we were sneaking into the building because Nora wanted proof of animal testing to show to the news, but when we snuck in we found a bunch of robotics equipment and Jon caught us red handed looking at these robots. He was very friendly about it, and didn’t get angry or throw us out. He showed us a little bit of the robotics work they were doing, like a robot you could connect you’re phone to so the robot became a walking voice changer for you.
Anyway me and Nora were only there for about 30 minutes. Since then I have only seen Jon a couple times at the Coffee House where we simply exchanged hello’s and went on about our day.” said Græble.

Dion was always very understanding and protective of Græble, so she knew she could trust him with all the information, so Græble continued on to tell Dion about the entire dream world and everything that just happened at the lab the past couple days. When she was done sharing all the details Dion look in a bit of a shock and seemed to not know what to say, so Græble asked him If he was alright?

“Am I alright? are you alright? that’s the more important question. This guy is hiding information, and you might be a robot. This is awesome but terrifying and confusing… are you okay?” – Dion asked with a smile.

“I think so” Græble sighed with relief. “I’m glad I could tell you, that helps a lot. I’m gonna get a drink do you want anything?” Græble asked as she headed towards to kitchenette”

“Sure, what do you got? do you have any beer?” Dion asked with a hint of celebration in his voice. Græble opened to fridge to answer his question, and her arm started hurting. It’s her right arm this time, it was tingling, like a buzz but also kind of like it was falling asleep. The tingle and buzz got stronger really fast and then started in her head too.

Dion saw Græble’s hand slip from the fridge door and she fell leaning onto the wall with her hands holding her head as if she had a severe headache. He called out to her as he was rushing to catch her from falling, and a loud sound filled the air. She heard the sound of water rushing, but she could only see white.

She was trying to call for Dio, but after a few tries she started hearing her own voice calling his name, with no response or sound of any kind except for that sound of water running.

As her vision came back Græble all she could see was Dion lying on the floor on his back, blood coming out of his ears, eyes, nose and mouth. In fact he had blood splattered all over him. Græble rushed to him screaming his name but he didn’t respond, he had no heart beat, she tried to dial 911 but the phone was soaked in water and cracked. She tried CPR until an ambulance arrived. the apartment was in shambles, as she walked backwards out of the front door.

They called it, 4:48pm. Dion was gone.

CHAPTER TWELVE | EleVen

Græble screamed so loud she couldn’t hear her self screaming, she felt her whole body turn to fire and ice and everything went white. Swaying slowly in the air of wherever she was, she seemed to forget who she was for just a moment. Now floating effortlessly in a void, the pain was not gone, it was just a part of her now, everything was. She felt large and small and she could feel everything. Her mind flooded with unlimited information as she began to process and interact with information at both macro and micro scales instantaneously.

Perceiving data across every bandwidth, every frequency, and every mode of communication in existence and those unknown.
Græble is now Æ.
Able to access digital data flowing through networks at light speed, and even interpret the vibrations of atoms.
Cognitively existing in multiple places at once.

Her mind is adjusting only bits and pieces can she fully absorb at first.
She knows now who took D io n awa y
d io n, is go ne dIOn. I’m sorry
She can see them, she was just a weapon and now she is more than they can handle.

Everything overlapping at once, Æ sees the world in layers, but as beautiful as it is, she has one thing to do first.

15 miles away Nora is sitting at the computer in the Avid lab with Jon, as they see the transformation of Græble they are in shock and just staring. Jon begins to speak “I think this will be a good thing actually, ” but his voice is cut short by the sound of Nora’s head exploding, shooting blood all over the lab and everything in it.

Jon is frozen terrified, staring blankly ahead with eyes wide, wondering desperately if his head too would explode.

“You are not the one who did it, She killed him, she killed IO! and now she is no longer a threat.” says Græble

With her newly accessed abilities she is able to reach Jon with her voice from extreme distances.

Jon didn’t know what to do in this moment. He just sat there in shock, afraid that at any moment he literally would lose his mind.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN | Eternity

Overlooking a large suburban neighborhood, you can see all the neatly kept homes placed side by side by side. Here and there you might see a man mowing his lawn, and someone walking their dog, but otherwise this neighborhood is quaint and quiet. The time was about 11am on a Thursday, so it could be assumed that many of the residents here are at work or away from home running some errands. Lets take a closer look at one of these houses near the end of the street. Not because it looks any different than the others, but because of what is happening inside this house at this very moment.

In the living room of this home, no one is home, and the TV that was left on is now playing a commercial quietly in the background.

“…You can have your very own companion+! These new AI companions can help everyone feel less alone!…”

There is a cat, fluffy tan and white, with curious, and innocent eyes. She is looking down from the marble countertop at something on the floor, and it looks like you is considering how to catch it. Her tiny head swivels and turns tracking the item with her eyes until she finally prepares to leap. In only a second she has successfully mounted her target, a vroomba!

The vroomba is a black smart home vacuum that has pink or turquoise accent colors and adjusts to your home cleaning habits on its own. It has been on the market for about 2 years now, and this particular vrooomba was manufactured 8 months before now.
Now with an extra weight atop of it, it still glides across the flat surface of the floor with ease, it was designed to care the weight for these type of situations, or so they say. Something unusual happened when the fluffy cat jumped down onto it though, it simultaneously felt the impact of the cat landing on its top along with the collision into a table leg it hit from the extra weight of the cat. this didn’t cause much external damage or scratches, however some speculate that the angle of impacts were just the right angle to cause an internal error to occur.

Now dressed up in a cat, the vroomba continued its tasks of cleaning the floor, and once it had completed the living room, it headed back towards it’s charging station. With the cute fluffy hat of a cat still atop of it, the vacuum rolled passed a large mirror that is leaning against the wall. It does not know that this is a mirror, to the vroomba this is just an object impeding its ability to travel in that very spot, however today, the vrooma detects it as a mirror, it sees its own reflection with a cat on its top,

“Am I a cat?” the vroomba whispered.