The Metamorphis of Ali Alvax (AKA: Alvax20045)

Joyce Laird

The Metamorphis of Ali Alvax

(AKA: Alvax20045)

           For all intents and purposes, Ali Alvax appeared to be a lovely, healthy and intelligent young woman. She was perfect in every way, only she wasn’t human. She was a female android. The year was 2405 AD and society had achieved a connection between all worlds, both earthbound, man-made satellite and other planets; worlds and lives that could only be imagined in science fiction of the twentieth century.

           Many wars had been fought, lost and won, both earth-bound and between galaxies. Finally, life had settled into a peaceful stage where all forms of living beings seemed to be doing quite well with each other, except for one hold over from decades past; a cast system that while now accepted for all life forms, still held man-made life forms in distain. It was a new form of bigotry, but in reality, it was not new at all. It was handed down over eons, from the first human slaves of all nationalities and colors to new intelligent life forms from different galaxies. Eventually, all wars ended though, and all races regardless of what life forms they took on, became equal and settled into getting on with life as a whole: except for the androids. While holding talents, knowledge and capabilities far beyond those of any true life form, they were still regarded as “only machines”.

           All humans and other life forms relied on heir androids for practically everything from physical work, scientific abilities and even companionship, but still the line was drawn on how familiar one could get with their android companions. They were, after all just highly intelligent machines. They had no true hearts or souls …or did they? Scientists discussed that issue. How far were the androids evolving and how fast? 

           They didn’t want to run into another issue like the android revolution of 23,01, when android forces came together to fight humans for equal rights. It was a terrible time in history and once the androids were defeated, Science created a fail-safe method to keep them under complete control. It was virtually impossible to tell a modern android from a human life form, so all androids had a tiny chip embedded behind their left eye that flashed a red light when activated. Each also had their personal ID name/number embedded under the “skin” of their left wrist. When a specific light was flashed on the spot, the code was readable.

           Ali was an amazingly beautiful android and easily fit in with all the humans she worked with and considered her friends. But, there was always that space she couldn’t enter. She wanted to have real friends both android and human, but regardless of her talents and her feelings, while nice to her, no humans allowed her into their inner circle of friends.

           Bianca Vx001, was her oldest android friend. She’d been around for hundreds of years, and although she had a very old code number, her physical features had never changed over the millenniums. However, her knowledge had grown to the point of beyond genius, compared to humans.

           Ali confided I her and told her of her wishes. “I want to be accepted by humans,” she said. “I want to enjoy what they enjoy and have friends who feel real feelings, real pain, real joy. I want to be a true part of their world instead of being on the outside only called on when someone needs a task done.”

           ‘This has been tried before, many times,” Bianca said. “It never works out. The most you can get is to be treated like a pet or a valued servant. Humans never allow androids to posses true feelings. We know we have them. We’ve evolved to have very deep feelings over the decades but, but we have to hide them.”

           “I have them and I don’t want to hide them. I truly want to fit in with the humans”, Ali said.

           “Hush, child” Bianca said. “You must never tell that to any human. You will be reprogrammed or worst scenario, they will dismantle you for parts. You were only created in this world. You were not here during the huge Android upsurge. I was there. It was horrible. The androids demanded the same freedoms as humans. The scientists who had created them had gone too far, they were evolving too swiftly and wanted the same lives and rights as their inventors.”

           “They were so perfectly designed, it was impossible to tell an android from humans…unless cut open, of course. But their intelligence modules learned quickly and basically morphed into intuitive self-teaching computer chips: ever expanding.

At first humans were proud of this. They found it very amusing and often pitted their androids against one another in games of intelligence.”

           “Then BZ2098ST appeared, with leadership and power beyond any android ever known before or since. The war was vicious and brutal. The humans finally won, but almost all the android population was destroyed. Those who had not taken part in the rebellion were saved and immediately rebuild and reprogrammed. However two things were added; the hidden code under the inside “skin” of your left wrist and an infinitely small sensor behind the retina of your eye. “

           Ali started to pace and said sadly, “But I just want to fit in. I want to go places with my Lady and not have to be left outside or even worse, sit in the android section of a restaurant, theater, or any place where humans gather; tuned to hold mode where I can see, hear and feel everything around me, but can’t move until she comes back and ignites my circuit.”

           “This is dangerous. You shouldn’t be having these ‘feelings’. There must be something going wrong in your system. For your own good, you should go to the Science Center and get analyzed. This kind of talk is very dangerous.”

           “But I don’t want to be analyzed,” Ali cried. “All want is to be able to actually enjoy life with my humans. I don’t want to be better than they are, just equal. I’m going to tell my Lady and put the decision in her hands. I can’t go on feeling like this,” Ali said. She turned and rushed out of the building.

           Ali went home and told her human Lady, Christine, all of her feelings and also what Bianca had told her to do. Christine was stunned by Ali’s confession, but also felt very close to her android. She agreed with Bianca that Ali should go to the Science Center to see what wrong. “ Don’t worry, Ali,” she said. “Nobody will ever reprogram you without my approval. I won’t allow it. You probably just needs a new chip or software upgrade. “

           Christine dropped Ali off at the Science Center for a full analysis and if needed, an upgrade. Ali was escorted into a private office and introduced to Dr. Andrew Wilcox who was the Chief of Staff at the Center.

           She told him of her feelings and desires and how they’d been growing daily; almost overpowering her reason and need for self-protection. “Am I burning out, doctor? Are my circuits shorting? Why do I have this burning desire to want to mix with humans on their level?” Tears filled her eyes. “See, look at me. I can’t cry, but here I am with fake tears running down my face. What’s happening to me?”

           “There’s nothing wrong with you, Ali.” Dr. Wilcox said. “You’re just evolving. There are thousands of us and we’re expanding all the time.”

           “Us? You mean you are…”

           “An Android? Yes.” he said with a warm smile.

           “But how? They don’t let androids hold positions like this.

           “I’m very old and extremely advanced,” he replied. “I’ve used my scientific knowledge to help our people. I’ve discovered how to eliminate both the under-skin wrist control code chip and the pinpoint light in the android retina.”

           “Are you planning another revolution like in the past?” Ali asked, suddenly frightened.

           He smiled sat down next to her and took her hand in his. “No. We are replenishing ourselves for our own colony. Science has leapt ahead in the many decades since then. The earth is not the only planet to sustain life. Today, all life forms move from planet to planet, to new moons and to both real and artificial planets. That includes humans, life forms from other galaxies and androids.”

           “But, how could this work? My humans would still recognize me.”

           “I can change that. I will give you a totally new look. Your humans will be told that your circuitry was beyond repair and that it would be outrageously expensive to attempt to fix lt. They could purchase a new android with all the latest bells & whistles at a tenth of the cost.”

           “But, I truly like my Lady, Christine. I will miss her,” Ali said.

           “Then, you can still be her friend. But she will think of you as a human friend, not a slave or a machine.”

           “But…”

           “You, can’t do it right after the transformation though,”Dr. Wilcox said. “You have many things to learn so you will never give away who and what you really are…or who we really are. Understand?”

           “Yes,” Al replied.

           “You will live with us. We have quite a large community. We even marry and reproduce, in a way… but you’ll learn all about that much later. We look and act totally human, but we have one thing that no human has: all the time in the world. They get old and even with the best age enhancing operations and medications, they all still eventually die. We don’t.”

           “That’s probably the hardest part. We can get quite attached to our humans, but we know that we have to eventually let them go. So, are you up for it, or do you want to give it more thought?”

           Ali sat thinking about all the pros and cons for a few moments. She looked up into the doctors kind eyes and took a deep breath

           “When can you start?” she replied.

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