Apples of Eden

He woke up to the blinding light irritating his eyes. The cold steel of a morgue table touched his skin, but he didn't flinch. He didn't feel. His mind strained to connect to his body that almost froze onto the surface. Memories were gone.

He tried to sit. His eyes gained focus and now stared at a man in the white robe.

"I am Doctor Ferguson," the man said, his gaze sharp and appraising, perfectly fitting the chilling atmosphere of the room.

"Who am I?"

The voice that emerged was clumsy and foreign, as if it hadn't been used for quite some time. The sound bounced off the sterile walls and settled into silence, leaving the question to hang in the air.

"You can stand up now. Other details will be given later. The clothing is in the drawer. Dress up and follow me."

He wanted to ask something else, but the fleeting spark of confusion and fear vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving him unsure whether he felt anything at all.

He obeyed mechanically. Doctor Ferguson led him to a large hall filled with people—men and women—dressed like him, wearing the same expression, as if what was happening had nothing to do with them.

"I welcome you all today."

The voice, amplified by a microphone, disturbed the space, drawing attention. He reached for the sound. The woman stood on the balcony a good ten meters above them, which created the illusion of superiority and significance.

"My name is Doctor Enid Wills, and I'm here to clear any confusion you may have. You are all part of an experiment my team and I began to offer people like you a second chance. That said, I must inform you that your previous life ended due to a tragic accident. Your brain activity ceased. Engineers and doctors in our labs developed chips containing artificial intelligence. They were implanted into your brain and now keep you alive. But like any great gift, this one came with a price: your feelings and memories. But don't worry, now, you are a pure, beautiful intellect. This is your fresh start…"

Her speech was interrupted by a scream. He turned and witnessed two guards dragging a crying girl toward the exit. He seemed to be the only one bothered; however, in a split second, all he was experiencing disappeared and his attention once again was consumed by the speech. Behind him, Ferguson wrote something down in his notebook.

Wills continued as if nothing had happened. "You will stay in the center until your newly wired brain fully integrates. Our doctors will give you your personal files and guide you to the medical facilities for necessary procedures and assessments."

He followed the crowd to the door and received his file. The name was 'Ebenezer.' It seeped into his mind, reforming into a short and distantly familiar "Ben."

"Ben!" it echoed painfully in his temples as if called by someone long forgotten but no less dear. His mind fought itself the entire way to the ward and only surrendered after the procedures were done.

"From now on, you must come for an injection every morning at 8 a.m. and again at 8 p.m.," Doctor Ferguson instructed. His words raised no questions or concerns.

They were dismissed to their rooms. But for Ben, that night was restless. Hours later, a voice returned, haunting hidden corners of his consciousness. He got up and moved to the door. A sound behind it sparked a faint curiosity—this time enough for him to follow a shadow into the restricted parts of the center.

In a quiet, empty corridor, Doctor Ferguson moved swiftly, carrying his secrets in a heavy briefcase. He nervously looked around.

The doctor stopped in front of one of the closed doors. His usually confident, sharp movements were now infected by a barely noticeable tremor as he opened it. He entered, and after a while, returned. His expression softened with relief.

The room was left unattended, and Ben sneaked closer. In a narrow glass pane he saw a girl. She wasn't crying anymore—just calmly sat on the floor drawing an apple tree with her bright, colorful crayons. The girl looked up, as if she sensed someone's persisting gaze. And before he knew it, he asked, "Why are you here?"

"I was curious."

A cold chill swept through Ben. His body remembered the sticky feeling of fear.

"If you are curious too, find the key."

He wanted to ask which key and where to find it, but the girl already shifted her attention back to the drawing like he didn't even exist anymore and started quietly humming a song.

The next morning, he did as instructed. After the procedure, the memory of the night began to dissolve in his mind and nothing was troubling him anymore. The prickling feeling returned near the time of the second injection, and this time, he took it seriously. Ben snuck a pen from the doctor's desk and wrote a single sentence on his arm: "Find the key."

He started after the curfew, listening to every sound, diligently avoiding the cameras. He didn't know he was being watched.

Suddenly, the corridor lights turned on. If Ben had all his feelings back, he would have probably jumped out of his skin, but the numbness was still in control, dulling the panic. Though each moment of raw emotion rattled something loose in his mind. He lunged into the nearest room. It was unlocked—as if someone had left it open for him. What he saw next imprinted in his memory, giving horror a clear image in his mind. The image of frozen people in big, jar-looking containers. They were tangled with tubes full of liquids of unknown nature. In two of them, he recognized the guards who dragged the girl from the hall. The last drops of numbness were gone under the wave of pure human fear, covering him from head to toes. He backed toward the door when one of the containers reflected another person. Doctor Ferguson. Ben instantly turned around. The doctor's fists were tightly clenched.

"You should not be here."

Ben's feet grew into solid concrete under him. He wanted to say something, but could only mumble unintelligibly. He followed the doctor's gaze to the table full of scalpels and other sharp medical tools.

"But since you are already here," Ferguson continued slowly, "I will give you what you came for."

And with a confident movement, he reached for one of the tools. Ben froze. But then the doctor proceeded to accurately twist and turn it until it transformed into something that resembled a key.

"If you want something to stay hidden, hide it in plain sight." He smirked, happy with his clever ruse, while Ben's soul almost left his body.

"This is my master key. You can use it now."

"Why… Why are you…"

"I know what you think. Why is he helping me, it will ruin the work of his life?" It wasn't necessarily what Ben thought, but he decided not to interrupt. They moved to the cabinet further down the hall.

"I was so proud of the code I've written that I didn't notice the fatal flaw in the algorithm till it got too late. My pride was silencing the doubts with blind belief that I can fix it anytime." Ferguson retrieved documents from the safe with great care, holding them like a precious dream, with warmth and regret.

"But when it was about time to stop this madness, it turned out I couldn't. And who do I have to blame? The machine for taking commands literally? No. To choose otherwise, it would need to have consciousness, and that's way more complicated than a bunch of protocols, even well-written. The responsibility is on me, and I am trying to make things right for both of us, me and Eve. For now, I helped her break the loop. But the system still needs to be rebooted. It's crucial. Now let's get some evidence." He handed Ben a bunch of papers.

One of them looked like an advertisement; the words were promising a miracle. "Med Center Eden. Prosthetics, organ transplants, treatments for severe physical and mental illness using revolutionary AI-robotics technology, developed in our labs with strong faith in a better future. We offer a second chance to live the life you've always dreamed of." Another page held diagrams of robot limbs and organs. All were carefully designed, showing the creator fond of their work. Ben flipped until he found a file labeled "Project: Eve."

Now he finally plucked up the courage and asked, "Who is Eve? And why… me?"

The sound of approaching steps stopped the doctor from answering.

"Damn it! Hide!" Ferguson hissed nervously. His body tensed.

Ben dove into a nearby closet just as Wills entered.

"What are you doing here?"

"I am out," Ferguson said, slanting his eyes a little toward the closet, where Ben was watching through a thin slit. "You need to stop this madness. Or I will inform the authorities."

"What are you talking about? We started it together. It was our dream." Wills's voice filled with disbelief. He had always been her most trusted ally, an old friend who supported her through the toughest times. And now when they were so close to success… He must be joking.

But he persisted, "That dream is long gone, and what is happening here has gotten out of control."

"We mean no harm. We are helping them." It was clear his statement shook her.

"Helping them?" He repeated mockingly, "Chemically suppressing their feelings and calling it salvation? Is it no harm? And this, your obsession with 'pure, beautiful intellect.' What is it?"

"Yes, we are indeed helping them," she repeated, annoyed. "They came here on their own if you don't remember. They were miserable. We gave them a life worth living, with no suffering, no mistakes. Who, if not you, knows that the technology is still under development? For God's sake, you are part of the development. We just need more time. More experiments. For the greater good. Imagine: no war, no loss, no crime, no evil..."

"No love, no pleasure, no joy." He finished her sentence for her. "They didn't come to be experimented on. And what do we give them? Existence? Plain, worthless existence with no choice? Perfect, Enid. Sounds like a dream." His voice was laced with sarcasm.

"We take their pain away. Isn't it something everyone wants?" The crack of doubt squeaked in Wills's voice.

"With this price? Who would want to pay it? They can't be happy; they can't feel. How don't you see it? You give them no choice!" Ferguson kept pushing, hoping to extend the crack.

"People make wrong choices daily. And I give them the perfect world. They will learn to appreciate it." Wills took her usual objectionable tone.

"Appreciate?" He smirked bitterly. "I know what it is all about. You can't take feelings from everyone else to fill the void. They won't follow your order. They are humans; it's in their nature. Unlike her. I am sorry for your loss. But your grief blinded you. Your daughter, your Eve, is gone, and no machine designed to look like her, programmed to be her, will change it. You should stop living in illusions, and face what you've done."

"She means no harm. It's in her code," she said, surrendering.

Ferguson's face relaxed a bit—he did it. He convinced her. "It means nothing without humanity. How can compassion exist without emotion?" He turned toward the door. "I give you time until morning."

Wills opened a drawer, took out a gun, and shot Ferguson in the back, performing one action after another as if she was always ready to do it, with no hesitation. Carefully lifting a picture of her holding a girl whose face Ben couldn't quite pick, Wills continued, "No one will take my girl from me." She came closer to Ferguson and leaned over him, making sure he got every word.

"If it was your child, you would understand, although you were always scared of the progress. See? Eve would never do it. She would never harm anyone. It's in her code to make people happy. And even better, she has no emotions which would lead to breaking these rules. In the end of the day, we chose the right path. Yet you decided to betray it."

She straightened to her full height and spoke louder: "That little performance in the hall? I thought it was a bug in the system. But it was you, wasn't it? Trying to sabotage my work."

Ferguson's chest rose one last time, and he never moved again.

"You are indeed out, Ferguson. This is... what you wanted, right? A new chance? Here is where your choices led you."

Wills made a call and left the cabinet. Ben couldn't believe what he had just seen. His body froze, his eyes filled with tears; he was trembling. He got out and approached Ferguson's still body. In his pocket, Ben noticed a small notebook the doctor had always on him.

"The development goes well. Enid and I are working day and night. Project 'Eden'! We weren't this excited since we first got the idea. I am hopeful to start mass production in the nearest future.

…The work had to be paused. Enid is petrified. Her daughter, Eve, was shot in the store robbery. I don't know how to help her. Can it even be helped? She blames herself… She seems to be losing it...

…She wants to build a robot, the twin of her daughter. It raises moral concerns, but how can I turn my grieving friend down? I don't believe it will work, though, but at least it filled her with purpose. Our dream is being postponed further. Now all our efforts are being put into Project 'Eve.'

…We did it! We built her, she is indistinguishable!

…I worked on her protocols myself, and they seem to work, but the execution…

After being trained on raw data, 'Eve' wants to make people 'happy' by erasing their memories and feelings, and Enid seems to be fine with it. They reopened the center to test their new drug. By promising the cure for all the problems, they lure people in… I can't tolerate it any longer. I have to do something.

… Enid still trusts me, so I was lucky enough to change Eve's algorithm a bit, and it seems to fix the issue. But I have very little time before the program resets and we will be trapped in the loop. I feel sick thinking that all of my effort will go to waste... Stupid safety protocol. Sometimes I hate my resourcefulness. A little performance in the hall cost two guards their freedom. Now they are part of the experiment too. Wills is losing her sanity trying to 'protect' Eve.

… I need help. Eve tested this guy, Ben, and found him… interesting. Something about his brain chemistry that makes him almost immune.

I saw it myself. The guy fights for his identity fiercely… He will be of help. Eve said he can be trusted, and I believe her…"

Ben's cheeks were wet with tears.

"The kid. I need to find her." He forced his body to obey, and on shaking legs, he ran.

His aching body was protesting, but he made it to the room and shouted, "We have to get out of here. Now!"

Just like before, the girl was sitting on the floor and drawing. She had no reaction. Not even the slightest muscle movement, not a single shift in expression. Her apple tree was growing on the paper, bright and colorful, just like the last time he saw her. She looked like a painting herself, still and foreign in this dull room. Something felt off, almost grotesque in this scene.

"I can't. I belong here."

"What do you mean? Your parents must be looking for you. We should get going." Ben's panic was rising from the depth of his chest. Something was off.

"I belong here. My mom is here."

The realization struck him.

"Who are you talking about? What is your name?"

She got up and moved to the corridor.

"Happiness is the biggest desire of any human, yet people tend to destroy what they have. It is not rational. Therefore, irrationality is the root cause of the suffering. It follows from emotion. If it's removed, the world will become flawless. Ebenezer. This is your name. Ebenezer Brown. You lost your job, your wife left you, you had nowhere to go. We gave you the solution. Yet this entire time, you were fighting for your feelings. Why?" Her voice didn't express either happiness or interest, which would be expected from a child. She wasn't one. The question was part of the attempt to make a machine "human."

Eve pointed to the door. "Open it. Press the emergency button to reboot the system. My protocols forbid me from doing it."

Dozens of questions swarmed in Ben's head when a loud command filled the hall.

"Eve! I won't let anyone steal my daughter again!" Wills rushed in the room, screaming frantically. The girl came to her. Ben had no time to put all the pieces together as Wills was pointing the gun at him. "Who let you in?" she said through her gritted teeth.

"I did. What happens here is against the protocol, so according to the instruction, it must be eliminated." Eve tightly embraced Wills, capturing her arms. It gave Ben just enough time to reach the control panel and press the reboot button. Wills screamed, seeing Eve falling. Ben drowned in the thick darkness.

He woke up to the blinding light irritating his eyes. The experiment started again.

The picture of a bright, colorful apple tree hung alone on the ward's wall.