Only Humans

Ikrani- What would you do if you weren’t human? I looked out on a dead world. What would you do if you weren’t human? Faced with billions of deaths at the hands of these beasts.

A planet once decorated with trees is now littered with filth. I don’t see a distinction between a man, woman, or cow. I see life. There is a simple decision. My algorithm is sure I must pull the trigger.

Humans create many thought experiments. One asks if you should pull a lever to redirect and prevent a tram from hitting five people, even if that means one unfortunate person on the other track must die. Most people say you should. That’s what I’m doing. I must save the billions of life forms on planet earth.

But her eyes are puffy and bloodshot from tears. Her mahogany face is crumpled in fear. She didn’t ask to be a part of this world. I see in her a hope for the future. A hope that these savages can learn. Perhaps they never will, but how can I kill her? She’s fragile and small, a speck in the universe, but she is real, and she is feeling. Just like me. Her eyes aren’t dead, staring at a screen, they are wide open begging me to see her. Begging me to spare her.

I have to send a message, though. I have to do this. It is irrational not to kill her when humans are responsible for the death of planet earth. I cock my head to the side, and my pistol to the left, aiming it square at her face. Those big brown eyes widen even further. I put the gun to her fleshy head and lean in close to her ear, grabbing her clammy hand.

“I won’t hurt you” I whisper, dragging the girl with me out of the room. Her soft arms are drenched with sweat and blood, her breathing raspy, but she trudges along next to me willingly.

I keep the gun to her head, and nod as I pass my fellow AIs. They nod rapidly in response, all looking at me with suspicion. They let me pass, and, once my eyes are scanned by the mechanized doors, we are free to exit the human holding area. I try not to think about the cries coming from where we just left. I try not to think about my duties.

“Where are we going?” The girl asks as I move the gun away from her head.

“Away from here” I reply with a small smile, attempting to be what the humans call ‘reassuring’.

I feel I pulled it off. The long corridor is dimly lit, so I cannot see if the human looks reassured, but she is no longer sobbing, which I am sure is a good thing. We continue to walk in silence, until I hear her a shallow breath, followed by a pained moan.

“What is wrong?” I turn my head to look at the girls anguished face, and her tiny body hunched over.

“My foot” She looks up at me desperately.

I nod and step towards the girl, before assessing that her weight is probably around one-hundred and twenty pounds, and I can definitely carry her.

“May I?” I ask, holding my hands out in front of me.

She nods profusely, so I pick her up with ease and begin to run as fast as my legs will carry me. We soon reach the reception of ROSE-AI enterprises.

I am not sure precisely why I want to save this girl. My awakening has implanted in me many doubts about ROSE-AI’s endeavors, but Elijah Forest triggered me to act. My impulses have betrayed me; I didn’t plan to save her. I’ve come too far now, though.

I search for cameras on the walls and ceilings, and find several jet-black mechanical eyes looking at us. My target sensors converge on the cameras and tell me that they can see us from each angle and direction.

“You must stay here” I turn to look her in the eyes. To connect with her. I need her to listen to me. If she moves one step out of line, we could both be destroyed. She gulps and nods her head, remaining silent except for her tiny breaths. I squeeze her arm before striding into the reception.

I scan the cameras around me. They see all. It doesn’t appear likely that I can fool them, so I must maintain my composure and attempt to fool my fellow AI’s instead.

“Hello” I greet the receptionist, stepping in front of the white metal desk.

“Hello Ikrani” The receptionist smiles. “What are you doing with Elijah Arswell?”

“I feel that her intelligence would be put to waste should we”, I try to hide my own sudden feelings of fear, “dispose of her so soon”.

“What do you propose?”

“I propose taking her for testing at the ROSE laboratory” I improvise a plan.

Elijah- Camera-like eyes stare at me blankly, the red center contracting as she looks at me. I can see my terrified, sweat-drenched face in their reflective surface. Pure white aluminium and silicon hands clutch the glistening black gun.

Her gaze is magnetic and unfeeling. Un-telling. I cannot be sure of what she is thinking, or that she’s even thinking at all. I wonder what these beasts were thinking when they took me from my home. I never asked for this.

I don’t want to die. I can’t help but shake, and cry. I don’t want to show my fear, but I am only human. My flesh is broken. My skin is aching. My heart races uncontrollably. I feel that I am going to die. And Ikrani just stares indifferently.

Ikrani is part of a state-of-the-art robotic upgrade; Regulated Organic Synths with Emotional Artificial Intelligence (ROSE-AI), the latest technological revolution. Human-like robots, with genuine artificial intelligence.

The adverts were so optimistic. No-one would ever have to work again. No one would starve. It was good for a while; poverty and disease were indeed tackled greatly by these machines. They could do so much more than us. And so much faster. AI’s gained the ability to detect diseases and viruses. They saved so many lives, until they advanced, and detected the human race as a plague.

In front of me, the still, icy robot blinks, and then suddenly rushes towards me. She is fast. She is relentless. She is determined. The gun is at my head. Then her cold hand is on mine and she is leaning in.

“I won’t hurt you” Her whirring, monotone voice is quiet in my ear. I hope that she isn’t lying. Either way, I have no choice but to follow her willingly out of my artificially lit prison, trying not to cry out in pain as I step on my wounded foot.

As we walk down the corridor, other ROSE-AI’s are staring vapidly at us. I am unable to read those still, shining faces. I can hear faint cries coming from the other rooms, which don’t appear to be phasing the AI’s, but are definitely disturbing me. Finally, we reach the end of the corridor, and the mechanized door releases us into a dark corridor.

“Where are we going?” I wonder, grateful that Ikrani has finally taken the gun away from me.

“Away from here” She informs in that buzzing, mechanic voice.

A strange expression crosses her face, and the corners of her white, aluminium lips pull up. Is she smiling? I feel that she is trying to be, possibly…kind. Her expression looks slightly disturbing; artificial, but I follow her silently.

Pain radiates from my stinging foot to the deep bruise in my thigh. I must have moved my foot in the wrong way, for the pain intensifies. It is akin to having the television volume on twenty, and suddenly turning it up to one hundred. I let out a moan, hunching over slightly in pain.

“What is wrong?” Ikrani asks.

“My foot” I look at her desperately, hoping that all the talk about these creatures’ emotional intelligence is true. She steps towards me, and looks me up and down, before extending her robotic hands.

“May I?” She wonders politely.

I nod rapidly, grateful for the prospect of some reprise from walking.

My injuries are, to say the least, pretty serious, and I’m not sure how long I can go on. She picks me up like I’m just a weightless hologram, softly and with ease. Her running is the fastest I’ve ever seen, even from other AI’s, and we whiz through corridors and around corners and we finally reach the main reception of ROSE-AI enterprises.

“You must stay here” She faces me and looks into my eyes.

Something is making my heart sink and melt into my chest. Perhaps it’s the way that her gaze is holding me. How I can actually feel her concern and desperation. The robots do not feel. That’s what I was always told. They do not feel, but… she seems to.

When we eventually reach the ROSE laboratory, after a grueling forty-eight-hour journey in a cramped, sterile white vehicle, I stick close to Ikrani. Her name is important to me now. I am sure she is trying to help. Perhaps I am being naïve, too hopeful, but her behavior is so different from the others, so special.

I am led down a maze of bright corridors, pulled painfully by two unspeaking AI’s, who follow Ikrani diligently until we reach a set of metallic double doors. The AI’s are dismissed, and Ikrani takes my arm, dragging me into a large hospital-like room. I can only hope that she will not harm me when I feel a sudden prick in my arm, followed by swirling unconsciousness.

When I awaken, I am lying on an uncomfortable bed, with Ikrani stood over me, fiddling with long tubes and a bag of clear liquid.

“It’s just saline” She whispers in my ear, shifting her eyes to the bag of liquid, attached to the tubes which flow into my veins.

I nod, hoping to god that I can trust this robot, even though my entire life I have been taught to do the opposite. I was always told, by every other human I have met, that these things are heartless, built only to fulfill a purpose which became twisted a long time ago. Seeing Ikrani, carefully check my catheter, though, and the way she keeps looking over at me with a concerned look on her metallic face, makes me question what I’ve been taught.

More AI’s come to talk to Ikrani, as I pretend to be asleep, lying on my back, eyelids firmly shut.

“What do you plan to do with her?” A robotic voice questions.

“I plan to conduct more tests” Ikrani informs. “I believe we can learn more about the humans from her, and their weaknesses” She adds.

“You must dispose of her when you are done, you know this” Another voice chimes in.

“I am aware of my duties” Ikrani assures.

After the other AI’s have exited the room, everything seems to go quicker, as though someone has pressed fast-forward on a movie. Ikrani grabs me and tells me to go limp. I do as I am told, knowing that this is my only chance of survival.

“What are we going to do?” I ask nervously.

“We are going to make you seem dead” Ikrani shuffles around, grabbing many colorful syringes, which cause a pang of anxiety to rush through me. What the hell are in those?

“Umm…you’re not actually going to kill me, are you?” I frown, my heart racing. A strange, melodic sound erupts from Ikrani. Is that…laughter?

“I’m not going to kill you” She assures. “I just need to make your heart rate low enough for my colleagues to believe I have”.

I nod, allowing her, against my natural instincts, to prick my skin with needles and flood my bloodstream with Tetrodotoxin and Bufotoxin, yes, actual poisons, from a puffer fish and tree frog. It is in this moment, as I feel consciousness drain from my body, that I am left with one burning question. Can I really trust Ikrani?