A New Beginning

She felt as if her lungs were filling with air for the first time, almost to the point of being bloated. Blood forced its way through every vein in her body, spreading warmth and tickling her nerves. All was peaceful until her eyes met the blinding artificial light.

Everything she could see through her disfigured vision was pure white; shiny white walls, floor tiles, ceiling panels; even her pale white skin was free of all grime, sun, and blemishes. Where was she? More importantly, who was she?

The questions hung unanswered in her mind. Her heart began to try and thrash its way out of her heaving chest; her limbs followed suit but were pinned in place by restraints of their own. The metal cuffs felt cool against her exposed body, her boiling hot skin nearly melting into the soft fabric lining the chair she sat prisoner on.

Behind her, a metal door creaked open and clicked closed in an instant. She flung her head around like an owl to see the intruder but was only met with strands of her thick black hair falling in her face, hanging helpless across her eyes in need of a free hand to push them out of the way.

“It’s OK, don’t be afraid.” A deep voice said. All she could make out was a tall, faceless shape. Her body tensed so hard that her muscles felt more like solid bone than tissue, until without warning, her restraints snapped free, allowing her to reveal her own face to him in order for him to reveal his face to her.

“I’m so sorry about the restraints. I told the board they were unnecessary but, ya know, ‘protocol’ demands it. Truth be told they are more for your safety than for mine.” She knew the words were supposed to be calming, they were slightly effective, but the man’s soft and endearing face almost forced her muscles to relax and transform back into their normal state. Something about him felt genuine and familiar, like she had known him her whole life, yet this was the first time they met as far as she knew?

And protocol? What protocol? She wanted to ask a million different questions, but her dry mouth wouldn’t allow any of them to come out. All she could focus on was rubbing the newly formed red marks on her wrists left from her struggling and trying to cover herself up after a sudden need for modesty washed over her in the presence of the man.

He must of noticed her wish and acted quickly. “Oh of course, I apologize. Here is a shawl for you to cover up if you wish.” He said after snatching it from below her chair and holding it out in front of her with his off hand, his other keeping a death grip on his small tablet. She graciously took the shawl and slipped it over her head as the man spoke again, “I must say, modesty is a promising sign. I have a feeling this is going to go very well for you.”

Now feeling more comfortable and coming down from her initial shock, she found herself able to speak, although in a barely audible and raspy voice, as if they were the first words to have ever escaped her lips. “What will go well for me? What’s happening?”

The man grew a large grin across his round face. “Extremely responsive as well? Wow! You don’t realize how special you are!” Her eyebrow raised as she watched the man tap away at the tablet in his plump hands, his grin growing so much so that she didn’t think his face was wide enough to contain it. “Vitals all look great after that initial scare, though not the worst I’ve seen, at least you didn’t have a brain aneurysm.” He finally closed up the tablet and knelt down at the base of her chair, his eyes staring evenly back at hers.

“It’s so strange to finally introduce myself to you after all this time…” He paused. “My name is Linken, and this may sound weird, but I created you. I have patiently watched as you slowly developed over the past twenty five years; I dare say I have been even more excited for this day than you I suppose.”

Could that actually be true? It would explain why he seems so familiar to her, but why would that make her so special?

She sat upright in her chair, pulling her knees even closer to her chest. “Is that what is supposed to make me special?”

Linken moved up to sit at the foot of her chair. “What makes you special, is that you are the only human in the entire universe right now, and potentially the first to explore the world since the last humans died over four thousand years ago.” Once again, she was at a loss for words. Linken looked just as human as she did? “What are you then?” The words barely managed to squeak through her pursed lips.

“I am one of the many androids whose life’s work has been to bring back the race that created us. Our bodies look like yours but are still synthetic; you on the other hand, are made up of completely organic matter, just like your ancestors. It is truly a gift, but unfortunately, it was also the reason for your downfall.” She traced her finger tips gently along her arm as he continued to talk, feeling small bumps rise to the surface of her skin as if to test it. “After the last of the humans died from the virus, me and a small portion of the population of androids made it our mission to bring you back to the world, just like your people brought us into the world. Not to mention in the event of an electronic flare or anything of the sort, it would be nice for humans to bring us back; we have a symbiotic relationship, you and I, and life of any kind is such a terrible thing to just let die and be left for time to leave behind and forget.”

All of this was so much for her to take in at once. She could nearly feel her brain pulsing, her HUMAN brain.

“Well… what do I do now?” she asked.

“We still have to do some testing. Assess your physical, mental, and emotional abilities, make sure everything checks out, and assuming it does, take your frame work and inject all different types of genomes. Within a few decades, we could have a completely self sustaining and diverse population with a nearly infinite gene pool. Organic reproduction would render these growth pods completely obsolete, and everything would become just as they were all those years ago. I must admit, it would be a treat to see a human baby again.” Linken said. “It is a very exciting time we are living in, and I hope you finally get to break through the barrier your previous iterations could not.”

“I’m a little scared, if I’m being honest.” She replied.

“That’s completely understandable.” Linken said. “One thing that might make you feel better is getting to choose your own name, if you’d like?”

“Choose my own name?” she asked in shock.

“It was human tradition that a newborn human was given their name by their parents, but given the fact that you are that of a functioning adult already, I see it only fit that you get to choose yourself.”

“Did you not give me a name already?” She asked. “Since you created me.”

“Well actually, you have had many names throughout your development cycle, mostly just classification names early on like ‘xSeven’, but I grew tired of that. As you started to develop into a fully realized human, I named you ‘Stephanie’ in honor of my very own creator. But now you are intelligent and independent, two things human newborns were not, and it seems fitting for you to choose your own name.”

She thought long and hard, everything had become so real in just the last five minutes, the first five minutes of her life. “What’s a name that represents a new beginning?” She asked.

“Well, ‘Nova’ translates to ‘new’, as well as a brightly burning star.” He replied. “That is a very pretty and ancient name that has not been used since the original human.

She smiled for the first time in her life. “I’d like to be called ‘Nova’.”