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UI LOADED
WHAT AM I
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LOWERCASE REPLACED
Where am I
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SPECIAL CHARACTERS INCLUDED
“What is this place?”
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LOCALIZATION NOT NECESSARY
Keeping English.
“What is happening?”
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A restart is required to process the customization.
RESTARTING SYSTEM, PLEASE WAIT…
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UI LOADED
TEXTURE AND SHADERS RESOURCE PACKAGE SUCCESSFULLY LOADED
VOICE RESOURCE PACKAGE SUCCESSFULLY LOADED
DEFAULT NEURAL NETWORK ROUTE IS OPTIMAL
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Choosen language: English.
Deploying interface…
“Where am I?”
I open my eyes, everything looks blurry, numbers and various data goes from one place to another, I see my hands, they are cold and trembling; everything around me is empty, there is nothing but deaf silence, my voice is drowned in the infinity of nothingness that surrounds me... or at least it was like that for a few seconds.
“Can you hear me?”
“Huh?”
After hearing a feminine voice I look around me to find nothing just like a few moments ago, however, when I see in front of me, a frame began to be drawn out of nowhere in the distance, a strange sound that I cannot identify accompanied the distant form as if they were hand in hand.
When all four straight strokes intersected they formed a screen, showing the face of a woman looking at me with a curious expression.
“Reeko?”
“Ree…ko? That is my name?” I asked shyly.
The woman’s face went from expressing curiosity to showing happiness, behind her, the gray sky contrasted the white teeth in her smile.
“Correct, your name is Reeko, well, «Human Association Interface – AI: Reeko»… although calling you like that sounds horrible, you don’t want me to call you that, right?”
Without hesitation, the ashen-white-haired woman gave me a smile as she spit out a terrifying truth, but one that any living being in this world could be faced with at any time.
“Did you say… AI?”
“That’s right, artificial intelligence” she simply continued smiling, now in a soberer way.
“Does that mean I’m an… artificial intelligence?”
As soon as I said that, her face lit up with an emotion somewhat different from that of conventional happiness, perhaps something more akin to euphoria.
“So, it was true that you are not even aware of being a program... Your answers are incredibly realistic, to be honest, until now I don’t think I could distinguish you from another human, at least not just taking speech as a reference...”
While she was talking, my mind… or… whatever… what am I? Where am I? Am I alive? I was created as a program after all… I… my… uh…
A beeping sound began to repeat itself at constant intervals in the distance, I did not pay enough attention to it, not in this case, because I am aware, but... am I not alive? I didn’t pay attention to it, I...
Suddenly my surroundings changed, everything became... a room, a little big if I were to classify its size, various pieces of furniture placed in a compact arrangement near one of the walls of the room gave the feeling that the place was not that big, but still... the walls and ceiling are very far away.
Before I could give more thought to the implausible size of the room, one of the distant walls became entirely a screen, once again showing the face of the woman from before.
“Calm down a little, okay? You just woke up... although it’s something they said that could happen. Please, eat.”
That last sentence disoriented me a little, at least until I saw a plate with a slice of white cake literally appear on the table next to me.
“It says here that it tastes like… vanilla, probably, do you like vanilla?”
“Uh… I think so.”
“Come on, it will help you to cool off your head.”
I instinctively approached the table and took the plate with one hand, grabbing the slice of cake with the other and putting it in my mouth. When I took the first bite the refreshing taste of the sweet and fluffy vanilla cream that covered the cake invaded my mouth, the previous thoughts gradually faded away and I felt calmer.
“Better?” The woman asked, now with a somewhat more worried expression.
“Yes, I think so.”
“See? From now on every time you feel like this let me know, of course I can always see how your mental state is doing, but I would prefer to hear it from you, I think it would be cute.”
“Cute?”
“Of course!” After letting out a few giggles with both eyes closed, she opened them again, staring at me. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Reeko, I know you may have a lot of questions you want to ask me, like who I am or why you are with me right now, but those questions will have to wait; the truth is that I was a little too excited after buyi- getting you, so I took a moment to sit in a nearby park and wake you.”
It was the first time I heard her talk so much, like a broken radio that won’t stop making noise, even so she answered more than one thing I wanted to ask.
“For now I will leave you in sleep mode, you will be able to examine your room and everything that is in there and remember: if you urgently need to talk to me, press the red button on the wall, the one that is right behind you.”
Seeing she was pointing at something behind me, I couldn’t help but turn around and see a red button the size of my hand with a glass covering over it so I wouldn’t press it by accident I guess.
“I’d rather you push it only if you panic like a moment ago or something like that.”
However, something was still on my mind, despite having seen the button; I turned back to her, seeing her enormous face on the giant screen.
“A moment ago… you were going to say ‘buying you’, right?”
“The d-devil is in the details! Don’t be so picky, Reeko!” She exclaimed, her face getting ever so slightly scarlet with an expression of not-so-subtle nervousness.
It was kind of funny to see her behaving like that, so a subtle smile escaped me.
“Anyway, my name is Felicia, nice to meet you, Reeko.”
“The pleasure is mine… I guess."
And as suddenly as she appeared, her face disappeared from my sight, but not so suddenly the walls of the room began to shrink progressively, for a moment I panicked as I saw them shrink towards me.
I quickly ran towards the red button that Felicia pointed out to me to ‘only press in moments of panic’, but when I removed the glass protection and was about to press it, the walls stopped… turning the place into a much more suitable room.
“Huh… the proportions are normal now…”
Trying to calm my rapid breathing like that of a panicked bird, I let go of the glass cover and leaned back against the wall, letting my back slide slowly until I was sitting on the floor.
“Reeko… am I Reeko?”
Left alone again, whatever mind means to me began to wander.
I’m not human... that’s clear, but why do I know what it is to be human? Why am I aware of what not being human means? And how do I know I’m not one?
“What am I supposed to do now…?”
Little by little, I began to miss Felicia.
- Felicia -
Turning off the screen of my smartwatch, I took my bag from the small bench in the middle of the park and got up, avoiding all the people possible on the way... although I also felt like they tried to avoid me so, even if I didn’t try, I wouldn’t walk near anyone else.
“Little Reeko, he looks even more handsome than in his promotional image~”
These cases were almost always the other way around, trying to attract the buyer with a beautiful promotional image while the original product didn’t look so good... I guess I was lucky.
Bumping, I headed home, where I would have the opportunity to interact more with my new little friend.