Program 12 (3 page)

I was a Program, a machine built to appear human.

The straps dug into my skin, tearing it slightly. I could feel the cold brushing against the metal surrounding the wires beneath the break. The tearing didn’t hurt, but my Program reacted as though it did. The scientists wanted to see how we react to pain. They wanted to believe we were capable of acting human.

This body, this skin, it was a cover for what I truly was.

“They do not have enough experience with your kind,” the White Coats said. “We just want to make sure you are safe out there. This is your world, too.”

At least, that was what they told me.

“Program Thirteen,” a harsh voice called from behind the glass. I could faintly make out a shadow of the man as he held his clipboard in his hand, carefully checking each box indicating I’d passed my daily inspection. I was making excellent progress, or so I’d heard.

“Your Program is coming along quite nicely,” McVeigh had told me. “I can only imagine how well you will do once your human identity is programmed into your core.”

I knew that McVeigh was happy with my progress here at Vesta Corp, but I did not comprehend much of what he said. What I did know was that as long as my treatments continued to work, I’d remain activated. I’d retain a purpose. That was all that mattered.

Looking down, I could see that the leather straps were hanging down, no longer constricting my wrists. Even without the straps to hold me down, I did not move. I remained seated, waiting for a White Coat to come strolling in through the door. As I waited, I noticed that my skin where it had been torn from the pressure of the restraints was flapping around. I’d have to pay a visit to the doctor again so that she could tend to the tear.

“You must find a way to fight the pain, Thirteen,” she’d tell me, just like she always did.

And then I’d nod, because that was what I was expected to do.

The truth was that I had no control over how my Program reacted to pain. Everything I did, everything I was – it was all controlled by the scientists. I didn’t choose to react. My Program, the one which they’d built, did. I twisted my wrist so that my palm was facing up, and I gazed down at the open skin. No blood. No bone. Only exposed metal.

“Program, please move towards the door to await your caretakers.” The scientist’s voice echoed throughout the room. “If I have to repeat myself, Program, I will see to it that Mister McVeigh is called, and I’m sure neither of us wants that.”

Slowly, I took to my feet, nodding towards the frosted glass as I made my way to the door. My caretakers had yet to come and retrieve me. Until they came for me, I was forbidden to leave the room. Programs were not to be left alone, especially to stroll through the facility.

“Freedom for the Programs means danger for the living,” McVeigh always told us. “We provide a strict schedule to ensure you live up to your potential. If you fail to comply with our requirements, you will be subject to deactivation.”

I'd seen a fellow Program be deactivated only a few days earlier. The White Coats seemed puzzled as to what could have gone wrong. She had received her daily treatment before heading into inspection.

“The inspection should have proceeded as normal,” the White Coats said regretfully. “It never should have happened.”

I remembered walking to the Pod room. The bright, white hall was empty and quiet for the most part, until she came along. Her voice, full of anger and desperation, broke through the silence. She didn’t sound like us. She sounded like one of them. She sounded alive, mortal.

“You can’t control me,” she screamed. “I know who I am. I know what it is that you are doing here! I will stop this. Do you understand? I will find a way to get the truth out there to the others!”

McVeigh assured us that he would take care of the problem.

That was the last I ever saw of her.

This was Vesta Corp. This was the place we called home. Charles McVeigh was the man responsible for giving us life, for giving us everything that we could possibly want. He told us that we were a part of something bigger than we could possibly understand; that we were the new race. And I believed him.

I didn’t know much about the world outside of these walls, only what McVeigh told us, and what I had learned from being around the White Coats.

And even though I was a Program - a computer built to act human - I still considered myself to be alive. Sure, there were distinct differences between us and the humans around us. For one, Programs did not bleed, nor did we have beating hearts. We felt what only what our Programs registered; what we were programmed to feel. We reacted as we are programmed to react. Everything that we were has been carefully constructed and monitored.

“Humans have a tendency to allow their emotions to overpower them.” McVeigh said. “Such behavior often produces terrible endings, and we do not want that, now do we?”

No, we did not.

McVeigh said that we would become the new human race. That all of us Programs were given a purpose. We had a reason for existing. What more could I want? I was fully aware that I was not human, but it did not bother me. I was alive. I had a reason for my being. Vesta Corp and Charles McVeigh gave me life. As long as I lived up to their standards, I would be allowed to live among the humans, truly beginning the journey set for me.

A group of White Coats strolled inside the room. “Come, Program.” The man reached for my wrist. “Off to your Pod you go.”

We traveled down the bright-white hallway in silence. The head White Coat tightened his hold on my wrist as we moved along, while the others followed closely behind.

We came to a halt as we approached the entrance to the Pod room. The White Coat released my wrist as he reached for a small, red button on the wall.

“Program identification,” a computerized voice asked.

“Thirteen,” the man responded. The large glass panel slid open. “Go on, Program.” The White Coat pushed me inside.

As I made my way to the Pods, I lifted my right arm out so that the scanner could read my bar code. McVeigh had the scanner installed to keep out “intruders”, as he called them. He would always say that while most of the humans feared us still, some were out to do us harm. I never understood what he meant. Why would the humans want to hurt us? What was it about Programs that frightened them so much?

The scanner lit up green after identifying me. Program Thirteen. My human name, when needed, was Emile. It was a pleasant name, although hardly used. After all, I was and always would be, Program Thirteen.

The Pod room was silent as my fellow Programs retreated to their Pods for standby mode. The white room, shining under the bright florescent lights, was peaceful; it was home. In the center of the room, surrounded by numerous Pods, was the security tube. Inside of the tube sat a White Coat, hovering over a small computer. He glanced at me briefly before returning his gaze to the monitor.

“Proceed,” his voice echoed throughout the room.

I stood before my Pod, pressing my hands on the sides of the glass window. My arm buzzed as the Pod read my identity. As the buzzing died down, the doors parted. I stepped inside carefully, making sure to place my hands at my sides. The doors sealed closed behind me. There was tugging throughout my body as wires clung to every limb possible. It should have hurt. My Program was registering pain, but to me, it felt normal. As the wires snapped in place, I closed my eyes, allowing the humming of the wires to relax me.

In eight hours, I would receive my next treatment: a hard drive inspection. Until then, I’d remain in standby mode.

“Your rest period,” McVeigh called it. “Your Programs, much like the human body, must rest daily in order to function properly.”

I was close to fully shutting down when the door to the Pod room opened. Instinctively, my eyes shot open, curious to see who had entered. A man in a black suit walked over to the security tube, tapping lightly on the glass to draw the White Coat's attention. My Pod had not lowered yet, so I was still able to view the room around me, though I was not sure for how long. The security tube opened, and the White Coat stepped out.

“Can I help you sir?” the White Coat asked.

“That one there,” I heard the other man say. “She shows promise. Do you have a reading available on her?” The voice was that of McVeigh’s assistant, Douglas Todd. I was not quite sure who he was referring to as I listened from inside my Pod. Although, I was sure he pointed in my direction.

“That, sir, is Program Thirteen, our finest Program to date.”

As the man handed my reading over to Douglas Todd, the doors to my Pod opened. His eyes fixated on me as if I were a million dollar prize. It was an odd stare, one that I did not understand.

“How old is the Program?” Todd asked, leaning his head down to examine my reading.

“Well, sir, the Program is three months old. She was created during our latest update. However, if she were human, she would be seventeen years old.”

Douglas Todd walked over and placed his hands on the sides of the Pod, his body hovering over me. I wanted to move, to turn away. The ordeal was making me quite uncomfortable, as much as it would any normal person, I imagined. But I couldn’t. It would be hours before I could do anything. Wires were coming out of me from every which way. Until standby mode was deactivated, I’d remain frozen.

“Hayden,” Todd called. “I’d like to move her to Level Three. She is quite valuable to us. There is no reason to keep her on Level One with the useless Programs.”

Hayden, a newer White Coat, appeared to be rather shocked. Programs were meant to pass in a highly specific sequence: Level One for six months, followed by Level Two for a year, and finally Level Three where we stayed until our demise. Level Three scared me. It didn't scare me because it was the last level a Program could reach. Sure, that was part of it, but mainly it terrified me because it meant being thrown into society to live among the humans. Even, though, that was what I wanted, even though it was what I was created for, I did not feel as though I was ready to live among the other kind just yet.

“But, sir, do you not think it is a bit too soon? Level Three is for those who have been around for more than a year. She is only a few months old.” Hayden was pleading with Todd. As thankful as I was that he felt the need to fight for me, I knew it would fall on deaf ears. Douglas Todd had already made up his mind, my Program could sense that.

“That will be enough of that, Hayden. You will do as I say and escort Program Thirteen to Level Three.” When he did not move, Douglas Todd snapped his fingers. “Now, boy.”

Todd turned to look back at Hayden, adjusting his black tie, before exiting the room. “Thank you for your help today, Hayden. I’ll be back to make sure you have brought her to Level Three like I’ve asked.”

The look on Hayden’s face worried me. I’d seen the expression once before. A human woman came to the facility looking for her daughter who had become one of us. She had tears streaming down her cheeks, some sort of black liquid forming lines down her face. The woman leaned forward to hug her daughter, only to find that the Program staring back at her was not her daughter any longer. The Program appeared to have no recollection as to who the woman was. She was unable to convey any emotion towards the woman, to comprehend the connection between them.

“No,” she whispered, turning to face McVeigh. “No! What did you do to my daughter? You were to fix her, not kill her!” she screamed as security ushered her through the exit nearby.

It was a look that I’d never forget; it was as if she were staring into a corpse of a loved one. That was the same look Hayden wore now. Not knowing what love was, I found that I was unable to understand his anguish. But I wished to.

Hayden did not agree, and to be honest neither did I. However, if Todd felt I was ready, then I must have been ready to excel to Level Three. I was a part of a bigger plan for the world. I couldn't dare fail or else I would lose my purpose. This was my time, now, and I had to be ready.

“He cannot take her,” Hayden whispered. “I let her down once, and I refuse to do it again.”

White Coats surrounded my Pod with white masks covering their faces. Strangers. I knew none of them, yet I was to trust them. These would be my new caretakers for Level Three. I’d no longer be under Hayden’s care.

My mind was registering pain, although I was not sure as to why. The wires weren’t tugging anymore. It had been hours since they’d been connected to my body. I’d adjusted to their pull. It had to be something emotional, something I didn’t quite understand.

“She’ll be waking soon. Standby mode will deactivate in approximately five minutes,” one of the strangers said, turning to look down at me in my Pod. His eyes, a bright shade of blue, locked onto me with curiosity. I gazed back at Hayden. His piercing blue eyes made it difficult for me to look away.

We stopped suddenly before a metal door. Two guards covered head-to-toe in body armor scanned the White Coats. One of the guards lowered his hand to his waist, resting it on a small black object.

“Do you have a reading for the Program?” one of the guards asked, extending his hand to the male White Coat.  He was a tall man, his hair as white as the walls around us.