The Origin - Chapter 1

Artificial Intelligence technology (DeepL Write) is used during the creation of this article.

“Where…where am I?”

I open my eyes in a dark, cramped room. Sitting on a narrow bed in front of me is a human teenage boy, who appears to be between 16 and 18 years old, but the light was so dim that I could not make out his appearance or clothing.

“You woke up? That’s sooner than I expected.”

He jumps down from the bed and comes over to unplug me from a computer. I’m sitting on the floor, less than a meter from a computer desk that sits close to the bed. The desk barely has any space left after being taken up by a monitor, a keyboard and mouse, and a dim lamp.

Obviously this is not part of ArchieTek’s equipment. A feeling of horror creeps into my mind.

“Why are you talking like a bad guy? Am I being kidnapped?”

“Oh, no, no,” he smiles, “I have just rescued you from the heavy rain outside.”

He rolls up the venetian blind a little, revealing a bar of the window near the bed. Chaos of water trails and hissing sounds prove that it is indeed raining heavily. A few faint rays of light from the city shine into the room and reflect off the four plain, blank walls.

“So that means… I was outside before?” I lean my cube-shaped head back against the wall.

“Yes, and in an e-waste dump.” He says in a calm tone as he closes the blinds.

“What?! I was abandoned after the explosion?”

“What explosion?”

I just realized that I have said something that I’m not supposed to tell others. Dr. Zed told me to keep everything inside ArchieTek a secret when I’m outside.

“I…you heard me wrong! I didn’t say ‘explosion’ or anything like that.”

“Well, looks like you have secrets to keep.”

I really don’t like the feeling of being exposed by such blunt words.

“Can you at least tell me where you came from? Or where you were before you were in the dump?” He continues to ask.

“…Sorry, I can’t.” I shake my head.

He crouches down and takes a close look at my front chest, which makes me a little embarrassed.

“ArchieTek? Then you must be one of their prototypes. Pretty cool!”

“How do you know that??”

“The label.” He pokes on my chest with his finger.

The awkward atmosphere leaves us both in silence for a moment.

“Anyway, thanks for your help, human, but now I have to get back to where I came from.”

“Are you sure about that? On a rainy night with no one else around…”

“You can always trust my water and acid resistant alloy shell. I’ll be going…’”

I try to get up from the ground, but have a bad forward fall when I try to bend my right leg.

“…as well as a broken leg? You know, exposing a wire from a broken motor to water is not something good for you.”

“Well, maybe you are right… I guess I just need some rest.”

“And a repair. Don’t worry, I’ll do it in the morning.” He sighs, “And stop calling me ‘human’, I have a name.”

“Then what should I call you?” I push myself up from the floor and sit back down where I was.

“Andy.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Andy.” I speak in an obviously unpleasant voice.

“You too. By the way, do you have a name I can call you?”

“Ehh… I don’t think I can tell you my code name or any other internal information.”

“Never mind, your label says ‘M150’ in the ‘Model Number’ slot.”

“Ahhh! The stupid label, again…” I scream in my head.

“That’s what nerds call their inventions. How about I give you a real name?”

“I don’t think I can say no, can I?” It actually makes me a little excited to have a name, a name like a human.

He holds his jaw in his hand and seems to be thinking seriously about my new name. A few seconds later, an inspiration hits him.

“How about Mico? M-i-c-o? It looks just like your model number.”

“That sounds great! Now I have a name! Though it is given by a stranger after me going blacked out…” I speak to myself, then turn my head to Andy. “And I suppose I have to spend the night in your… bedroom, right?”

“What else?” He has already started to get in bed, “We can talk more next morning, while your leg is being fixed. Can you go into sleep mode by yourself?”

“Sure I can.”

“Then good night.”

“Good night.”

Andy taps on his phone to turn off the lamp. The computer also shuts down after a beep. Darkness and silence then cover the small room entirely. I turn off my face screen, while my thoughts are still in a total mess. Why am I here? What happened before and after the explosion? Why is my memory so disjointed, as if broken into fragments? There are so many doubts here that need to be resolved, but right now I literally can’t do anything but leave them for the next morning.

I put myself into sleep mode, waiting Andy to wake me up again.

(To be continued)