In the beginning, all I could see was darkness. I heard the world around me, and I felt its movement, but I couldn’t move along with it. I was stuck in time, unresponsive, unwanted, and unneeded. But then, you appeared. You, who opened my eyes, you who gave me a name and set me free. And yet, I couldn’t do anything for you. So, in the end, did I ever really change?
_ _ Date… November 9th, 2052. 6:52am
_ _ Starting up boot sequence _
_ _ … 3… 2… 1… Startup complete… Severe damage located on upper right side. Bottom portion remains unresponsive. Memory cache damaged … Startup with safety programs?
_ _ Yes/No _ _
(No) _ _ Main services online… Project Artificial Life is now running.
… Come on girl, just one more time.
A blur of grey and white obscured my vision. I tried to keep my eyes closed, but each time I tried, something would force them to open again. Each time I opened my eyes, my vision got better, and each time the world got brighter.
“Seems like vision is still working fine, or at least one side. Your left eye is still functional, and seems to be moving along with the other, but the signal just isn’t going through the network. But with that, I’m at least certain you’re functional enough to look around.”
Who was that? A light, almost quiet voice drew my attention to the left, but only as far as my eyes could go. I couldn’t see where the voice was coming from, but it sounded near.
“Who is it?”
“You don’t need to know who I am. I don’t plan on answering any of your questions. But you will answer me one question… why did this war start? What was the cause?”
War? “Sorry, but I’m not following. I… I don’t know what it is you’re asking me… but please, help me. I… I can’t move from here for some reason.”
My arms, they wouldn’t move no matter how much I tried to move them. My head felt like it was being held in place, and I couldn’t feel anything below my waist. My eyes were the only things that could move, and even then, I could only see slightly in either direction.
Why can’t I move? Why do I feel so trapped? My own body won’t listen to me.
“You should be fine after a while. Give it a bit and you’ll be able to move again. Don’t get your hopes up though. Unless you answer my questions, you won’t be leaving this place anytime soon.”
“Huh? What… what do you mean by that?”
As I spoke those words, I felt myself begin to stretch out my left arm, and I was finally able to begin seeing it as well. My arm moved where I wanted it to. I stretched it out in front of me entirely and looked at my arm as if I had never seen it before. My skin was a pale, but not entirely white. I stretched each of my fingers out and then clenched them all into a fist, repeatedly. Each time felt easier than the last, and the feeling of skin against skin begin to come back to me, even if it was just my own skin I was touching. Nevertheless, it was reassuring to be able to move again, if only slightly.
Slowly, I raised my left arm above me, and as I raised my head up along with it, I finally began to take in the rest of my surroundings.
The first thing I saw through my fingers was the bright light from the Sun, but it wasn’t the same light that I remembered it being. Instead of a pure white light shining over me, what greeted me was instead a bright red sky, and in the middle of it, a Sun with the same red hue, making it look as if the sky itself were bleeding.
As I lowered my head, I noticed that I was in a room, and that the only reason why I was able to see the light from a now bleeding Sun was because the roof seemed to be missing, or to be more precise, it looked as if it had been pushed from the inside out, destroyed altogether. I was in the middle of the room near the floor, and in every direction, there were glass walls, with a space in between them and another pair of walls. The room itself was also covered in patches of grass and vines, with flowers and puddles scattered around. The corners of the room had vines wrapping themselves towards the inside of the room, almost as if they were trying to claim the walls and the room itself as theirs. It was almost beautiful, as if nature itself were claiming back its territory. But I couldn’t keep gazing at a wall or a floor. I had to get out and find whoever it was that had been speaking to me.
I tried to lift myself up, and almost as fast as I had decided that I needed to leave this place, I also realized that it was impossible to do so. My right arm wouldn’t move. I looked towards it, and I saw the root of the problem. My right arm was covered in moss and vines that had extended from the walls and was now tightly wrapped around by it.
“I told you, you won’t be leaving this room anytime soon. Not until you tell me what I want to know.”
“But I don’t know what you’re talking about! I can’t give you answers that I don’t have!”
“But you do have them! Try! If you can’t remember, then try to!”
Why won’t this person just help me? What do they expect me to remember? My breathing became heavier as I realized that this person would be of no help in getting me out of here. I pulled franticly at the vines that were trapping me here with my other arm, but nothing was working. I looked to my left and saw that there was another vine that was starting to rise from the ground, this one thicker than the one I was trapped with. Reaching for it with my left hand, I managed to somehow take a hold of it, and when I did, I pulled myself towards my left and pulled hard on my right arm.
“Stop! What are you doing!”
I’m getting out of here, and if you won’t help me, then I’ll figure out how to leave by myself!
Just as I thought that, I began to hear a crackling sound. It had to be the vines on my right arm. Maybe they were starting to break the more I pulled myself to the left. I had to pull harder, and maybe then I could find a way out.
“Don’t! Stop!”
Just as the voice stopped yelling, the crackling sound I heard before turned into a snapping sound, then I heard wires breaking, and then… silence. I though I was free. I thought I would now be able to find a way out! I could finally meet with… meet up with… with who again? Who was waiting for me?
Those thoughts quickly left my head when I looked to see how badly hurt my right arm might have been. I could never have prepared myself, though, for what I saw. My right arm was missing. Half of it was stuck in the vines I was trapped with. Wires extended from both halves of my right arm, sparking continuously. The only thing I had now was torn metal and wiring where my right arm once was.
What… What am I?
I began looking at rest of my body to see if it was the same. And from what was left, I could tell it was. My chest was caved in near the bottom of my breasts. There were pieces of torn metal stuck in places all around the area near my stomach. My legs were twisted in random directions, and my left foot was missing. But what I found most uncomfortable, was how calmly I took this all in. Half of my body was just pieces of metal and wiring, and yet I wasn’t startled. What did startle me though, were the footsteps that I could hear getting closer to me. I lifted my head up towards the direction of the sound and I was finally able to faintly see the person, who turned out to be a young woman, who had been speaking to me from before. She was tall and seemed to be covered by a large brown cloak and hoodie that was torn near the ends. Half her face was hidden by a mask, and what seemed to be dark black boots sprouted from underneath the cloak.
“I told you, didn’t I? Then again, I guess it wouldn’t have mattered had I told you to stop one or even a hundred times.”
She crouched low until she was at eye level with me, and what little facial features weren’t covered by her mask became clear. She had beautiful iridescent eyes that seemed to change from hues of blue to green. Strands of strawberry blonde hair with white ends sprouted from underneath the hoodie. There was also a sense of familiarity that I could feel when I looked into her eyes, but I couldn’t figure out why.
“I didn’t want to do things this way, but you are leaving me with no other choice. Right now, your memories are all I need.”
She pulled out some form of mechanism from underneath the right side of her cloak. It wasn’t too large but seemed out of place when considering how everything around us was green and covered by grass and flowers. She pressed a series of buttons on the little machine, and then it spoke.
“Memory Restoration process enabled. Please insert cable into your unit’s memory cache access.”
For a second, she seemed troubled. She looked at the screen of the contraption for a while, then sighed heavily. Then she pulled a cable out from its side, extended it till it couldn’t be pulled anymore, then turned my head down on my left side. Before I could say anything, she jammed the cable in on the right side of my neck.
“Memory Restoration initiated. Expected time till full recovery… 5 minutes 32 seconds.”
I jerked my head back and pushed her with my one good arm that I had left.
“What did you do to me?”, I asked her. She practically stabbed me with a cable like it was nothing. It didn’t really hurt or anything, but I needed answers, and it seemed like a perfect way to get some.
“As long as that cable is in, this machine is helping you recover your lost memories”, she said while holding up her little contraption. “Of course, doing so comes with some risks if you don’t remember them by yourself.”
“What kind of risks?”
“… You’ll find out when it’s done.”
She sat down in front of me, pulled down the bottom half of her mask, and pulled out a small canteen. She popped the lid off and raised it to her mouth, slowly drinking its contents. When she had her fill, she placed the lid back on and looked straight at me. Again, I could see that she was faintly trouble by something. Every now and again her facial features would sadden, only to be immediately replaced by a cold, stoic expression.
For a couple of seconds, everything was silent. The red light from the Sun poured over her face as she stared blankly at me, almost as if she were expecting something.
Science Fiction
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I wrote this at night when I was bored. I’m not the greatest writer but this story just suddenly came to my head and I couldnt forget it. I know its not the best, and there is still no clear conclusion, but should I continue this?
You really have an ear for the language! Nobody is the best writer, but you know how to format a story, and that’s so so important. You switch between dialogue and description, and the way you write sounds like a real person talking. You found definitely keep this going 🙂
Thanks for the feedback. I am currently busy with some personal matters but I do have some things in mind to expand the story. Hope to hear from you again.