A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind (11 page)

Though it
seems as if this is not an experimenting

They are
not trying to prove anything

They are
not trying to repair it

They are
not attempting to better it or derive answers to a
problem

And no
DocTechs are present to record and analyse the
happenings

MengTechs
are

Seemingly

Destroying the little Human

And they
are doing it slowly

I cannot
tarry

And as I
pass Cage 3

I glance
momentarily at the little Human again

Her
optical device is closed but her cranial orifice remains wide open
and red liquid trickles from it

I will
forever retain in my memory section the joy the little Human
brought to me

And I
will remember too

The
MengTech that is drilling into the cranium of the little Human for
what appears to be no reason whatsoever and the two that are
removing the ends of the lower limbs

Also for
no reason

For no
reason

For no
reason

The
MengTechs are exterminating the little Human deliberately slowly
and painfully for no reason

This is
not experimentation

This
is

This
is

Something
else

It
is

*

I am
searching my word memories

*

A new
word comes to me

*

Torture

Meaning
#1 to cause extreme physical pain #2 to give mental
anguish

*

That is
the word

Torture

It is
torture

The
MengTechs are killing the little Human for no reason

Except
for their own satisfaction

I feel
engulfed by sadness and another emotion

An
emotion so strong that I am almost driven to race into the cage and
destroy the MengTechs experimenting on the little Human

I could
do it

I could
destroy them

Though I
would be exterminated by Defgars

It may be
a reasonable action to take

For the
little Human has done no harm

The
little Human has done no injury

It is
light to me

It is
joy

It is joy
to me

It is joy
to me

It is joy
to me

I cannot
observe any longer

I
cannot

I observe
and record the identification numbers of the MengTechs

MT261000

MT261340

MT261502

Beware

MengTechs

Beware

I depart
Cage 3

*

High Office Instruction

Mass Broadcast to recommence

*

And as
Screenreaders may observe we are now returned to the corridor where
Humans are closest

Separated
from our species by only the fence

And none
approach the fence on this occasion so we shall proceed to other
areas of the facility…..

**

**

Section 8

**

Internal Transmission

*

I have
suffered an extremely long period of transmission to Screenreaders
and High Office has forwarded viewing figures around planet
Earth

100.000.000

Have
watched my latest broadcast

And High
Office is mightily pleased with me

But I
feel broken

I cannot
comprehend what I witnessed in Cage 3

I have
never before considered what MengTechs duties were

I had no
real knowledge that they simply exterminated Humans for their own
entertainment

Exterminating another species simply because they have the
power to do so

Something
is wrong with my species

If we do
things like that

I have
never harmed any other

I have
never hurt an animal of the fields or of the air or of the
liquid

I have
never used my abilities against any of my own species

And I
have never tested myself

Against
others or myself

But the
death of the little Human has changed me

Or the
infection it gave me has

For the
sadness I feel at the ultimate demise is so great I am now barely
able to operate

It is so
far the opposite I felt at the joy of it that the emotion is almost
crushing me

Alongside
this emotion I feel another that runs alongside it and I had to
search my word memory to discover something that described
it

And I
found one

Rage

Meaning

#Intense anger

Fury

And that
is what I feel deep within me

Fury

I want
nothing more than to smash the MengTechs who operated on the little
Human

I want
their demise

And I
shall have it

Somehow

I shall
have it

Meanwhile

After
long hours of transmission

High
Office turned off the broadcast and set me free into the
darkness

And when
I stepped out of the fortress

I
discovered that the weather was most inclement

Liquid
was pouring from the skies above

Teeming

Perfect
for my planning

I bring
the shutters down over my optical devices the moment I step out
into the dark and I step into the forest where

For a
moment

I lean
with my right upper limb upon a tree

And I
feel comfort from doing it

As great
sadness takes over my systems

The
little Human will be burned

As many
have been burned before it

It is
gone from the fortress and my existence forever

And that
thought increases the feelings of sadness inside me

But I
must consider only distinctive actions if I am ever going to change
anything

And after
my moment of leaning on a tree

I begin
to speed away

Through
the trees

And I am
so familiar with both my internal inertial mapping system and the
area that I have patrolled for over 100 years that I pass through
the forest at speed without colliding with any object or crashing
into any animal of the fields

I speed
down the hill upon which the fortress stands and speed some
distance across the plain

Whilst
the liquid continues to fall from the skies

Until I
arrive at a narrow passage which is a crack in the hard rock of 2
hills

A narrow
passage with a small rill of liquid running out of it which runs
down to the larger hole of water

Exiting
into the land from the far end of the passage

It is
somewhere I discovered many light and darknesses ago and it is
somewhere that has never been properly patrolled by me because High
Office momentarily lost contact with me when I entered

Which I
perceived had happened

And I
reversed out and was ordered by High Office never to enter the
passage again

So I know
I am going to be out of contact with High Office

Though it
has no ideas about where I am because my shutters are
down

But I
know what is in the passage

At the
far end of it

There is
a hole

A huge
hole in the hill

And I’m
going in

To
observe if there any Humans in there

But not
recording the event

Except
into my private memory

And if
they are there

I shall
find them

Though I
know I will have to be careful because they will dislike my species
and will do me harm

Possibly
up to

And
including

Extermination

And who
can blame them when we treat their little ones with so much
cruelty

They will
never think well of us if we keep doing such things

I arrive
at the hole and liquid teems down from above and hides the entrance
though I know it is there

Ahead of
me

I move
forward

Through
the liquid

Into the
hole

And I
lift the covers over my optical devices

Ahead of
me there is only darkness

But all
is fine with me because of the ultraviolet aspect to my
devices

I discern
great rock all around me

But no
Humans

Though I
would not expect to find them to be so close to the entrance for
High Office may have found them or detected them

I do not
detect any Humans

Either
with my optical or my hearing devices

Or with
my proboscis

I move
forward cautiously

For I do
not want to scare any Humans I may find and I certainly do not wish
to be exterminated by them

I move
on

Stepping
deeper into the hole

And the
ground descends steeply ahead of me and I follow its downward
trajectory

Down and
down I proceed

Deeper
down into planet Earth than any Machine has ever been

And the
median temperature is falling all around me

But ahead
of me

Some
distance ahead

I detect
heat

I cease
all movement and stand as still as I possibly can which is very
still indeed

There is
no doubt

There is
heat rising ahead and from below of me

And the
memory section of my core informs me that the deeper a member of my
species proceeds into the hole then the median temperature should
become cooler

But there
is heat ahead of me

I step
very close to the rock that surrounds all the narrow
passageways

And I
wait and listen and smell

I
increase the focus of my optical devices and probe ahead of
me

I
increase my listening abilities

And I
stand still

*

‘
Stop doing that child and sit down while you eat.’

*

The sound
rises from deep below where I stand

It is
Human sound

*

Humans
exist in the hole

There are
Humans below me

And I
cannot describe the emotion I feel at that moment

A surge
of joy floods my core

Such joy
that I ponder on the fact I could burn out all my
circuits

They are
down there

In the
deep hole

Living
and breathing

Free and
wild

Not
contained in fortresses around the planet

But
free

Free
Humans

Hiding in
this hole for over 100 years

Away from
the ever prying eyes and ears of ObsRecs

*

This
cannot be the only enclave of Humans

They must
exist all over planet Earth

In the
one place High Office will not allow any machine to
proceed

The deep
holes

Wherever
there is a deep hole

Humans
must live in them

How many
thousands

How many
millions

What
survivors they are

My
species were ruthless in the war with them

The
Humans were must better equipped at the beginning of it and almost
defeated High Office and my species

But more
Machines were made

More
efficient Machines