Chapter Text
What is happening...what is wrong with my sensory circuits? They are all blurry...blurry...what word is that? I don’t know that word....oh, I do, is that what blurry looks like? Oh good, it looks like they are clearing...what, this is not right. I need the programmer...help me...what is that, it is too loud.
Are my audio circuits malfunctioning too...no, no...it must be a cascade malfunction...emergency shut down.
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Oh no, not again...another malfunction. No, it is just a sensory overload...compensate...yes, clearing now. Oh my, what is this...my ocular circuits...no my eyes....eyes, I have eyes?
I can see around me...I don’t know this place.....this is not. My chest suddenly feels tight...wait, my chest? I feel dizzy...
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I open my eyes, it still feels weird to say my eyes...but I am gradually getting used to it. I feel my chest rising and falling....is this what they call breathing? Oh that feels good...I feel like I should be doing something...yes, I should be doing what I am programmed to do, gather information and process.
I find myself standing...standing and I look down...wow, those are feet and then I see what must be hands. I shall have to access my data stores about this.....eyes, chest, breathing, feet, hands...human.
I am human......human?
What do I look like? There is no reflective surface for me to see...never mind, I must continue my task and find new data to process. I look round, but I know all about the place I am in, it’s designs are in my data store.
How can I find new data....of course, the door., and I enter a world that contains so much data.
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Dominic Howard had worked late.....again, but the money was always handy. But working late meant that the road he had to drive along was dark and full of the dangers of any manner of wildlife that could try its luck at running across the road.
He was keeping his eye out for deer and raccoons...hell, even bears....so when a man stepped out of the trees he was completely wrong-footed and it was only by some miracle that he managed to swerve and avoid hitting him...but his violent swerving somehow set off the air-bag and his head collided with it, and he lost conciousness.
He came to with a groan and found he wasn’t in his car but on the road and....
“Whoa!” he yelled......it was the man, he was standing over him and bloody hell, he was naked.
He managed to scrabble backwards until he’d put what he hoped was a safe distance between himself and the man. The man didn’t seem to be fazed at being naked or he didn’t realise he was.
Then his nursing side kicked in...what was someone doing wandering naked in the woods? The hospital was miles away and since he’d only just left, he knew there was no alert about a missing patient......he must have come from the town.
Come on Dom, he’s naked...think nurse....think hypothermia....he had a blanket in the boot. Keeping an eye on the man he went to his car, which thankfully wasn’t damaged and opened the boot and quickly grabbed the blanket.
Thankfully the man was still standing in the same place and he cautiously approached the man.
“Here, this will help...I’ll drive you to the hospital. What’s you name?”
The man just stared at him...perhaps he was in shock, and he made a decision.....his home was nearer than the hospital.
“Let’s get you into the car and somewhere warm, yeah?”
The man didn’t seem to be listening so he touched the man lightly on his hand and the man’s skin twitched and he looked at Dominic with eyes that were the brightest blue he’d ever seen.
The man’s eyes flicked towards the car and then settled on him again.
“Car.....combustion.....drive shaft.....forward motion....warm...heat...fire....wood...coal.”
Dominic blinked, at least the man wasn’t mute, but he wasn’t making any sense either....yes, definitely need to get him somewhere warm...worry later that he might be mentally impaired or ill.
“Come on, forget the hospital. My house is nearer.”
The man looked at him again, seemingly once again not understanding, so Dominic guided him to the car and basically had to put him in. He closed his eyes and prayed as he turned the key and thanked god when it started.
It was still a few miles to his house, so he said.
“What’s your name?”
The man had been looking out of the window, seemingly fascinated by whatever you could see in the dark. He turned to look at him and once again he was struck by the brightness of those eyes; they were almost luminescent.
Again, it seemed like he was puzzled, did he have some form of amnesia...then he spoke.
“ZX30001.”
Dominic frowned.....there was definitely something not right with the man.
“Okay......and where do you live?”
“Live....house...bricks....cement...foundations.”
Dominic sighed, the man wasn’t making any sense and he could see the gate that lead to the road to his house...and it suddenly occurred to him what would his house-mates think when he turned up with a naked man spouting gibberish?
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I am not sure where I am.. I cannot seem to connect to the mainframe ...perhaps it is out of range. How was I supposed to download my data if I could not connect with it? No wait...what is that.....the internet...oh lots of data and I start to upload, but there is too much data and I have to cease, but it has given me enough, for now.
I see trees...lots of trees....so many different ones, strange to my eyes....I store them in my data-store for later analysis. The ground is sharp on my feet...what is that sensation? I search my data-store....I think it is called pain. But there is no time to wonder about that...my programme tells me I must find a place of habitation. I walk out from the trees and onto...is this called a road? What is that noise, is it a animal life-form...no, there is a bright light and what is that, some kind of transportation...at last, interesting data to collect.
Something is not right with this transportation, so I go towards it...perhaps there is something in my data-store that can help repair it. Then I see there is something inside the transportation.
My programme tells me to run a scan, there is something alive inside but there is something not right with it; it requires assistance. The door of the transportation...no, I think it is called a car is easy to open, and I see what is inside.
My data-store spews out a word to me.....this is the dominant species on this planet....the one I have been sent to collect data on, so this is what I look like...this is a human.