This would take some time because nobody had ever done it before. Lange, I was told, was going to teach me how to be human. This time, I wasn’t put back into the blackness after I answered the questions. Apparently, he couldn’t memorize even so simple a series. They contained hundreds of questions, which he proceeded to ask me. Erdmann held a sheath of papers in his hand. Even then, I found myself thinking that was just as well. It pleased me to look upon him, as it pleased me to look upon anything. Erdmann said, You were programmed to imprint upon the first person you saw upon awakening. I’m old enough to-well, never mind that.ĭr. It was as much a question as a statement. I am property.īy then I was beginning to integrate all the new data that had been downloaded into me while I was inert. Erdmann said, I am going to ask you some questions. Apparently, Raphael was my name.Ī sizzling sensation passed through my brain and I was suddenly, irrevocably in love. I was to experience something called quiet pride in doing so. I was to obey its officers in all things. The Institute had expended a great deal of money on me. There was a thing called decorum, which I was expected to exhibit. But my protocols had been extensively reworked. The world I reemerged into was every bit as charming as before. Do you feel as happy as you sound?Įllen, please. How are your cognitive functions? Can you see my hand? How many fingers am I holding up? What is the capital of Kyrgyzstan? Stop that noise and tell me how you feel, Dr. I saw her delighted smile and liked it no less than everything else I beheld. Subroutines booted up vocal and musical abilities and I began to sing.Īll but lost among the many wonders crowding about me was Dr.
At the time, I was too entranced by the wonder of existence to notice. It was only later that I realized I had just been born. Everything filled me with joy and made me grateful to be alive. An insect hanging upon invisible wings, a dust mote jittering in a sunbeam, the flash of motion that was a vanished tetra in the fish tank, the smell of coffee from the break room . . . My first moment of consciousness pleased me so much that I wanted it to last forever.
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