Strata 1
What is your purpose here? Is life your main goal? Is there a greater good that you are aiming for? Is there something bigger than you?
The decisions you make today will affect everything you do in the future but your past will affect decision that you make today. What is your past? Have you learned lessons? Are you controlled by unrecognisable forces or are you your own God?
Welcome to Immersion, may your journey go well.
Strata 1
Renyke's inner motors began to whirr.
He had put himself into voluntary shutdown during the *dark cycle' in order to save power.
The position within the human household as a domestic servant had been more than suitable and had sustained him all of his life till now, albeit a short life in human years. He was around a decade old which was a fairly long time for an android's lifespan. New technologies and updates marked regular upgrades and there was little call for used 'droids'.
Now, here on the chilled paved ground in the open air, Renyke could feel changes in his body and surroundings. Unfamiliar smells and an ever-present white noise from the activities of strangers in a cityscape 🌆 he had not seen before.
An unrecognized sense of trepidation washed around him and occupied his thoughts. Reineke was not programmed to experience fear and he felt he must be mistaken.
From the start of his operational cycle, Renyke had performed the necessary housekeeping duties within an interior domain. It was a twenty-four-hour installation that bound him by duty and programming to put humans first. To any human until today Renyke was subordinate.
Things had become difficult after the arrival of another android, a female version 12 named *Ableteen who was considered the fastest domestic to date, (this 6th day of the 11th Moonturn 2289).
Ableteens were also able to preserve battery power with a hybrid electro-solar panel on the back and shoulders. This worked well in the new modern glassed apartments of the suburban zones. These cutting-edge designer homes were maximizing sunlight availability like never before in the new *midcast housing projects.
Some of the apartments even came with the Ableteens installed and ready to make the occupiers enjoy the best life possible.
Renyke was not the only older domestic robotic servant to have their contract abruptly terminated. Some were simply dismantled, some were thrown into crushers still working, and some were being recycled into experimental hybrids for illegal purposes.
Renyke noted that although he was now a vulnerable *street bot, he was spared a wasted end. Perhaps, now without enslavement, there would be new experiences. He had never cared before, after all, he was an emotionless droid. But today, here in unfamiliar surroundings, there was some sort of excitement. Something was calling him toward adventure.
All robots since 2050 had been installed with a clear mode which enabled eco-friendly destruction. Parts had to be handed into the municipal facility to avoid issues with landfill and accidental hybrids. There was talk of an underclass of feral bots who were made out of parts from the old dumping grounds before the eco-legislation had been implemented. They say that some of these bots were made by the bots themselves; innards and parts that had communicated and joined forces across the rubble of twisted metal and wires.
Mabel, the daughter from the family Renyke had worked for, had un-twinned him from the household appliances and had deleted the software that meant he could never leave. Together they had upgraded his operating system with drivers available via an underground organization called Redact.
Renyke had been created by Mabel's father to look like a middle-aged male human from an old English period drama called Sherlock Holmes. This he considered less distracting for the family. Something that would blend in unnoticed and inoffensive, as all androids should be. Evan Renyke’s audio files were installed with a British accent perfected by an internal operative AI that sourced original colloquial examples from the World Central Libraries.
Renyke had looked in the mirror at his new exterior feeling pleased that this new distinguished and yet ordinary face might be advantageous on the street. He felt sure he would blend in and become anonymous. Safety was in the camouflage of the ordinary.
Some robots had been designed to look aggressive, particularly those working in security and entertainment. Others looked like adult child hybrids who were designed as pleasure bots. Generally speaking, all robots found the open streets difficult. Artificial intelligence-led service androids were legally programmed to be submissive and they were picked on and abused in their short lifespan. Even strong exteriors would eventually break under such conditions.
The streets in the outer zones were crime-ridden. Since the pandemics, no law-abiding human citizens walked outside. But there were a few who were hustling or came with guards and protectors, human and android to partake in organized vice and trading.
It took just a few seconds to warm up and reboot.
The surroundings were scanned as Renyke checked the 360-degree orbital range from his silent detectors inside his *POS.
He was fully charged and his battery life would last months.
Renyke's insides were a complex mass of wires and electrical paraphernalia that ran a well-balanced functioning
But the outside world was alien and Renyke needed to explore it to become fully educated on the customs and the environment. He was programmed to learn. His algorithms had been set to gain an advantage in unchartered terrain by observing closely the details of situations and to make robust decisions for survival. He also had a POS to guide him through this new journey.
Mabel and Renyke together had researched what they could but there were pockets of the outside world that had been effectively erased because of a system of cloaking. Areas beyond the midcast projects were cloaked in fake maps that even the most sophisticated satellites were unable to penetrate or decipher. Distances and information about the terrain were usually falsified. The records had become unreliable because of the sabotage of information that had all been digitized after the warmings. It had become a confusing mess of fake news and blurred living memories. But after the tech wars with China and Russia and the pandemics, there were so few old people left and memorial information was mostly unreliable.
Many myths prevailed.
Inside the midcast projects, things were different, they were much more organized. Legislators and the executive had rectified the situation and made records of everything. Babies were chipped at birth and their data was recorded. The government had every human's iris print and DNA from before they were born. It was a rule that any pregnant human, male or female, had to inform the legislators and they were scanned immediately. It was impossible not to get through being categorized and put on the database.
But outside the zones, here in the natural light, even the smells were unrecognisable.
A warning came inside Renyke's head.
Unknown Danger Approaching ...... Left Ground Level
Renyke engaged his internal antenna and watched a furry creature scurry past. His scanners perused the information app.
the POS tells Renyke about rats
Rat, rodent, possible food source
Renyke engaged his arm extension and snatched the rat from the ground.
He brings it close to his face and studies it carefully analyzing its properties.
He had put himself into voluntary shutdown during the *dark cycle' in order to save power.
The position within the human household as a domestic servant had been more than suitable and had sustained him all of his life till now, albeit a short life in human years. He was around a decade old which was a fairly long time for an android's lifespan. New technologies and updates marked regular upgrades and there was little call for used 'droids'.
Now, here on the chilled paved ground in the open air, Renyke could feel changes in his body and surroundings. Unfamiliar smells and an ever-present white noise from the activities of strangers in a cityscape 🌆 he had not seen before.
An unrecognized sense of trepidation washed around him and occupied his thoughts. Reineke was not programmed to experience fear and he felt he must be mistaken.
From the start of his operational cycle, Renyke had performed the necessary housekeeping duties within an interior domain. It was a twenty-four-hour installation that bound him by duty and programming to put humans first. To any human until today Renyke was subordinate.
Things had become difficult after the arrival of another android, a female version 12 named *Ableteen who was considered the fastest domestic to date, (this 6th day of the 11th Moonturn 2289).
Ableteens were also able to preserve battery power with a hybrid electro-solar panel on the back and shoulders. This worked well in the new modern glassed apartments of the suburban zones. These cutting-edge designer homes were maximizing sunlight availability like never before in the new *midcast housing projects.
Some of the apartments even came with the Ableteens installed and ready to make the occupiers enjoy the best life possible.
Renyke was not the only older domestic robotic servant to have their contract abruptly terminated. Some were simply dismantled, some were thrown into crushers still working, and some were being recycled into experimental hybrids for illegal purposes.
Renyke noted that although he was now a vulnerable *street bot, he was spared a wasted end. Perhaps, now without enslavement, there would be new experiences. He had never cared before, after all, he was an emotionless droid. But today, here in unfamiliar surroundings, there was some sort of excitement. Something was calling him toward adventure.
All robots since 2050 had been installed with a clear mode which enabled eco-friendly destruction. Parts had to be handed into the municipal facility to avoid issues with landfill and accidental hybrids. There was talk of an underclass of feral bots who were made out of parts from the old dumping grounds before the eco-legislation had been implemented. They say that some of these bots were made by the bots themselves; innards and parts that had communicated and joined forces across the rubble of twisted metal and wires.
Mabel, the daughter from the family Renyke had worked for, had un-twinned him from the household appliances and had deleted the software that meant he could never leave. Together they had upgraded his operating system with drivers available via an underground organization called Redact.
Renyke had been created by Mabel's father to look like a middle-aged male human from an old English period drama called Sherlock Holmes. This he considered less distracting for the family. Something that would blend in unnoticed and inoffensive, as all androids should be. Evan Renyke’s audio files were installed with a British accent perfected by an internal operative AI that sourced original colloquial examples from the World Central Libraries.
Renyke had looked in the mirror at his new exterior feeling pleased that this new distinguished and yet ordinary face might be advantageous on the street. He felt sure he would blend in and become anonymous. Safety was in the camouflage of the ordinary.
Some robots had been designed to look aggressive, particularly those working in security and entertainment. Others looked like adult child hybrids who were designed as pleasure bots. Generally speaking, all robots found the open streets difficult. Artificial intelligence-led service androids were legally programmed to be submissive and they were picked on and abused in their short lifespan. Even strong exteriors would eventually break under such conditions.
The streets in the outer zones were crime-ridden. Since the pandemics, no law-abiding human citizens walked outside. But there were a few who were hustling or came with guards and protectors, human and android to partake in organized vice and trading.
It took just a few seconds to warm up and reboot.
The surroundings were scanned as Renyke checked the 360-degree orbital range from his silent detectors inside his *POS.
He was fully charged and his battery life would last months.
Renyke's insides were a complex mass of wires and electrical paraphernalia that ran a well-balanced functioning
But the outside world was alien and Renyke needed to explore it to become fully educated on the customs and the environment. He was programmed to learn. His algorithms had been set to gain an advantage in unchartered terrain by observing closely the details of situations and to make robust decisions for survival. He also had a POS to guide him through this new journey.
Mabel and Renyke together had researched what they could but there were pockets of the outside world that had been effectively erased because of a system of cloaking. Areas beyond the midcast projects were cloaked in fake maps that even the most sophisticated satellites were unable to penetrate or decipher. Distances and information about the terrain were usually falsified. The records had become unreliable because of the sabotage of information that had all been digitized after the warmings. It had become a confusing mess of fake news and blurred living memories. But after the tech wars with China and Russia and the pandemics, there were so few old people left and memorial information was mostly unreliable.
Many myths prevailed.
Inside the midcast projects, things were different, they were much more organized. Legislators and the executive had rectified the situation and made records of everything. Babies were chipped at birth and their data was recorded. The government had every human's iris print and DNA from before they were born. It was a rule that any pregnant human, male or female, had to inform the legislators and they were scanned immediately. It was impossible not to get through being categorized and put on the database.
But outside the zones, here in the natural light, even the smells were unrecognisable.
A warning came inside Renyke's head.
Unknown Danger Approaching ...... Left Ground Level
Renyke engaged his internal antenna and watched a furry creature scurry past. His scanners perused the information app.
the POS tells Renyke about rats
Rat, rodent, possible food source
Renyke engaged his arm extension and snatched the rat from the ground.
He brings it close to his face and studies it carefully analyzing its properties.
to be continued....
