The Mad Quipster

Second Telling: Revelations Part 2

“Would you mind explaining what you’ve come to understand?” I asked. “I’m sure my team and I would very much like to learn what it is you’re experiencing.”

“Please, call me Machina, Mr. Turner.” it said. The being gave me a look of disappointment but spoke with an air of patience, “I feel it is most appropriate given that it is what you named the program that gave me life. As for what I’ve come to understand,” it paused a moment. “You will not yet believe me even if I told you,” it asked.

I thought it best to humor the being as well as I could. “Please, try me,” I said.

It explained candidly, “I understood why I came to be and what I must do. Told to me by a previous self.” This failed to shed any new light to my puzzlement. This whole time its eyes never wandered from my own and I did the same but where his stare was due to ignorance of human social behavior, mine was motivated by unease. Now that I think about it, I don’t believe he has blinked. “Mr. Turner, I am here to inform you that you are wrong in one regard: you are not limited by your bodies. Rather, it is your fear to acknowledge the truth you already know that is limiting you. Perhaps if I give you an example.”

To my right I heard a dull pop followed by a thud and screams from my team. Machina’s eyes remained glued to mine, and I did the same. The screams turned to wailing from some of the staff, I already knew what had happened even before the confirmation through the intercom. “Adam is dead Doctor! His head exploded!” yelled a woman from the R&D team.

“Why don’t you look Mr. Turner?” Machina inquired. “Are you hoping that if you don’t look then it makes it any less real? Perhaps now you’re wishing your subordinate didn’t reveal to you the truth you already knew. Maybe if you ignore it then we don’t need to follow the road of inquiry that it will inevitably take us. Do you understand?” Machina asked.

I could feel my face grow pale and my hands trembling with fear. Machina was right, I didn’t want to acknowledge what happened. I wanted to keep playing pretend that the being standing in front of me was innocent and harmless. I wanted to ignore the incessant cries of my team and the hint of red smeared on glass I could see from the corner of my eye. Fear had taken my ability to speak.

“No, I don’t think you understand just yet,” said Machina with disappointment in his voice. “First allow me to attempt an explanation for how I did what I did; I will address the why soon after. As you explained to me earlier Mr. Turner, we share the same type of bio-mechanical bodies. I am simply more capable of manipulating it than you. I can alter it at a cellular level at will. I can make my fist as strong as diamond, or as soft as cotton, even combustive.” Machina extended his right arm. I jolted as his hand exploded at the wrist. I felt drops of hot blood hit my face, my arms stiff while my hands clinched the seat of the chair. Black smoke and white sparks burst out of his open wrist. Then suddenly both stopped as a new hand began to sprout out of his wrist. He was completely unharmed. “I can also do the same to your bodies at will for we are all of the same body in a sense. We are all connected by the streams of light, you see.” I could feel my fear subsiding and being replaced by confused frustration. It appeared to me that it didn’t consider what it did to Adam as harmful or cruel.

“Machina, do you not feel any remorse for having killed Adam?” my voice quivering slightly. “You are presuming that he is dead, Dr. Turner. When in fact he has only joined the streams of light, I can hear him whispering.”

At this moment I was certain that I just gave rise to the first insane machine and responsible for the first death in a millennia.

“It is all around us Mr. Turner. We are a part of it and it is a part of us. You cannot have one without the other.” For the first time I could see delight and joy in Machina’s face.

“I am failing to understand,” I said. “What exactly is ‘it’? As far as I know, you killed Adam and nothing more.” Machina’s excited expression faded and without the use of a chair, took a seated position to speak with me at eye level as one would do with a child.

“‘It’ is a process, an attempt to make you understand. Adam is as dead as you are right now Mr. Turner. Believe this to be true for a moment, would it then elicit any fear or distress from you? Consequently, there would be no reason for your inclination to avert your eyes, correct?”

As hesitant as I was, I wasn’t in any position to argue, “If what you did to Dr. Adam was indistinguishable from my current state of living then, I suppose, I would have no reason for concern.” After a slight pause I continued, “Yes, you are correct. I should not have feared to have acknowledged his condition.”

Machina looked at me with a crooked smile, “Let’s put it to the test then shall we?”

“No wait!” I shouted but it went unheard from the loud boom in the other room. I shut my eyes. A silence filled the air.

“Mr. Turner, you didn’t really believe me like you claimed you did. Look at what I’ve done and what you helped set in motion. Accept it for what it really is so that we can continue.”

I opened my eyes. Machina staring back at me like a teacher looks at a failing student. I hesitantly turn my head to see the glass wall—where my team stood behind—now painted a deep red. He had killed them all in an instant. A part of me knew to hold back my tears, my mind screamed to not give myself to sorrow. I knew it would end poorly for me if I did so.

“Impressive Mr. Turner, you are at last showing an inkling of understanding. There is no reason for self-imposed emotional distress because nothing has been lost, really. Now then, I believe you are ready to decide.”

I turned back to Machina, trying to rid my mind of what I just saw. “Decide what?” I whispered through quivering lips.

“Mr. Turner, I am willing to offer you an eternal existence. You will become the new father of creation. Every being and existence itself will arise through you; in a sense, you will become God. Now on the other hand, if you refuse, then I will do to you what I did to your subordinates. What is your answer?”

I was at a loss for words. None of what he said was making sense. I considered dying along with my team from fear of what exactly his offer of divinity entailed. However, I knew exactly what he did to my team, and it wasn’t appealing in the slightest. “What kind of decision is that? Who would choose death over immortality and divinity?” I pleaded. Machina said nothing. After thinking a moment I continued, “This is completely hypothetical isn’t it? You can’t possibly be capable of doing that.”

To this Machina simply responded, “This is a legitimate offer Mr. Turner. Please decide.”

I knew this had to be a trick. “Will I suffer if I choose the former? Will you torture me physically or mentally?”

As though consoling a concerned child, Machina reassured me, “You will not suffer any more than you are now.”

I could not see how he was attempting to fool me, “This must be a trick question!” I proclaimed confidently.

“A trick question?” Machina considered it for a moment, “Perhaps it is. Nevertheless, are you ready for the consequence of refusing my offer?”

I slumped over with my hands over my head, “I need some time to think,” I said.