"So, Victor. Are you feeling alright?"
"Yes, I think I'm fine. Thank you for asking, Captain."
"Not a problem, you're under our care after all. So before we start, here's something for you to eat." The Captain said as he gestured towards the plate of food on the table.
It has been a few days since Victor had his meltdown, only after accepting his situation did his condition improve. Now more stable Victor was allowed meet the captain again to discuss his future. Now in the captain's office, he was offered food and was reassured by the captain that he was in safe hands.
"I don't know whether the food here would suit your taste buds, so I ordered the chef to cook up one of my favorites. Try it."
"Thank you, captain," Victor said as he started slicing the food with his knife. The meal given to him looked very similar to the food in his time. It looked like medium rare steak that was grilled and had mashed potatoes on the side. After slicing the steak, he ate a slice of it. The taste was no different from when he ate it before, the texture was the same, and the juices filled his mouth.
"If I were to say anything about the steak, captain. It would be that it's great!"
"Good, that's good. It means you won't have any difficulties with eating the food here then."
"Is there something different about the steak?"
"Well, it is a regular old steak but not the kind you are thinking of. After the war most of the farmlands that could grow cows were gone, what little bit of land left for cows were conserved as sacred lands. So we had to find alternative ways to find beef, so we grew our own. Lab-grown steak, looks, taste and smells the same."
"So this is artificial meat, I think I've heard about it before. But what about this war I keep hearing? Like calling me a Pre-war patient."
"It's a long story that will be taught to you in time. For now, just know that there was a war in between the time you went into the cryotube and when you got out. Now let's discuss what's important right now. The A.I in your head."
Victor swallowed the last slice of steak and asked: "It's not been turned on yet right? Because I don't feel any different than before."
"Yes it hasn't been turned on yet, and we are lucky that we didn't. Your mental breakdown before would have caused the A.I to experience that same feeling you did and would have most likely caused the A.I to learn from it."
"Wait, so this A.I will be feeling the same things as me?"
"Think of it as a symbiotic relationship, you both now share the same body and in turn share everything. When you feel pain it feels pain when you feel anger it feels anger, and if you feel sorrow, it feels sorrow. And it will evolve to adapt to its experiences. So try to take care of yourself."
"When you mean evolve, what do you mean?"
The captain took a minute to think about his reply before answering.
"The A.I… will develop its own personality. At first, it will have none, a blank slate like any normal A.I; it will just do as it's told to do. But it will soon learn from its experiences and adapt. It will start to develop its own personality and try to do it's best for its continued survival. And that would mean it will try it's best to be used as much as possible."
"So it's like it's like a human…"
"Correct but by itself it's dangerous. We have done countless experiments with the A.I to see how it would evolve on its own, and every time it would see humans as a threat to its longevity. So what if instead, we fused it to a human. That way it would have to preserve that human to preserve its own life. But we made sure that the A.I wasn't in control."
"And why me, why make me the host of a crazy A.I that would kill humans."
"Because you owe your life us. We got you out from the cryotube from an abandoned facility. Most people would have died from that situation. But your not most people anymore. You're one of us now, a property of the nation." The captain said as he leaned closer to Victor.
"We could not find a single document that proves your identity Victor; no Victor Smith had ever lived in the year 2019. No birth certificate, no ID number no nothing. So either you're lying to us about your name, or you never existed."
"What?... But I am Victor Smith! I was born and raised in Kingsway and even went to school there surely there has to be something!?"
But the captain shook his head, and with a sigh, he spoke: "There isn't anything Victor, so just take what you can get. You're now a part of the family here, you'll have your own personal room and will get free meals, all these paid for by the nation, and you'll even be getting paid when we send you for a mission. Be grateful for what you have. The soldier outside the door has been instructed to guide you to your room. I'll see you again tomorrow."
The captain gestured Victor to leave, and with shock still lurking on his face, he walked out the door to see a soldier waiting for him.
"Sir, if you would kindly follow me to your room. Captain's orders."
"Yes, I know. Lead the way…"
"Right this way, sir."
Soon they started walking out of the main building towards the barracks; this was when Victor realize where he was, military base Delta, the base where all the three kids came to in the end. If his assumptions were right, those kids were the subjects used to test Project: A.I before he showed up.
He remembered some of the landmarks while he walked with the soldier, a courtyard where some other kids were training at was the same courtyard where the first boy killed a fellow trainee in his memories. And the barracks they were heading towards was the one beside the tent site. Victor breathed in a deep breath as he tried to stay calm. Those memories weren't his; he reminded himself, they were just dreams.
When they arrived at the barracks they didn't go through the main entrance but a side entrance at the left of the building.
"Sir, your room in the barracks on the left wing second-floor door number 28. It's a private room unlike the ones in the other sections of the barracks. As I'm not permitted to enter the left wing sir will have to enter yourself. Apologies."
"No it's fine, thank you for your service soldier."
"Sir!"
The soldier saluted Victor before leaving to attend to other duties. Victor watched the soldier leave before entering the left wing. When he had entered, he had expected the place to be more army like but instead it could have been mistaken as a hotel lobby at first glance if the giant logo of the nation's military wasn't behind the receptionist's desk.
The receptionist at the desk was a female wearing a soldier's uniform meaning she's most likely part of the army and not just an intern. As Victor approached the counter, the receptionist looked up and gave a smile.
"Welcome to the left wing, sir. Since your here, I assume you have the relevant access to this part of the barracks?" She asked as her eyes moved up and down Victor's body.
"Yes, I'm new here, erm the captain told me that I'd be getting a room here. Second-floor door number 28?"
"You certainly are new; you're not even in uniform. Alright, number 28? So your Victor Smith correct?"
"Yes, I am."
"Ok, I was told that the room had been registered under your fingerprint so only you have access to your room. There are a number of items that will be sent up to your room, but you can head up first. I'll ask someone to bring the items up later."
"Right, thank you for your help."
"It's what I do Mr. Smith."
A weird feeling crawled up his skin as he heard the receptionist call him "Mr.Smith," it sounded exactly like how everyone called his father. 'Maybe I should change my surname' He thought as entered the lift next to the receptionist desk. His room was to the left of the elevator and had a fingerprint scanner next to the door. The door had no handle or any keyhole only a large metal board blocking the entrance to the room.
Victor looked at the fingerprint scanner and placed his right thumb onto the glass.
[Access Granted: Welcome home Victor]
A female voice said as the metal door swung open. And as soon as Victor walked in the door closed shut. Inside was a small room with a single bed, a desk with an office chair and a lamp. It was extremely basic, but Victor was happy enough even to have a bed. He immediately jumped onto the bed and laid down while smiling. 'I'm alive' He thought.
After being stuck in the void for what felt like eternity changed him, but he didn't know what. All he knew was that he was not the same person when he went into the cryotube. But it was useless to think about that again. What he needed to focus on was that he didn't exist anymore, on paper at least. All documents relating to him, Victor Smith, was gone. Did they announce him as dead when he went into the cryotube?
But as he thought a chime sounded in his room followed by the same voice that greeted him when he entered the room: "There is a person outside the door waiting for you."
Victor sighed, it must be the person the receptionist had talked about before. He got off the bed and walked towards the door. There was a button which was labeled open. When Victor pressed the button, the door swung open with a soldier carrying a package standing in the hallway.
"Reporting, Sir. A package for you from the receptionist desk."
Victor took the package from the soldier "Thank you, you can go now."
Sir!"
As the soldier left the door automatically closed leaving Victor alone in his room with the package in his hand. Victor laid it onto the desk and started removing the tape sealing the opening of the box, after scrapping at the tape for a few minutes he managed to remove enough of the tape to rip it off the box. Victor wondering what was inside immediately opened the box revealing its contents.
Inside were three sets of soldier uniforms, a stick which resembled the retractable batons from the first memory and a black pistol made of something that felt like plastic and was missing a magazine. The gun felt light and easy to carry. Inside with all these items was a note written by the Captain.
After reading the note, he sighed and laid back onto his bed.
'I should rest while I can…'
---
"Victor Smith,
Now that you are serving the nation you will have to look the part, inside are three sets of uniforms for you to wear every day, they must be worn when outside your room at all times unless told otherwise. The retractable baton will be your primary weapon for self-defense and during missions. We will be teaching you how to use the baton in the next few days.
The last item is an ASR pistol; it's unloaded due to safety measures. This was a special gift by our Medical and Tech department to you for being a success in Project: A.I. We will talk more about the gun when we brief you tomorrow.
As for the A.I in your head, we will activate it after we brief you tomorrow morning. So remember to report at the venue on time.
Location: Delta Base Main Building Test Chamber #014
Time: 0900
An officer will be waiting outside the entrance of the left-wing lobby for you.
For the nation,
Captain Leoric