CG Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Nightmare
In the innocence of our youth, the tales we were told painted vibrant canvases of our futures and the noble path to achieving greatness. We were taught that success could only be attained through virtuous and righteous living.
But those tales are now mere echoes from a bygone era, consigned to the realm of forgotten memories. This story stands as the haunting origin of a nightmarish cascade that brought ruin to countless worlds all because of a single, desperate man.
The year is 2023 on an Earth-like planet.
Life was unremarkable until this moment. Birds sang during the day, waterfalls flowed as they always had, and the city bustled with its usual rhythm.
Among the rushing crowd was a man, hurrying toward a towering blue building in the city center.
Thomas Blackwood, or simply Tom was a computer science major with an unnerving depth of knowledge in biology.
His dream was to create an AI chip capable of restoring his shattered physical and mental health.
He tried to enter his lab before the rain, which his AI assistant Noor warned him about.
After he closed the doors behind him, he sighed.
He named her Noor, hoping that she would be the light that brightened his life. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to share his creation with the world.
[Welcome home.] Noor said.
"Thanks for the warning; without it, I would have gotten drenched," Tom replied.
[No problem.]
Noor answered with a hint of happiness that Tom dismissed.
Humans are fascinating creatures; whether it's good or bad, they always think to themselves: It couldn't be me, right? So, I am not that lucky or unlucky, depending on the situation, ignoring that if it happened to someone else, why wouldn't it happen to them?
After Tom ignored the idea of his AI developing sentience, he continued his research on merging an AI chip with humans.
Not having the ability to get his hands on any human participant to undergo his crazy trials, Tom had no choice but to experiment on chimpanzees that he obtained from the black market.
Tom worked relentlessly from the early hours of the day until the late hours of the night, fueled by nothing else but his madness and an unhealthy amount of energy drinks.
Unfortunately, this work took a bigger toll on his health, leaving him in a worse state each day.
The same experiment that was originally meant to heal his weak body caused him to go into a state akin to a never-ending cycle of self-destruction.
As the clock struck ten, Tom found himself utterly drained from his work, yearning for a much-needed rest.
At the same time, as if fate wanted to play a big prank on him, he received two important pieces of information.
The first was that blood started to come out from his nose, trickling onto the floor. Understanding his body's condition, Tom knew that finishing his research within his limited time was an almost impossible task. The fact that death was but a step away nearly made him go into a state of madness.
The helplessness of losing what he worked for made Tom feel utterly powerless.
Yet, in the middle of this dark hour, a glimmer of hope emerged.
The chimpanzee in today's attempts had successfully merged with one of Noor's clones. Reading the subject details:
[Name: Biso]
[No.0053]
[Gender: Male]
[Species: Pan troglodytes]
After 52 attempts of failed products, this one succeeded as if the heavens had finally opened a door of hope for Tom. He smiled, becoming happy that there was still hope for him to survive.
When the joy started to fade and Tom returned to his usual self, he noticed that this Noor clone had something different about it.
He quickly asked her about it.
[Analyzing…]
[After my analysis, I found that the existence of dual consciousness in one body was impossible with the current state of our research, leading the AI chip embedded within the chimpanzee's brain to disregard its survival for the monkey.]
Tom wasn't an idiot. He knew what that meant.
If he successfully merged with Noor, any sense of her would truly die, and unlike the Noor that was combined with the chimpanzee, his Noor was different. She was the original, and any other Noor was simply a clone.
He showed a sad face while knowing full well inside him that he didn't care for Noor or anyone other than himself.
However, he still had a slight sparkle of light inside him of what people like to call humanity; after all, he was raised among humans, and this hint cannot be easily wiped.
Tom asked Noor, "What do you think I should do?"
If Tom was the person who understand the most about his body, then Noor can be said to be the second-best being to know about his situation, and her programming core was to help Tom at any cost, even if that meant that she would need to destroy herself.
She told him the truth they both knew.
[Merge with me. It's your last hope. You don't have much time.]
"Initiate the merging procedure," Tom said in a somber tone.
...
Noor prepared the surgery room using her robotic hands, which were everywhere inside the lab.
Lying on the bed with the sleeping mask over his eyes, and before he fell asleep, he said to Noor, "You were and will always be my brightest invention."
His voice faltered, but a faint smile lingered on his lips as he drifted into unconsciousness.
And so, the nightmare began.