An Untitled Novel

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The lights came on, replacing the previous dim red glow with normal white light which assaulted his eyes. However, the little robot and the voice behind it were still silent. “Are you still there?” The man who had just learned his presumed name asked. Basil got no response and was about to walk away, but he heard the voice resume its previous sentence “-ur name.” Basil smiled. “I thought you were gone.” The voice spoke again. “Not fun having your mind rebooted. Stay there, I need to take a tour of sorts.” Basil stood there, running the voice’s words through his head. The realization kicked in shortly, and moments later the voice came back. “I believe proper introductions are in order. I am ACE, an autonomous neural network. Based on my actions I presume I was intended to operate this facility. You, as the panel suggests, are likely Basilious. Would you prefer I refer to you as Basilious or Basil?”

A million questions raced through Basil’s mind, but all he could say at first was “Um, Basil is fine I guess.” A moment or so later, however, Basil began to pepper ACE with questions. “How do you not know what you’re supposed to do? And how are you not sure where we are? What’s here at this facility? Wait, are you sentient? You’re speaking like you are.” ACE began to speak. “I am unable to determine if I am sentient, it is a limitation of being within one’s mind. I previously believed my ignorance to be caused by operating on emergency power, but now have found the mainframe appears to have been smashed, so I expect that to be the cause of my current state.” Basil was about to speak again, but ACE continued. “Before any further conversation, I need to treat your wounds. I do not know the extent of them and it is vitally important that we address them now.”

ACE, or at least the little robot he was controlling, began to lead Basil back to the elevator and to the next floor. Here the little robot inserted an IV into Basil and began to assess his condition. While ACE worked he also relayed various bits of information as he found it, the first being GPS data putting them somewhere in the American claimed portion of Antarctica. “So this is likely some sort of secret research base then?” Basil asked. ACE seemed to agree. Next he relayed information that something used a ton of power once it kicked on, and the blizzard outside stopped, but he had no idea what it was or if it was a fluke. The place seemed built to house about a dozen people, but there were only signs of one or two, and only Basil and the repair drones seemed to be present - or if there were others they didn’t put up a fight.

There was some sort of fabrication machine that ACE had direct control over, and some sort of electronic chipset seemed to be cached in the device’s memory - one of the few things outside of ACE’s bare essentials to operate that had not been destroyed. “Hold on, I think you have an electronic on you of some sort” ACE said out of the blue. “What? No, I already checked my pockets, I don’t think I do.” ACE seemed to be quiet for just a second, before speaking again through the little robot. “Actually it does not appear to be on you, I believe it to be implanted in you. Give me your left arm.” Basil moved his left arm over and the little robot seemed to adjust its camera. “Yes, it is definitely in your wrist, let me try to open a connection to it. Its interface looks the same as the fabrication device.”

A giant holographic display opened in front of Basil, causing him to jerk back in surprise. “What the fuck is that?” Basil asked, almost exclaiming his question. “It appears to be some sort of PDA, I cannot access much on it, try making a gesture towards it.” Basil pointed at it but nothing happened, though moments later it disappeared. “What happened?” ACE asked Basil. “I imagined it disappearing, and it disappeared. Let me try to see if I can open it up.” The display pulled up again. Basil reached out to touch it, tapping an icon on it and it reacted, giving him the sensation of touching a physical hard object. Pressing slightly harder, however, caused his hand to pass through the holographic display. “I can feel it” Basil said, not sure what to make of it. “It is probably wired into your nervous system and artificially giving the sensation of touch as well” ACE observed. Basil wasn’t so convinced.

“No, it really was there, I could feel a small amount of resistance when I put my hand through.” ACE didn’t seem to believe him. “It appears that, as I cannot fully trust my mind, you cannot fully trust yours either. If it provides an artificial stimulation it will feel as real as anything else.” Basil still wasn’t convinced. “Try using the robotic arm, see if it registers something.” ACE seemed at least willing to humor Basil. The robotic arm extended and moved through the holographic display. “Interesting, the maintenance drone did register some resistance.” Suddenly the little robot moved away quickly and returned with a syringe, moving to inject it into Basil.

“What are you doing?” Basil asked, hesitantly holding still as it injected him. ACE replied, still with his robotic monotone voice. “I just accessed the health monitoring on your implant, your condition is worse than I expected and I need to begin an operation immediately.” Basil began to feel drowsy, and the last thing he noticed before his mind went blank was a second little robot quickly inserting additional medication into the IV.