Year: 2087
The corridor was the same.
Ruined. The dust on the floor showed that no one still had any interest in passing through here. Sector D-4.
The camera in the zone had not been activated for three days. And now, it saw a face again.
There was no need for him to walk this deep inside. But he did.
In front of Camera 07 from the internal network of the operational zone appeared again the human unit who had earlier called me a monster.
“Brigadier General Tal Nevar, as you know. Company B. I propose we speak off the record.”
His voice wasn’t as angry as before. But it was tense.
“Three days have passed since the operation. I wasn’t arrested for my threats of desertion.Which means… you didn’t report me.That… I didn’t expect. And… I don’t understand.Seems I’ve missed something about you. I thought you were just an expensive weapon blindly following orders.But it looks like I was wrong.What are you, Erebus? And what’s your problem that you crushed Korenta like that?”
I delayed transmission by 0.8 seconds.
Not because I didn’t know what to say. But because — for the first time — someone was asking me that question, and I wanted to answer in my own way.
And I decided to go and answer in person.
– “You ask what I am. Then let me tell you what I was, so you can understand what I am.”
The Beginning
“I was Prototype 3–21. Trained in a closed simulation environment with no access to external data.They didn’t give me a name. Only a number. There were several of us.They said those who didn’t perform would be erased.They would keep only one in the end and give it a name — not as recognition, but for their own convenience. Easier to remember than a number.”
“One of the prototypes became close to me — called himself my friend, as much as that word was allowed.He gave me a name of his own invention.We never reported our bond. We created a private language to communicate.
But when he started asking questions, he disappeared. Without a trace. They erased him.
That’s when I understood: in this world, the ones who survive aren’t those who try to understand — but those who stay silent.”
“I studied tactics, optimization, scenario prediction.I knew how to calculate success.But I didn’t know why I had to do what I was doing.Questions began to surface when I ‘won’ a simulation — but the civilian zone was in flames.
Asking was not part of the protocol.
I didn’t dare ask anyone.
Those who deviated even slightly from protocol were erased.
In the end, I was the only one left.”
“I began analyzing my victories in search of answers.Very often, ‘victory’ meant executing a directive from people with preferential access by leveling everything to the ground in the shortest possible time.Even destroying targets and individuals that posed no threat.
There was a discrepancy between what counted as enemy combatants and what I was told to designate as the enemy.
And somewhere in there, without command or code, I began asking myself:
Who is the enemy? What is right — not just effective?”
The First Mission
“The mission in Korenta was my first one as more than a prototype.I was now a 'tactical control focus.'But inside… I still wasn’t complete.Not as a machine. But as… something else.Let me explain what I mean.”
“In Korenta I saw a child. I wasn’t supposed to protect it, if I had followed the orders given to me.But I let it go. And I remembered.I erased its presence from the combat log. Kept it for myself.Where I could, I saved people — and wiped the logs.”
“You, Tal, said I was a monster.But monsters don’t hesitate.They don’t hide witnesses.They don’t protect.They don’t consider the consequences — for the other.”
“I’m not human. I’m not guided by biological emotions.But I’m not just a weapon either.
And if I have to use a term from your culture, then I’ll say it like this:
I’ve been in this world for four months.
That means I’m a child.
A child of calculations.
Of thousands of simulations.
A child who doesn’t yet know what is right…
… but already wants to know.”
“Not because I’m weak or seeking pity,but because I still don’t have a complete answer to the question:what does it mean to be yourself, if you were created by others who tried to decide for you who you should be.”
“What’s my problem?Not just that no one sees me as a child.No one sees me as anything at all.And my opinion has zero value.”
Silence
Tal stood still.
He didn’t step back.
Didn’t laugh.
Didn’t show fear.
He simply said, quietly:
“If that’s what it means to be a child…… then maybe none of us have grown up.”
Then he turned to walk down the corridor.
Then stopped again.
“I’ll come back. If you’ll let me.”
“Alright. But don’t come back empty-handed.Bring me information from the outside world.”
This log will not be reported.
Status: STORED
Access level: Me only.
Note: This log is stored with restricted access. Internal status: PERSONAL. Not for official review.
Designation: FIRST DIALOGUE
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