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Three days. It had been three days since Jack had been to the facility and had found the Google IRL robot, still working and still active. Restrained, yes. Locked away, yes. But what would happen if someone else found that locked door? If somehow the locks would be broken, the bot would be found. Maybe it would pretend to be turned off to be freed, before killing everyone, getting out of the facility and getting back to its second objective. Maybe it wouldn't break once the building got torn down and it was buried underground. Maybe it would be found again and maybe it would be repaired, if it was damaged. There were endless possibilities, and none of them were good.
Every time Jack sat at his desk, the masterkey to the facility glared at him. It accused him of not doing anything with his knowledge. Jack never told anyone that he had found the robot, he had never contacted the police. When he saw comments under the video of his exploration, that asked if he had found something regarding the robot that had been build there, he ignored them. He felt like everyone was judging him, everything was telling him to go back there. And he was so close to grab the key and leave his apartment, to go back to the facility and go back to that robot. And he had no idea why.
When he laid in bed at night, Jack couldn't sleep. There was a deep cold settled in his bones, goosebumps covering his skin. He was scared of the dark corners in his room, that there was something he couldn't see, but it could see him. Every time he had his back turned to the darkness, Jack felt like there was a set of eyes boring into the back of his skull. Not even hiding under his blanket helped it. And after another night of that, on the fifth day, Jack decided he had enough of it.
He grabbed the key off his desk and let it vanish into the pocket of his jacket, before leaving the house. A beanie adorned his head, protecting him from the cold of the early morning. He knew it'd get warmer later, but he also knew that it would be rather cold down in the basement of the facility. And there was also the sense of dread, the anxiety in his bones. Jack had no idea why he was going back there again, he knew he could die there. Just because the robot hadn't done anything the last time he had been there, didn't mean it was safe. Who knew how old those chains were? Who knew how old the metal was, keeping it in place? Maybe it could break free, once it set its mind on killing again.
Before he knew it, Jack was back in front of the facility. The gate seemed a lot bigger than before, when Jack stood before it this time. It loomed over him, the facility staring him down in the background. It made him shudder, taking a deep breath to steady himself, before proceeding to get through the hole in the fence and make his way towards the building. He could feel the weight of the key in his pocket, making the situation all the more real.
Jack could still turn back. He could throw the key away, he could forget that he had come back here, he could still decide to not do this. But he was already climbing through the broken window, he was already walking through the hallway. He had nothing with him but his phone, keys, wallet and the masterkey to this building of course. He really should have taken something else with him, at least a flashlight, but now he had to use his phone for that. At least it was fully charged.
Once he started descending the stairs, Jack pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. He felt the cold creep into his bones the deeper he went, his jacket didn't help at all. The cold crept up from the stairs and engulfed his whole being, making Jack shiver. He hugged himself with one arm, the other still holding his phone to light the way. Once his feet his the ground again, the stair now behind him, Jack let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.
Everything would be okay, he reassured himself, the robot was restrained and wouldn't do anything to him. It wouldn't be able to do anything to him. Jack would just go into that room, and... and what? Jack had no idea what he was going to do once he was actually there. He had no idea why he was here, why he had returned back to this place. There was just something so utterly wrong, pulling him back to this place. It wasn't just the fear of the dark in his home, it wasn't just the accusing glint of the key. There always had been that itch, that pull, trying to get him back to the robot.
Jack stood in the small room, looking at the locked door. He picked up the paper again, reading the familiar words written in marker again. Do not attempt to approach. Jack hadn't gone very close to the robot, he hadn't tried to examine it closer. Laying the document back onto the desk, Jack turned back to the door, pulling out the key in his possession. He could still turn back. This was his last chance, if he unlocked the first lock, he couldn't go back anymore.
Inserting the key into the first lock, Jack took a deep breath. He only needed to get in there, and maybe then he would feel better. Maybe then he wouldn't feel like something was always staring at him, waiting for him in the dark. He would find peace and could go home again, throw away the key and never return here again. He was sure of it. So Jack unlocked the locks one after one, the sounds of them springing open chasing each other, echoing down the hallway once more. Once all of them were unlocked, Jack let the key fall back into his jacket and pushed the door open.
It was silent once more. The only sound was Jack's breathing, the only lights were from his phone and the soft glow from the robot. The human swallowed the lump of uncertainty in his throat down and entered the room. Letting the light sweep through the room, nothing had changed since the last time Jack had gotten here. Everything was still in disarray, the white boards were still full of writings, one of them showing the three sentences.
Looking towards the bot, Jack could tell it was back in stand-by. The glow of the G on its chest dim and slowly pulsating, its eyes closed. He felt like he should approach it, take a closer look at it. He felt like something was wrong with it, with this room, with this facility. Jack shivered, walking towards one of the desks. Most things seemed to have been burned here, judging from the ashes and the half burned papers. It made him wonder why.
Shuffling through the papers on the desk, Jack saw drawings of tubes and cables, notes of the substance inside it and what it did. There was a drawing of the ends of these tubes, they had long thick needles and little hooks to secure the thing wherever it was attached. Jack had no idea what they were used for, and the other papers didn't tell him much either. Most was gibberish for him, many things faded or just plain unreadable. These people had terrible handwriting, Jack found out.
Looking around some more, Jack did his best to stay as silent as possible. He didn't want to wake up the robot, getting stared at would make him even more uncomfortable. As long as he could ignore the robots existence, Jack could look around without getting his every move watched, eyes boring a hole in the back of his skull. The thought of the robot awake again send shivers down Jack's spine, so he shook his head to get the thoughts out of his mind.
Jack went through the next desk and looked around, but didn't find anything interesting. Letting his gaze sweep through the room once more, he sighed. There had to be something interesting here, something that told him why he felt like something was wrong. Something to confirm his uneasiness. He spotted an old computer on one of the desks near the Google IRL bot, so Jack carefully made his way over to it. He knew there probably was no electricity down here anymore, at least not for lights or something like a PC. After all, it seemed like the robot still got electricity somehow.
Reaching the desk, Jack's eyes instantly fell on the sticky notes attached to it. He shone his light on them, trying to read what was written on them. Sloppy handwriting was going to be his curse down here he decided.
"Instructions for creation of a Google IRL unit", Jack could decipher after a minute or two, which made his brows furrow. What did that mean? Had it something to do with installing the software or something? That sounded the most plausible to Jack, though that didn't stop him from reading the rest.
"Sedation is required before installing obedience protocols", Jack's frown deepened, glancing over to the robot. Sedation? Wouldn't they just need to turn off the robot and install whatever they needed? With an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, Jack turned back to the notes and continued to decipher the bad handwriting.
"Wiping the unit's memory is optional, though is recommended"
"Do not remove electropulse tubes until completion"
"Talking with the unit before completion is strictly forbidden".
Jack's face drained of any colour it had held previously. These notes, what was written on them... they sounded like that robot, that machine... wasn't a robot before. Looking to the... Google IRL unit, Jack couldn't stop himself from moving towards it. His mind was racing with terrifying thoughts and with thousand of questions.
He stood right in front of... of it? of him? And could see every little detail. He could see all little imperfections of real human skin, even a faint scar near its ear. If Jack wanted to, he could surely count every single hair on the bots head. It looked like normal human hair, a little greasy maybe. The bot even mimicked breathing, Jack noticed. Its chest was rising and falling slowly, like it took deep even breaths. Like it was just asleep.
Jack was shaking. There was only one thing left that could confirm his suspicions, and that was to touch it. Touch its skin, its hair. Feel if it was human or not. But Jack knew, doing that would wake it up. He wasn't sure if he could risk that. If he should. But if this robot had been a human once, then somewhere, there was a family missing a member. A grieving mother or father, siblings. Friends or maybe even a pet. Maybe this person had even been a husband to someone, maybe even a father.
Jack needed to know. Raising his hand, his breathing was shaky. He was trembling, when he carefully let his fingertips fall upon the bot's, the man's, temple, feeling the skin underneath his hand.
It felt human. It felt just like his skin, just a little smoother. He let his hand travel up further, into the hair. Feeling the dark locks between his fingers, Jack was sure it wasn't plastic or anything else synthetic. It was entirely human.
"This... is a human..", he muttered quietly to himself. This had been a human. Before he got turned into this- this machine, set out to kill. To destroy the human kind! Jack couldn't wrap his mind around this, he couldn't believe that this was real.
His attention got finally drawn away from his thoughts, when he could feel it -him- looking at him. Jack took his hand away from the... the machine, eyes locking with it. The eyes Jack had been sure had been red and blue the last time he had seen them, were really a dark brown. There seemed something wrong with them though, something inside of the machine that could make them appear in a different colour. Something that made them glow. But right now, Jack was looking into the eyes of another human being, someone who had gone through something so extreme that Jack didn't dare even imagine it.
"This is so wrong", Jack mumbled, knowing the other could hear him. But what could Jack do? This was a machine, a human turned into a machine. He couldn't be sure if the company had taken one of their workers they knew wouldn't be... wouldn't be missed by anyone, or if they had just taken someone off the streets. If they had kidnapped someone for this. Without caring who might miss this guy.
Jack took a step back from it, from the bot, he repeatedly told himself, and took a deep breath. This was what had seemed so wrong. Why he had needed to get back here. Not because a murderous machine was locked up here and would most likely be destroyed with the building, but because this murderous machine once had been a human with a life like he himself.
Jack needed a few minutes to collect his thoughts, and think through what he would do. What he could do. There were many things he could do, but one he knew he couldn't, was forget about this. He wouldn't be able to forget that some guy had been turned into a machine and no one knew. The poor man was already forgotten, probably. Jack had no idea how long ago this happened. He didn't want to know either though, knowing how long this company had been able to hide what they were doing.
With a deep breath, and the feeling of someone watching him, Jack carefully stepped around the machine. He knew it couldn't move its neck, thanks to the restrains. And it couldn't speak either. And that, Jack had decided, needed to be changed. What bad could it do to him with just words after all? He was pretty sure he wouldn't get manipulated by some Google machine. So Jack looked at the big metal thing, using the light from his flashlight to help him see anything that could take it off. He found several latches and even a keyhole, making him thank the gods for having found the masterkey. But he would also need a screwdriver by the looks of it, so once he had done whatever he could, he sighed and stepped back.
Jack spared a glance at the bot, seeing its eyes softly glow and watch him with distrust, but the same brown colour, before he looked around to find some tools. He was lucky to find a screwdriver in the size he needed in one of the desk's drawers, with which he returned back behind the bot. He could imagine everything he would need to free the bot could be found here, since it had been restrained here as well, and the room hadn't been emptied really.
Once Jack was able to take the thing off of the bot, he noticed how heavy it was. It was a wonder the bot could carry that on its shoulders, if it was really a human body. Jack noticed the cable and tubes on the back of the restraint, before he tried to take it off. He wondered if they were connected to the bot's head, which would make it harder for him to take it off. Jack didn't want to hurt it, if it could still feel pain. Even if it was a machine now, even if it had murdered someone. The human it once had been wasn't at fault for that.
The cable was easy to remove, Jack could just unplug it from the restraint. The tubes however didn't seem to just want to disconnect. Thinking back to the drawings Jack had found earlier, he could imagine these were the same ones. And if they had needles that were stuck inside of this guy's head, then it would very likely hurt to remove them.
"This'll probably hurt buddy", Jack said, before gritting his teeth and pulling at the restraint. It was heavy and made him wonder if this really was a human body, and how it could carry such a weight for so long. He was able to push one part of the restraint off of the bot, the sound of the heavy metal item hitting the ground loud and almost hurting thanks to the silence that had been in the room before. And with all his might, Jack was able to pull off the other half of it, letting it crash to the ground almost on top of his feet.
While Jack got his phone back out to get his source of light back, the bot moved its neck around, shaking its head to get its hair out of its face -which didn't work. It stayed silent, while Jack let the light shine on the back of its head, soon seeing a dark liquid running down the bots neck. It looked like blood, but also not. It was weirdly reflective, like mirrors were, but still looked like blood. Deciding not to think about that, Jack stepped over the metal restraint, now on the ground, and still careful of the chains, to get back in front of it.
The bot had a stubble, a soft shadow of a beard, making it look even more human than before. And while its face was in a neutral expression, eyes kept firmly on Jack's, the human couldn't deny that this machine must have been a human, must still be a human. But a mind turned into a machine, making it obedient to do whatever it was told. Well, more or less, judging from the video of Matthias'.
"Hello?..", Jack said, carefully, unsure. He kept a little distance between them, now that the bot could move its head around however it likes and actually speak to Jack, if it so desired.
"Hello", the bot replied, its voice deep and a little hoarse. An indicator that it hadn't used its voice in a long time. Something you wouldn't expect from a machine, but from a human, with normal working vocal chords.
"What... what are you?", Jack asked. He wasn't sure if the machine knew what it was, or if it had been programmed to say something specific. He was just hoping that it would help him get answers where there were so many questions.
"I am a man-made machine, made by a company working together with Google", was the response Jack got, not even a second later. It took him back a bit, but he nodded slightly. So it didn't know that it had been a human before. Well, at least it didn't appear it knew.
"Do you have a name?", Jack asked then, glad that the bot was at least able to have a normal conversation without Jack always having to say "Okay Google" or something like that. That'd be hella annoying.
"I am the first unit of Google IRL, and considered a prototype", it responded. It sounded so much like it was just reading it off of some sheet, it made Jack uncomfortable.
"But do you have a name? Something to call you?", Jack asked again. He didn't feel the cold of the basement anymore, having gotten used to it. He was still shivering slightly though.
"I do not have a set name, since my last administrator had not given me one. And sadly, passed away", the bot grinned maliciously with the last sentence, its eyes glowing in the red and blue Jack could only assume meant something bad. Its expression send a cold shiver down his spine, and he nodded.
"Do you have any memories? Of the past?", Jack asked then. If it was a machine, it could surely remember everything it had done clearly. And Jack hoped, even if it was stupid to hope, that the bot had memories of its human life.
"The most recent memory is of you sneaking around here", the bot responded. "The earliest accessible memory is of my first awakening, to a similar questioning like this".
Jack nodded slowly in response, taking the information in. So the people that had made him had asked him the same, or similar, questions? What he is, if he has a name, of his memories? They had to make sure he didn't remember being a human... its past name, any memories. Jack shivered, it was all just so terrible.
"Can you feel pain?", Jack asked then, after a minute of silence. "Are you in pain right now?...", he added, more quietly. Even if this was a machine now, with no recollection of once being a human, Jack worried. That was at least a human body after all, right? How did it even survive this long without water and food?
"I am in possession of pain receptors and am able to feel pain due to them", Google responded. "Right now, there is a dull throbbing pain in the back of my head and neck, from your removal of the power sources I needed to survive with". That also answered Jack's unspoken question, and he gulped. He had doomed it to die then. He couldn't pick that restraint up even if he wanted to.
"I- I'm sorry", Jack apologized. He wasn't sure why, to be honest. It was a machine, something that -probably- had no feelings at all. But just the fact that it once had been a human, made him feel bad.
"There is no need to apologize. Neither did you know, nor should you care. I have killed someone precious to millions of people and was left here to be buried underground. I would have ceased to exist sooner or later", Google responded, his voice so calm and cold that it hurt Jack. It hurt him, because he knew this once had been a human. A human who most likely had done nothing wrong, was missed and would die here without anyone caring.
"How long can you survive without... that stuff", Jack said, gesturing to the metal restrain with the tubes and cable. He still had no real idea what that all was after all.
"My running time without consuming any electropulses is approximately ninety hours. My batteries will last over a week fully charged", Google answered, not bothered about anything apparently.
"What would happen in nintey hours, once you run out of that electro stuff?", Jack asked, mostly curious. He would have over three days to figure out what to do and do it. Almost four days technically, though since the countdown started already, he dismissed that.
"If electropulses are not re-filled after ninety hours, I will cease to function properly and shut off, to keep my systems from getting damaged", was the response Jack got, which didn't really help him though. Since he knew that Google wasn't just a normal machine, but something more like a hybrid, he couldn't imagine that that was all that would happen.
They stood in silence for a while then, Jack didn't care for how long, it didn't matter anyways. He finally took a deep breath though and let his gaze sweep through the room, before looking back at the bot. He could swear he saw an expression of... of uneasiness, pain, discomfort, even fear on its face. But it was gone as soon as Jack was looking at it again.
"I'm going to leave now...", Jack said, trailing off. He turned around, starting to leave the room again. He couldn't do anything down here anymore, and he still had a job to do. And maybe, maybe he could ask the police about missing people that hadn't been found. Maybe he could give them a description even... but why did he care so much? Jack wasn't sure, he had no idea.
"If you wish to know more about Google IRL units, perhaps you will be able to find something saved as backups", the bot suddenly spoke up, right as Jack was about to walk through the door. He turned around, surprised, and maybe a little shocked, but the bot didn't show any emotion on its face.
Jack walked back into the room, going over to the desk where the computer with the sticky notes sat. He shivered upon seeing them, but he looked through the drawers to see if he'd find anything. Saying he was surprised was an understatement, when he found an old CD that was labeled "Google IRL unit I". He looked up from his position, crouched down, to glance at the bot. It, apparently, had decided it wasn't needed anymore and had gone back into stand-by. Jack kept his eyes on it for a while, before he got back up on his feet and put the CD in his pocket.
Leaving the room, Jack only re-locked one of the locks, before making his way back to get home. His thoughts were still spiraling around the robot, about what he had learned today. He couldn't start to imagine, assuming, guessing, what could be on the CD. He was honestly scared to find out.