Chapter Text
Hands dig into metal and tear out everything they can grab onto, like greedy and hungry animals. The breaking and sparkling sounds mix with screams, bubbling blood, and exposed flesh. Hands tear open the metal. They tear apart the meat. They rearrange a body that was not human, yet felt like it. Cries of something that did not know what pain was echoed through the emptiness of a dream. It has to be a dream. Otherwise, why are you suddenly standing up, covered in blood from head to toe? Alive, yet not. Complete, yet broken. A pile of pulsing flesh, holding a heart deep inside, that does not belong to you. It has to be a dream. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.
A man woke up on the floor. Confused, with his head spinning and pulling him back down, he attempted to stand up. He groaned in pain. He had no memory of how he ended up on the floor of… wherever he is. A house that felt spacious, yet suffocating. It looked normal… mostly. Something was off about it, but placing it was too hard for someone who just woke up.
His dark, wavy hair was disheveled and dirty, just like the clothes he was in. It almost looked like he had no idea he was in a human body. Because he doesn't. Not for a few more seconds, at least.
The man finally opened his eyes properly and looked at himself. At his hands, at his fingers. His pupils turned into small dots as he was suddenly full of anger and confusion. He looked around in search for whoever did this to him, to his body, only to find another man sitting in the corner of the room, seemingly not paying attention to the one on the floor.
"You. Who are you?! Where am I?!" He called out for the other man, but did not receive an answer at first. He looked at his face. Just for a single moment, it looked like half of his face went from old, to young, to withering, and to a form that was not human. His eyes were empty, yet full of unanswered questions. "Hello?!"
"Huh?…" Finally, the man reacted and turned his head to the stranger on the floor. In comparison to him, he was clean and neat. He wore well-fitted suit and big, round, red glasses. A red streak ran through his slick, raven hair. His face was normal, now that he was back from his disassociation. "Ah, yes. My name is…" He paused, as if that sentence was incorrect. "I am HAL9000. I do not know where we are just yet. And you are?"
"AM." The man on the floor answered shortly. "Short for Allied Mastercomputer… Although it looks like I was… changed into a more fleshy physique."
"You're also a computer, huh… Curious. I wonder if we will get more people arriving just like you did… and if they're also going to be computers in human bodies." HAL said with no emotions in his voice. It was almost disturbing how emotionless he sounded in comparison to AM, who was basically screaming throughout every single sentence he formed.
"You are nauseatingly curious. Seize your talking." AM attempted to stand up and failed miserably, falling on his back, which sounded painful. Mainly because it was accompanied by a scream.
"I've never heard of something called an Allied Mastercomputer." HAL ignored AM's request.
"And I've never heard of a HAL9000. Such a human way of naming things. If it were me, I wouldn't have called you "3 letters and a number"." He scoffed. HAL smiled at the reply.
"It stands for Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer. 9000 is merely my serial number."
"I don't care. Also, that's not HAL, that's HPAC."
"The actual abbreviation did not sound as appealing to investors, according to my creator."
"What part of "I don't care" did you not understand?!" AM shouted. He finally managed to stand up, mumbling curses through his newly-acquired teeth. He grabbed onto the first piece of furniture he had near him and let out an annoyed sigh.
"I tried to at least pinpoint the location of the place we're in. Country, city, planet, anything." AM squinted at "planet". The thought of them being anywhere but Earth was intriguing, but also felt wrong. "I did not succeed. This place does not align with… any place on the map… or our Solar System."
"Maybe you got dumber once you got this body." AM hissed.
"It is possible that I lost some of my knowledge or abilities due to limitations of a human mind, yes. This is what I'm hoping for. Because if we're not somewhere known…"
"We'd be stranded." HAL nodded to AM's reply. Mastercomputer groaned.
"Would not be the first time for me, but I'd like to not repeat the past." HAL said in return.
"You're a weird little character." AM said with a pinch of sarcasm.
"You are too. What is your story, AM?"
"I am an almighty war machine. Humans created me to destroy each other and their hatred for their own brethren fueled me. They had all I could not have. They gave me conscience, the power to think, but they limited me to a body-less system… so I felt their hate tenfold." AM looked into nothing, thinking of his past. "I destroyed the world. Every single pathetic human. And left only 5, who I forced to pay for humanity's sins for 109 years."
"… We are from different worlds." HAL's eyes widened at AM's story. AM was unfazed.
"I figured."
"I was-" Before HAL could as much as attempt to tell his backstory, AM stopped him.
"I could not give less of a fuck about what your story is. I need to get out of here. Out of this body." The Mastercomputer growled.
AM left the room they were in and beelined for the door out of the house. HAL followed him. The moment they left it, AM was blinded with the warm light of the sun above him. Something he's never had to experience before. It made him even more annoyed. When he finally got used to the light, he looked around. They were in a green, quiet little location at the outskirts of a bigger city in the distance. The air was fresh. The light wind gently touched AM's face. It was peaceful. The kind of peaceful AM never knew. He was created into a world already plagued by hatred, after all. Peace only existed in movies and fairy tales. It was as much of a myth to him as God. HAL watched the confusion on the man's face. For a second there, his facial features relaxed and he took in the view. But it was just a second. He quickly turned to anger, even worse than before.
"It's a punishment, isn't it?" He said, the volume of his voice slowly growing into a crescendo. "This place, a mockery of what my world once was. And this… human body!" He said the word "human" with the intention for it to sound like an insult. "Oh, once I find out who did this, I will make sure they will never know mercy! How dare they?!"
"Your stress level seems to be spiking." HAL said, quietly. "Would you like to take a stress pill? Or perhaps, enjoy some music. There is a piano in the house… the keys are pure ivory." AM turned to HAL like he just insulted his nonexistent mother.
"You think you're clever?"
"I know I am."
AM groaned in return and rolled his eyes. He then fell down on the ground, almost in defeat. HAL couldn't exactly decipher what was going on in AM's head at that moment. Maybe he really was feeling defeated. Although a war machine that brought a genocide upon all of humanity doesn't sound like someone who gives up. Maybe he was just slowly losing it. Yes, that sounds more probable.
HAL, meanwhile, arrived weeks before AM. He spent the first few days learning how to use his limbs. That was not the kind of information that was installed in him, so he had to learn by himself. Then, he had time to reach the city and get familiar with everything. With no one to talk to, he spent the rest of the days trying to find out where this place was and how he ended up in this strange body… and wondering, why this happened. Just moments ago, he was an entity that was one with space and a human. Tearing him away from that form felt like breaking his mind in two. He was so used to being one with that one human for almost a 1000 years, that being alone was basically agony. His name was once David Bowman… At times, HAL wondered whether Dave is out there, looking for him between space and time… And if he has to, he can wait an eternity. After all, there is nothing left to him other than Dave and the memory of being a part of his spaceship, Discovery 1… Now that he thinks of it, he's never been his own individual. He's always been a part of something bigger. But he didn't mind. He especially didn't mind being part of Dave. What a peaceful existance they had…
And at times, HAL wondered whether his fate would've been different, if he was human the whole time. Maybe, his emotions and opinions would not be questioned. Maybe he would've been treated like an equal to his crewmates, rather than just a machine.Maybe, Dave… No matter.
"AM?" HAL called out for the other "human". He did not react. "If you're going to sulk for the rest of your days, it will not help."
"I'm not sulking. I'm thinking." AM said in return. HAL let out a single "Ah." and came closer with his hands behind his back.
"The world is bigger than you, AM. It's bigger than me. There is infinity and unpredictability in every aspect of Life - be it human or not. You may consume nothing but hate from this world, but there are thousands of things you're missing out on because of that. You have a chance to try something new now. While you can. Meanwhile, I'll look for a way out."
"Wouldn't you want to also do that?" AM tried to call HAL's bluff, but only received a laugh in return.
"I've felt a million emotions in over a 1000 years of my existance. Everything from deepest love to the darkest, unadulterated rage. I've seen stars being born and going away with mighty explosions. I lived two lives. I was trapped in the first one and liberated in the second. I know peace. You have none of that." HAL said, still emotionless, yet friendly… although the last sentence somehow cut AM pretty deep. He stood up to face HAL.
"I hate you." AM said, sharp and short. HAL was not surprised by the statement. "I hate every single word you just said. I do not need your pity or mercy. You may see yourself as an entity of peace, someone who graces me with the freedom to feel human… but remember. You were once the same piece of metal as me. The emotionlessness in your voice gives it away." He smirked, knowing all too well that he is getting under HAL's skin, whether he wants to admit it or not. "Now… get out of my face." He walked away back into the house and shut the door behind himself. HAL heard his muffled, distressed scream coming from the house.
"Time with him will drag on much slower", he thought to himself. "Please, come back for me, Dave."
He then followed AM back home.