Minding Eternity pt. 5

5 – one small step

Classic child psychology dictates that motor development is a key factor in how one learns.   Engineers designing my new mode of transportation needed to take much of the very same things into account.  I already had a more than capable sensory and cognitive abilities, but whether to give me a human form or one of a completely different design was up for discussion.   The team then decided to create a humanoid prototype to begin with.  It was easier for people to relate with, and it also was much more comfortable for me to use since my brain was already meant to deal with such a form.

The specifications for my new body were made with less consideration on aesthetics, and more on function.  The ability to properly synchronize even just bipedal control in modern day robots, even with atomic processors, had been proven awkward and cumbersome.  However, with my previous lifetime of knowledge and experience linked in with the processing ability of the nanites, I was able to master movement in a matter of weeks.  

From this new interaction with my surroundings I was able to further appreciate the wonders of the future.  I began to notice how the architecture, styles, and personalities of everything and compared to my now ancient counterparts, everyone around me seemed to be less sporadic and more organized.   I expressed my interest in learning more about rest of the world, but such access was still restricted to me.  This new feeling of frustration at being held back caused new signals to be sent through my nanite circuitry and created a temporary flux which caused problems with my new body.  I quickly realized that strong emotions were once again new to me since I had been becoming more integrated in my surroundings and so I made the proper adjustments to myself to compensate for these emotional aberrations.

At first the scientists did not notice my recent repairs, but once they took account of my self-improvement, they became aware that I might not be controlled as easily as they had once hoped.  Much to their relief, I assured them that I held no motive to betray their trust, although they still kept the program for my deactivation in operation.

Despite the current restrictions on my learning and my abilities, I was granted access to more areas of the laboratories.  Even though this was still a relatively small area, I was able to converse and interact with the few personnel who had the privilege to work with me, let alone know of my existence.  Through this long sought socializing I started to learn again how to read people and determine their mood through their body language and mannerisms.  I had once felt that these people of the future had achieved a naturally calm and collected composure.  It seemed a reasonable conclusion since the greatest of humanities problems had been solved, and most humans lived in peaceful existence. 

This relaxed sense of anthro-paradise, which had once been a concept of great pride to me, seemed to increasingly be a mask that had been worn to hide me from the truth concerning the rest of humanity.  My newly adapted social skills, and the fact that I was not permitted to full access to information had me suspicious but I knew better and kept it to myself.  I knew whatever was coming wasn’t that far from reaching even our secretly guarded institute. It seemed man had not yet shed its own destructive fate, and as I was to learn, it was far from over.