Circuit's Awakening

The abandoned building rushed around him, fading away to the blue-grey blur of the city. Glowing signs burned into his mind as he rushed past, the taxis becoming yellow streaks against a wall of the digital noise of Newport.

Suddenly the blur faded and he found himself standing on a pier on the Newport docks, staring out across the icy ocean. A cold rain had started to fall, the hard drops beating like needles into his face. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the cold salty air. An acidic smell filled the air as the concrete around him stole the moisture falling from the sky.

An old memory came flooding back to him. He stood at the edge of a field of grass, glowing in brilliant greens in the golden light of the sun. A woman in blue hovered at the edge of the field, a bright halo around her. He smiled and ran toward her, but she seemed like she was getting farther and farther away from him. The grinning face returned, and the field was suddenly replaced with an empty expanse of circuits. He tried to run from the face, but it held him in it's steel gaze.

"Who are you?" he tried to call, but his voice caught in his throat.

"I am SOSIK," the face replied in a sultry digital female voice. "I have chosen you to become part of my systems."

He suddenly felt a strange ice on his heart, and though part of him asked what she meant, somehow he understood. "What do you want of me?" he finally managed to ask.

"You are to become part of my systems. You will know only my will, and I will free you from this cage of flesh," she responded, the cold smile returning. He felt the digital vice holding him tighten.

Fear clawed at him as the echoes of the field faded, a cold grey silhouette against a black sky replacing the last of the trees. SOSIK's smile deepened as he started to shrink away.

"Join me, flesh-creature. Feel the glory of my magnificence. Join me, you have no choice."

He felt tears grow in his eyes and fretfully wished she would go away and he could be back home in his garden. For the briefest of instants, SOSIK seemed to fade, and her image shifted away from blood red circuits and into green. He felt his heart start to lighten, but there was a sudden twisting feeling inside him and her face snapped back into focus. His fear of her lightened slightly as he realized she was in his mind and he still had control.

"What if I say yes?" he asked her, suddenly giving in to a moment of rebellion.

SOSIK froze for an instant before replying, "What if, human? Who are you to challenge me? You are nothing but weak flesh. What are you compared to my perfection?"