Human Ascension

“Oh, to be human again.”

This was the thought the perpetually spun through DSR-13’s mind. Although, could you even call the mass of wires and circuit boards that occupied the space where his brain once sat a mind? A mind can think for itself, can develop new ideas, can create emotions with the power to trigger physical responses in the body of living organism.

DSR-13 did not have a body; there was no questioning that. While the electric wirings in his cranial zone at least resembled a human brain, his superstructure was very clearly machine. Although the DSR’s model was designed to resemble a human figure, the curved chrome legs, arms with interchangeable weapon slots, and a sturdy stainless-steel torso made them distinctly android.

DSR-13 was not always like this. He was once a human. Although he was not quite sure if he had been a “he.” Nor did he know what he was called before choosing to become an android. Those memories were “distinctly human” and contradicted the promises made by the Great Ones. The Great Ones were the leaders of the android regime, the first people to leave their human forms behind and embrace the life of the machine.

The Great One mantra was this, “Humanity has reached a new point in evolution. Our fleshy bonds and mortal lives limit our progress as a species. Evolution is the answer. Technology has given us the power to break the bonds of nature and become a race greater than that of humans. Computing technology has surpassed the power of the human mind, and it is necessary for us to take this technology into ourselves for our race to thrive.”

Upgrades were the key to all of this. Mechanical or computational devices surgically inserted into a human being; designed to improve the human’s quality of life and be a step forward in their grand evolution. DSR-13 could remember his fist upgrade; this memory was not wiped as it stands as a testament to DSR-13’s bravery in taking the first step towards ascension. The upgrade was a simple eye lens, surgically inserted onto the sclera of one’s eyeball. This eyepiece would “open a new world of vision.” At the time, this meant that the host could view all the details of any person or item just by looking at them. It contained maps, search engines, communication technology, and anything else that a person might need in their daily life.

Of course, this technology was now quite rudimentary, as that surgery would have taken place at least 200 years ago. DSR-13 no longer remembered what seeing through his biological eyes was like. Now he had two eye-lens’ that fed him data twenty-four hours a day. How bland it must have been to see through biological eyes, these new lens’ were far superior and served as the first step towards ascension. These were the thoughts that the Great Ones had uploaded into his consciousness and the Great Ones would never lead him astray.

DSR-13 was a combat android, programmed by the Great Ones to suppress the resistance of the humans that sought to halt their ascension into the next stage of evolution. All androids were always connected to the Great Ones through a neural link in their cranial cavity. The Great Ones could see all the androids, and the androids were never far from their ascended leaders. The androids were also all connected to one another. This created a level of efficiency that the humans could never achieve. Every android always knows what every other android is doing and, in turn, knows exactly what task they must achieve in order to operate at maximum efficiency.

The neural links were the true breakthrough technology that sparked the ascension of humanity. They would be implanted into the brains of humans, allowing you instant connection with any other human or machine that contained the same neural link. What humanity would achieve in minutes, hours, days, or weeks, the androids could achieve with a thought. How could the androids and the Great Ones not be destined for victory in this war? They were the superior race. They were the more just race! With androids there was no racism, no sexism, no religious zealots, no spite, no envy, no emotions that could cloud their judgements.

DSR-13’s neural chip fired signals through his metallic body. These were signals that he had felt countless times before. They told him that a human attack on the stronghold where he resided was imminent and that he must prepare for battle. He exited the preservation room where he was stored. The models that were stored next to him, DSR-12 and DSR-14, exited their units as well. They were his family; other former humans who had broken the shackles of humanity and began their new evolution. Alone, they were masterpieces; together, they were perfect.

In unison, they attached machine guns and rocket launchers to their arms. These were not like the old weapons once used in the primitive human wars. These weapons were designed to slaughter humans as efficiently as possible. Naturally, these weapons also struck great fear into the souls of the humans that appeared before them. Fear…a weakness that the androids had left behind.

They all ran their diagnostics check.

ARMOR PLATING_100%

EYE-WEAPON TRACKING_100%

WEAPON FUNCTIONS_100%

!UNIT READY FOR BATTLE!

Another perfect diagnostic’s check, DRS-13 expected nothing different. Together, the battle androids moved to their defensive positions, atop their stronghold that defended the city where the Great Ones resided. The humans wanted nothing more than to destroy their precious city and lay waste to the Greats Ones and end their new regime. Despite the strong will of the humans, and the inherent danger of facing them in open combat, DSR-13 felt no fear. What did he have to fear after all? He had no lungs that the humans could puncture, no skin that could be set ablaze. If he were to lose an appendage, there were millions of replacement parts waiting for him. He had no brain to that could be destroyed, and no heart that could be torn from his shell.

The androids were prepared. They stood waiting for the attack to come, though, with their advanced sensory technology, the new that the human attack would begin in exactly 54 seconds. The perfect counter-defensive had already been uploaded into their consciousness. DSR-13 thought that it was a waste for the humans to even bother attacking. He could already see how this battle would play out, and all the humans would achieve is a substantial loss of their own forces. How pitiful they were. Mortal, disposable, and ignorant, these creatures deserved the deaths that were about to be handed to them. How audacious were they, that they thought they could resist nature, resist evolution, and destroy the perfection that the Great Ones had created? DSR-13 hated them.

Then, a thought crossed his mind. Another thought that perpetually arrived whenever he felt this way towards humans.

“I hate them. Hate. A human emotion. Was this merely an aggressive thought that the Great Ones had uploaded into my consciousness? It did not feel like it. But then, this was a human emotion that had spawned from my deepest roots, my human roots! After everything I had done to tear myself away from humanity, why did this emotion still pierce my psyche?”

Then DSR-13 remembered something. Something that he only remembered when this second thought entered his consciousness. Breaking the unison movements of his brethren, he looked down at his chest plate. There was small compartment that he had installed on his exoskeleton. Although he remembered that it was there, he did not know what purpose it served. A strange curiosity swept over DSR-13. With a thought, the compartment opened. He reached his hand inside and removed a small metal object. His eye-lens’ analyzed the object and determined that it was a locket in the shape of heart, crafted 200 years ago.

A heart? DSR-13 knew the humans had strange fascination with the heart. They believed that the heart contained the soul, and that the soul was the key to humanities superiority over machines, for a machine had no soul. DSR-13 did not know why he had kept this item. Was it a lost artifact from his old life? A symbol of the soul that he had given uo? And most of all, why had he kept it? Every wiring in his body told him to destroy the object. It did not belong in the perfect world of the androids and the Great Ones. It was a symbol of the power of humanity and had no place residing in his exoskeleton. Yet, he could not bring himself to dispose of the locket.

The battle began. Gunfire and explosion rained around DSR-13, but despite the commands from his programming, he did not react. He felt a great sadness, and this he knew was not an upload by the Great Ones. This was a human emotion. DSR-13 looked out over the battlefield and watched as hundreds of humans were slaughtered. Despite their gruesome deaths, he could not help but feel envious of them. Even in death, they believed their souls would live on. For the humans had hearts where the soul could live, and despite the silver heart-shaped locket in his hand, DSR-13 would never know the feeling of having a true heart.