The hot wind carried a strange smell to my nostrils, something seemed to be burning, like a piece of meat left unattended in a frying pan. The stench immediately brought me out of my slumber, helping me realize the deplorable nature of my situation. I was lying curled up in the middle of a burning area, an apocalyptic night in the flesh, it was hard to describe the surrounding space in any other way.
The eyes quickly adapted to the twilight and the acrid smoke that obscured the view, causing subconscious fears and desires to flee from danger. The primary instinct is to flee from danger and everything that does not correspond to the typical picture of the world.
But to start running, you need to stand up, and there was almost no strength. Continuing to lie on the ground, I felt the hot ground under my fingers, which indicated the time that had passed since the fire began. No, my limbs were not broken, there were no visible wounds either, I needed to overcome the "I don't want to" and stand up.
With a heavy effort I rose and looked around, and realized that the countryside of primitive buildings was burning before my eyes like a lit match. The fire was devouring what people had built over the years, mercilessly and ferociously. Because of the night, the absence of moon and stars, probably because of the smoke screen, the atmosphere made my knees tremble. If I were a believer, I would already be afraid of the ghostly silhouettes next to the charred walls, on which the light of the flames had splashed.
I didn't see people, maybe all living things here had died and only the dead remained. Swallowing the viscous and disgusting saliva, it was hard for me to come to terms with what I saw on the ground. The bodies of people, tall and short, women and children, old people... Charred bodies lay like garbage that someone forgot to throw away. Involuntarily, I took a few steps, moving through nameless corpses whose blood entangled my legs. The dead were not cut up by the bandits, but many of them were torn to shreds. Hence the blood... Someone had arranged a bombing? But how could the government of this country allow such a thing?
There were no answers in my head, just like there were no shoes.
Damn, the range of emotions from each step was incredible. Physical sensations were closely intertwined with emotional shock. A special role in this was played by the open eyes of the dead, looking at me with universal condemnation. Just like envious dead people look at the living, looking for an answer to the question of why he did not join them.
I myself cannot understand why I am alive, appeared in this place and... the body is clearly smaller than my original one, only a meter... But there are no memories to explain this anomaly, instead there is an unfamiliar language and a couple of fragments with wheat fields.
Rye and millet?
It's impossible, humanity has long since switched to artificial food. I've never seen arable fields and vegetation in real life, the exception was in history books, if I'm not mistaken... These are not my memories... This is not my life...
The realization of this fact made my heart pound like a bell. Questions tried to split and crush my mind into pieces.
Why am I here? Why is the village burning? Who did this? And why did I survive?
The intense heat of the burning buildings shook the air, preventing one from concentrating on these questions. Maybe all this is a crazy dream? A nightmare. As soon as one wakes up, this world will disappear, and the long-awaited reality will take its place.
Suddenly, a boom of memories filled my mind, showing new fragments of the past, my past. I was one of the few volunteers for the introduction of innovative chips that could make a significant leap in the development of humanity. No longer would you need to study thousands of university books to know everything in the world. Humanity would no longer be divided into idiots and sages, everyone would be equal, everyone would know the knowledge accumulated over history.
"The chip is capable of transmitting information to the brain from a nearly infinite database."
Such slogans lured us, the participants of the experiment, promising to make us more perfect people, pioneers in a new branch of history.
The project failed, I'm probably dead by now.
[User death recorded on the third day of Jupiter, 127]
A pleasant female voice sounded in my head, instantly allowing me to put forward my own suggestions regarding the incident. It is hard to believe, just as it was hard to believe in the eighth technological revolution of our planet, when even the calendar was renamed and a new system of chronology was invented.
During the experiment I died, but the experiment itself was successful. The chip became an integral part of my mind, completely copied my memories and merged with my soul. When I died, I mysteriously moved into the body of a child.
I was transported somewhere, maybe to another universe, world, or past. As soon as I got into a dead body, killed by carbon monoxide poisoning or some other reason, the chip immediately uploaded the copied consciousness into the lifeless body and made the heart beat. Alice can do that, she should be able to.
Alice is a high-tech artificial intelligence, capable of even controlling a person with his consent. She works according to Asimov's three laws, distorted by human greed:
First: "A robot may not harm a user or, through inaction, allow a user to come to harm."
Second: "A robot must obey all orders given by its user except where such orders would conflict with the First Law."
Third: "A robot must protect its own safety to the extent that this does not conflict with two laws."
These rules explain the chip's autonomy in many situations: if a person with a knife attacks me, the self-defense system will be activated. Alice will defend her existence with all her might, which depends on my existence, therefore, she can harm another person. The scientists who designed the chip were counting on ensuring the safety of the new technology and the practicality of its use. If we explain this in more detail, then the AI perceives only the user as a person, and all other people are variables that affect the user's existence to one degree or another.
"What are my powers?" he asked Alice mentally.
[You have been granted administrator rights due to lack of connection to the server]
"What is your goal and what are you obliged to protect?" the question continued.
[I was designed for military purposes, I am capable of carrying out almost any order you give me. Exceptions: Alice will not allow you to commit suicide or any action aimed at destroying the chip]
The new information was a little upsetting. Scientists said that the chips were created for the development of humanity, funny, it turned out that military goals are above all. In the blood of people is conquest and improvement of tools for the implementation of this goal.
A deception by a research institute or a failed experiment should not worry me. It is much more important to understand all the intricacies of my existence, as well as to go in search of new knowledge to ensure a stable position in an unfamiliar environment. I am sure that not the entire world is covered in ashes, just like the space around me.
- Well, well, well, what a bitch, I thought everyone was dead, - a disgruntled male voice brought me out of my thoughts. Together with the man, I felt something incomprehensible, it could be called an aura, as if the man embodied the concept of a natural disaster. Dangerous, very, very dangerous.
"Alice, analyze the other person and relay the information summary of their deception using Physiognomy. Read their face like an open book. We have encountered an unknown, possibly an enemy or a criminal responsible for the incident at this location."
More people died from panic than from bullets, so they said in my world, built on the bones of many civilizations. You need to calm down and adapt to the situation. Use any tools to survive.
Inhale-exhale.
My thoughts flowed smoothly, control over my facial expressions and behavior exceeded all expectations, and fear completely disappeared from my body.
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