If I Only Had a Heart

[TerryTheTerrible]

"Hello, hello, hello! It's time to wakey, wakey up up up! Come along now, you can see me can't you? Yeah, sure...sure you can!"

Slowly vision returned to me. Fading in and out, I could only see an older gentleman with his nose to my face. He leaned back, seemingly startled as he saw that I had noticed him, although I hadn't said a word yet.

"There we go! Good good gooood!" He leaned back with a new spring in his step. "You can sit up, can't you? Of course you can! Try it, could you? Up up up!"

I complied, if only to set the man at ease, although it seemed slightly difficult, as if I wasn't used to my body. With a solid foundation under me, probably some sort of examination table, I could get a solid look at this man. He was a taller man, not thin nor fat. He had a scraggly short blonde beard and long hair to match wrapped in a pony tail in the back. A large tattoo of a rose seemed to be stamped on his forearm and a pair of small rims over his eyes completed his look. He had a smile plastered on his face as he looked back at me. "Fantastic, just fabulous really! You're up, you're responsive, you're doing great, really you are!"

There was a moment of silence as he seemed to just stare at me. I remained there, on that table, waiting for the situation to become more clear. "Oh, how rude of me!" He laughed as he brought his hand to his forehead, pushing an unkempt slather of bangs out of his face. "You just must excuse me, I'm normally very polite and, oh well look at me, I must be a sight...yes...well, I suppose I should introduce myself, unless, ah there's no way, well, possibly...Could you tell me? Do you know who I am?"

I thought for a brief moment. A memory I didn't know I had came quickly. "You're Doctor Michael Hozier. You were born in Orange City, Virginia. At the age of five your family moved to Manitou Springs Colorado. Your father died when you were ten, your mother died when you were twenty; testicular cancer and manslaughter, respectively. You went to the Colorado University of Technology where you majored in three engineering degrees. You earned your doctorate and the University of Cambridge where you met your future wife, Candice Armitage. Your wife died when you were thirty two. Since the early 2000s you've been unheard of, although you are greatly respected in the engineering communities."

"Yes. Good. Very good. Very, very good! Oh, my this is just great, don't you think? Oh, won't you listen to me, I must seem quite...well would I though? Oh my, my, my, this is just truly amazing! Where to start? What shall I...well I suppose it would make sense to just, sure, sure, sure...Tell me...What do you think of my outfit?"

He took a step back, apparently to make himself more visible for me. He was wearing a green t-shirt with a plaid long sleeved jacket over top, unbuttoned. He had average slacks on dark shoes. "You're dressed to a proper extent." I simply said.

"No, no, no, I need you to go deeper!" He seemed dissatisfied with my answer.

"Alright," I paused for a moment. His jacket didn't really match his shirt. There was a small stain on his slacks and his shoes didn't have shoelaces. "Your outfit indicates that you are not concerned with how you look, so what I think is superfluous."

"Not, quite what I was looking for either, actually," he said, folding his arms, seeming slightly annoyed by my answer. "Willing to give it another go? Give me your personal opinion, perhaps?"

I thought for another moment. Looking up and down his outfit again. The plaid jacket was hemmed personally; someone had made it by hand. I predicted that the inside would be another design and another fabric altogether, potentially. The slacks, while worn, would be comfortable since it had been used often. "I like your jacket. You must be comfortable." I finally mustered a response.

"Better." He smiled slightly as he looked quizzically at me more. "Tell me...do you know who you are?"

After thinking for a moment, I realized I didn't know. I simply stared back at Dr. Hozier for a moment.

"No...I suppose not. Here, take a look."



It made sense. In the mirror, a cool golden robotic face stared back at mine. "I'm a humanoid robot. Your specialty is robotic engineering. I am your creation, Dr. Hozier."

"Yes...I suppose you are." He said, sliding the mirror down onto another table beside him. "Your name is Abe."

"Abe..." I repeated back as I learned my name. I thought for a moment. "What is my purpose?"

Dr. Hozier smiled as he stared back at me. His lips didn't move for quite some time. Finally he took a breath. "It's getting late and I need to sleep. We'll speak more in the morning."

[TerryTheTerrible]

The illustrious doctor left me with more questions than answers and the most important question left me...unsure with what to do in the mean time. I peered around the room that the doctor left me in. Hard wood floors that seemed to have the consistency of ash wood but the stain of oak, a blank canvas, a bed with lush covers, a couch and coffee table, a piano that had no business being there and walls of glass that revealed the tropical island that I was in the center of. The setting sun accented an odd sort of aurora borealis in the night sky. Of course, I knew this wasn't the aurora borealis but a similar reaction was happening, unless there was something faulty in my wiring.

Although there were plenty of things to take part in, I found myself reluctant to look further into anything. I didn't naturally know my own purpose, nor did the doctor inform me, so I just decided to wait. For hours, I stood in the same spot that I had awoken after I stood from the table. I didn't play the piano that begged for attention. I didn't attempt to create something for the blank canvas. I didn't even sit on the couch and look upon the stars. I just stood there, waiting; listening for anything to break that eerie silence.

Eventually, the sun rose, motion came from the forests surrounding me and lights faded on in the room. A television on the solitary wall that was actually a wall and not a window, opposite from the couch sprung to life. On the screen was separate blocks of rooms that I supposed were from the facility that I found myself to be. I noticed the doctor moving about the different rooms and making his way to a set of stairs that would lead up to the room I was being stored in. His walk was brisk and he didn't have the same smile that he wore from the night before.

With a swish, the solitary door to the room opened, showing Doctor Hozier looking quite different. He'd shaved his face, cut his hair and replaced his old clothes with new respectable and clean replacements. Somehow though, he seemed to be weighed down.

"Hello Abe," he began with a fake smile, "I thought about what you said about your purpose and..."

He slipped out a small handgun from the labcoat he was wearing. It was silver with black accents. The sort that you needed to cock back to ready a shot. Lethal at close range, fairly accurate still at around a hundred feet, I guessed. He looked at it for a moment before holding it out towards me.

I grabbed it and removed the clip. It was full. Ten shots. I slammed the clip back in swiftly. "Would you like me to kill something for you?"

"Yes." He spoke cautiously, seeming to choose his words carefully. "Potentially yes...I would like you to follow me, participate in whatever I do throughout this week. Watch all of my experiments, listen to my stories and help me with whatever I ask."

I nodded. This purpose would do. "What is the gun for?" I asked, wanting all of my parameters clear.

Dr. Hozier took a deep gulp. "Abe. No matter how much you care for me on a personal level...I need you to use what you learn throughout this week to decide whether I deserve to live or not. If you decide the former, then your purpose is complete, and you will be therefore obsolete and you will be placed into shutdown protocols. If you decide the latter...then you will use the firearm for what it was made to do."

[TerryTheTerrible]

I didn't know what to say. I was almost...disappointed. I was created to conditionally kill my creator. I was less significant than the gun i now possessed. The gun housed the bullet, it would be the device that would ignite and plunge its hammer to fire the little metal slice that would end a life. My only purpose was to pull the trigger when the time would come. Or, if Dr. Hozier was worthy to live, then I had no purpose. I wouldn't even get to pull a trigger.

Probably noticing my silence, Dr. Hozier smiled at me. "Well, we'd better start shall we! Time is of the essence and I'm not going to live forever!" He laughed at his own joke as he enthusiastically jaunted down the stairs, exiting my penthouse room.



I followed him cautiously. Unsure of what I should be doing. A week was a long time, relatively speaking, to carry out the purpose of my design. The doctor, thankfully broke the silence.

"Well well well, I suppose the best way to do this is to move through my day as usual!" He smiled widely as he looked over his shoulder at me, at his noose. "Feel free to ask any questions, as they arise..."

As we arrived at the bottom of the staircase, lights came to life, responding to our arrival. Along with the lights came...other things. Automatons, androids, robots of all sorts began move around the room, fulfilling their own jobs. Cleaning the floors, making food, filling drinks, even emitting gases, probably to create a pleasurable aroma. I looked around, in jealousy.



"Go ahead, take it in, please please, I designed you to have all of your senses about you. Tell me, do you like the smell?"

I took a deep breath and found the smell he was referring to. "It's sweet. Ginseng with hints of honey. Something mostly natural, strong enough to fill the room but not overpower or distract."

"There you go again!" The doctor laughed. "You don't need to be so analytical. I want to hear what your opinion is."

"I am a robot. Analysis is what I'm designed to do."

"No. That's not your design. I gave you the power to decide for yourself, so decide. Do you like the smell?"

I paused, feeling slightly annoyed at the doctor's constant bothering he seemed to do about my responses. As though they weren't complying with exactly what he was asking. I thought for a moment and took a deeper breath. "No. I don't like it." I finally decided, haphazardly.

"Why's that?" He responded, curiously and slightly excited.

"Because it's not real. The ginseng and honey are poor reflections of the real thing. Knowing it's fake, cheapens the taste. Well, that's how it is for me, anyhow."

[TerryTheTerrible]

From there, the doctor guided me around his estate. It was as large as expected from a multimillionaire with plenty of rooms that he called 'off limits'. Considering that he was the only person here made it seem odd that anything at all would be labelled as such. It seemed that even when trying to open his character to be judged there were places that he still didn't want to be seen. I was given a keycard that would admit me into most of the rooms of the estate and then onto the island itself, although I didn't see a reason why I would venture out there. Most rooms contained experiments that the good doctor was working on. Cures for cancer, self propelling constant-motion mechanisms, cloning and immortality. He certainly had his plate full with all of his ventures. This puzzled me, however. Why would a man who was making major headway in all of these fields, putting time into an experiment that could result in his expiration? The tests showed selflessness in many ways but I showed selfishness...or perhaps a need for validation that he couldn't get from anywhere else. He was a contradiction as far as I could see.

Finally as the tour came to its final stop, he introduced me to his project for today. "Yes, yes, yes, now...where are we...right, right. You'll have to forgive me, I need to ask of you to please just use your current vision settings in this next room. I just, well, I need to see what you see for a moment. Well I need a new perspective, yes, right, could you?"

The doctor certainly wasn't comfortable speaking to another person. It seemed as though he wasn't used to conversation anymore. Perhaps that was part of my purpose as well. "That's fine, doctor. What should I be looking for?" I responded quizzically.

"Just look."

As we entered the room, the light from the hallway immediately left us and I was engulfed in pure, thick darkness. I stood in the the nothingness for a moment and as I turned around, I lost sight of the hallway. The door had been closed. "I don't see anything." I said quickly. I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to see switch to thermal vision or night vision or...anything.

"Are you sure?"

I looked around for a moment more and I noticed something this time. There was a light after sitting in the darkness for a moment. Well, there wasn't a light. It was more like a feeling. It wasn't a feeling of course, but...it was there, just not visibly and not well...I wasn't sure how I could see it. But, that's the only way I can put it. I saw it although it wasn't visible.

"What is it?" I finally asked.

The doctor was quiet for a moment and I thought that I was alone. "It's strange isn't it?" With a clunk the room's lights hummed to life and I saw a pedestal with a glass box atop it. The doctor ran past me and knelt down to look into the glass excitedly. "No matter what I make, the most interesting things are the things I find." He smiled widely as he peered into the box. Inside was a sort of tube with fire inside of it. The tube looked like glass with ornate handles on either end. Although I could see it with my own eyes, I could still see it...the other way, although I couldn't put a finger as to how.



"It emits some sort of energy but I'm not sure how the fire stays lit or how it seems to give off a sort of a read outside of usual senses. I can see it the same way you can even when the lights are off. It's truly fascinating, isn't it?"

I found myself by the doctor's side, equally enamored by the object as he was. "Where did you get it from?"

"Egypt."

"A pyramid?"

"No. It was from a mountain." The flame spun through the tube and emitted smoke that fogged up the glass for a moment before clearing out and spinning as usual. He continued, "Well, I was told that it was from a mountain. I had picked up strange weather patterns from that region; strange enough that I thought it was worth a trip. The powers that be were no help, but the citizens wouldn't stop going on about a piece that the local magi had been showing off. A man was displaying this, claiming it was a soul. I asked him where he got it, and he said that he was climbing a mountain, on a pilgrimage and as he came to the top of the mountain, a wild storm was raging. He thought he was going to die, when the heavens opened up and...this...fell from the sky."

"Ridiculous. He was lying to you to convince you to buy it for a higher price than it's worth." I spoke quickly.

"Even within the thickest of lies, there is at least a grain of truth. Even if that's not what happened, I can assure you, that's what he believed." He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. His eyebrows quivered for a moment, he was remembering something. "What matters now is it's here and all of its secrets will be revealed soon."

"If you don't know what it is...What do you think it is?" I asked, curiously.

"I don't know...isn't it great?" He smiled widely as he looked at me. This was his element, finding something that he didn't understand at all and doing whatever he could to put the pieces together. "From here I'll leave you to your own devices. I'll be spending today studying this, project 22B. The estate is yours to take in."

I spent the rest of the day discovering which rooms I had access to and which ones I didn't. I knew a lot more about the good doctor today than I did the night before, that was certain. He was selfless and selfish, and he was limitless in his curiosity. He didn't seem to be motivated by his 'good' nature, but he didn't seem to be fueled by evil. He spread himself too thin so that it seemed unlikely that he would accomplish any single goal any time soon, but I knew he wouldn't drop anything by his own admission. The sun set as I stood in my room, looking out over the ocean. The moon rose and fell as the sun came up to make the new day. Through the night, I was surprised how bright the moon made the island and as the day came, I noticed that the jungles around me became darker from its shadows.

[TerryTheTerrible]

"♪♪Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage. I can't afford the carriage. But you'd look sweet on the seat. Of a bicycle built for two--♪♪"

The good doctor stepped out of the shower and shook his hair dry like a dog, then used his towel to weed out the water from his ears.

"You're a great singer." I said, smiling as I surprised him.

"Well, uh, you know...I do what I can," he laughed as he secured a towel around his waist. "You know, most people wouldn't be so calm finding someone else in their bathroom..."

"I just wanted to know...What did you find out about Project 22B?" That object had been dominating my thoughts all night and I was hoping he'd found out something concrete about it.

"Nothing conclusive but, I'm sure, well in time...We'll figure it out, don't worry." The doctor smiled warmly.

He skirted the corner of my eyes into his bedroom and quickly dressed himself. "So, what have you been thinking? I mean, if I tell you exactly what to do, then I could manipulate your results, don't you think?"

To tell the truth, I hadn't given it much thought yet. Considering it was my prime directive, however, I had to say something. "Let's start with me."

"Excuse me?"

"Well you made me, but you didn't give any information as to what I can do. I can tell there are accessible directives but I'm not sure what they all do."

"And you think that you'll learn something about me?" He asked suspiciously. His eyes were less sincere, seeming to be reddened with worry or exhaustion.

"Well I'm the first contact with anything you've made and I think you can learn a lot from a man by looking at his son."

The doctor paused and stared at me. I had obviously struck a chord. "I didn't mean anything by it. It's a..." I hadn't thought through an excuse but the doctor seemed to decide to bail me out.

"An expression, sure." The doctor said, keeping his face serious as he found his jacket as he was rummaging through his closet. It was a dark material with more pockets than seemed necessary. He zipped it with one swift motion. He left a strip that could be buttoned around his neck opened. I couldn't put my finger on the way his eyes looked but it was different. It was darker, but I couldn't see why.

"Follow me."

He guided me down a corridor that was poorly lit, towards a door who's contents I hadn't been exposed to yet. He nudged me inside roughly into a dark room. "I mentioned before, you are outfitted with heat vision, night vision and priority marking." As he spoke, my vision filtered. He was standing in front of me, lit up with reds and oranges and yellows ahead of the blues behind him. I then saw him clearly as the night vision triggered, everything in a shade of green. Once the priority marking was mentioned, a heads up display appeared. A box was drawn around the doctor's head and listed off all information I knew about him, along with his body temperature and mood: calm.

"You have to make sure you aren't surprised into using the wrong settings in the wrong situations or you might find yourself in some trouble."

At that moment the lights burst on and I was completely blinded. "Where are you?" I said quickly. I took a step back although I couldn't find the wall behind me. I switched back to my default vision and shapes returned to me as the doctor was gone.

Sound came from everywhere suddenly. "You have to be able to defend yourself. Your priority marking is your most important weapon. You have automatic defenses when it's active which can be overwritten by your own judgement. This automated defense orders itself based on immediate threat only but that's not always the smartest way to defend yourself so I'll trust you defend yourself wisely."

Once his sentence ended, the furthest wall opened with about twenty barrels that lit off a missile each. They sped straight towards me, at incredible speeds. I floundered in fear and ran back until I hit the opposite wall. The door was gone. I turned back and the missiles' trajectory were accurate. "Priority Marking activate!"

My vision became flooded with markers over each missile. I was too distracted to read up anything about them when I felt an exhaust fume escape my shoulders. Two rods stuck out and began firing in rapid succession with green lines of energy that collided perfectly with each missile, setting the scene into that of a dark night sky lit by fireworks.



I was engulfed in smoke as the last missiles were destroyed. The flames died down, and I dropped to one knee. Relief fell over me. I could have been killed: destroyed, rather. "Defaults, please." Priority marking powered down and my mounted turrets recalled back into my body. Steam hissed off as I looked at the floor. This Doctor didn't seem to have much care for me at all. If I hadn't figured things out quickly enough, I'd be demoted to a pile of scrap.

HISS

A wiz of one last missile exploded from the wall and flew straight at me. I didn't have time to defend myself. It collided with me and erupted violently.

---

I hadn't powered down yet but I stayed frozen, waiting for the smoke to dissipate. The force of the rocket was strong enough to obliterate a steel structure, it was travelling fast enough, I knew that. As the smoke dissipated, I found that...I was fine. Well, my chest plate was blackened from the impact but I was utterly unscathed.

"Of course, I've designed you to be durable for the times when you are too inept to react. You are not invincible, but, well...you can take a hit."

I looked at my hands and up my arms. The metal is gold and pure. I had never thought to ask what the material was. I had assumed that it was just a paint job but it wasn't.

"What am I made of?"

"It's a rare material, found in barren areas. I call it Furmium although it's probably known by other names, it's unofficial."

Dr. Hozier flickered into the middle of the room, as if his channel had been turned on some old television. "Simple single destination teleportation, don't worry about it, I'm working on a more practical, stream lined version." He smiled at me, his newest creation.

He wasn't being reckless, he was confident in what he's made, although it was risky since that was probably his first test being used in action since I hadn't seen any other sentient beings here. "Is that it?" I said, smirking, making light of my surprise and his accomplishments.

"Well of course not, we can move on." Michael Hozier smiled, turning away from me and through a door that had been created from nothing in the wall where the missiles were firing at me moments ago. I followed him through it carefully, examining the door frame for signs of its origin. "I mean, if you're up for it," the doctor added sheepishly.

---

A straight five hundred mile drop to sharks and rocks and water that probably fell for many more miles under the water's edge. "No, no, not a chance! Are you crazy!?"

The doctor laughed as he watched me skirting the edges of the roof. We had traveled to the top of his estate and he was trying to convince me to jump off. I was obviously durable enough to take a missile to the chest but I wasn't going to survive a drop like this. I looked down and saw birds circle, seeming unwary to travel as high as I was now. "You truly want me to destroy myself, don't you?"

He laughed as he placed a hand onto my right shoulder. "Haven't I earned any semblance of trust from you at all?"

I looked at my two day old acquaintance quizzically.

"Right, right, right...Look, you can fly. Well it's jet propulsion, it'll take practice to get used to it but you've got the hardware installed and the only way to really figure it out is to--"

He pushed me off the building and I was hurled through a collection of mist. The rocks quickly grew as I twisted through the air, my arms and legs flailing in panic. "Uh, flight protocol! Activate! Go! Up! Up!" I yelled as fast as I could.

I heard a familiar hiss from my back as barrels emerged and immediately blue flames seared downward and elevated me just above the spikes of the lagoon. I hovered there for a moment, teetering back and forth, trying to get used to the feel. I looked back up at the estate and its grandness seemed more impressive than ever before. I propelled myself upward slightly when a rustle came from the wood behind me. I twisted myself around quickly to investigate but no creature was there that I could see. Everything seemed uneasily quiet. The brook that emptied into the sea continued to flow and the trees rustled but no creature was around. I shrugged it off and blasted into the sky. I flew like a corkscrew around the tower and did a spin as I arrived at the top. Waving to Dr. Hozier cockily, I flew higher through the clouds in the sky, playing with the refracted light as the sun streamed through the fibrous and cirrus formations above me. I'm a fan of flying.

I spent the rest of the day testing my limits and just enjoying myself. As the sun set, I withdrew from the sky and back into the tower, to my room. What could I say about Dr. Hozier after day two? He's cocky. He either doesn't find me valuable, or he's reckless with what's important to him. But, his creations are truly fantastic.

[TerryTheTerrible]

The night seemed to drag on longer than usual as I started to experience excitement. That's what I understand it to be anyhow. Every day came with something incredible to experience about the world. I was only three days old and everything seemed mysteriously entrancing. I had information about the world, sure, but once I'm able to put things to practice, there's something different. I can't quite quantify the experience...but it's spectacular and I just need more...

I find myself not dwelling on my directive as much as I should be. I've been thinking about what I want to experience in these next days of my existence. I know that by the end of the week, whether Dr. Hozier survives or not, my existence is over. Either he will deactivate me, or I will rust away, alone on this island. Still, I can't help but feel, well, good. Obviously I don't have much to compare this lifestyle with, but, I can't think of anything better than being amazed every day by the good doctor's inventions and discovering the miracles of this world.

"Abe, good morning!"

Dr. Hozier disrupted my train of thought this time, as the sun was barely rising. I had no idea he planned on being up this early, but the pleasant surprise was enough to forgive his spontaneity. The lights in my dormitory gently increased their brightness as we began moving, the sensors taking note of them being ready for the day. The good doctor was wearing a soft cotton form fitting shirt underneath a fine leather jacket paired with sturdy jeans and hiking boots. He had a satchel hanging off of his shoulder, filled to the point of bursting. He had obviously been preparing something in advance.

"How are you doing, doctor?" I asked excitedly, eager for him to spill the beans for the activities of today. I arose from the seat I had occupied near the window and moved part way towards the door where he lay waiting.

"I thought you'd enjoy seeing the island. You see, I, well, I mean..." He paused and looked to his feet for a moment. "I suppose I wanted to explore around a bit myself. I have lived here for quite sometime now, you see and, well, I know very little about the place. It's secluded and that's all that I'd cared about in the past but, well eventually a scientist is bound to wonder, you know?"

He paused for a moment and looked into my eyes genuinely. This was a man that was trying new things and smiling like he was still young and the world still wasn't stale for him, after years of being alive. Amazing! In a year of life, I would see everything I'd ever want to see, surely! How he could sit still for the majority of his life is baffling, but it's about time that he mixes things up, I suppose.

"Well what do you say? Join me?"

"Of course, doctor," I said, giddy. "Anything you want."

I followed him to a lower level of the facility and into a room that I hadn't been in yet. It was some type of hangar with tons of vehicles. A few ATVs, a chopper and many more metal beasts that I had no records of, although I surely could figure out their purpose if I had a closer look. A loud grinding noise demanded my attention toward the southern wall as it started being entirely sucked into the ceiling above them. Immediately the artificial blue lights from inside the hangar were met and overpowered by the light from outside. A strong breeze sent rocks and dust in to tap onto the windshields of the various vehicles that dotted the interior and the spotless shining ground became quickly tarnished by the trappings of the outside world. It was obvious to me that this was maybe the first time Dr. Hozier had even bothered to open this door.

Tentatively, I left the doctor behind and moved into the outside world. The first thing I noticed as I took my first steps outside was the crinkling noise that came from underneath my feet. I lifted my right foot into the air and peered at my sole to see what had happened. Bits of rock had found its way onto the small freeway that led out of the building and had caught into the grooves of my feet. I took my finger and tried to pick them out to no avail.

"Did you need help with that?" I heard the doctor ask quizzically, behind me.

"No, it's...fine."

Looking up into the sky, I saw hundreds of towering trees all around us, causing the sun to break through its branches and leaves in a beautiful collage of sparks. In the night, the mansion would get extremely quiet. The only thing to break the silence would be my own movement or the movement of the doctor, but out here there's noise everywhere. The wind fighting through the bushes and ferns of the entrance to the forest around them. Signs of animals just out of sight, calling to one another. A hiss from something far off. Two days ago, I probably would have found this situation maddening, but for some reason, I welcomed the noise. It was different and a little surprising, but something about it was concerning. Whether I'm here to make noise or if I leave, noise will come from something else. The doctor won't have to live with silence, which, in itself, can be maddening.

"Well, let's get moving! I didn't break us out of our prison to just spend the day three yards away from the estate! Let's see what trouble we can find, shall we?" The doctor smiled widely and jogged in front of me. He veered harshly to the left, straight through a patch of a large leafy plant that I didn't have a name for. I glanced back towards the estate for a moment before heading, bravely after my creator, ready to run into anything at all.

One thing I can say about the forest is that it is full of contradictions. Well, not contradictions, really, rather it's a foil for itself quite often. Once you walk into a clearing the sun bares down and expands to touch anything it can and the forest is very bright and vibrant but a few steps later, the trees band together and drive the sun's rays away and creates a dark haven for those that wish to remain hidden. It's a fantastic place rife with sanctuary, innocence and violence.

After a bit of running, I caught up with the doctor who was now kneeling down in front of a bush with brightly colored flowers and berries branching off of it. He was observing one such berry and squishing it between his pointer finger and his thumb, examining its contents.

"You're hungry, doctor?" I wonder aloud.

"No."

"Then why are you picking berries? Isn't it a waste if you break them when you don't need them?" I prod further.

"Sometimes I just eat because I'm curious...I haven't done much research on edible foods in the wild, but, if memory serves, red berries are universally excellent for the health." He threw one of the small orbs into his mouth and chewed it around for a moment before looking back at me and giving a toothy grin. His teeth were covered in the red juice which made me smile.

"You look ridiculous," I chided truthfully.

With an instant look of concern and embarrassment on his face, the doctor took a finger and rubbed his front teeth aggressively, examining the residue. "Look at me, getting worked up by an appliance."

"Savage."

I rolled my eyes as I've learned people do. Soon we left the grove and followed a natural path to see where it led. Soon, the doctor began jogging and weaving between the skinny trunks of trees as he flew skillfully through the forest. I tried desperately to follow suit but it seemed that the uneven ground did not suit me very well and I couldn't quite keep up. "Wait up doctor! I'm losing you!"

I tried to yell so that Dr. Hozier could slow down for me and I could meet back up with him. I didn't know why, but I was almost frightened of being alone in the forest. I had always had him nearby for a sense of solace, knowing that there was always a person that I could reach out to and relay my thoughts to. If I was lost in the forest, I'd surely go mad.

After running for a few minutes, I slowed down, unsure of where the doctor had veered off to. The path that they seemed to be following had dissipated. I took a moment a knelt down so that I could focus my thoughts outside of the noise of the wind and animals of the distance. "Priority marking." I commanded calmly.

Quickly my heads up display took over and started to examine the surrounding area. Boxes appeared everywhere quickly, too much information to sift through right now. "Narrow marking to distinguish unnatural disruptions in the forest." Most of the boxes dissipated and I started analyzing what the system had picked up. Markings that a small animal had burrowed into the ground nearby. A slash in the bark, probably made by a bear or whatever animal needed to mark for territory on the island. There! A footprint from a boot, not incredibly defined but enough to set me back on track.

I sped in the direction of the footprints and noticed the hiss I had heard in the distance grow into a roar. The trees around me broke away and I found myself coming upon a river that led into a gigantic waterfall, emptying into a greater part of the island below me. I was on a sort of second level of the falls and could look up to see a higher cliff with water emptying into the river ahead of me. As the water collided with the small lake and river, mist formed wildly and foam crashed onto the rocks around me. Soon my trance was broken however as I noticed movement behind the falls. I rushed over to investigate and discovered a small cave system that broke in the cliff. Carefully I maneuvered over the rock face to get behind the falls. I paused for a moment to prepare myself then reached forward a foot onto a slippery rock in front of me. Once I let any weight onto that foot, it slipped quickly down and into the water.

I frantically punched into the rock above me and saved myself from being thrown away by the current and pulled myself up and onto the dry bank. "Forget that!"

With a hissing noise, a jet pack emerged from inside my back and gently brought me into the air a few feet. I swiftly zoomed through the falls and into the cave. Upon landing, a loud echo reverberated off the walls and back to me. It was definitely a large system but before I had a chance to venture forward, I saw Dr. Hozier on one knee before rising up and quickly sticking something into his satchel.

"Oh, h-Hello, Abe! Got a little lost back there, didn't you?" He stammered, either nervously or embarrassed. Sometimes it was hard to tell.

"You just sped off like a man possessed ahead of me!" I retorted, annoyed. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter now...Did you see that view outside?"

"Oh, well, no I just..." He trailed off, obviously distracted but rising to his feet after a moment and moving quickly out of the cave. I followed him by air swiftly and met him at the edge of the cliff. The sky was a beautiful crystal blue and gave a great view of the immense size of the island. "Beautiful, wouldn't you say?" I asked, awaiting confirmation.

"I don't think so, actually." The doctor spoke definitively with a solemn tamber in his voice.

"What do you mean? The sun is out today! The sky is mostly clear...this island is yours and untouched! Think of the possibilities you could do with it...or not do!"

The doctor motioned downward with his head though with a disappointed look on his face. After I quizzically met his gaze for a moment, I followed his line of sight and saw what he was referring to. Far below us, next to where the falls emptied out was a bay, but its waters that lapped up on the shore was not blue and beautiful like that which was so near. It was dark and green, the sand it touched oddly colored as well. The ocean beyond it was mostly fine but the streaks of uneasy green were present coming from far off.

"It's...strange...What is it doctor?"

"It's us...well not us as in you and me but humanity. All around the world, there are men that have forgotten about the world that has protected us and nurtured us for so many years and allowed negligence to begin to hurt it." He sat his satchel on the ground behind him and stood, almost looking in defeat. "My father once told me that...if you love something too much, eventually it will come back to kill you. He...he told me that just before his divorce."

I remained quiet. This wasn't a place for me to make a comment. I had never been to a wedding, nor had I ever had a mother to lose, but I could tell from the pain in his voice that he still took it harshly. I racked my brain, trying to search for something to say to try to make him feel better but I came up with nothing.

"Look...I--"

As I looked over to the doctor, about to attempt to console him, I saw his neck craned to one side and his mouth beginning to foam and fall from his jaw. He legs wobbled for a moment before he collapsed and began drifting forward. His body hurtled off the ledge of the cliff and down beside the waterfall, his eyes rolling back into his head.

Without a moment's hesitation, I jumped down after him, rocketing myself downward to try to catch his body. The roar of the water screamed in agony as I desperately reached my arms out, trying to grab him from the air before he collided with the water or the rocks growing closer every second.

[TerryTheTerrible]

"He's finally stabilizing. Analysis may be appropriated without further harming Dr. Hozier at this time. Shall I get started?"

"Yes Traci, thank you..."

I leaned on the counter lined with scalpels, knives, needles... I looked over the body of my creator. He was still alive, but only just. Clinging onto life just as his clothes stuck onto his body, still drenched in the water he plummeted into. I wasn't fast enough to be able to catch him. His sides had been bleeding rapidly, being thoroughly carved by the rocks at the foot of the falls. As awful as that was, he was actually insanely lucky that he hadn't been impaled. It seemed obvious. How could he have been so negligent to try an unfamiliar berry from the jungle? How could I have been so reckless to let him?

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't take my eyes away from his body. It was pale, as if he was dead. His stomach wrapped tightly by as much cloth that was on hand. His eyes were closed. Stitches now dotted his left cheek, marking the formation of a scar that would be forming from his lips to just under his eyelid. Again, he nearly could have been blind. The odds of surviving at all were astronomical and yet, here he was, his chest lightly moving up and down as air entered and exited his lungs.

"Analysis indicates severe ruptures throughout the mid and upper torso. Mild internal bleeding. Lacerations of the dominant hand's first and fourth fingers. Dr. Hozier has slipped into coma. Estimated time of revival, unknown. Shall we commence appropriate rehabilitation parameters?"

"Of course," I responded quickly to the emergency AI that had hummed to life upon the estate found that Dr. Hozier was in conscious. At least he had the forethought to save his life when he screwed up... I had a scornful look on my face, I knew what I was feeling. I didn't have any desire to lie about it and I had no one around to lie to that would care. Besides, for some reason it made the situation better. Those stupid freakin' berries...

"Abe?"

I turned my head quickly towards the drone that had approached me. "What?" I eyed the robot that Traci was speaking through even though I knew she wasn't look at me through that.

"We've recovered a foreign obstruction and we need you to remove it."

"No, I wasn't designed for that." I had never led a surgery before and I didn't have any information on the subject. I would do more harm than good, most likely.

"There isn't a model on the estate that can run the procedure that I can control. You were designed with the potential for adaption. You're his only hope."

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