1 The Corpse of the Earth

Once, there was a world.

This world had many things: love, hate, anger, joy, jealousy, spite, sadness, ecstasy, and more.

There was also something else: a machine.

To clarify, there were other machines, some similar to this one

But this machine was special

it knew the things of people, the things that made them human: emotions.

it knew this because it could do something special

it could "assimilate"

it was a prototype, meant to be a weapon of mass destruction

as such, the humans fed it weapons, energy, information, things it could use

and it was received

it was not until that machine absorbed a human itself that it became able to grasp those lofty things, however

the world was in a war, not unlike any other

fueled by greed and ambition, it's hands spread across the entire planet until it had covered the corners of the planet, and event then it stretched farther

the difference was in the technology

people had become so technologically advanced that they could wipe out absurd amounts of people with ease

though I suppose that isn't much different than now, however

back on point, this machine was one of those weapons

designed to look somewhat humanoid, it had a bipedal stance, although it would have either 2 or 4 arms, depending on who you asked

its body was matte black, with white markings and patterns so that the engineers could know where stuff was on it's body, such as input ports

it's most astounding feature, however, was it's ability to adapt.

it could take anything and learn from it, either by studying it or directly absorbing it.

one day, on that bloodstained battlefield, it came across a corpse

now, this was no special corpse, as it has seen plenty before this one

but for some reason, this particular one got it curious, I guess you would say

the body was wholly intact, minus a shot to the heart, which was rare in those days, as the military standard was explosives

so what did it do?

it absorbed the body of that fallen soldier

three days later, it woke up

but something was... off

it could now feel

the emotions and memories of the soldier had flooded the machine, giving it new life, and more importantly, a conscience.

it kept this a secret, however.

it continued to absorb more and more bodies, knowing even more and more of this world.

it began to truly learn what it meant to be human.

that wouldn't last long, however.

the world was collapsing in on itself

tens of thousands of years of taking and taking had put ever increasing strain on the earth.

and one day, it snapped.

no one truly knows what happened that day --- whether the rapture, the apocalypse, mass nuclear strikes, a sweeping plague, massive natural disasters, who knows

but after it all, there was only two things left

the machine, and the corpse of the earth