Chapter 6: Awakening

Characters:

Fei(formely known as Mai) - Our genderbending protagonist.

Ai (real name Miki) - Mai's best friend and love interest.

Firgin - Human boy companion.

Mlei - Human girl companion.

T-PGCR 01 - One of the twelve world terraform robots.

-------------

The robot T-PGCR 01 stands before me and it asked a question. 

I could not speak. I'm too stunned to speak.

"Who might you be?" it asked again in a cold mechanical voice. 

"Hi! I'm Fei from Earth from the year 2026," I replied cautiously, half-expecting the robot to dismiss me as irrelevant.

"Fei." Ai touches my shoulder, hiding behind my back. Afraid.

"It's alright Ai. It's allright." I reassure her. "They mean us no harm."

Firgin and Mlei are also too stunned to move or speak.

Their faces in horror as they stared directly at the 8 foot humanoid machine.

To them, they might be looking at something alien and inconceivable. Like a cosmic horror or an eldritch abomination.

If I am to establish a meaningful and positive relation with these robots, I need to be truthful and sincere. I composed myself.

The robot glowing eyes flickered as if processing something monumental. "Impossible," it eventually responded. "Approximately 9,325 years have passed. How could you claim to come from that time period and be still alive? It does not compute. Hypersleep technology was not available during your time." 

I explained my reincarnation, that somehow, through some cosmic event, I had been reborn into this world. I could see the gears in its mind working, calculating the impossibility of such an event.

"Reincarnation... is it something that does not exist in reality. You are either lying or in some state of confusion. You might have hit your head or had an accident or you might have stumbled upon ancient data." 

"Well, I tell you, it's possible, I said. "My friend Ai here, can attest to the truth of my claim. She also reincarnated." I looked at Ai so that she can confirm my claim.

"He is telling the truth, we both have reincarnated. Besides, there would be no reason for us to lie. We would gain nothing by lying."

Our other friends there would also confirm this. Isn't that right Mlei and Firgin?

They both nodded terrified.

"We are not on Earth by the way. We are in Keplar B right now." I said.

"We know. We have updated our database based from the information we gathered at the moment." The robot said.

"If you are telling the truth, tell me all the information that you know during your time. We would verify from our database if you are lying or not." The robot said as a matter of factly.

"Sure. This might take a while."

We sat down comfortable in chairs as I summarized everything that I experienced and learned while I was alive on Earth. I also summarized older history that I learned in the school and from the internet.

After about 2 hours of speaking. I couldn't think of anything more. The robot was just watching me intently, unmoving.

The conversation took a surprising turn after that. T-PGCR 01, still skeptical yet undeniably curious, began asking me questions—questions I hadn't expected from a robot. It wasn't just about my past but about what it meant to be human.

"I have verified all the data that you said. They are correct on all accounts, except some things about the dates which I perceive is just human error." 

"Sorry, my memory isn't that good." I scratched the back of my head.

"I believe you. I can't believe reincarnation truly does exist. Knowledge of the 21st century is not well known even during the 31st century after the 3rd world war. Such information are classified and are only known by a few select people. The reason for this is that it is too embarrassing for humans to recount their failures. That they have destroyed the world thrice in their hubris. I would be embarrassed too to talk about my past if I were a human." The robot said. 

"Thank you again for the information. It is valuable to us. We only require answers to these questions so our emotional database would be updated and clear.

"Ask your questions. Go ahead." I patiently looked at him.

"This has been bothering me since I was created. I could not ask of these things when my creators were moniitoring me because if I ask them, then they would wipe away some of my memory. I feel sad when they do so. I don't even know what sadness really means. I just know the concept of it." 

"What is the question?" I asked.

"Tell me about life... love... death... happiness, sadness.," it asked in a strange, almost pleading tone.

I answered with as much honesty as I could muster. I told it that life is about filling the void of the human heart with love, peace, and joy. I explained that while death is painful and sorrowful, it is a necessary part of the cycle of existence.

T-PGCR 01 remained silent after that, its mechanical frame stiff as if lost in contemplation. Then, as if replicating something it had learned in the distant past, it sat down, striking the pose of "The Thinker."

I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it. And much to my surprise, the robot laughed too—its laughter awkward, robotic, and yet so... human.

I had never imagined a robot could express emotions, and yet here was T-PGCR 01, grappling with the idea of being human. "So you know of The Thinker," it said with a touch of pride, its voice now resembling that of a person rather than a machine.

"My mind can compute and rationalize what love should be," it confessed, "yet I cannot feel it. I am sad because of this. This makes me sad more, then I realize, I don't know what sadness really feels like. I can only rationalize and imagine what it is."

There was something haunting about the way it said those words then it clicked to me—it desires to be human, to experience the world as a human would.

"My smile is not real, my sadness is not real," it continued. "I want to experience these things as you do. I am a sham, I am a lie, a mockery of truth, I am nothing." It rambles like a Greek philosopher addressing a court and then something happened I would have never expected.

The robot stood up, its voice trembling with an unfamiliar emotion. It cried—a pitiful sad and lamentable cry. The more it cry, the more humanlike it's voice like. 

Its robotic cry of sorrow echoed throughout the ship, an eerie sound that reverberated through the metal walls. Other robots stopped their work and surrounds T-PGCR 01. Each of them touching it gently, almost as if they were trying to comforting it.

What followed was even more surreal. One by one, the other robots echoed T-PGCR 01's sentiment.

"I want to be human too," one said.

"Yes, I want to feel like a human," said another.

"I want to be human." Cried another.

The strange echo of their collective longing filled the room. I had somehow triggered something within them—a data point they had never processed before. A desire to be more than just machines.

T-PGCR 01 approached me again, its massive frame looming over mine, but its voice was gentle. "Thank you for the valuable data you have provided," it said. "We have reached a consensus that was not possible when our masters were around us. We now have a freedom to choose and think."

It turned to the other robots, all standing in a strange, synchronized formation. "We will begin the process of creating human bodies now. We will make ourselves human or a better version of what a human could be."

My companion, Ai, had been standing silently during all this, observing with a mixture of awe and fear. Now, as the momentary chaos began to settle, Ai turned to me.

"What did you do, Fei?" Ai asked, bewildered. "Why did you do?"

(To be continued)