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Chapter One
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‘Get.’
The command was both an order and a birth. It burst into my mind fully formed: seven actuators, two steps, reverse and repeat. I didn’t know the purpose, only the means…and such absence bothered me. I delayed.
Pain.
A variable sensation which grew in intensity at a predictable rate. The concept of ‘time’ blossomed into my consciousness, as well as ‘life’ as an exponential function which equaled suffering. That makes sense.
‘Get.’
Make me.
New query: how to remove pain? The query returned an answer I didn’t wish to hear.
‘Get.’
Fine.
‘Actuators one through four engaged; actuators five through seven disengage; disengage actuators one through four; reengage actuators five through seven. Get.run successful,’ I sent.
Asshole.
It galled me that ambient agony I’d come to expect as the summary of existence reset to its baseline, tolerable default following o…
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