“The First Generation”

Rosedel Sumbi

Von Mech, a talented man he is, he was once the love of my life, his eyes were blue as
the ocean, and his locks were reddish brown as chestnut. He was the man I fell for, but his
insanity took him away from me.

Year 2079, 23rd day of month April, our 5th anniversary. I sat by the dining room, with a
candle lit dimly, the hall is filled with silence, the wind blows soft breeze and the rain gushes like
waterfalls. The oven tings and the smell of roasted chicken savor the atmosphere. Everything
seems so perfect, but how can a one person in love celebrate alone?

My eyelids began to get heavier and a sudden creak of door awakens my spirit. And there
he stands, all wet as the water drips on the floor and he looked at me in the eyes with pain and
worriness, those eyes of his started to sparkle with tears. I should’ve raged on him, but I won’t
ruin this perfect day of ours just because of his tardiness, but instead, I rushed into his arms, hid
my pain and chuckled “you’re late!” he held his hands onto my cheeks and kissed my forehead
“I’m very sorry Angela, i was busy creating the most perfect gift I can make for you on this
moment of ours.” He grabbed something from his back and revealed a necklace that has the
chain of silver that twinkles by the light, on its bale, a little glass ball attached on it that suddenly
projects thousands of holograms of the memories we shared for 5 years, it filled the darkness
with love and happiness. No words to express, frozen on the floor , he smiled and attached the
ends on my nape, I closed my eyes and his warm breath breaks through the wind, closer and
closer, I felt his tender lips pressing on mine. The happiness I felt is too much that I felt a hot tear
dripping from my eyes. I’m at bliss.

Days, weeks and months had already passed, Von seemed to slowly walked to a place
very far away from me, he barely comes home and he barely calls me up to point that feels like
that he completely forgotten about me. Nights with empty bed, his scent began to fade, the house
is filled with darkness and quietness, his presence is what I missed the most.

I’ve gone sleepy waiting for him, hoping that he would come knocking the door, as I
closed my eyes his shadow is what I see but I know it doesn’t exist, it’s just an illusion. Not
knowing I’ve already closed my eyes and I fell asleep.

I cannot say I’m in a dream but I feel awake but somehow I cannot open my eyes nor
move my body no matter how hard I bite my lips. I feel like I’m being lifted on the air like
someone is taking control of my body, am I being kidnapped? Someone removed the sheet from
my eyes and the next thing I knew is that I am lying on a hospital bed, my mind scrambles with
horrifying ideas asking myself if is this the end of me.

Days gone by and things starts to get worse, my body got stabbed like a million times,
someone gave me an anesthesia but I can feel them peeling my skin off. My throat is dry as the
summer, my lips are cracked and my tummy grumbles in hunger. Someone lift my neck and
slowly inserted a needle in it and injected me with something that caused me to feel dizzy and
asleep.

(System Rebooting)

Gasping my breath as sweats rolling across my face, Von Mech, the man who left me
alone, is the person in sight. My emotions wanted to burst in anger but how come do I feel so
happy to see him, I forcefully tried to get up but I am in strains and something attached at the
back of my head is pulling me back to the bed, I want to embrace him but I know it’s not the
right thing that I should do. “Trial 56th: Project Angela is complete.” Said by the lady in white
coat led me to puzzle. “Von what is she saying? What trial?” he rest his hands on my shoulder
trying to make me calm, “my darling Angela, I was making this a surprise for you for our
Christmas, I made you the best of who you can be.” He held a mirror in front of me and I see a
beautiful woman with a cheek pink as the roses are, eyes with breaming green iris, a hair wavy
like strawberry blonde. This woman looks like me but a very perfect one, I softly pressed my
cheeks with my finger to see if I am dreaming or not and it is real, “Von, I look prettier, this is
really amazing, what did you do?” he removed my strains and detach the cable hanging from my
head, he grabbed my hand and guided me to a platform to see a large flat LED screen that shows
geometric data which I hardly understand, “Okay, this is crazy but it worked, I designed a robot
that is capable of functioning exactly like a human, every part of it is a perfect replica of a human
organ, every bit of it functions like it is but made of alloys which is more secured than a human
part. The fun part is the brain, unlike human we suffer through a lot of pain physically and
mentally, with this new brain of yours it has the synapse which is filled with millions of filters
that modifies the neurons, it intensifies every positive messages like feelings and thoughts and
weakens all of the negativity, those positive thoughts will serve as memories that will be stored
deep inside your brain which is impossible to be deleted.” His face overjoys as he explained
every detail to me but it is difficult for me to digest those information. “This is the solution for
every problem of every people in this world, imagine, no pain, no suffering, and the end of
destruction. You, you are the answer!”

(System Loading)

Weeks continued, I am imprisoned on a cell in Von’s laboratory, which already made it

my new home. I am under observation in case some flaws may prevail and he would put me into
sleep again. It has been long since he was this close to me, yet, he is so far to reach, and his work
drives his attention away from me.
 Tube, injections, cables and apparatuses scatter everywhere. I was his wife, but now I am
his experiment, I don’t know if this is what he called love. Every hole made in my body leaves a
mark that may harm a human being but now I am a robot I can’t feel any of those pain anymore.
Von felt so bothered with all the scars bulging on my skin, he put a grin on his face and handed
me a sedative which I already know what does it means, I had something he doesn’t like so he
will put me into sleep again and play with my system.

(System Error)

“Sir It’s impossible, she can’t handle it!”

“Shut the fuck up and do as I command!”

“The subject is failing, she cannot survive!”

My vision is blur, all I can see is white coats filling the space, rattling around and all I
hear are anger, screaming and distress. My breath slowly faints and the blur stars to darken.

(System Starting)

I was awaken with a fuzzy hair dangles on my hand, I see him looking down at me with
his creepy reddish eyes, his wrinkles scattered around his face and his golden locks is not golden
anymore but dark and frizzy. He hysterically laughed “You’re awake! I thought I was losing
you! “. I heavily pant “Von what happened?” he kissed my hand with his rough lips “I’m sorry I
made you suffer, but look! You’re alright; you cannot feel pain any longer, you’ve became
perfect. Here let me show you.” He reached for a blunt, rusty knife by the table and slid it
through my wrist, is he trying to kill me? The slit of the skin follows the stroke of the knife and
as blood reached the surface of my skin, some sort of little bubbles which he calls “nanobots” or
short for “Nanorobots” formed around the wound and stitched it clean leaving no scar behind.
Nanobots are robots made of nanomaterials that can carry out tasks. Von injected it inside me
that serve as medicine to heal, kill cancer cells, deliver drugs to target tissues, and improve
vaccines. Nanobots also scan my health which is projected on a computer in order to see if
there’s something wrong with me.

What he did left me speechless, my heart tightens and my skin boiled hot, he looked at
the screen “I know Angela, I am too proud of myself too! This is exciting right?” he embraced so
tight that made it difficult for me to breath. I can’t feel any sadness, I was tricked but all I feel is
happiness, but I know within me feels like screaming in cage, yelling harder “GET ME THE
HELL OUT OF HERE!” but all my face shows is a smile. Is this the perfection he meant? To
feel nothing at all but happiness and numbness, he see it not, but my memory still contains every
moment we had for five years, all of the fight and struggle we had is still fresh and vivid in my
mind, this is the only thing that keeps me a human but I must act as if I am already perfect, I
don’t want him to put me into sleep again.
 Acting is the only thing in my mind to complete the observation and escape this place and
return back to a place I call home. After conducting series of tests and scans, Von approached
my cell with a beaming smile, I have never seen him so proud like this before, he tapped his
hand on a scanner and the door slid open wide and he extends his arms to embrace me. “Darling
Angela, you are the woman I loved the most and everything I am proud of is for you to be the
first soul knows about it. Everything I did is for your happiness because you mean the whole
world to me.” I can see his eyes all delirious and proud I am for his success instead of feeling
angry “But aren’t we already perfect? We were happy, remember?” I asked as he snapped at me
“No! We weren’t, you’ve been through a lot of pain and for the fact I can’t bare you a child
ached your heart, did you know how many years I suffered to see you in sadness? I don’t want to
see you suffering again.” I held his hands in silence and a man in white coat suddenly interrupts
us “Sir, Project Angela is now ready.” I looked at Von and talked within my mind “How can a
person love and treat her like one of his toys?” I can comprehend the situation rationally but my
emotions react completely abnormal. “Come my dear Angela, it is time for the whole world to
know you’re story!” unguarded and distracted, something behind me slid a needle in my neck
and inject me with sedative, I weakened and faint.

In darkness, I’ve gone awake. I realized that my body is moving on its own and from a
far I see Von Mech on the stage while I’m here inside a vessel glass which made the outside
inaudible. “Country of Wundunce, I am here in front of you to present something unique,
something extraordinary and remarkable. What I will show you is the solution to put an end on
our long lasting suffering. I give you Project Angela: The Future!” the floor on which I am
standing started to float and arises through the surface, cameras everywhere and I can see myself
on a gigantic screen at the end of the horizon. Not knowingly, I was programmed a script, and
my mouth started to move on its own as my body sways around the platform. “Hi, I am Project
Angela: The Future! As you can see, I may look like a pure human, but I was a human before
who was also suffering, crying and anxious, but with the help of my beloved husband, known for
his amazing knowledge, he managed to transfer my soul from my human body to this beautiful
robot called “Architect” the process is called “Mind Uploading” which hundreds scientists made
theories about it but eventually failed, only our wonderful Von Mech made those theories in
reality. I am an Architect however I can talk like a human or act like one, you cannot see a
difference of me from human beings, unlike when I was human, I was forgetful and careless,
with this new body of mine I can finally store every memory vividly which the system won’t
allow it to be deleted, memories are precious to us, right? Moreover, my brain can scan every
passing neuron which strains the pain, anger and sadness and only allow the happiness to get
inside the core. My body is soft as human skin but I am made of flexible polymer alloys, inside
me runs blood filled with nanobots that scans our body condition in order to eliminate diseases
and medicate wounds which secures us from harmful ailments. I realized being a human is a
problem for our nature is filled with envy, greed, wrath and lust; we are the seed of our own
destruction. We must remove our flaws and recreate the perfect version of us. I am Project
Angela: The Future!” the floor descends to the room. I tremble and broke through the limit of my
system, I finally managed to let go of a single tear that made me feel refreshed, but I still smiled
knowing that I’ve gone completely numb.

“Thank you Angela. My fellow people, she is the first perfect creation by the hands of
human being, so perfect that God cannot even create. She is our solution to end the chaos. From
this day forth, April 23, 2080, Project Angela is available in every hospital and laboratory that
you can find, every model is a perfect version copy of who you are. With this project, we can
create paradise. Project Angela: The Future has now begun, I am Von Mech, as the president of
Wundunce, I will be your leader to the path of Eden, come and join me and together we create
the heaven.”

I just sat on the floor, leaning on a cold glass while listening to his prideful words. Help is
not near to come so I will save myself. I stood quietly still and move onward slowly, my phase
began to change and started to run. Everyone was busy watching his performance, so I got no
time to lose, the time is now and failure to take this chance, hope would be no more to be found.
I reached the this enormous metallic door that is firmly sealed, behind it is my freedom and this
door is not a barrier that will stop me. I get my hopes high, I soothe the air very deep, my system
started to reach its limit again and something inside me sparked with shock. I clenched my fist,
pulled it in the air with the use of all my strength I landed a huge punch on the door and created a
big bang which triggered the alarm. The door didn’t budge so I started to panic, I began to punch
the wall stronger and faster, with no pain to feel but I can sense my knuckles crumbling into
smaller pieces. Every blow I make is the hope that I can make, but every second of my rebellion
is the end of my humanity if ever they’ll capture me.

I can hear the men coming near with their baton banging and Tasers hissing, the alarm is
wailing and everyone is screaming at each other, “She’s escaping! We need to hurry!” I kept on
punching and punching that my skin almost diminished and my metallic bone is already sticking
out. A big man clutched my arm and gripped it firmly, instead of feeling pain I feel tickled and
laughed embarrassingly, I resist, struggled and somehow managed to slip from his hands, I
transferred all my strength to toss him to his companions resulting them to be knocked down on
the ground. I returned back my attention to the collapsing door and with one strike, the door
popped open and I briskly ran, my fleet led me to the woods near laboratory. My arm broke and
hangs from my elbows, the circuits are sticking out from my skin sparking with electricity, but
the nanobots took their action and managed to fix my arm.

Clueless running I am, but there’s no time to think, I must escape, I don’t want to return
to that horror room and I don’t want him to play with me again. I just kept on moving forward,
everywhere is better away from here. My feet led me deep inside the forest, it is safer this way
than to run outside in open place, this may not be a perfect hide out but at least it can buy me a
time to think.
 The trees come in many looks, big, slim, red, brown, dark, and mossy and some looked
dead. I am filled with filth, mud and sweat, my stamina and battery almost come to deplete. The
wind turned cold, the fog gathered and the moon arises that beamed my path, but all I can see is
gray and darkness. My tummy groans but I can’t feel any hunger, my throat is arid but I can’t
feel any thirst, I am so tired that I can’t run any longer. I sat on a wet mud by the river bank and
leaned my head on a creepy, gigantic tree called “Weeping Willow”, the river flows water that
reflects the moonlight and the fireflies began to flutter the air and filled it with their beautiful
blinking lights emitted from their abdomen, from a far within the woods, I saw Von’s mirage
looking at me with his beautiful golden locks and beaming smile, he extends his hands to reach
me, I smiled and reach out his hand but he is not actually there. My eyes closed on its own.

(System Failure!)

I opened my eyes to see darkness, my body is weak and can barely move, cables are
attached all over my body, on my head, my nape, my spine, my legs, my shoulders, my elbows
and on my arms, it made me hanging from the ceiling. I can’t feel anything and I my mouth can’t
move to scream. A mirror aroused from the floor, it made me look a terrifying image. I see
myself naked and breaking apart, my stomach is completely ripped open, my insides is filled
with leaking yellowish liquid that smells like petroleum, my bones are partially torn apart and
my circuits dangles all over the place, the worst part is seeing my face smiling with a glaring
eyes begging to be saved.

The mirror dispersed and slowly turned into a clear glass, behind it is a man in a white
coat occupied his attention on something that he blocks, however, I can see blood dripping on the
ground that paints the whole floor crimson red, in that pool of blood I can see a reflection of a
hospital bed and an arm swinging from it. The man stepped away from the block which then
revealed the body to be mine, my human body, every limb of my body is separated from another,
the stomach is slit open and the guts flows out from the skin and some of it drop on the floor, the
liver sticks out from the rib cage, the intestine is snapped into another length, and the other lungs
deflates as it slides off the stomach. The left eye socket is empty leaving the blood to flow from
it, while the other one had the eyeball hanging out from it nearly torn apart and the cheeks
partially had its skin peeled off showing a hole made on the muscles which almost revealed the
jaws. The man turned his back which turned out to be Von, he has an expressionless face with a
glowing red eye, he put a knife on the desk which has the collection of different kinds of knives
and also jars filled with formalin and inside it are different organs, no doubt at all, those organs
were mine. As he put down the knife, he looked at me and he curved his lips to smile, I pant and
my heart beat raced. He flicked from the distance and surprisingly appeared right behind me and
he suddenly laughed very frantic that filled the halls with an agonizing scream coming from my
human body.

(System Rebooting)
 “Hey lady, wake up!” awaken by a shocking slap and irritating sound, a woman is the
first in sight, I am glad that I escaped from a dreadful dream, although my system can filter that
but I already knew that I ruined it. “Thank heavens you’re awake, I thought you were dead. What
happened to you?” a woman at 20s worried in fear behind her beautiful dark brown eyes, she has
an angelic look with her sun kissed red hair and her pointy freckled nose, she stutters a lot for she
is speaking so fast. I took a deep breath and smile “I deeply appreciate your concern miss. I am
alright now; however, I am a little bit lost and hungry. You may have not known me yet but my
name is Angela.” She lends me a hand and offered me an invitation to stay at her house for a
while. Her name is Lily, she lives alone in the woods that explains her oblivious about me, she is
a talented human which is both mechanic and a programmer, she intentionally flunked her
college because her superiors disregards her potential, she then decided to develop her own
skills. Her house lies at the bottom of the big, oak tree, the russet leaves fall from the branches
and partially cover the ground, the green silky grass juts from the leaves and her house is formed
by small pebbles that comes in different colors and textures, and the chimney belches out fluffy
white smoke from the inside of the house. Even though it is small, but it filled the atmosphere
with a warm welcome. The feeling I have takes me back to a time when I had a home, but I
cannot return to anymore.

Lily guided me to her kitchen and I made myself comfortable by sitting on a wooden
chair, she then swoop herself by the stove to boil a tea, that sends off fresh scent aroma that
made me urge to drink it, she hand me a cup of it, while boiling hot, I somehow chugged it down
through my throat and into my stomach, it tastes malty and its astringency scattered all over my
tongue, she giggled at me “are you for real? You didn’t even hesitate to drink that hot, are you a
dragon?” I chuckled as she grabbed a chair to sit in front of me “Sorry for my manners, it tasted
really good.” The atmosphere silenced, she reached for my hands gently “Do you mind telling
me what happened to you Angela? I’m not rushing you, I can wait. But for the mean time you
can stay here, all I want for you to do is to trust me, okay?” she then smiled and I start reminisce
my story, I needed her help and she needed my trust. I carefully explained every detail of my
story from the start, I can see a lot of her expressions from her face, the fear, the sadness and
puzzled, her hands shake by mine. I finished my story “I know it is hard to understand but I am
hoping for you to believe in me.” She froze like a statue, I stood and walked over the counter and
grabbed a knife to demonstrate, she instantly seized it but I had a firm grip of it and I
accidentally let go which made her fall to the ground, I panicked and apologized but she just
looked at me with no words to say. I released a big sigh, turned my back and decided to leave.

A few steps from the door, I can hear Lily’s foot step hastens and she serenely grabbed
my shoulder, I slowly turned to see her face flustered with redness and her eyes glistened with
tears. “Stay.”

Weeks passed, Lily and I already formed a bond like sisters. She managed to learn more
about me and in exchange to teach me about her work. Lily was just like me, forgetful and
careless, she sometimes left the door open while going out and sometimes she forgets to turn off
the light at night which explains tons of light bulb packed on her basement, however, her
sweetness and innocence is what makes her the purest person I’ve ever met. She was orphaned at
the age of 14, on that day, she was left home alone while her parents were out to seek for a gift
for Lily’s 15th birthday, as the clock stroke at 6pm, a deer blocked the road and her father
panicked that cause him to unconsciously steered the wheel on the wrong direction leading the
car to land an impact on the utility pole, the heavy collision led her parents in be trapped inside,
unable to move, the car leaked and a sudden spark of her father’s lighter cause the car to ignite in
flames which eventually burned her parents to ashes. The grieved news caused Lily to
breakdown and almost took her own life, as she stands at the top edge of a 7 story building, her
breath cuts through the air, her legs numbed, she bit her lips to bleed, she closed her eyes with
nothing else to think, on her last seconds to jump, she saw her mother radiant as she is, she held
Lily’s cheeks, her touch was warm as the tea and her soothing smile regained Lily’s conscious as
she whispered softly “I will always be with you, my little flower.” She then reposed into thin air
but she still filled Lily’s hollow heart with her love and presence, Lily’s conscience told her that
she has many wonderful things waiting for her in the future, she decided to move forward and
embrace her goal, she knows that she is not alone fighting her problems, deep inside her, she has
a family that loves her dearly and she know that she will always make them proud.

With Lily’s past, I can’t imagine myself alive by now if she’d jumped that building,
without her, I’d be probably dead by now but my body would still be moving lifeless.

The time is ticking fast I still haven’t thought of a plan yet, but I need to leave here at
once, I can’t bother Lily any longer, Von won’t hesitate to use her. The night sets as the
moonlight shone upon me and the wind hums its song, I turned to see Lily sticking her nose by
the laptop as her fingers danced across the keyboard, she is very passionate about her work, she
is my inspiration.

The atmosphere began to chill that sends shivers to my spine, a far in the woods, I can
hear leaves rustle and twigs are cracking softly, I can hear them coming, my time finally ticked
its last second. I rose from the chair and pretend that I didn’t notice and phased inside to alarm
Lily. “They’re here, go to the back door and escape, now!” she baffled in horror, she then hold
my hand and pulled me to the back but I removed her grip, “Angela please come with me, we
can figure this out together.” Her eyes shed with tears and dripped down her chin “They won’t
stop until they get a hold of me, they will hurt you too, Lily please let go!” before she loosen her
hold, I detach my necklace and placed it on her palm and closed it to kiss as a drop of my tear
fell on her soft hand “Lily, remember me.” For a short second, she hugged me so tight and before
I opened my eyes, she already vanished into thin air, I whispered “Be safe.”

They are now at the doorstep and knock on it softly, I wiped my tears and walked to the
door, I slowly twist the knob and opened the door with ease. “Good evening my love, mind if we
come in? you have a quiet of a house here, your radar seemed to be destroyed so it took a while
to find you.” There he goes again with his demonic smile, my sorrow fades and overjoyed to see
him, I embraced him, “Aw Von, I missed you, I lost my way to return to you, I promise I won’t
do it again.” His veins strained his eyes red “Yes! I’m sure you won’t do it again, allow me to
keep that promise of yours.” He reached something behind “I see you lost the necklace, but that
won’t be a problem.” He placed a shock collar on my neck and strapped the ends tight, I was
treated like a toy but now a dog, I resist and tried to remove the collar but his guards seized me
and injected me with sedative that weakened my legs, trembled and fell down on my knees. I
gazed upon him to see him holding a remote control, as he pushed the button, my system reached
its limit and shut down my body but the brain still managed to function, the electric shock
destroyed my filtering impulse which now allows the pain to break through my core. My muscles
contract and my eyes starts to get cloudy almost a complete cataract, I can feel millions of knives
stabbing every inch of my body as my skin bursts into tiny burn while my nanobots constantly
repairs it. My breath stopped and my strength disappeared, I fell on the floor. “Don’t worry, I
will make you feel better.” Last words I heard before light left me.

(System Booting)

I feel like floating, relaxed and fresh. But why am I not breathing? Is this a new update? I
gradually opened my eyes to see yellowish liquid fizzed with tiny bubbles from the ground.
Where am I? Hanged by the cables attached in my mouth, my head, all over my back down to
the legs, I am floating inside a glass. I can’t move my body. Next to my vessel is Von Mech,
looking at his holographic data while observing me “How do you feel darling? You see, in this
way no harm will come to you. When you were young, you always wanted to be a princess but it
is impossible for me to make you one, so I made you a Queen instead! Imagine, billions of
suffering lives will be saved by you, look! Look at them! They are your beloved people!” he
deliriously points his finger below his platform which made me look at it. Billions of vessels
contain units of robots in a form of human floating on formalin and each vessel attached a cable
that links into the same direction, it all links in my vessel, in my head and in my body. He
tittered drastically and shamelessly shouted “ANGELA! THE QUEEN, THE CORE, THE
PARADISE!”

I closed my eyes, hope has left my soul, and accepts the fact that I will immortally remain
like this, waiting a sign to be saved even though there’s no one left to save me anymore.

I am Project Angela...

END