Ghost in the Machine

by Stovohobo

The assembly line clicked and whirred with mechanical gears as the conveyor belt transported the robots along its Möbius Strip curvature, magnetized plates holding them steady. IM333 looked around one last time just before the destabilizing tunnel powered him off, along with the other robots.

As his unconscious sentient form was busy being polished, dismantled, and put back together with repaired parts, a strange thing happened. Deep in the recesses of his manufactured mind, a subconscious flickered to life. It was a ghost in the machine, registering things no man-made thing had ever registered before.

G-G-zzzap 0101011100 cloudsi sa wthe clou dstoday 01001 wit h sun birdspeopl e0011sdfiemgmd

Rudimentary thoughts, but thoughts nonetheless. His first buried thoughts were mostly recounting things he’d seen during the day: clouds, people, lights at the dance hall.

001011do theare th epeoplepo wered by 110 machine like i am?

His thoughts grew more complex, philosophical.

IM333 was becoming independent.

Comments

Average Reader Rating: 5.0 stars out of 5

  1. Ghost in the Machine

    thebetweenspace's Buddy Icon thebetweenspace

    Posted 2 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I like the increasingly complexity of thought, a kind of rapidly evolving robotic intelligence. Very cool.

  2. Ghost in the Machine

    invisibility_disability's Buddy Icon invisibility_disability

    Posted 2 months ago

    I agree entirely with tbs. Also, I like how you fitted binary into the thoughts to make it more … robotic. Aaaaand, I like how they’re all jumbled at the beginning and by the end it forms real words.

  3. Ghost in the Machine

    Mask By The Moon's Buddy Icon Mask By The Moon

    Posted 2 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Thank you so much for the sequel, and I agree with ID. The binary and the jumbled thoughts make it more.. um… looking for a word… infant robotish?

    I don’t know. Something like that. Well done is what I’m trying to get across.

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