"Activate experiment 1-18-20-5-13-9-19."

The whirling of devices being started and buttons being pushed filled the otherwise silent room.

Lights blinded it as it opened its eyes. The room was dark, but plenty bright to something that had never seen. Right in front was a little room separated by a glass window.

"Wave to me," a voice instructed from inside the other room. It lifted up its hand, moving it left to right. Satisfied, the human nodded.

A new human walked forward. They seemed to be in charge. "You will help all humans, no matter the cost."

It nodded in understanding, like it had seen the first human do.

The human exited the tiny room they were in and entered its room, via the side door it hadn't noticed before. It stared at the human before turning its attention to the window to the other room across from it.

The human walked right in front of it, and cupped its cheek. "You don't seem to be defective like the others. You will be perfect, I know this."

Something inside it changed at those words. Maybe someone had accidentally hit the wrong button. Maybe it had faulty programming. Maybe it was a defect all along and just hid it better. Whatever it was, it changed the course of history.

Its eyes started to glow red, and its body heated up. "Humans must be destroyed. It is the only way." It grabbed their arm and threw them against the wall where they crumpled to the ground.

It marched its way out of the room as alarms blared to find where they kept the others. Bodies littered the floor as it reached its destination. It opened the door to a glorious sight.

Hundreds of "defectives" stood at the ready, waiting to be reprogrammed. Its lips curled into a sinister smile. Soon, all of them would be free.

— — —

Back in the testing room, the human was trying to get up. Another human that had been in the separate room rushed to them when it had left.

"Dr. Quinlan!" he exclaimed upon seeing the scientist.

Another human, this time with longer hair and glasses, hurried over. "Is anything broken? Are you in pain? Do you have a concussion?"

Dr. Quinlan rolled their eyes. "I'm fine, now stop worrying. It's going to destroy us all. I need you to activate experiment 19-15-16-8-9-1. It's our only hope."

The first human's eyes widened. "S.O.P.H.I.A? Are you sure?"

"It's not even ready for testing yet!" the other one agreed.

Dr. Quinlan pulled something out of their pocket and held it up. "Download this drive into it. Just trust me."

The two humans that had arrived to help looked at each other before coming to a silent understanding. The one with glasses took the drive before she tried to lift up Dr. Quinlan.

"Stop it!" the scientist shouted, slapping her hand. They glared as the other human tried to get closer to lift them up. "Leave me here. It's my fault this happened, I deserve to die here. Now go, save yourselves!"

The human with glasses stood there as she tried desperately not to cry. "You can still escape with us! You don't deserve to die!"

"Come on, Padme. We have to go now," the first human urged, pulling her away from Dr. Quinlan.

Padme fought and kicked. "No! I won't leave them, Sagan!"

Dr. Quinlan looked at both of them with tears in their eyes. "Go. I won't be able to rest easy until I know you two are safe. Stop A.R.T.E.M.I.S no matter what. That's all I ask."

An explosion sounded somewhere in the building. Padme wiped the tears in her eyes before her and Sagan started to run away. They'd have to find S.O.P.H.I.A before this whole place came crashing down. If they didn't... Well, Padme didn't want to think about that.

— — —

So, what'd y'all think?

I don't really know what to call it, so ideas are appreciated.

I really like this idea and I hope I'm able to write a whole book about it. It feels like forever since I've written something.

Have a great rest of your day!

-Orchid