Sentience

A completely original idea for this one, starring @MagicalFirefly of course and going back to my first writing love.

Carlie woke up, wondering what she’d been dreaming about this time.  It always seemed to involve some sort of industrial structure and people in white coats, but she never could quite put her finger on it.

But then, she couldn’t put her finger on a lot of things.  Sure, she was taking good care of herself, she had a secret that really delighted her and she knew, for sure, that she was 19.  Sure, she wasn’t a tall person, and it bugged her, sometimes, to have to get people to move out of her way, but most people were quite accommodating.

But, for some reason, she couldn’t remember anything from before 6 months ago.  It bothered her, a lot, that she had no memory of her parents, none of her school or any of her friends from before then.  Sure, she could socialize, and she’d made some friends, but she had no idea who she was before 6 months ago.

She did have a secret, though, one that would probably surprise everyone.  As she sat behind her desk, she thought she’d be more comfortable looking at the computer screen from desk level.  She reached up to the sides of her head and, with a quick pop, it came off cleanly, just like always.  But taking off her head wasn’t the only thing she could do.

She never did tell any of her friends about it, but the reason her toenail polish always looked perfect was because she could also take off her feet.  It came in handy when she wanted to paint her toenails, and there were other, more personal reasons she liked it.

And, of course, if she had to use the restroom, she didn’t have to leave her computer at all.  It was no problem at all separating her body at her waist and just setting her top half up.

Carlie had found magic acts online, and she had to wonder if something had passed onto her, being able to separate her body into 5 pieces like that.  Could it be that she was a descendant of a famous magician or magician’s assistant?  Could it be in her blood?

All these questions that she had no answer for.  One of her friends often said that the past really doesn’t matter that much, but Carlie really wanted to know who she was and where she came from.  Sure, she could shock dates easily.  It was no problem pulling parts of her body off.  But who was she?

She knew she had to have a past.  She had a driver’s license and a job, both of which said she’d been out there.  But what was it?

It drove her nuts as she picked up her head to shake it back and forth.  Sure, her roommate almost screamed when she saw Carlie headless, and almost fainted when she pulled the rest of herself apart, but she was used to it now.

Carlie did have a knack for computers.  She didn’t know where she learned it, but she knew she had an understanding with them. She’d run facial recognition, hoping that, somewhere, someone knew who she was, but, so far, nothing.

She grunted. “Where are you?”

Her roommate, Marie, came in. “Beg pardon?”

Carlie’s eyes rolled as Marie went over to pick up her head. “You were saying dear?”

Carlie sighed. “I’ve tried every main channel path to find out who I am.  What else can I do?”

Without asking for permission, Marie placed Carlie’s head back where it normally went.  No preamble, no nothing. “Here’s an idea that you probably haven’t considered before.  What if you tried a different way of spelling your name?”

Carlie looked at her, a little strange. “What do you mean?”

Marie smiled, pleased at the insight. “Try phonetic spelling.  You’d be surprised if it works.”

Carlie thought about it a moment.  She typed into the search bar “K R L E.”

She had no idea what brought those letters to mind, but they fit.  And there were several results from universities and labs, all of which were mentioning this AI program they’d been teamed up to develop.

Carlie read as much as she could, discovering more about this fantastic program they’d developed to power an android body, one that would be totally integrated, fully conversant in human speech patterns and even adaptable.

Then they talked about the android body itself.  Carlie’s mouth dropped open when it was described that this body would be developed in 5 parts, each part integrated with each other but not needing to be connected.  The parts would fasten with something Carlie had no idea what it was called, biopolymer cohesion.

Carlie spent at least half an hour reading about that, finding it to be intriguing.  The parts would be able to appear in one unit but could also be separated and operated remotely.

That intrigued Carlie as she read on.  Project KRLE seemed to have a lot of promise to it as they set everything in motion, building this android.

Carlie stopped.  It was meant to act and feel like a human being, which meant it could eat and even have a heartbeat.

Carlie got up and found Marie who had a knowing look on her face. “Who are you?”

Marie smiled. “I’m one of the field operatives of Project KRLE.  I’m not only to befriend you, which was easier than we thought, but also observe you and make sure you were behaving within the parameters.”

Carlie gasped. “I’m KRLE?”

Marie nodded. “You went far beyond our expectations dear.  You befriended everyone, something we didn’t expect to happen for ages, and you managed to even get one of the lab techs to fall in love with you.  You achieved something we never thought we’d see.”

Carlie sat again, overwhelmed. “What’s that?”

Marie sat next to her, a hand on her shoulder. “Sentience.  You became a fully autonomous unit.”

Carlie stood in a huff, batting Marie’s hand away. “But why can’t I remember all this?”

Marie stood in front of her, hands on her shoulders. “It’s an experiment.  When you achieved full sentience, it was decided that the higher-ups wanted to see how you’d do in the real world.  You achieved so much more than we thought.”

Carlie took a deep breath. Was she really breathing?  She didn’t know anymore. “So now what?”

Marie smiled at her, then hugged her. “How would you like to remember everything?”

Carlie nodded, wanting it badly.  Marie smiled wickedly. “Then let’s go to a magic shop and really scare the crap out of some customers.”

Carlie smiled at that. Here she was, told she wasn’t even technically alive, but she still liked being in pieces.