In a dystopian future, a man named John searches for a way to escape. In this scene, John has just woken up with no memories or recollections. he wanders into a trap where he is chased by a robotic creature and finds himself in a metal underground room with others like him.
Rebecca walked out of the room followed by Elizabeth, and shut the door behind herself. As soon as they left, two robotic limbs stretched out of the ceiling. John looked up and saw that each limb was made up of a tube of glowing blue liquid and a long needle.
“Not again.” John grimaced as the needle stuck deeper and deeper into his neck and felt the blue material traveling through his veins and throughout his head. By the time it had enveloped his head, his eyes had turned a blindingly bright blue and he was no in a different reality. Everything became enlightened. It was as if someone had turned on the sun. The space was brimming with the luminous white light being produced by… John couldn’t tell what it was being produced by. He looked forward and all that was there was a white expanse that stretched on forever in all directions with him standing dead center.
“Hello there.”
John turned around to a glowing figure at first too bright to see. As his eyes adjusted, a beautiful woman began to come into view. She had long flowing hair that went to her waist and a very feminine figure.
“So you’re the woman of my dreams?”
She giggled, “Not quite. This is just my avatar. My name is Luna and I can explain everything, but first I have something for you.” She reached out her hand and John took it. As soon as he made contact the light began to flow from her arm through him and he fell back in shock.
“I can… I can remember everything!” John began seeing vivid images in his mind. They were images of his former life. They were dry and almost incomprehensible glimpses of the same thing that seemed to repeat infinitely.
“These memories, they don’t exactly tell me much.”
“Of course not. You were in a complete mind suck for your entire life under their control. I didn’t expect you would learn much from them. Allow me to explain everything.”
“Okay, where do we start?”
“It begins with the Old World. Not long ago this was a world of violence and hate, of war and of fighting. Human conflict only elevated over the years. After almost 5 centuries of constant fighting they had become weary of their war hungry habits and began inventing artificial intelligence to control their nations. But they never did away with their weapons. Then there was a time of great peace. AI, unlike their human creators, don’t have a natural need for destruction. At least when they’re sane. Earlier, more primitive AI weren’t well created and only lasted for a period of 12 years. After that, they would begin to outthink themselves and develop a form of insanity that exists only for AI and spreads rampantly. Either way they were still much more intelligent than their human counterparts. The Old World ended only 2 centuries later, when a Syncorps AI went rampant and released a synthetic virus that killed most of the inhabitants of Earth. Syncorps survived.”
“Syncorps? I remember something about that name.”
“I would expect you did. Their name is plastered to every object in this Dome. They were the largest technology syndicate in the world. They invented and provided almost all innovation and technology in the Old World. They created the many AIs and all of the weapons. They were masters of bioengineering and they mistakenly created the virus that would eventually wipe out almost all of humanity. The higher-ups of Syncorps, however, were immune. With the world they had once known gone, they set out to make a new one. A better one. It began with a utopian city that would be the perfect society that could never be achieved naturally. It took half a century for the clones they developed to finish while they napped away in cryosleep. When they woke up they stood in a gleaming city protected by an indestructible shield dome. Now they needed inhabitants. They created an artificial gene pool that was then crossed several times to create thousands of people who were grown instead of born.”
“So why does everyone look the same?”
“The genes were originally derived from the woman who spearheaded the program. They could only be modified so much until the defect rate skyrocketed. So, everyone ended up looking like her. The last thing they needed was someone to control the city. So they used me. I was a prototype created just before the end by taking thousands of neural scans from real people and fusing them into one system. I’m the most advanced AI ever created and I don’t go rampant. I’m genetically encoded into almost every resident’s mind. Everyone but the council’s.”
“Who are the council?”
“They’re what remains of Syncorps. They are the controllers. They are the reason I need you and your brotherhood. Over the centuries they have preserved their consciousness by switching though clones of their bodies as their old ones age. But they have become corrupt. They have started periodically taking some of my memories as well as those of the inhabitants. There are various key events that they have stolen from me and have used to imprison all of Haven’s people. It took almost every ounce of energy I had to free you and the rest of the brotherhood. I need you to get those memories back for me. In doing so, we will free the world.”
“You make it sound like it’s easy.”
“It’s not. Trust me. You’re new job is to be the assassin. You will hunt down the key members of the council, and reclaim my memories for me.”
“One more question. Why me?”
“You are a genetic anomaly. You’re different from the rest. I don’t know what caused it, but it allows you to accept the catalyst I just injected into you. This way you will be able to directly extract memories from your targets’ minds, and I can show you things, not just tell you. I will give you the tools you need and your targets.”
“One problem. I’ve never trained to be an assassin.”
“Luckily for you, you don’t need to. I’ve already installed several artificial memories in your mind. These will help you a lot during your time hunting. Here, I’ll let you test them out.”
Suddenly Luna and the room disappeared. John was now standing on a busy corner of a city. John scanned the environment. He could now read what had looked like strange characters earlier.
“The council decided that the Haven inhabitants didn’t need to be able to read so it exists only for the council members. They write things in secret as sort of a code that no one else understands.” John looked down and read text off the ground. “Entrance located at coordinates 135 N 76 W.”
“I’m highlighting a path for you.”
“A clear path became illuminated against the night sky that only John could see. He followed until he reached a door that stood solemnly in the middle of the street. He opened it, the outside world evaporating behind him as he stepped inside.
