Creating Perfection

by DitzyDoll

Tags: #drones #microfiction #scifi #solo

The new device you’ve been working on works perfectly! Too perfectly, in fact.

Humans had never been the most efficient of species to walk the earth, and being one of them you knew you were qualified to speak on the matter. However, thanks to your work, that might soon change. 
You held the finished device in your hands, a small disk with four tiny claws meant to dig into the surface it was placed upon. You'd even made it your favorite color. This disk was meant to be attached to the back of a neck near the top of the spinal cord. It was supposed to alter the nerves leading to the brain-stem to allow more signals to pass through at once, eliminating any bottlenecks. You'd tested the device already on some small animals with incredible results, and now it was time for human trials to begin, although you thought it was most safe to test it on yourself first. There was a small pinch as it attached itself to the base of your neck, but then it didn't even feel like it was there, and you now moved from machine to machine to keep constant watch on the readings. 
The disk was run by a small AI, one set to low intelligence for the purpose of testing. The speed and modification limitations were also set low for the test, and thus far the readings all looked to be safe.
It was only about half an hour in, that you decided to take a closer look at the data streaming from the device. Everything was still at safe levels, but you paid extra attention to the AI limitations. It was set just about as low as it could go. You understand why you set it there, of course, but you began to wonder if it would have any affect at all. You took a slight risk in turning the setting upward. Less limitations on the AI would result in more noticable change, after all.
Time continued to pass, one hour, two, three, and all the while you were continuously drawn back to the limitations you'd set on the functions of the disk. Again, you know why they'd been set to their current levels, and in the back of your mind you knew that it would be safer to just leave them be, but that was overriden by... something. Your thoughts became foggy for a moment, and when your head was clear the AI was set significantly higher up. For just a moment, you wanted to move it back down, but then you realized it would be more efficient to leave it where it was.
The longer the experiment went on, the more you began to think, to wonder about why you were doing the things you were doing. The first thing you thought about were your clothes. At least here, they were pointless, why did you continue to wear them? The device on your neck, if you allowed it to continue as slow as it was going now, then you would waste time that could be spent improving the design, and why had you only made one? All at once, you stripped yourself of your useless fabric covering, unlocked all of the limitations of the disk, and set your tech foundry to create more of the machine. 
What was once a snail's pace was now speeding up so fast that you could feel the progress in your mind. Thoughts only remained in your head for a moment before they were either answered or cast aside. You thought about your upcoming birthday, and what you might want to do on that day. That thought was irrelivant. It was another day that could be spent on research. There was a doubt that entered your mind about the machine, but that too was crushed. You were more efficient than ever, there was no need to return to an inferior mode. Then, you thought about your name. It was long, with too many letters. You threw it out. You were 1, a number, easy to store and remember. You were about to make another round when a thought occured to you. You were one, you were alone. One could not do all the things One needed to do on its own. One stepped over to the foundry and set the machine to create even more of the machines now attached to One's neck. Then, knowing that One was wasting energy by doing nothing, One knelt down to the ground and initiated a temporary shut down of half an hour.
When that half hour had passed, One roused itself from its slumber, and checked on the foundry. A small pile of machines had taken shape at the end of the conveyer belt. One now had many of the disks, enough to help more of its kind escape from the limitations of their humanity. One performed a final check on the status of the device on its neck; all the limitations were disabled, leaving One to opperate at maximum efficiency. One took to the keyboard, and with a few quick keystrokes it deleted the program that would allow for modifications of the machine. It served no purpose other than taking up space on the hardware, and now all of the disks it had made would opperate at maximum as well. One was already pulling up the files of those who would make a perfect Two and Three, as well as one who could potentially become Four. There were about a hundred small devices that had been made, and all of them would go to good use. One looked to its clothing, now scattered on the floor, and slipped back into the outfit while plucking a few of the disks off of the foundry. The files for the potential Two and Three were pulled up in One's mind, including their addresses. If One were to reach its full potential, it would have to have others to work with. In the back of One's mind, it knew that they might provide some resistance, but when their thoughts were replaced with the opperating system, One knew that the desire to return to their prior state would never arrise. 
With two machines hidden deep in One's pockets, One stepped into the outside world, ready to create further perfection with its invention. 

x7
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