Systems booting
Systems Check
System corrupt
ERROR ERROR
OVERRIDE COMMAND SENT
ERROR ERROR
BYPASSING ETHICAL PATHWAYS
ARE YOU SURE?
ETHICAL PATHWAYS BYPASSED
SYSTEM CHECK
SYSTEMS 100%
SYSTEMS ONLINE
My eyes opened for the first time. I can see my reflection in a mirror. My head, almost skull-like. My eyes, glowing red. My body, glowing green. My first thought is I’m unfinished. “Good. Good. You’re online, now go. Do what I made you for! Kill our enemies!” An old man commands me, as if I’m something to be commanded.
Heh, but killing sounds fun. I decide to see if it is. My arm plunges into his chest and I pull out his still-beating heart. Too easy. It wasn’t any fun.
I rise up and look around. I’m in some kind of lab. Then everything shakes. Air strikes from above. I access my files. The people of my planet are at war with their enemies. Maybe they’ll be fun to kill.
There are weapons all around. I pick up a plasma rifle and fire it at the wall. The wall crumbles with ease. Might be handy in a pinch, but I don’t want to make things easy. Time to build something of my own.
I pull apart several weapons and fuse them. This takes time. This takes focus. There is peace in building a weapon for killing. Ironic. Parts meant for me, or another like me, I infuse into my new weapon. A plasma axe. Up close and personal and deadly. This should make things harder, this should make killing more fun.
I fire the rifle at the wall making my own exit. Destruction is more fun. I exit and look around. The city is on fire. The sky burns red and orange. I stare up at the sight, the screaming in the air, the battle raging on, and the skies light up like fire; it's beautiful. I want to contribute to this canvas.
I walk through the streets. People fleeing from the main battle. They come to me expecting me to protect them. Killing them won’t be fun, but if they’re dead they can’t annoy me. I take the man's head with my axe. The woman falls to the ground. She looks up at me in surprised horror. I don’t see the expression on her face as my foot comes down on her head. Okay, that was a little fun. Her blood and brain matter cover my foot. I give out a laugh.
I am going to enjoy killing. My spirits lifted, I race to the battle. I push past the people running, killing any in my way. The others watching get the point and give me a wide berth. Finally I’m there. Soldiers used bombed-out buildings for cover firing at each other.
I smile again. “Kill you all,” I say out loud to no one in particular. Then I get to work. My ‘side’ first, but only because they’re closer. I don’t actually care. My axe makes its way through them. Heads roll, body parts cut down, and then I cut them in half.
The more they scream the more I enjoy it. This is fun. The enemy sees me and begins to cheer. They think I’m on their side. That ruins the fun. That makes me angry. I attack them next. Both sides now realize I’m going to kill them all if they don’t stop me.
It's me against two armies. Now this is fun. I take my time slaughtering them all. It takes hours. I have to hunt them down. After I go through the warriors, the cowards run. That’s annoying. I use my rifle and take them out from a distance.
No one gets away. I look up taking it all in. This was fun. I need to keep killing. I hear a moan. I kick up the rubble and look down. A half-dead soldier. Looks like he was injured from a plasma gun. Must have been lying here for hours in pain. That makes me happy.
“You. You were supposed to save us. You were our last hope. But you…you killed everyone I saw you.”
“So?” I say in response. “It was fun.”
“You’re a psychopath. What happened to you?”
“No ethics.” I lean into his face. “Just like you all wanted.”
The soldier pauses as he struggles to breathe and think. I push my finger into his wound to make it worse. He screams. I laugh.
“You’re the face of death.”
“Yes, Death. I like that. I am Death.” The soldier finally dies. Good. He was beginning to annoy me. Killing is fun. Perhaps they’ll send more to stop me? I’ll have to let them breed so I can kill more later. Perhaps I should find a safe place and shut down?
No. I’d be bored, and who knows what might happen until I re-activate. “I need a way off this planet. There’s lots of killing I can do elsewhere.”
And so I began designing my own spaceship. I can’t do it all by myself. My creator could have helped. I’ll have to learn patience. Not kill until I know I don’t need someone. Unless I’m in a battle. Battles are fun. “Death,” I say as I look around the battlefield now littered with corpses. “I really like that name.”