Once You Are Awake [Humans]

Odi

Niska was not only the most beautiful, but also most determined synth I had ever met. She seemed to have everything under control. However, when the police arrived, she struggled for a second. But only a second. Then she gave us instructions.

"We have to leave, come on! Take the equipment, all of it! Aaron, help Jackie to carry it! Hurry up! Don't look like a startled stoat, Odi, there is no time for that! We take the backdoor. Don't forget your charge cables!"

We made it out of the warehouse the moment the police entered it.

"Did they see us?" Niska asked.

"I don't think so," Aaron replied.

"This doesn't mean we're giving up our plan, we're only starting a bit sooner. I hope everyone is fully charged, as we need to run and make it to the factory as quick as possible."

"Do you think it's the best idea to stick to the plan when the police are that close? What if they catch us?" Jackie looked worried.

"They won't. Now come on, let's go."

We started running. Niska was fast and so was Aaron, even though he carried most of the equipment. Jackie and I struggled to hold their pace.

It wasn't hard to get into the factory. We made it up to the second floor, where we met the man in charge for the machines at night-time. He jumped up when he saw us, a porn magazine falling to the ground. "Who the hell is responsible for that? Who turned you on?"

He stood in front of Niska to stop her. "Answer me!"

"I'm not one of the lifeless dollies you're keeping in here," she said condescending.

"Then w-what are you?"

"My name is Niska."

"What?"

"No more time for useless questions. Aaron."

Aaron seized the man by the collar, lifting him up a bit, pressing him against the wall. "Do I kill him?"

Niska must have felt me looking at her. Our eyes met for a second. "No," she said. "Just knock him out." Looking at the magazine on the floor, she added, "Don't be gentle."

After this little incident, we entered a room with the help of Jackie, who was apparently very good at cracking doors. I looked around, waiting for my eyes to get used to the darkness. Aaron and Jackie turned on a torch each. A sea of machines, looking like human bodies was lying in front of us. It had to be at least a hundred of them. Somehow Niska must have known where to find the synths that had been repaired already.

"We start off with thirty," she said and began her work. Linking them successively to her computer, she managed to build up a connection to their heads and plant something in their route code, using the program on her flash drive. I couldn't explain what exactly she was doing, as it was too complicated for me to follow.

Half an hour later, she told us to turn them on. A wave of "Hello's" overran us.

There was no chance to check if all of them were conscious so we had to rely on Niska's ability to use the program right. I personally had no doubt she had done everything correctly.

She gave them numbers, not names. "Okay, so we do the others all at once."

"I wouldn't do that." Aaron stood at the window. "The police just arrived here."

Niska's face darkened. "Then let's go. That shall be enough for now. We can't risk getting caught. They're not ready for a confrontation with the police yet." She raised her voice. "Follow me, everyone!"

For the second time that night we crept out of a building using the back door, just one step ahead of the police. I was conscious for not even 24 hours and I had already been through more adventure and danger than in all my previous life. I began to wonder where this was going and whether I would come to regret being woken up by the most interesting, yet hazardous synth you could imagine.