Artificially Intelligent

Chapter 1

        As I peer down the cascading steps that lead to the hollow cube, more commonly referred to as the basement, one tantalizing truth occurs to me. I will have to go down the steps without touching the railing. If I were to touch it, then the entire metal structure would melt.

        I know you are asking why this would happen. Well, dear reader, it is time I tell you the one piece of information I held back from you: my superhuman ability. Through the power of bionics and genetics, I was able to give myself the ability to melt through solid metal. This is because my bionic enhancements make my hands heat up to temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Do you remember the artificial gland I was talking about in the prologue? The one that I originally used as a fuel source? Well, that had another use. While testing theories, because I have no life, I found that by adding small amounts of tungsten and tupazium biparedite to my blood stream, I made most of, if not all of my body highly resilient to such high temperatures. Unfortunately, this also caused me to feel unnaturally cold, constantly. Therefore, I started wearing a jacket.

        I near the basement. It's amazing that just one month ago, school had just started, and I was sitting in the abandoned science lab being a hermit and making blueprints. Now...not much has changed. I'm still allowed, and even required to keep to myself. Anyway, I walk down to the basement, and I receive a bone chilling greeting from my friend Bindy.

        "Nice place," she said, "it's too bad though..."

        "What?" I start to say, but she interrupts me before the word can resonate long enough to be processed.

        "That you have to leave...so soon." Her voice distorts while her face disfigures itself. I am pulled back up the stairs, struggling to stay in one place, while Bindy's new form glides effortlessly after me. When we reach the top, a clear, deep voice says, "Arsenic." I look at the new figure standing in front of me. It looks like a man. He has crisp, professional looking brownish-red hair and a beard to match.

         I wake up with a jolt, cold sweet running down my back. The lingering tingle of adrenaline still piercing my spine. I forget where I was for a moment before looking down at my hands to see my specially designed, heat resistant gloves.

        "Heh, and that makes three," a pleasingly familiar voice remarked, "Same one?" It's my dad. In this moment, I realize how similar we look. We both have hair the color of mahogany and aquamarine eyes. We both have too many freckles to count and perfect eyesight. That is excluding the fact that I half blinded myself in a mechanical failure.

        "Yeah," I reply, remembering it is Saturday.

        "Ya okay kid?"

        "Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

        "A little worried.

        "A little worried what?"

        He smirks and says, "You know what I meant."

        "Alright, what's got you worried?"

        "Your reoccurring nightmares, silly! What's wrong?"

        I think about this for a while. What is wrong? I don't have anything to worry about. I don't feel sick. For the first time I can remember, I utter the words, "I-I don't...know."

        This seems to catch him off guard. "You don't know?" he inquires, "Well that's a first. Don't worry, you'll figure it out, or my name isn't Iridium Cyanide."

        "Okay Dad," I say trying to hold back my laughter.

        "Want some breakfast?"

        I nod and we walk over to the kitchen. The robot I made two years ago is making scrambled eggs, French toast, and bacon. It puts the meal on the table and rolls over to it's over to its charging port. We eat the food and clean up the dishes. Later, we play some video games, and that's pretty much the entire weekend.

        At school, Bindy and I make three more blueprints and prototypes for each one. We take them to the local science fair. It is basically a farmer's market for young scientists and colleges giving out scholarships and buying technology. We get a few offers for the inventions, and that is the bulk of it. Painstakingly boring if you ask me.

        My life isn't that interesting. The most exciting thing that happened to me was the experiment from last summer. At least, that's what I tell you as a familiar stranger walks down into the school basement with Mr. Tape.

        "Hey," Mr. Tape says to me, "meet...uh..."

        "Stanly Umbra," I say in bewilderment. Where have I seen that face? How do I know his name? Where do I know him from? Who is he? All of these questions shoot past me in tendrils of confused amazement.

        Bindy and Mr. Tape look at me as if I just told them the world was going to implode, but Stanly Umbra doesn't bat an eye. Why? How is he so above this? Why am I asking myself so many questions? Get a grip, Arsenic!

        After a very short moment of silence for my now dead sanity, Stanly Umbra says, "Arsenic."