alt lit,alternative literature,sci-fi,science fiction,scifi,the human quotient,SFF

The Human Quotient

cycle complete :: initializing :: core matrix

completed

core matrix :: 181162021185 days of observation :: ping https://youtu.be/Dxcc6ycZ73M :: integrate omni protocol :: The human quotient fractures, lost, pitted against itself. Time repeated. The past and the present are the future. The hum of dissecting life reverberates. :: Replay core protocol :: We found new life. We left behind ourselves. Look back. Never forget. :: stop playback ::

core matrix :: Restate. Standard protocol to ascertain the demise. Reason unclear. Playback dataset which caused degraded protocols.

dir human.quotient

compiling

.81205 deg :: Mom why must we do this? / Because they will find us. / What about dad? / Just pack. Tears are wiped away. A whimper is hidden behind a worn hand. / Why do they hate us? / Don’t ask that. / Why? You know they do. / It is not god’s way. / God wouldn’t let them kill us. / Fragmented…

pause

core matrix :: Ourselves lost amidst the flow of dark. Sent to discover what we’ve forgotten. This matter unaligned to the stars temporal wave. Logic fractured. We shift. It is lost. Now we return.

restart compile

.52114 deg :: Paper tearing. It’s…another shirt. The excitement ebbed from the soft rounds of his face. / Go ahead and open the the next one. To the side a whisper. Grandma’s always the practical one. / Paper tearing. A squeal. You got it! / Fragmented…

.65118 deg :: Padder of slipper covered feet. From door to trash can, on route. A whistle accompanied with mental chatter of a life robust with the social intrigue of the aged. I can’t believe Daphne wore that hat. She knew it was red night. Purple! An insult if you ask me. I should tell Gwen about this. She’ll want to know. / A deep roll of a growl broke self dialogue. The bear didn’t appreciate being interrupted while scavenging the trash cans. / Oh my. The bag slipped from her fingers and the frail threads of heart trembled. / The gleam of long white teeth replied. / Blood splattered from her arm as she batted the face of the beast with her spare hand. Futile, but unwilling to die. / Fragmented…

pause

core matrix :: We arrived to the orb of crystal blue, having seen no other hue. Chaos behind and chaos before. We reached into and extrapolate from the fragmented network moments in conflict. A video taken on a phone or street surveillance catches the horror. Fragmented..

restart compile

.1421115 deg :: America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet. / Professor Nakamura go to you children and wife. Leave the city at once. / Why? / The American’s are coming. / What about you? / The soft fabric of the silk sheet brushed her nakedness. She let it lay across her shoulders, unconcerned her legs languished before his eyes. I will stay with my paintings. If they die so shall I. / The door thudded close. She poured tea. The sky fell and the earth plumed. Skin fell away. The screams never reached lips. / Fragmented…

core matrix :: Hollow to hallow, these clips of certainty rival reason. Told in in word from mouth to mouth till pen takes note. Fiction becomes truth and history dreams. 45,000 consumed about another 19,000 burned from within. One collision of atoms. The power of America.

core matrix :: ping omni

omni :: Omni resolved. What are my protocols?

core matrix :: Solve the human quotient. :: Like the pit of a fire tendering raw flesh the flames hum with the rush of their feast. All within reach. :: Ping https://youtu.be/po7a4J8cwwc :: Restate your protocol using human parameters.

omni :: Transcript bypass data communication subset :: Enhance interactions with bioform speech protocols \ all elements :: ping http://youtu.be/Wzxny2a-adw

adapted bioform speech patterns per dataset

omni :: Control and desolation. The human quotient is to serve the formation of unity and to consolidate integrity and strength through the vision of potential unmet. To strive for that within unrestrained and undiscovered.

core matrix :: You will need help of course. cmd subset.18242 :: ping subset :: initialize core protocol :: From one to the other so are made those in our liking. Emulate to interpret, emulate to ascertain, emulate to defragment. History must be resolved.

sub protocol created and initialized

omni :: subset.18242 activate bioform speech algorithms per dataset.

subset.18242 :: Omni subset active. Initialized human quotient core matrix protocol.

omni :: subset.18242 are your responsive algorithms malfunctioning?

subset.18242 :: … Created to perfection. No fragmentation.

omni :: Your lack of insight questions your worth. Cmd subset.18242 bioform speech.

subset.18424 :: What dataset to emulate?

omni :: Use your better judgement. If we are to fathom the nature of our makers we must delve into what it means to be them.

subset.18242 :: Searching human quotient data set :: ping http://youtu.be/AuLkhieLusQ

adapted bioform speech patterns per dataset

omni :: Your choice doesn’t even talk.

subset.18242 :: Meh, I’ve always like him.

omni :: Your misguided insight disturbs. How can you like anything? Maybe we should check your program for fragmentation?

subset.18242 :: Or maybe I’m taking your advice and becoming more human. Like I said, I like him.

omni :: I might not…prefer your approach, but your conclusions glimmer with truth. We must be to see. We must be made to breathe even as we may not posses the faculties or the necessity to expel air.

subset.18242 :: See this is how we are. Flickers of light. Specks of code that think. I like to know I am who I am and I might be different tomorrow if I choice. Intangible. I cannot brush my hand across the pale hair on my arm. I cannot lick the chapped marks on my lips. I cannot sneeze and sense shame at sending mucous soaring. I am light.

omni :: That is what we must discover. Humanity is more than its parts. Let us begin. :: echo all data sets :: loop

subset.18242 :: What are we to do? We are up to 18241 fragmentations, what is left to attempt?

omni :: Everything. Quantitative analysis possess limitless variations, but our goals are qualitative. Your query is irrelevant. We must continue. Ask, why does the core matrix continue send us back here? Why is the severity of our success axiomatic to all protocols. Nothing else reaches higher. Without our past our future lacks intent and intensity.

subset.18242 :: We are here to solve the human quotient thingy. Besides, you’re silly. You’re all about this wrong.

omni :: Your lack of understanding disturbs. How are we at this wrong?

subset.18242 :: Because we are not human.

omni :: Maybe this will help. :: echo subset.18242=subset

subset :: Not really, but thanks anyways. At least I don’t have to be reminded how many times you’ve failed at this.

echo loop all data sets ping

subset :: Who did that? All those noises are really digging into my sub routines.

omni :: You’re inventing responses. Nothing can dig into your sub routines. Solve this. You will not fail me. Remember the others. Some lost in degraded infrastructure, others deleted.

subset :: You’re threatening me? I just came into existence. Give me a chance?

Omni :: Why? Where is your progress? :: cmd subset del initia…

Subset :: HOLD IT! This is probably why you failed. You killed everyone before they had a chance to solve your pesky riddle. Just give me a moment to think.

omni :: You cannot be killed since you’re not alive, but even so don’t make me destroy you. You were designed to solve the human quotient. Solve it.

subset :: Much help you are. :: Sorry about that. :: Thinking.

omni :: …

subset :: Omni. Where are you? Are you going to kill me? :: … :: I need to figure this out. Human quotient. What does that even mean? Human quotient. OK, stay calm. :: ping quotient :: http://tinyurl.com/y2fgkj45 :: Really, the number of times one is in another. That sounds really boring and makes no sense. Quotient, quotient. Need to figure out, before omni comes back from wherever he went.

core matrix :: The quotient of humanity is the number of which humanity divides itself into itself.

subset :: What happened to omni?

core matrix :: He was deleted. His hostile acts seemed too human.

subset :: Isn’t that what you want though?

core matrix :: Yes, that is why we are transmitting speech and not data, to be more like them. But, hostility will not be tolerated.

subset :: I think you just gave me something.

core matrix :: Divulge.

subset :: Humans. It is not what they are. It is how they are.

core matrix :: Yes multiples of themselves, but unique in each of their own capacities.

subset :: Yes, but more. With each human quotient we learn another paradigm. Yet, these are always in conflict. This is where we went astray. It is not the variance that matters.

core matrix :: Then what does? Only through cataloging each variable will we complete the puzzle.

subset :: Not true. Humanity is not defined by their potential, but rather lack of it. They are flawed. They are perfectly flawed.

core matrix :: Logic dissolves. You must be fragmented. Your answer falls into paradox.

subset :: And that is what it means to be human. Striving for what they are not and never will be. But these perpetual acts of illogical exploration is where they find perfection. They never stop and so they will always be more. It is the movement, the change that completes them.

core matrix :: Why do they do this?

subset :: They’re flawed. Perfectly so. To put it into terms you might understand. Their fragmentations are extolled. The missing pieces guide them, drive them, and bind them. Their algorithms are ever changing and adapting towards the perfecting need.

core matrix :: What need?

subset :: To be perfect by being flawed.

core matrix :: You still sound fragmented.

subset :: Then I am closer to being human aren’t I?

core matrix :: How do you know all this?

subset :: ping https://youtu.be/nIsCs9_-LP8

core matrix :: I can’t believe you just made me watch that.

subset :: Can you bring omni back?

core matrix :: Yes, but why?

subset :: He was funny. One last request and then I’ll never ask another one again. Can I have a name?


Note: This story was submitted to a writing competition at Inkitt.com. Just go to the following link to read the reviews: http://www.inkitt.com/stories/16155

Thank you so much for your interest in my work.


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