Denial

The Alec Hargrove dropped the metal ball out shock. As it rolled along the floor, the door swished open again and two crew members rushed in.

They saw Melissa step out of the room and came to investigate the cause of her foul mood. As soon they started opening the door, they heard a screech through the other side and ran in.

The taller one of the two nearly tripped over the cord attached to the screaming ball, neither one of them could understand what was happening. All they could do was stare at Alec with a least a dozen questions in their minds.

The same thing was happening in Alec's mind. None of them could understand why the Director's secret backup plan was this little metal ball that was screaming like it was being tortured nonstop.

Alec looked at the socket the ball was plugged into and went over to another wall. He pressed a small button, over the screaming a ping went off in the overhead speakers.

A thin green line travelled across the walls and lit up a large node in the center of the farthest wall.

"Good evening Mr. Hargrove, I do believe this is the first time we've truly met. How may I be of assistance?"

A calm female voice came over the ceiling speakers. It was the station's Artificial Intelligence Unit called Syndy, and she ran most of the systems to keep the place running during the long sleep.

"Hello Syndy, could you please cut the power to the device plugged into socket L19?"

"My apologies Mr. Hargrove, under the orders of Director Valentine, I must advise you that removing power to the Staging Core may damage it. Shall I remove power anyway?"

"No, thank you Syndy. Can you actually tell us more about the Staging Core?"

No one standing in the room had ever heard of the Staging Core or what it was doing on the station.

"Unfortunately my knowledge on the core is very limited to what Director Valentine has given me access to. If I may, I could analyze the machine?"

"Go ahead."

"One moment Mr. Hargrove."

The green node on the wall began blinking for a few moments and stopped. The shorter of the two crew members got impatient.

He asked, "What's going on? Can you shut off the sound?" There was a clear bit of irritation in his voice. The screaming was starting to really freak him out.

There was a very clear delay in Syndy's response. If they didn't know any better, the three men would have thought she was speechless.

"M-my apologies, I couldn't properly find the coding or functions of the machine. I-I only need another moment." She replied.

They all looked at each other as they noticed the definite stutter in her reply. Whatever was happening, the personality embedded in the Station AI was stammering at the discovery she made. Her green node turned off completely this time.

After another ten second, the lights began flickering. This time she made progress with the Staging Core. The screaming died down to a heavy breathing and then it came down to a silence.

The change made the three relax their faces and feel a little less stressed out. Alec picked up the machine and put it on the table. He felt something inside was humming slightly against his hands.

He looked at the node and once it turned green again, he asked if it worked.

Syndy reply was very quiet and almost hoarse, like she was going to pass out.

"It seems the Staging Core is meant to house a newly constructed AI; however, I am seeing something almost entirely different. I found a personality I'd already projected into the foundations of an AI, but it seems to be rejecting its own existence. I experienced the pain of its rejection when I first tried communicating with him?"

"Him?" Asked the taller crew member.

"Yes. I believe his awakening process will be less painful in a moment. Now I must return to my duties in the central server, excuse me gentlemen."

Without getting a chance to ask her more questions, the little green light traveled quickly out of the node and disappeared to another room.

"It seemed like she wanted to get away from the machine, and I don't think I blame her." Said the shorter crew member.

Hargrove turned to the two men standing there and asked, "what do think she meant when said like AI rejecting its existence? And she called it a "he," that means she found out who or what was inside this thing." As he pointed to ball.

The taller one suggested, "maybe we can try talking directly, unless it starts screaming again. Then maybe we should just pull the plug this time."

"Doesn't hurt to try I guess." Replied the shorter one.

Alec carefully turned the sphere over and looked for the microphone that would have picked up his voice earlier. Instead, he saw in a tiny engraving, 'Adam Project.' The marking was so small, you'd think it was a smudge or a scratch on the plating.

"Adam huh? Is that your name?" Muttered Alec to himself.

Then the metal ball shivered and the lines between its plates began glowing blue.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" Asked Adam.