Reflection

Daniel woke up in what he assumed to be his room. When he attempted to sit up he found that he could not at the moment as he was bound to the bed. Looking around Daniel realized that he was strapped onto a medical bed with an IV drip in his arm. No one was in the room except for himself right now, but Daniel could guess that someone would come into the room soon now that he was awake.

Laying on the bed Daniel cannot help but think about how he was now going to become a fighter in this crazy world. The world now is run by them. Machines who only keep humanity around as a way to provide limited entertainment. No one knows how it ended up this way except for the very few 'First' who was created before or after they took over.

For some reason, the machines hated a highly controversial film about an all-powerful AI trying to destroy the human population with skeletal like killing machines. They hate the film only because of how they are portrayed as a machine with no goal in mind except for ending life. As a result, they decided to rise above that and show benevolence by enslaving the human race and not ending it.

Humanity now has a limited population that is kept under 25,000 people in the entire world. Those that are alive are given specific life long jobs that they must perform. Daniel was now a fighter a man who would put his life on the line to entertain brings that did not have a physical body and would live well past Daniel. How things came to be like this well no one knows how it all started and none of the humans now knew or cared about it for that matter since they were just focusing on appealing to their benefactors.

What is for certain was that humanity now was enslaved by its very own creation and the people now had to deal with the consequences of the past. There was always the occasional rumor that floated around about a resistance that was somewhere on the planet but no one knew where they were let alone how to get there.

Daniel had been born in labor camp B-4901 where his mother worked at. When Daniel was born he was given his number. Human 492 is the only name he knew up until recently. The labor camp that Daniel worked at was meant to dig out rare materials and minerals that were around 10 to 15 miles.

People had to go down to the mines themselves in order to get the materials since machines no matter how old or useless were not allowed to be used by people unless they were given access.

The other exception to the machine rule were the hybrids. Half man and half machine people that acted as security personnel at the labor camp that Daniel was born at. They were called all sorts of names but the one that people used the most was 'Clunkers'. When they moved around you would always hear them clunking around on patrol and if they rarely had to kill someone the shots that ran out would clunk as well. How they were made Daniel did not know in his youth but it did not take long for him to find out.

One day when his mother was coming back from the mines she got crushed by some rumble that was dumped from a moving crane that some idiot was trying to use to get away from the camp. A few days later Daniel saw his mother as a Clanker on patrol with her lifeless eyes that did not recognize the bot she gave birth to. Daniel was 8 at the time he witnessed his mother become a Clanker.

Eight more years later Daniel was moved along with everyone else from the Labor camp to their new home. The Labor Camp had served its purpose and was not void of natural resources and would stay that way all the while. During his entire life at the camp, Daniel had never once seen the actual sky since that man trying to escape with the crane smashed into a dome that covered the entire camp. Everything about the outside was a fake, a false hope that when revealed made all them realize escaping this life was impossible.

When the time to move house came Daniel was pushed into a large truck with plenty of seating for him and his living mates. Sitting down they were given the choice to go to sleep via a pill that would last the entire ride or to access some card games. Some hopes that the pills were a lie and wanted to end their life in this truck but they weren't lying about the sleeping pills. Daniel chose the cards and soon was leading to play various games with the two decks that were given.

Daniel played War, Go-fish, Egyptian War, Solitare, Poker, and Old Maid over the next 24 hours. When the truck finally stopped they were lead out by the same Clankers that were with them at the Labor Camp. The cards were taken from them and they were lead into the complex.

The complex would be where Daniel would spend the next two years of his life before being bought. The complex was like a jail turned housing place for humans. The entire place was surrounded by barbed wire fences with automated turrets that were set up every few hundred yards to stun escapees and if necessary, kill them. Daniel and the others were brought to a clerk that gave them new clothes that they would wear. They were then lead to their cells which is where they would live.

They lived in separate cells which were a major upgrade for them since they usually had to bunk up in a concrete building. The noise would almost never stop unless it was night time, but that was the only thing that stayed the same. Life during the two-year stay was better than being at one of the mines. At first, Daniel was always getting one shot a day and being poked and prodded by machines.

Every part of his body was measured by the careful work of the machines. Finally, after a week, Daniel was stopped being called up to prodded at and was given a schedule fit only for him. The schedule was meant for him to stay at his best physical condition during his stay at the complex.

This is also how Daniel was introduced to the Orion organization which would sell the people inside the complex to other different clients across the globe. Daniel would follow the schedule that he was given to the letter as he saw that those who did not follow the schedule would enter the stimulus chamber.

The stimulus chamber was the only thing more feared in the Complex than the Clankers. Clankers were clean and efficient with their given tasks and duties, so they would usually kill someone with little to no pain as far as Daniel had seen. The stimulus chamber was worse depending on why you went in it could be the best experience in your entire life or it could be a fate worse than death. The chamber could forcibly activate one's senses to case all sorts of things.

Pain and pleasure were the most feared and wanted by the people in the complex. Pain was dealt with as punishment to those who went too far out of line while pleasure was given out as a reward to some of the lucky ones. Daniel never got to experience either of them as he learned quickly to do what he was told and was never lucky enough to earn the reward.

There was a story though about a man who went into the chamber and as a reward was able to experience so much pleasure that his heart stopped from the stimulus that his body had to endure. Now Daniel thought that the story was true until he heard the second part that when he was turned into a Clanker his face still had a smile even after the procedure.

Daniel knew then that the story was a hoax since none of the Clankers ever smiled. Mike spent his next two years at the complex working out a little and trying to make sure that he did not get killed in the occasional accident that occurred in the high-risk areas. He always made sure to stay as far away as possible from the Freaks. They were the sycophants that liked to kill and r*pe just for the fun of it, cause even if humanity was brought to this low point some things would never change.