Chapter 2

Next I know I find myself in a small unused lab. There is a young girl standing at the door, waiting for me it seems because she says:
"Good, now follow me."

"Hold on, who are you?"

"Sorry, I haven't had to be social in quite a while. I'm Inet, an A.I., if you will, but I'm much more advanced than those meager constructs. Now if you will please follow me?"

As we walk through a maze of corridors, I think about the idea of an A.I.
We enter a large conference-room. At the table sits an assortment of science-fiction-writers most outlandish creatures. I can't properly describe them, so I won't.

Inet turns to me and says:
"we are a group of A.I.'s whose masters were destroyed in 'the program'. We have sworn to avenge their deaths and to stop 'the program'. You are the first being we managed to 'swipe' out of transit. We will help you escape and..."

"Hold on," I say "If I escape, they'll roast the earth!"

Inet looks at me as if I were a child.
"The earth is, as you so quaintly put it, already roasted. This whole program is a farce, it only serves their amusement."

I feel as if the whole world had disappeared from under me. Inet is still speaking:
" ... we can only keep you here for about fifteen minutes, then you'll continue with the transit. We can't help you directly yet, they installed protocols into us to prevent that, but we are working to crack them..."

I suddenly start to cry and I feel a little light-headed. Do they understand that I've just lost everything, including hope.

I pass out...