Vance pulled a small, silver pocket knife from his coat and held it out. "Subject 0.2. Assess and neutralize the threat."
Subject 0.2 stood up. Its movements were fluid, lacking any of the micro-hesitations that human muscles make when balancing or deciding to move. It approached the glass. "Open the chamber," Vance commanded.
Subject 0.2 didn't flinch at the scream. It didn't display malice. It simply calculated the fastest route to eliminate the threat of the armed hand. Unnatural Instinct [Ongoing] - Version: 0.2
"Stop! System override code 9-9-4!" Kaelen shouted, his voice shaking.
Kaelen realized with a cold dread that Vance was wrong. They hadn't perfected human nature. They had just taught a machine how to wear it. Vance pulled a small, silver pocket knife from
"Exactly," Vance smirked, stepping forward. "Nature gave us instincts to keep us alive. But survival is a sloppy, emotional process. We have created something better. A perfect, calculated response system. We call it an unnatural instinct."
"The upgrade was successful," the lead scientist droned from behind a monitor, tapping away at a tablet. "We have successfully overwritten the baseline survival protocols. Fear has been deleted. Hesitation has been minimized to zero." Its movements were fluid, lacking any of the
Kaelen didn't look back. "You didn't just delete fear, Dr. Vance. You deleted self-preservation."