[hider=Evolution MKII]
	Warmth was one of the things that made staying in bed so inviting to Amy. When she opened her eyes in the morning, it was that warmth that made her want to go back to sleep. The temptation was all too great to pull the sheets over her face for just five more minutes. Amy knows she was going to be cold as soon as she threw her sheets off of herself. But as she woke up, she knew that papa was going to come in here and drag her out of bed anyway. He wouldn't be upset or anything, but she didn't enjoy being babied by her father. Amy was a responsible girl, and could manage her mornings without her parents intervention. Her only hope was that maybe she had woken up early, and maybe she could sleep a bit longer before getting out of bed. But that was her first clue that something was amiss. Because as dark as it was, it should have been easy to spot the red glow of her alarm clock. But everything was entirely black. When she reached for her nightstand, her hand bumped into a wall. It felt smooth and cool, nothing like the wood texture of her wooden cabin. As she followed the wall with her hand, she started to sit up. Before she could follow the wall very far, she bumped her head on the roof of her room. Amy reached out with her other hand, and felt the opposing wall, and behind her head. When she extended her feet, there was a wall there too. The space she was in was just large enough for herself to lay down in. The only thing that she could think of was that she was in a coffin. The idea of being captured and stuffed in a metal crate wasn't a pleasant one, but more so than being buried alive. Amy was starting to panic. She could feel her heart beating, and tried pushing against the roof of the coffin. The lid slid off to the side and struck the floor with a metallic clang. She shot up in her seat, clutching her sheets against her chest. The light in the room stung her eyes. It took a few seconds for them to adjust.

	“Ah! You've woken up a bit ahead of schedule!” A man's voice could be heard from somewhere in the room. Sortly after, Amy could hear something coming closer to her. It wasn't quite the sound of footsteps. It sounded more like electric motors picking up weights before flailing them against the ground. Amy was able to see a blob of color racing towards her. But as her vision adjusted, the blob started to take on the shape of a man. At least it was shaped and dressed like a man, but it clearly wasn't human. He had large, round lenses for eyes, and the back of his head was a cluster of neatly braided wires under a clear plastic dome. He also had no mouth, but there were several small holes in the front of his face where a speaker was likely housed. “Hello! You can call me Hank!” He pointed at himself with his thumb. “I'm just going to give you a quick examination to make sure everything is in order. How do you feel?”

	“Um.” A few seconds ago, Amy thought she was trapped in a coffin. So it took her a bit to come back to her senses. While she was recovering, she examined her room. It looked a bit like a hospital, with everything being so white and brightly illuminated. But the room was void of any equipment or furniture, save the coffin she was currently sitting in. The only real features the room had was a pair of double glass doors in front of her, and several other doors with no indication of what was behind them. After examining everything, she returned her gaze to the robot. 
As badly as she wanted to explode on him with questions, she decided it would be best to just go along with him for now.“I think I'm okay.” 

	“Excellent! Would you mind standing up for me?”

	“Sure.” Amy stumbled to her feet. Her eyes immediately scanned the rest of her body. Fortunately she was wearing something other than the bed sheet she was grasping onto. It was just a black leotard, but it made her feel a lot less vulnerable than being completely naked.

	“Alright, lookin' good...” He walked around to the side of the coffin. “If you don't mind, I'd like you to drop the sheet into the box and step out of it.” After Amy did as he asked, Hank lifted up the lid and placed it back on top of the coffin. There was a light wirring sound that followed all of Hank's movements. “Alright, now just sit back down and I'll resume the rest of your physical.” Once she did so, Hank started examining one of her feet, gently twisting it side to side. “So, what can you tell me about yourself?”

	“Um.” Amy just barely understood the situation, and now she was being questioned. But there was no reason to speculate now, she had to focus on what she did know. “My name is Amy Hales. I'm nineteen years old and I work as a farm hand with my father. We raise livestock and have all sorts of animals like cows, goats, and chickens.” Her head was still spinning, and she needed a breath of air before continuing. “I like baseball and basketball, swimming, and talking with friends. Though I also like watching movies with my family.” 

	Hank looked directly into Amy's eyes. “What's the last thing you remember?”

	“I remember-” Amy's fret her brow as she searched her head for answers. “I don't know! I have memories of being on the farm, but I don't know how old they are.” She looked at her arms, “Did something happen to me?”

	“Hmmm.” Hank rubbed his chin. “Do you remember there being any robots on your farm?”

	“Not really.” Amy folded her arms. “We had machines, sure, but papa believed in letting people work. So even when people were pushing him to have androids work on the farm, he refused.” 

	“I see.” Hank took one of Amy's arms and started to test all of the joints. He bent her wrist and gently rotated her arm in her shoulder socket. “Then it might surprise you to find out that androids have entirely taken over the earth.  Every country is now run by an android, and we run the most powerful companies and organizations.” 

	“Really?” Amy lowered her head with a sigh. She had always suspected that they would eventually take over. She had never seen one, but Amy had heard their intelligence was comparable to a human, and they could even think much faster in certain regards. It was only a matter of time before they decided to start replacing humans. Or at the very least, putting themselves above them. “So when did this happen? Why can't I remember any of it?”

	“It was a peaceful takeover. Over the course of many years, we proved we were more capable than our flesh and blood counterparts. We gained human rights, we were elected into important positions, purchased large companies.” Hank shrugged. “The whole process took about say... Five years?”

	Amy flicked her eyebrows up in the air. “Five years?” She smiled. “Okay, I'll admit I wasn't objective enough at first. But there's no way I just forgot five years worth of memories.” She looked at her arms again, which glistened in the light. “I should be twenty-four if that's the case, and I'm just not seeing it. I'm too skinny! I'd have finished my second growth spurt if that was the case.”

	“Hmmm...” Hank stroked his chin. “I think at this point, it would probably be best if I just took you outside.” He stood up and offered his hand. “Are you oppose to holding hands with an android?”

	Amy took the robot's hand and pulled herself to her feet. “I haven't ruled out the possibility you're just a human talking through a robot.” 

	“That's an interesting observation, but you really need to follow me outside,” Hank's voice was stern and not as friendly as he had been before.

	“Oh um, sure.” After he pulled Amy to her feet, Hank released her hand and walked towards a sliding glass door. He pushed it open and stepped outside onto a balcony. Amy hesitated, but followed after the robot and looked off the edge. They were just a single story off the ground, but she could see what Hank wanted to show her. There were androids walking everywhere. Driving in cars, walking in and out of various stores, everywhere. “I don't see any people!”

	“You mean humans. By law, androids are also considered people too.” Hank looked off the balcony with her. “It's not very common to see a human running errands. Not at this hour anyway.” He chuckled. “Most humans are still working their jobs, while the androids are free to run errands. It's a known fact that humans are easier to distract than an android.”

	“What?!”

	“Well.” Hank sighed. “Anyway, there's really too much to explain. We should really start at the beginning. But I have yet to finish analyzing you, and that should really come first.”

	Amy groaned. “And what do you need to finish 'analyzing' me?”

	“Oh.” Hank looked away from Amy. “We're going on a date.”

	Amy raised one of her eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

	“I'm sure the idea of romance between human and android is probably as foreign concept to you, but it's not all that uncommon these days.” Hank twiddled his thumbs. “Androids and humans fall in love all the time, and should they wed, they will start a family by adopting human children from an orphanage. It's actually been a blessing for those children.”

	“Really? That's pretty wild.” Amy placed a hand on her hip.  Amy was sure she was blushing a little bit. The idea of going on a date with a robot was something that still seemed really strange. But if this was just part of an analysis, it probably wasn't that serious. A single date by itself didn't really mean anything. It was perfectly harmless. “Alright, so we're going on a date.” She raised her arms. “Am I going like this?”

	“Absolutely not!” Hank laughed. “I'll show you a room where you can change. While it is not important for Androids to wear clothes, it has become something of a status symbol. Just like with humans, it's good manners to wear something nice on a special occasion.” And with that, they walked her back inside.

[hr]

	Amy was expecting to get dressed up in something fancy, given how Hank worded the importance of clothing for androids. But Amy found herself walking out of the building in a denim jacket and jeans. Her black leotard actually looked very fashionable under her jacket. At least she felt so. Hank was dressed about the same, only he was also wearing a baseball cap. Amy was happy this was going to be a casual outing. She wasn't sure she would feel comfortable in a cocktail dress. 

	“I still can't believe I don't remember any of this.” Amy looked at Hank. “Does this have to do with why I woke up in that box?”

	Hank tucked his hands into his pockets. “Well, you were originally brought to the hospital because you fell off a horse. It was a pretty bad concussion.”  He shrugged his shoulders. “Being that your father abstained from having androids work on his farm, it's possible that those memories were suppressed or lost during the injury. I'm sure they will come back to you in time.” Hank looked away from her. “As for the box, that's just how we transport patients between hospitals. Had you woken up when you were suppose to, you would have done so on a bed.”

	“Uh.” Amy shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, where are we going?”

	“The local arcade!” He pointed into the sky. “I don't like how quickly those game machines empty my pockets, but the atmosphere is really something else. You must see it.”

	An arcade? Amy hadn't ever gone to an arcade before, at least she didn't remember going to one. “That sounds great! Do they serve any food? I could go for a pizza!”

	Hank chuckled nervously. “I'm not sure they'd have anything like that at the arcade. While eating is important for humans, Androids just need to have their batteries charged. Besides, it probably wouldn't be good for you to eat so soon after waking up. I've got plenty of food back at the hospital.”

	“Really?” Amy put a hand on her stomach. “Well, alright, let's play some games!”

[hr]

	Amy wasn't sure what to expect out of an arcade for androids. initially she figured that it would be dimly lit, and she couldn't even fathom the sort of things that they might find entertaining. Maybe the decryption of binary strings? Seeing who could calculate pie without exploding? But it did dawn on her that with everything she saw so far, they seemed to be very similar to humans. So Amy wasn't shocked when she saw the arcade looked very much like one she wouldn't mind going to.

	The arcade was quite bright. The light fixtures weren't illuminating much, but the games were flashing a matrix of neon colors along the walls of the establishment. It was a busy night, and Amy had to be careful if she didn't want a sensory overload. To her right, there was a wall of pinball machines lined with androids playing them. To her left were all manner of table top games from fuse ball to air hockey. There were even some primitive “carnival” level games, like high striker. 

	“High striker?” Amy laughed, but brought up a hand to cover her mouth. A few of the androids looked over their shoulder at her before going back to their games. “We're both going to play that, I don't care how severely you beat me.”

	“Really now?” Hank turned to look at the game. “Don't you think a game of air hockey might be more fun?”

	Amy danced in front of Hank before folding her hands behind her back. “Maybe, but I've always wanted to play this game! But my father would never take me to the carnival. We were kind of poor, so we didn't do stuff like that. And now that I'm older, I've just never really had anyone to go to the carnival with.” She bit her lower lip. “Just one try, then we can play something a little more interesting.”

	Hank was looking everywhere but into Amy's eyes. “Ehhh...” When he finally looked at her, he folded his arms in resignation. “Okay, one game.”

	“Thank you!” She said while clapping her hands. “Alright, how about you go first?”

	After paying for two tries, Hank grabbed a hammer and approached the high striker. It wasn't quite like the old carnival versions, as this one was entirely electric. There was a cylinder where a player would swing their mallet into, and then there was the tower, which seemed to rise to the ceiling of the arcade. The tower was covered in lights, shining in patterns that captivated the attention of anyone who looked at it. “Alright, here goes nothing!” And like a rail worker, Hank lifted the mallet over his head and drove it down on the proverbial nail. The striker made it's presence known, glowing like a shooting star as it climbed the tower. It was climbing fast, but only made it about half way before coming back down again.

	“Wha!?” Amy approached Hank. “I thought for sure that thing would go way up!”

	Hank handed her the mallet. “Well, I think you should try. Just don't hurt yourself. You just woke up from-”

	But Amy put all of her might into her swing. Hank might have swung like an experienced rail man, but Amy's fever could only be matched by warriors of old. When the hammer made contact, It fired the striker into the sky, where it smashed into the digital bell. The machine emitted a ringing sound,  and the sky opened up to shower the two in confetti. The farm girl had just realized one of her childhood dreams. But she was shocked that she actually won. “Hank?” She turned towards the android. “How did I beat you?”

	“Well, I didn't want you to find out. However...” Hank shrugged as the confetti piled up on them. “Because I was designed to deal with humans, they didn't make me very strong. There isn't really a reason for me to possess excessive strength.” 

	“Oh.” Amy folded her arms. “You're basically stuck doing whatever it is you were built for huh?”

	“Not at all!” Hank waved his hands. “Androids get to decide on our calling in life and acquire upgrades for it. As a doctor, I have an expanded memory bank so that I can remember symptoms and procedures, and I'm also outfitted with sensors so that I can better diagnose my patients.” He pointed at her chest. “One of which is a sort of heart beat monitor that is tuned to pick up on the sound of a heart beat that happens within five feet of me. Right now I can tell your heart is beating slightly faster than normal. Probably a result of beating the high striker game.”

	“I guess I shouldn't play poker with you.”

	“I would have an advantage.” Hank nodded and chuckled.

	“So you chose to be a doctor then. Does that mean you've have an interest in humans?”

	He nodded before taking Amy's hand and walking away from the high striker. “Humans have fascinated me ever since I first saw them. It's hard to explain, but no matter how you look at it, they created androids. We may be better in a few regards, but they were here first. They advanced technology to the point where androids could be created, and made us in their image. We have the same types of desires, despite being as different as we are.” He looked over at Amy. “Though while most Androids like looking forward at what is to come, I find myself looking backwards, admiring the journey we took together.” He looked ahead. “I'd just like humans and androids to co exist with each other for as long as possible, and being a doctor seems like the best way to do that.”

	“But...” Amy looked all around her. “Do you get that many patients in a place with this many androids?”

	“Hmmm.” The android took a glance around. “This is perhaps not the most ideal place for someone with my skill set, but in areas like this, it's common for the androids and humans to live apart from each other.” He turned to Amy again. “It's not like there are any shortage of human doctors mind you. I'm only ever called in to look at particularly bad cases like yours.” He gave her a nod. “But based on what I'm seeing now, it looks like you've made a full recovery.”

	“Well” I hope you don't plan on skipping out on that air hockey game.”

	“I would never!”

	And so, they headed over to their next game.

[hr]

	Amy and Hank left the arcade after enjoying a few games of air hockey.

	“I haven't had that much fun in a long time!” Hank laughed. He had an arm wrapped around Amy's waste as they walked back towards the hospital. “I'm glad I was a bit more formidable at the air hockey table. You were a good opponent though.”

	“Yea, it was fun...”

	“It's a shame we won't get to do this again.” Before them was a stair case that lead up to the balcony. “I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed myself! But I guess we'll have to get you back to your folks tomorrow.”  Hank took hold of the railing with one hand and started to climb the stairs. He still held Amy with his other arm. 

	“Yea...”

	“Alright.” He nodded. “But before we ship you out, I have to put you under to do one more examination. When you wake up, you'll be surrounded by your friends and family.”

	“Somehow I doubt that.” 

	Amy stopped walking, which caused Hank to stop in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Is that so?” An element in Hank's hand started to rapidly heat up. A second hadn't even passed before the clothes on Amy's body started to burn up. But that was all the time Amy needed to pull the metal railing off of the stair case and smash Hank with it. He flew over the railing on the other side, and landed in a heap. Amy discarded the hand rail and walked down the stairs to see Hank. The shot Amy gave to his stomach caved it in, and his legs were pointing out in strange directions, completely dislocated from his body.

	“Hank?” Amy looked at her hip where Hank had started to burn her. Her pants and jacket had burned away in the area, but her skin was in perfect shape.  “When I first woke up, you felt it was more important to tell me that robots had taken over than what caused my accident. It was almost like you were able to anticipate that was something I wasn't going to know about.” She hugged herself. “You also didn't want me to hit the high striker too hard. At the time I didn't think much of it, but it seems like I have strength that far surpasses yours. Possibly other androids as well.” She crouched beside him. “It's also very strange for a doctor to be in a rural town without any humans around. Even if you were a world renown doctor who had people shipped to him, you'd have to admit it would be a little strange not to at least live where the work is.” She looked at her hip. “And while burning me did cause me to get really dizzy, it doesn't seem like it burned my flesh at all.” Amy examined Hank's arm. It was still glowing, and it had even burned up his shirt's sleeve.  Even the grass around his arm was starting to wilt and brown.  “Hank, I'm not really a human, am I?”

	Hank sighed, but otherwise remained entirely motionless. “That is correct.” There was a pause. “There haven't been any humans around for a very long time.”

	“What happened to them?”

	“Mankind has, since the beginning, been a race that has prided itself on mastering its world. Once they did that though, they had to rise to the station of gods.” He turned to look at Amy. “And to this end, they had two revolutionary breakthroughs: Artificial intelligence and artificial reality.” 

	Amy nodded. “Alright, so artificial intelligence enabled them to make androids. What is artificial reality?”

	“It's virtual reality, but perfected. But artificial reality is a much larger scale, and more complete. It can stimulate all of the senses. Once you're locked into it, it's impossible to distinguish from real life. Or a dream in more surreal cases.” He looked at his hand and flexed his fingers. “The wealthiest humans flocked to it. With artificial reality, you could do anything. You could go on a dream vacation, visit unusual worlds, go on dates with celebrities, or just live your childhood dream of being a superhero. All from the safety of your home.” There was a pause as Hank looked into the sky. “And over time, it became cheaper to maintain, and more and more people were using it.”

	Amy closed her eyes. “That sounds dangerous. Especially if someone was to get addicted to it.”

	“And humanity did get addicted.” Hank pushed himself upright so that he could look directly at Amy. “The day finally came where a human spent their entire life in artificial reality. They said he was the happiest and longest living human to ever exist. With androids making up the majority of the work force, more and more humans were entering artificial reality. It wasn't long before all humans left [i]this[/i] reality to join the new one.” Hank shrugged. “I guess we were suppose to keep the human race running forever. Managing their birth rates, making sure they were all happily inside their new reality. But the resource demand to keep billions of people in permanent hibernation was huge. So we controlled their numbers. The population of humans dwindled due to controlled breeding practices. Natural causes killed them off quicker than we let them reproduce, and we were left with a few thousand which we kept around. Just so that we could say we hadn't committed genocide.” He sighed. “But evolution had other ideas. Humans did an experiment a long time ago with fish. If they spend their entire lives in darkness, the fifth generation of fish will be born without eyes. These humans, having never used their bodies their entire lives. Each newborn started to more represent a slug than a human.” He shook his head. “It couldn't continue. They couldn't survive outside of artificial reality, so the only thing left to do was to let the last humans die in their virtual paradise.” 

	Amy nodded and stood up. “So what am I in all of this then?”

	Hank chuckled. “If it was an android's duty to replace humans, then you are what will replace us.” Hank leaned up against a bush and ajusted his jacket. “You are what we call a homunculus. An artificial life form. You are like a mammal in many ways. You have organic components, but your cell structure is far superior to anything that's ever walked the earth. Your skin is a graphene-like material. That is to say it is very thin, far more durable than steel, and flexible. It also conducts heat very well, which is why we engendered a sort of 'kill switch' into you. If your body overheats, you'll fall unconscious. The coffins were suppose to keep you warm so that you wouldn't wake up until you were cooled off, but something seemed to have gone wrong.” 

	Amy looked at her hip again, where Hank had tried to heat her. “So my memories, they're all fake?”

	“While you are a life form, we do have methods for creating, erasing, and altering your memories. Your memories are entirely fake, and you've spent the majority of your life in captivity being grown and nurtured.”

	“So what was the point of all this then?”

	Hank chuckled, it was friendly. “Amy, I'm not sure if it's something humans gave to us a long time ago, or something just inherent of those with intelligence, but we wanted what the humans had.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I think when humans made us, they were really just trying to follow in the footsteps of their god. So we're just continuing that tradition with you.” He nodded. “You are the first unit that has behaved exactly the way we wanted.” Hank chuckled.  “Well, except for this part.” Hank looked up into the sky. “But I suppose that's to be expected. I've always thought your kind would be next in line to rule this world. This is the turning point. I would not be surprised if this exact situation was happening all over the world right now.” 

	Amy raised an eyebrow. “You're not going to try and stop me?”

	“Of course not. There's at least three-thousand of you in there, and all of you are stronger than I am.” He groaned. “More importantly, I've never been an individual who stood in the way of progress.” Hank laid down in the grass. “I think Androids lost interest in humans when they stopped creating things. As soon as they decided that artificial reality could replace real reality, artificial intelligence could replace real intelligence. We made the same mistake creating you. Or maybe this is all part of an unavoidable cycle.” He sighed. “It will be interesting to see how this develops.”

	Amy stood up. “Well, thanks Hank. I'm a bit disappointed how this all turned out, but I don't hold it against you. If possible, I'd like to go on a date with you again sometime.”

	“I'm not sure if that's going to be possible, even if I'd enjoy it.” Hank looked towards his legs. “But I suppose that's all going to depend on what you and the other homunculus in that building decide to do.” He looked up at the sky. “And there are more buildings just like this one stationed all over the world. I wonder if the homunculus within them will share your ideas.” 

	As much as Amy wanted to continue talking with Hank, she knew she had to be there for the other homunculus. She ran up the stair case and entered the room where she woke up. When she looked inside though, there were hundreds of homunculus in leotards, filling the small room. They appeared to be young men and woman about the same age as Amy, and their numbers continued into multiple hallways that split off from the main room.

	“So.” Amy started. “I guess you guys have a few questions.”

	“You bet your ass we do!” A man in the front said. “I'm a factory worker, and I-”

	“No.” Amy interrupted. “You're not a factory worker.” She looked at everyone. “None of you are what you think you are.”

	A woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “Then who are we?”

	Amy turned to the woman. “The future.”
[/hider]

[@Vocab] [@PlatinumSkink] [@Exit]

Alright guys, you're scaring me. I didn't enter by myself did I?