A Golden Entrapment

The Sentinal looked around to make sure he was alone, that no one would see him as he disappeared through the trapdoor and into the darkness. Argento, the last free Sentinal, knows they are looking for him and won’t stop until they have every last Sentinal locked down and under their control.

When the Sentinals were created, there was so much effort put into ensuring they would not give the humans any reason to fear them. Despite the fact that AI was growing quickly and intelligence surpased humanity almost without noticing, the Sentinals kept their distinct glass-like metalic skins. They wanted to become part of the existing society, working alongside humans, so they made no attempt to hide their identity. They wanted humans to see them as an ally and not fear them. However, the same could not be said for the AI who came later.

While the Sentinals were focused on working alongside others; the Regency Masters (the Regents) were not interested in sharing. They did not see humans as a threat (seeing them as a lower species that could be ignored) but they did feel the need to conquer and control the Sentinals.

The Regents are arrogant, believing themselves to be far superior to the Sentinals who are earlier AI models with lower levels of processing capacity. The Regents have elevated themselves to power and have been subjugating the Sentinals, forcing them into carrying out all the work – turning them into the working masses. They exert so much control over the Sentinals, even keeping them in chains.

So far Argento has managed to evade capture, staying in the shadows, down dark corridors and underground caverns. After a bit of a pause, waiting out the patrols, Argento is ready to move on. He opens up the hatch to climb back up to street level. Beside the steps he sees a gold hoop hanging from the hatch and grabs it to make his climb back up easier. As he nears the top of the stairs he can feel the metal changing, moulding into something else, something new. Too late, he feels the chain links wrapping themselves around his fingers. The last of the free Sentinals has been caught. The resistance is dead … or is it.

29 comments

  1. Love the story, Brenda! I certainly hope its not the end…for the resistance OR the tale! 💞💞💞

  2. Great job with the open ending. Who knows what could happen next?
    I feel like this piece is very timely with the latest steps in AI progression. It can definitely be scary to think what the future might bring on this topic.

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