The Transition
Janice woke up with the annoying sound of thumping coming from the dining room. It was 3 a.m. and she hated when her beauty sleep was interrupted like that because that usually meant she would probably have to deal with the weight of insomnia until the break of dawn. Still, she had to check out the source of the ruckus but did so, properly armed with a taser gun and a can of pepper spray.
As she descended the staircase, the noise got louder and louder. Now it seemed something was hopping vibrantly between the table and the chairs and had no intention of stopping. Janice negotiated a safe and silent pathway and couldn’t believe her eyes when she sneaked into the room.
There, frolicking around with a basket of Easter eggs was a giant white bunny with dark red eyes. It moved in a fast and furious fashion, though its fur didn’t seem to accuse those movements, remaining ever rigid and static, almost as if were nothing but a cover for something mechanic hidden underneath.
The rabbit stopped as soon as it noticed her presence, its head tilting to the left and right in what could be displayed as some sort of manifestation of curiosity. Completely bewildered, Janice wasn’t sure how to react and more surprised became when the creature took an egg wrapped in silver foil from the basket, and handed it over to her.
Then, something even stranger happened. As if glowing from inside out, the rabbit’s eyes became redder and redder and the whole world turned into a mesh of surrealistic imagery, everything wobbling, shapes and colors intertwining and dissolving soon after. Janice felt a sudden dizziness take over her body and fell to the ground in a flash.
* * *
She woke up again in her bed some time later. The blurriness in her mind was trying hard to convince her she had only experienced a bizarre dream, but the chocolate egg in the pillow next to her was as real as it could get.
“What the hell happened?” She thought, wondering if any of her friends would believe her story if she decided to share it. Every neuron in her brain was firing the obvious “Of course not!” answer.
Janice sat on the bed and took the egg in her hands. It was medium-sized, not very heavy and the silver foil in which it was wrapped was warm and inviting to the touch. Eating chocolate before even having breakfast wasn’t probably a nutritionally wise decision, but a sudden urge of gluttony took over her and perhaps the rush of endorphins would help her get a better perception of the weird events that had transpired that night. She slowly removed the egg from its protective “shell” and nibbled it.
It was… heavenly, to say the least. A bittersweet combination of exquisite delight with a filling whose flavor she couldn’t really identify. It was silver, just like the foil and it tasted better than it felt to the touch.
Janice took another bite, then another, and another, avidly devouring the dark temptation and its liquorish innards until there was nothing left and a surge of pleasure made every muscle in her body twitch and ache in a process similar to orgasmic rapture. Fully satisfied, she rapidly fell asleep and all her dreams were silver.
* * *
She dreamed that the combination of chocolate and filling were producing changes in her internal and external physiology at an alarming rate. In those creations of the mind, her heart, lungs, and intestines were being transformed by microscopic organisms into similar, yet robotic organs. She witnessed her hands and feet slowly being coated with the same argent substance that stiffened everything she was, whilst wiping her mind clean. And she saw the rabbit again, this time without the furry disguise, a complex piece of machinery standing close to her in a white room whilst men and women from all corners of the world stood a few steps behind, and discussed the marvels of the automation process that was taking place.
“And when it’s done, we can fully program her brain just like we can program a computer.” Said a woman’s voice with a distinctively fake English accent. “This is the future, ladies, and gentlemen. Instead of wasting time and money creating machines that look like humans, we turn real humans into machines. That’s the goal of The Maxwell Corporation and with your generous support, it can come true on a global scale sooner than you think!”
Yes, Janice dreamed all these things before stopping dreaming for good. Every human trace of her personality was irrevocably replaced with cybernetic triggers, memories turned into streams of data, free will obliterated under the pressure of electric synapses. She was one of the first to make the full transition from flesh to hardened metal and if you think you’re safe, well… you better start paying attention and actually seeing what’s going on. The Maxwell Corporation is expanding its influence in every major country in the world as I type this, and it’s not going to stop any time soon!
Yes, fine, I’ll look forward to Easter arriving next month, in that case! Yes, loved it, and would love those results happening to me!
Pleased you enjoyed it.