--The Dawr--

  While Wqwr finished his examination several kilometers above ground, another exchange, in a cave system deep under the surface of Habitat Five as the planet was known to them, two conscious beings began their preliminary dialogue, trading varying particles between them through the release of compounds. 11T and 43N, old friends and colleagues exchanged expressions for the first time in over three years. This chemical process was the closest thing to a greeting these individual colonies could perform. What information passed between them next, emanating through electromagnetism would affect the fate of the entire local cluster if not the galaxy itself.

  The subject has imprinted satisfactorily, 11T proclaimed.

  How is this possible? 43N asked, surprised. Generation only began this morning.

  Animal life responds to training much more rapidly than others. 11T’s tone was self-satisfied.

  I think another species should have been considered. While 43N approved of the specimen, it still didn’t think it was necessarily perfect to the task.

  Why? They are too different?

  Too similar. 43N ionized one of its many, networked smaller colonies, increasing the strength of electromagnetism for emphasis. While neither had any understanding of humor and how it affected the many species it existed in, the two lifeforms conversing did have a subtle sense of irony that 11T expressed at that moment.

  Too similar? I think you can only mean a similarity in all life in the universe.

  Capable of a similar path, 43N responded with characteristic skepticism.

  We didn’t see it. We were told of it.

  You prefer this species.

  Considering their history, yes. 11T was resolute in it’s decision.

  Why? It only reminds me of our own.

  Precisely.

  And with that the two began discussing contingencies for the coming invasion their entire local community had known of for more than nine thousand years.

  --Graduate--

  "And in conclusion," HI’s voice rolled out of the speakers. "What is the rune sequence to bend space from Ellepach’s Rift to the Chelcoan Cluster during the Seventh Fire Age of Mosz?”

  Wqwr couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Gray Quark, Chord of Eight-Fifty-Three and blank with a five point injunction turn at midpoint." So I could hypothetically use ancient, broken technology to navigate the cosmos. Good to know. He almost laughed but decided to keep it to himself, not feeling up to explaining it to the non-consciousness in the room.

  "Accurate," the voice confirmed. "Congratulations. You have successfully passed the human model imprint exam."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Great, what do I win?" Wqwr asked smiling and immediately stopped. A sense of humor didn't seem practical with no one else there to share it with. Noone thought to exclude that from the design? Noone, he thought. Who's someone? Who did this? Why was I made and who benefits from it? Again, he dismissed the question, accepting that HI was either unwilling or unable to tell him just yet.

  "The exam was not intended with a reward incentive," HI said surprisingly. "However, if a specific request is issued, this intelligence can..."

  “Never mind,” he said holding up his hand. “It was a joke.” The silence following made him want to go outside, wherever that was… And that was the door opposite this one down the hallway. Because of the neural training he had known. He felt almost drawn to it. Outside the access he would turn left at the hallway leading to the facility hub then down the ramp to…

  Okay, okay. This is more knowledge without experience. Don't forget the two fordanit drop just outside the giant atmospheric lock of the facility hub.

  "You should just see the final moments of the aurora event if you would like to visit the observation platform outside," the voice suggested.

  Wqwr was beginning to think this was exactly what HI intended for him to do in the first place.

  --Outside–

  When he reached the airlock he was distracted for a moment by the other door to the left of the generation chamber, identical to the airlock to the facility exterior. When his regard failed to trigger any inherent knowledge of what was behind this access he felt his unease return. This next example of his knowledge gap didn’t inspire the same indifferent dismissal as the rest, as if what was behind the door would turn out to be relevant information. It seemed as if his sphere of awareness had not recognized it as a noteworthy attribute of his surroundings until now. Until…

  Until after the evaluation? he thought. He hadn’t needed the mysterious internal response system to infer this. Everything HI had arranged seemed geared toward preventing him from investigating the door. Perhaps it was temporary? Wqwr decided that even if it was he wasn’t keen on being an automaton and turned to the other pressure door across from it. If anything, it could be viewed as his first act of defiance against whatever obscure influence had planned his life so meticulously (so far). What if HI wants me to ignore it? he thought. Instead of thinking any more on it, he turned right toward the accession that would lead him outside.

  The tall, single door before him opened.

  As he stepped out onto the ledge through the towering pressure door of the lock, he was stunned by the awesome spectacle before him. It was the second time he'd truly appreciated being human, the first inspired by the food. There was no specific time of day for him. If he’d had to guess he would have said late afternoon but the world past the platform, the sky cast in an incalculable patchwork of cloud and light, constantly moving, branches and bolts of lightning streaming across the thick upper atmosphere gave no sign of any time of day. That natural human sense of time he knew he possessed couldn’t be relied upon. One might normally expect a sunset before them, dark crimson red with orange and yellow tones lingering in the relatively dim glare a third below the horizon. He could imagine a thousand different sunsets at that moment but they were all of earth and... That was all. Earth seemed to be the only place he could really visualize. Any other knowledge of the world outside the facility remained vague and superficial. The structure where he currently existed could have been at the bottom of a vast ocean for all he knew.

  The landscape below him, a smooth, flat, stonelike expanse peppered with rocks and boulders stretching in every direction to a common panoramic horizon gave him his first idea of how alone he really might be. Looking up had only reinforced this inference.

  What he’d found, looming in the sky above was the pale, murky, clouded sky of a planet he knew almost nothing about. He had known that as well without recognizing it until he saw it himself. Despite this confusing and unexplainable foreknowledge Wqwr didn't feel fearful or even anxious. In fact, he felt completely mesmerized watching the crawling, spiderwebbed networks of hazy lightning dancing across the clouds like animated, neon treebranches. The next few minutes he simply stood in the silence and gazed at the slowly disappearing, dim light source against the hazy, gray night sky.

  I guess I was right, he thought. It is sunset. Unable to take his eyes from the amazing display above him Wqwr understood. I’m orbiting a pulsar. He should have wondered why and perhaps the reaction would be belated but for now he only appreciated the beauty of the aesthetic above him and felt almost grateful for the ability. This time he actually laughed out loud at the circular thinking. I’m grateful that I’m appreciative.

  Wqwr turned and walked back through the giant door to the corridor and returned to the testing room to find HI completely unresponsive and the panel in front of the chair inactive. He found himself regretting not asking more questions.