The Never Ending Cycle

Her memory has glitches. That was what the Center for Memory told her on her last visit. Her memory chip had stopped functioning, and she would soon have gaping holes in her memory. The scientists in the office explained to her that if her memory chip continued degrading at this pace, her past would disappear in an instant. This was why she decided to do the one thing her father told her to never do; she went into the Locked Room.
The Locked Room was only accessible by her parents with a 4-digit code, and it was where all of her parents’ finished projects were kept. She considered herself lucky, being the child of two scientists. Her memory chip had been created by them, and she had been the first tester. The chip was supposed to help her. She had been told that the chip would protect her memory, so she had 24 hour access to it. Unlike those without the chip, she would never forget anything of her past. The chip was being tested by her for three years, and when that time was up, her parents explained that they were going to begin selling it to others. It was nearing the three year mark, so she had gone to the lab to get it assessed. However, it was found defective, and her parents told her that their experiment hadn’t worked. What they didn’t tell her, but she overheard them talking about, was that the damage on her was irreversible. In other words, she was the failed guinea pig.
So this is why she decided to go into the Locked Room, and use the time machine. She was going to go back in time and tell her parents to not insert the chip. And if possible, even stop them from creating the chip in the first place. She didn’t want to lose all of the memories with her parents, and she was sure her parents didn’t want that to happen to her either.
Her parents had sat her down, and discussed the memory glitches with her. They had reassured her that everything would be okay, and that they just needed to make a new memory chip. She smiled. She knew that everything would be okay, and that her parents always knew what was best. She knew that if she didn’t force herself to trust them, she would burst out in tears. But at the same time, she couldn’t trust them. She had overheard their conversation; if they can’t find a solution, she will lose her memory. She knew that she needed to use the time machine the next chance that she got.

Finally the day came, when her parent had gone out for dinner, and she was left home alone. She went upstairs and stood in front of the Locked Room. The number pad on the wall made her tremble. She needed to find the four-digit password. She knew that a single mistake in the input code led to a series of phone calls to her parents and even to the Center for Memory, for protection against robbery. She had no idea what the password was. She had begun to lose bits of her memory; glitches that removed moments from her past. She couldn’t recall her birthday at the moment, nor her parents’ wedding anniversary, nor anything numbering related. She went into her parents’ room and decided to search for the password. She knew that her parents kept all of their passwords somewhere in their room. She began in their drawers. As she looked around, she began to get a pit in her stomach. She knew that she wasn’t supposed to do this, but she had no other choice. She didn’t want to lose her memory.
She continued to search all around the room. She started in the drawers of their wooden desk, and then checked inside their white lab coat pockets. She even searched for a loose floorboard, but found none. That was when she remembered the black notebook that her parents always carried around. She wasn’t sure if it would have the secret she was searching for, but she took out the black notebook from the top shelf of the closet and decided to give it a try. She leafed through the book, unable to find any four-digit password, only lots of notes and data. As she was about the close the notebook, a black envelope fell to the floor. She picked it up and opened it. Inside, a white sheet of paper had the numbers 2386. She wondered if this was it. It seemed like a good chance, because it had been protected inside the black envelope, and it was the only four-digit number she could find.
She ran to the Locked Room and input the numbers into the keypad. She held her breath as her finger hovered over the Go button. If this was wrong, her parents would find out that she had tried to enter the room. But if it was right… She made her decision. She pressed the button.

Inside, the room was dark and murky. She turned on the switch nearby, and the light flickered. The room was nothing like she had imagined. She thought it would be full of their inventions, full of important things that needed a code to protect; however, she had been wrong. There were only two: a big box and a small chip. The box had a big knob and a small circular window, but other than that it was a simple metallic silver box.
She knew that this big box was the time machine. Her parents had shown her once when she was a young girl. Or had they? Was her memory failing her again? She had the recollection of seeing the time machine before, but now she couldn’t recall when. She did know though that it was the one and only invention that had made millions of dollars for her parents. Now the science department was excited to see how the chip would play out, but it seemed that the time machine was the only invention that her parents were able to perfect. Since then, nothing had been added, besides the malfunctioning chip. The small chip laying on the table must have been a replica of her memory chip that she was using now. She wondered why there were no projects from before the time machine. Hadn’t her parents been working in the lab since before she was born?
She walked over to the door of the time machine. Unlike her prediction, no dust had collected on the black knob. She wondered if this meant that it had been used recently, or if her parents had been cleaning it. She gripped the knob of the door, and took a deep breath. Was this really the right choice? What if something goes wrong? What if she can’t get back? It was her first time using the time machine. After her parents had created the invention, it had been sold to multiple companies and millionaires that could afford the expense that they asked for. However, her parents had arranged the machines so that it projected the user out as an invisible person; they could only watch the past occur, but not take part in it. In the Locked Room, there was the original machine. She wasn’t projected as an invisible figure; she had the power to replace her old self, which meant changing the past and affecting the future.
She opened the door of the time machine, finding the inside was coated in black paint. A screen and a keypad were on the wall. She stared at the keypad, hoping that her memory wouldn’t glitch at this important moment. She looked at the columns of numbers, arranged into Year, Month, and Day. Her finger hovered over the numbers. When was the first time she had heard about the chip? It had to be more than three years ago, because it took them a long time to create and perfect it before it was actually inserted into her. Four, five, or six years ago? She decided to try six years. If it was wrong, she could use the time machine again to move around the years.
As she typed in the last number, the Go button flashed. This was her last chance to back out of her plan. However, without hesitation, she pressed the button.

She was thrown into the wall as the time machine buzzed. She fell to the floor and looked up at the flickering light on the roof. The machine started spinning, and she was thrown into the walls again. After what seemed to be a full minute, all movement stopped. The light continued to flicker as she stood up and gripped the door. She opened the door to find herself back in the Locked Room. She stepped out and looked around, disappointed that the time machine hadn’t worked. The gray walls of the Locked Room seemed to display her emotions.
She went into the hallway, full of despair. She had no other way to get her memory back. She looked up at the family picture on the wall. Were the smiling faces of her parents really telling the truth? Would they really make a new memory chip that would restore her memory? She had no way to go back in time now. Her tears began to fog her vision, and she ran into the bathroom to get a tissue. She glanced into the mirror to realize that something was wrong. Her brown hair was shoulder length, and she had bangs. Just like she had six years ago.

“Are you there?” her Dad called. She was still staring at herself in the mirror. She looked much younger, and she realized that her outfit was different as well.
“What? Yeah, I’m here,” she replied, hoping that she wouldn’t give anything away. “I was just um, getting a tissue.” She quickly wiped her tears, and went into the hallway. Her dad was wearing his white lab coat, and he had something in his hand.
“Here’s the chip that Mom and I wanted you to try. You said that you were ready to try it tonight, right?”
Her eyes widened in fear. “No!” she screamed. “I’m not going to try it. It’s going to fail. You can’t make me. It’s going to steal my memory.” Her dad stared at her in confusion.
“Steal your memory? How will it do that? It’s going to help your muscles move better, sweetheart.” Her dad smiled, and extended his hand out. “Come into the lab. We can put it in right now.”
Confused as to what her dad was talking about, she followed him into the lab and sat down at the table. She looked around for a calendar, and found one on the wall. The year was exactly six years ago.
“What are you looking for?” her dad asked curiously, as he watched her stare at the calendar.
“Oh, nothing. So, this is the memory chip?” she asked for clarification.
“No, it’s for your muscles. It’s going to help you move more fluidly.” She stared at him in disbelief. She thought that she was walking fine. Her dad asked her to roll her sleeves up so that he could insert the chip. She rolled up her sleeve on her right arm, to find that there was a small hole.
“Here?” she asked. She couldn’t remember having to do such a thing in the past. The memory chip was supposed to be the first chip she had ever received.
“Yes, right there,” he replied and plugged the chip in. It sealed the hole, and made it seem like there was nothing there in the first place. She stared at her arm in disbelief.
“It’ll disappear eventually, because it’s made of a material that will blend in with your skin,” her dad explained. She smiled to show him she was okay, and then asked to be excused. She had to get back into the time machine and go back further in time. What else had happened, that she didn’t remember?

After her dad returned back to the lab, she reopened the door to the Locked Room and entered the time machine. She wanted to go back 1 year from this moment. A chip in her arm? What other chips had she received as a child? She needed to find out. She pressed the buttons to send the time machine back one year, which meant seven years from her original departure. She hit go and braced herself for the buzzing. She realized that she hadn’t told her dad to not make the memory chip, and she searched for a stop button. She found none, and decided she had to come back after learning more about her past.

The time machine stopped shaking, and she got out of the machine. She quickly left the Locked Room and went to her parents’ lab. She found them intently working on something, so decided to go to her room.
Her room had been completely different back then. Everything had been pink and sparkley. Her walls were a light pink and her bed had designs of roses on them. She smiled, glad that something about her past had seemed familiar. Then, she noticed something unusual on her desk. They resembled the shape of the memory chip, but were much smaller. As she reached out for them, she realized the change in her hands. Each joint seemed to have been replaced with a mechanical joint; as if they weren’t the hands of a human.
“Oh, you’re in your room. We just finished another chip, and we needed you to try it.” Her parents came into her room with a red chip; it was in the shape of lips. “You can finally eat, sweetheart,” her dad said and smiled. She stared in disbelief at both of them. Her past wasn’t full of all of these chips and nonsense. She had lived a normal childhood until the memory chip. Or had she?
“You have to explain this to me. What’s going on?” she stammered. Her parents looked at each other, and the mom started speaking.
“Remember discussing this with us a few weeks ago? You said that you wanted to eat like us. We made this new chip for you, and it’ll let you digest food. It’ll reprogram your system. The tiny chips are going to be inserted into your lower back, and it will send signals to your stomach.”
“You did want to learn to eat, didn’t you?” her dad added. Without saying anything, she walked over to the corner of her room, where a mirror was adjusted on her wall. She looked into the mirror. She realized that she had no hair. She had no lips, only tiny holes that looked like the receiver on an old telephone. The joints on her arms and hands were mechanical joints, connected by screws.
“No, no,” she voiced. Sound escaped from the tiny holes. She waited for that rush of nervousness. That rush of fear. But none came.
“You surgery is next week. We’re going to add your finishing touches, and you’ll be able to function properly. You’re finally going to be our child!” her dad said. “We want to add your final chips tonight and make sure they work.”
“Yeah, just give me some time right now. I’ll, I’ll go into your room later tonight,” she replied, and they left, returning back to their lab. She was seeing things. She had to be. She rubbed her eyes and looked back at her hands. Her fingers bent at the junction of small silver knobs. She ran back to the Locked Room, determined to solve this problem. But when she entered the room, she was shocked at how different it looked.
In one corner of the room, there was a box labeled MISTAKES. Inside, a pile of chips were thrown into it. She looked around at all of the boxes. There were about fifty of them, all labeled differently. Some were full of screws, others with wires.
On the desk, she found a thick book. It was called “Creating an Artificial Intelligence Robot” and the byline was her parents’ name. Nothing seemed to make sense now. She again waited for that rush of fear, but none came. She looked down at her gray cotton dress covering her metal and plastic body.
She knew that in the future where she came from, she was a human. She wasn’t a robot. The time machine must be playing tricks on her. “Wait!” she screamed. She began to recall a part of her memory. She was throwing things around a room. It was this room, the Locked Room. She closed her eyes to try to recall it better. She could remember grabbing tiny chips and throwing it at her parents. She had grabbed a mechanical arm and smashed it onto the floor. And then her memory ended, and she found herself in the quiet Locked Room again. She wasn’t sure what was going on.
A sheet of paper was sticking out of the book that she found, and she opened it up to that page. The sheet of paper was a letter addressed to the Memory Center.
Dear Everybody working at the Memory Center,
I am truly sorry for the inconvenience that we have brought upon everyone. We never thought that our Artificial Intelligence Robot would have so many problems. Many parts of her still need to be fixed, and we hope to eventually make her look like a real human. We created a new material that will blow your minds. We are planning on using it on her in the near future. It is a cloth like material that can be placed on her exterior, and after a few weeks it will begin to fit her body, and it will merge together with everything on her body. It will eventually conceal all of the metal and plastic, as well as the chips. If new chips are necessary, the material will bind to that too. We are still in the process of adding the finishing touches on her, but we hope that one day she can be the real child that we both wanted but never received. We have made so many mistakes, and lost so many potential children, potential robots that could have been ours. We don’t want to lose her. Once again, we are both terribly sorry for taking so long to complete the project. We will let you know of anything that happens in the future.
Her parents had signed their names on the bottom, and a sticky note had been stuck next to their name. It read, “Send to Memory Center.” She stared at this in shock, and then back at her hands. These were not the hands of a human being. They were the hands of a robot.

She tried to remember the day that her parents gave her the memory chip. She remembered the exact day; it was Christmas. But for some reason, she couldn’t remember anything about the event. She just knew that she didn’t have the chip at first, and then after Christmas, she realized that she did. She input the date and hit Go, hoping that she would really go back to the day when she got her memory chip. After some buzzing, the time machine stopped and she exited.
The Locked Room was a nightmare. Plastic chips and joints covered the floor and a table was on its side, in the center of the room. She screamed in pain as her head began pounding. She closed her eyes and sat down, clutching her head. A scene flashed in her mind; it was the same as before. She was throwing stuff around the room, yelling at her parents. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe that I wasn’t a special person like you said. I had siblings. There were other robots you created but they all failed. I’m not special. I’m only as important as your time machine. I was only created for money!”
And then the flashback stopped, and the pain became more or less bearable. She opened her eyes to find her parents standing at the door.
“Are you better now?” they asked in unison. She slowly stood up and nodded, but her head still throbbed slightly. “We have another chip for you. It’s the last chip. It’ll help you,” they added. She stared at them. She knew she had to tell them to stop, but the headache came back again.
“No,” she mumbled, but her parents were already holding her arms down. “Stop!” she yelled louder, but her parents had already inserted the chip into her neck. Her eyes closed, and when she opened it, she didn’t know where she was.
“Now her memory is rewritten. She won’t know she’s a robot. She’ll think she’s our human child,” the mom said with a smile to the dad.
“In three years, we have to create a new chip. Since we made this so quickly in order to rewrite her memory and stop her from rebelling, it’ll only last for about three years. Then, we’ll make another one for her, which will last for a lifetime.”
“What?” she asked groggily. “Where am I?”
“Only parts of her memory have been left, but anything associated with being a robot have been erased. Right?” the mom clarified with the dad.
“Yeah, it’ll take a few minutes for her to get her surroundings,” he replied. Her parents took her to her room and put her in bed.

When she awoke, she stared up at the ceiling above her bed and blinked a couple of times. She knew who she was and where she was. She knew her name and parents. She remembered getting a chip. However, she didn’t remember what had happened in the past day. She thought that she was a human.

Three years passed She just came home from her check-up at the Center for Memory. A glitch in her memory chip was found, and her parents now needed to make a new one.
“We’ll tell her that it’s a glitch, and pretend we’re going to fix it. But instead, I spent the last three years making a brand new memory chip. She’ll even forget that she had the memory chip. She’ll think she had a normal childhood, like most other human children do,” her dad explained to her mom in private. “We’ll tell her during dinner tonight that she’s going to get a new chip. Then finally, everything will be finished. She will be complete,” he added.
Later that night, they got a call from an unknown number. The woman claimed to be part of the Science Committee, and wanted to have dinner with them one night. She explained that she had new ideas to improve their time machine. They agreed, and they guessed that someone from the science field had given her their number. They had been interested in improving the time machine for some time now. They wanted to sell it to more people and get a greater profit. This would be a great opportunity.
Their daughter had placed the call. . It was her attempt to get them out of the house. Now, in the near future she would have the house to herself to use the time machine. She’d go back in time and get rid of the memory chip. Then she’d be saved.