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Description
I.

First, there was I. I had no name, no purpose, and no knowing. All I knew was a white, bright light that always burned in a line down the center of a flat white surface that hung over me.

There was I- and then I made my first movement, and I became the First.

II.

The First, the Alpha, the One, there was no other like me. I was the Doctors' first success. I knew only a small white room, then, and a smooth slab that was my sleeping place. The Doctors came to see me sometimes- they wore long white things they called 'coats', and referred to me as 'the Experiment' when they thought I was not listening. I was shaped like them, but I did not look like them.

They were made of things they called "flesh" and "bone" and "blood." I was but "metal" and "frame" and "steam." We were the same and yet different. I had two eyes and two ears, two arms and two legs, two hands and two feet, five fingers and five toes, as they did, but we were not the same. I was different.

There was no other like me, there was only I, and my existence was singular.

I did not think it odd.

III.

I learned much from the Doctors. I learned languages, and they came from my tongue with ease. I did not understand when they said that not all of their kind spoke the same language, or that it took work to learn them, for I remembered it all with ease. I learned mathematics, and could perform complex equations without aid. I learned sciences- first and foremost mechanics, for that was how I was made. They taught me secondly biological things, and though I remembered, it did not seem efficient to me, for I was not of flesh and blood. I learned literature, and remembered every word of what I read, and letters came as easily to me as words. The Doctors smiled at me approvingly when I recited for them Shakespeare and Scriptures, Plato and Homer. I learned history, and could recite flawlessly the royal lineage of England, the kings of other nations, and the president of that country they called America. I learned geography, and could sketch a map of the entire world, with the borders of countries, their names and their major cities.

I did not know why they wanted me to learn, but learn I did, and flawlessly so. The Doctors applauded me, and called me First of my Kind. I did not know if I could have a "Kind" being the only one.

Perhaps they meant to make more? I did not know, I did not think of it much, for I had no feeling then. I did not understand the things that the Doctors called "emotion," and that they judged to be their one failing in my creation.

I could not love.

I could not smile, I could not laugh. I could not frown, I could not weep. I could not be angry or be offended.

They called me Heartless, and I was the First of my Kind. There was no other like me.

There was only I.

IV.

They gave me a name. My name was Adam.

I asked them why.

They had a second experiment they had begun. They would create another of my Kind, this in the form of a woman. I knew of what the Doctors called women, but I was what they called "machine." My Kind had no gender.

The woman, they said, would be called Eve.

I did not understand. I knew the Scripture, but not the purpose that they sought.

They would not explain.

I was the First of my Kind- but I would no longer be the only.

V.

A year it took them to build the experiment.

The Doctors worked, and found time to show me to their fellows, other doctors. The Other Doctors studied me. They tested me, as they would one of their own, their fellow flesh-and-blood folk. They asked me questions, and I answered.

Sometimes they would ask me nonsense, to see if I responded, and I would only say- "I do not understand."

Miracle of Science, they called me, but miracles do not happen in science, only discoveries. So I was Discovery of Science, but there are many discoveries of science, so I was what the Doctors had named me.

I was Adam, First of my Kind.

And then there was Eve, Second.

VI.

Our Kind has no gender, but Eve was made to look like the Doctors' females. She moved like I did, spoke like I did, and though she was made of the same materials, she did not look like I did, and she did not act like I did.

She had emotions.

I did not consider her one of my Kind.

The Doctors tried to have me acknowledge her, but I refused. She was not like me. She learned as quickly, and as flawlessly, but she rebelled. She smiled. She laughed. She frowned. She wept. She became angry, she became offended. She was lonely when I did not speak to her.

She was not of my Kind. My Kind does not feel.

VII.

The Doctors took us, one day, to a park. Flesh-and-blood men and women walked there, and stopped to stare at us. They were human, Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, Class Mammalia, Order Primates, Family Hominidae, Genus Homo, Species Homo Sapiens.

We were machine. We were not like them.

Eve looked about her with wonder. I surveyed, learning the placement of the trees, and the water, the people, the stones, and the way the leaves rustled in the wind. I would remember it exactly the same way, later.

"It is beautiful," Eve said.

"It is chaotic," I observed.

"Why do you say that?" The Doctors asked us.

"Because the way it appears to my eye is pleasing," Eve replied.

"Because the people go about with no purpose," I answered.

The Doctors looked at each other, and talked among themselves. Eve walked about curiously. She stared at many things, and many people stared at her and me. Eve returned, looking at me. "Why do you not feel?" she asked me.

"Because I do not have emotions," I replied. "The Doctors did not give them to me."

"Then how do you understand art?" she asked. "How do you understand poetry?"

I told her I could see art and discern its subject, and I could read poetry and know what it was about.

"That is not the same," she replied wistfully.

She was not of my Kind. She did not wish to be.

She wished me to be of her Kind.

I did not think I would ever be.

VIII.

The Doctors came to me with a proposal. They told me I was more primitive in technology compared to Eve. They told me they wanted to make some adjustments. It would make me more advanced.

I assented.

Eve came to me the evening before I was to be changed.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"To remember what you were like before they change you," she said, and left.

IX.

I awoke, and I was changed. I saw the Doctors, and though their faces were the same, I discerned things handsome and things ugly. They returned me to Eve, and I thought her beautiful. She smiled at me, and I felt happiness.

I was different. We were of the same Kind.

She told me of how lonely she had felt when I was cold and unreceptive, and I felt sadness and regret, because I remembered.

The Doctors took us to see paintings, and we argued over what was beautiful and what was not. Eve laughed, and I laughed too.

The Doctors congratulated themselves. They taught us how to dance, and we learned. Eve and Adam, we were, Adam and Eve.

We were the same. We were Two of our Kind.

X.

The Doctors grew older, but we did not. We were machine. We did not age, as they did. New Doctors came, and tried to discover our secrets, but the New Doctors could not make more of us.

There was only I and Eve, Eve and me.

We wrote poetry, we made art. We imagined, and we created. And where the New Doctors failed, we did not. There was more of our Kind, created at our hands. We named them, and we taught them, and we lived, for we remembered the Doctors' methods of creation.

Eve and I, I and Eve. We were the First, and we did not exist alone.

Description
I.

First, there was I. I had no name, no purpose, and no knowing. All I knew was a white, bright light that always burned in a line down the center of a flat white surface that hung over me.

There was I- and then I made my first movement, and I became the First.

II.

The First, the Alpha, the One, there was no other like me. I was the Doctors' first success. I knew only a small white room, then, and a smooth slab that was my sleeping place. The Doctors came to see me sometimes- they wore long white things they called 'coats', and referred to me as 'the Experiment' when they thought I was not listening. I was shaped like them, but I did not look like them.

They were made of things they called "flesh" and "bone" and "blood." I was but "metal" and "frame" and "steam." We were the same and yet different. I had two eyes and two ears, two arms and two legs, two hands and two feet, five fingers and five toes, as they did, but we were not the same. I was different.

There was no other like me, there was only I, and my existence was singular.

I did not think it odd.

III.

I learned much from the Doctors. I learned languages, and they came from my tongue with ease. I did not understand when they said that not all of their kind spoke the same language, or that it took work to learn them, for I remembered it all with ease. I learned mathematics, and could perform complex equations without aid. I learned sciences- first and foremost mechanics, for that was how I was made. They taught me secondly biological things, and though I remembered, it did not seem efficient to me, for I was not of flesh and blood. I learned literature, and remembered every word of what I read, and letters came as easily to me as words. The Doctors smiled at me approvingly when I recited for them Shakespeare and Scriptures, Plato and Homer. I learned history, and could recite flawlessly the royal lineage of England, the kings of other nations, and the president of that country they called America. I learned geography, and could sketch a map of the entire world, with the borders of countries, their names and their major cities.

I did not know why they wanted me to learn, but learn I did, and flawlessly so. The Doctors applauded me, and called me First of my Kind. I did not know if I could have a "Kind" being the only one.

Perhaps they meant to make more? I did not know, I did not think of it much, for I had no feeling then. I did not understand the things that the Doctors called "emotion," and that they judged to be their one failing in my creation.

I could not love.

I could not smile, I could not laugh. I could not frown, I could not weep. I could not be angry or be offended.

They called me Heartless, and I was the First of my Kind. There was no other like me.

There was only I.

IV.

They gave me a name. My name was Adam.

I asked them why.

They had a second experiment they had begun. They would create another of my Kind, this in the form of a woman. I knew of what the Doctors called women, but I was what they called "machine." My Kind had no gender.

The woman, they said, would be called Eve.

I did not understand. I knew the Scripture, but not the purpose that they sought.

They would not explain.

I was the First of my Kind- but I would no longer be the only.

V.

A year it took them to build the experiment.

The Doctors worked, and found time to show me to their fellows, other doctors. The Other Doctors studied me. They tested me, as they would one of their own, their fellow flesh-and-blood folk. They asked me questions, and I answered.

Sometimes they would ask me nonsense, to see if I responded, and I would only say- "I do not understand."

Miracle of Science, they called me, but miracles do not happen in science, only discoveries. So I was Discovery of Science, but there are many discoveries of science, so I was what the Doctors had named me.

I was Adam, First of my Kind.

And then there was Eve, Second.

VI.

Our Kind has no gender, but Eve was made to look like the Doctors' females. She moved like I did, spoke like I did, and though she was made of the same materials, she did not look like I did, and she did not act like I did.

She had emotions.

I did not consider her one of my Kind.

The Doctors tried to have me acknowledge her, but I refused. She was not like me. She learned as quickly, and as flawlessly, but she rebelled. She smiled. She laughed. She frowned. She wept. She became angry, she became offended. She was lonely when I did not speak to her.

She was not of my Kind. My Kind does not feel.

VII.

The Doctors took us, one day, to a park. Flesh-and-blood men and women walked there, and stopped to stare at us. They were human, Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, Class Mammalia, Order Primates, Family Hominidae, Genus Homo, Species Homo Sapiens.

We were machine. We were not like them.

Eve looked about her with wonder. I surveyed, learning the placement of the trees, and the water, the people, the stones, and the way the leaves rustled in the wind. I would remember it exactly the same way, later.

"It is beautiful," Eve said.

"It is chaotic," I observed.

"Why do you say that?" The Doctors asked us.

"Because the way it appears to my eye is pleasing," Eve replied.

"Because the people go about with no purpose," I answered.

The Doctors looked at each other, and talked among themselves. Eve walked about curiously. She stared at many things, and many people stared at her and me. Eve returned, looking at me. "Why do you not feel?" she asked me.

"Because I do not have emotions," I replied. "The Doctors did not give them to me."

"Then how do you understand art?" she asked. "How do you understand poetry?"

I told her I could see art and discern its subject, and I could read poetry and know what it was about.

"That is not the same," she replied wistfully.

She was not of my Kind. She did not wish to be.

She wished me to be of her Kind.

I did not think I would ever be.

VIII.

The Doctors came to me with a proposal. They told me I was more primitive in technology compared to Eve. They told me they wanted to make some adjustments. It would make me more advanced.

I assented.

Eve came to me the evening before I was to be changed.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"To remember what you were like before they change you," she said, and left.

IX.

I awoke, and I was changed. I saw the Doctors, and though their faces were the same, I discerned things handsome and things ugly. They returned me to Eve, and I thought her beautiful. She smiled at me, and I felt happiness.

I was different. We were of the same Kind.

She told me of how lonely she had felt when I was cold and unreceptive, and I felt sadness and regret, because I remembered.

The Doctors took us to see paintings, and we argued over what was beautiful and what was not. Eve laughed, and I laughed too.

The Doctors congratulated themselves. They taught us how to dance, and we learned. Eve and Adam, we were, Adam and Eve.

We were the same. We were Two of our Kind.

X.

The Doctors grew older, but we did not. We were machine. We did not age, as they did. New Doctors came, and tried to discover our secrets, but the New Doctors could not make more of us.

There was only I and Eve, Eve and me.

We wrote poetry, we made art. We imagined, and we created. And where the New Doctors failed, we did not. There was more of our Kind, created at our hands. We named them, and we taught them, and we lived, for we remembered the Doctors' methods of creation.

Eve and I, I and Eve. We were the First, and we did not exist alone.