The White Room

The White Room

I was born never knowing who my mother and father were. Who am I? I really don't know. But my number? That is relatively easy. #133. I heard that normal people have names, so I changed my number into a name......how long was it? Oh well. It was a time ago. You can just call me Lee. That's a normal name, correct? At least, I would assume that it is more natural than names such as Godzilla.
I was born for a secret project- or at least, that's what they told me. "They" being the project directors. Once.....how long again? I guess a time ago. Mankind was in an age of technology and science. Scientists believed that they could go even further if they had people who could work for hours on end. But they hit a wall. What human could do that? They weren't raised that way. But they could......And thus, the project was formed. We, the children, were taken from our parents with their consent.
I heard that hearing your parents giving you away with their consent would present a sad feeling in you. I feel....nothing. Perhaps it is because I was raised that way?
Ahem, I mean- We were raised from the age of 2 the lessons of science and technology. We grew up knowing the advanced lessons of science and technology like professors- at 8. And thus, when we grew of age-to be 16-, and completed our studies, we were legally allowed to work.
We worked. We worked. We worked. We needed no food for weeks- maybe months at a time. We were the ultimate working machines. It was, in all actuality, us that has brought the world to be this technologically advanced. We can now control the economy. We can now control the weather. We can do anything. We did it in so little time, as well. The project started in 2010, and it is now 2030!
Many things have changed. Cultures have been erased. Populations, while growing, can be controlled. Plants and animals are balanced, to ensure the ecology of the world. We have used the new technology to visit other life forms, other creatures. We now have 21 planets in the enlarged Chunky Way Galaxy! Everything has advanced.
And yet.......humans haven't changed. They continue their lives each and every day. Nothing has changed with them. Sure, the language, the speech, how they go about their daily lives- they have changed. But their basic functions haven't. They love, they enjoy, they continue even though they've made mistakes. That is what is most interesting about humans. If I am one, why is it that I cannot act like them? Why is it that I cannot continue my daily life like them? Why must I continue working?
..........So many questions. So little time. I need to stop watching humans on my Electro Screen and continue working, as I always have.

I've said it once, and I will say it before:
AND YES, I'M IMPRESSED.

GhostOfTSW wrote:I've said it once, and I will say it before:
AND YES, I'M IMPRESSED.

Really?

I sit on my Float Chair. I stare at the Electro Screen. I tap on the buttons of the keyboard. I click with my mouse(Both keyboard and mouse are still updated by how you use them, but still have the same basic functions; they were so advanced for their time). I work. I work, and work, and keep working. I continuously do this, in the hollow White Room. Nothing but a window. Sometimes, I stare at it, though I quickly go back to work afterward.
What is out there? The outside world? And what is beyond? Real people? Light? Darkness?
Excuse me- allow me to continue. The White Room is a magical room, composed of multiple computer codes and little 8- bit images all coming together into one beautiful place. Of course, this only happens once a year. The one year that we workers have this "off day". A day where we are not working at all. We may do anything, but only in the White Room. Using the technology now, some objects are actually real. The objects that you ingest, for example. And oh, the different foods! The different tastes! It is like a swirl of vibes and sounds booming in your mouth.
Though, I often use that time to make a world. A world of people. A world of trees, buildings, homes, factories. And of people. Many people. But...there's just something off.
I've done it twice......but it feels longer than that.....my sense of time is muddled.
Perhaps I should explain to you why I have such a confused association with time......
Let me remind you of my background information. We have exactly 250 workers. I am #133, one of the few early workers of the project. I was born in the later half half of 2012. The directors continued taking children in until the later half of 2015, in which they believed that they had enough for the next few decades and would stop.
They raised us, though I am unsure as if it was a normal way of raising a normal child. They put small doses of chemicals onto our exterior faces when we were still infants. That way, we would grow no hair, whether on the head, or under the nose and above or below the mouth. We could only be identified by our numbers. And that was how it was.
We were fed little, sometimes months at a time once we were older. The humans there treated us like...robots, I would think. The only thing they raised us constantly at were at the science of chemicals and the technology of computer codes. We rested little. Rarely. Starting at hours at a time, it grew into months at a time. The only thing else that they could have possibly taught is is going to the bathroom, washing your hands, showering, putting on clothes, and brushing your teeth. I would guess the most other important thing would be that they taught us that "Proper hygiene is important".
And when we were sick, they would...inject us with something. They would cover our mouths if we yelled or cried.
We were always inside. Never allowed to play. Only work. If we were disrespectful or not paying attention, or failing the daily tests(which we all rarely failed), they would send us to a door. A door of darkness. I do not know where it goes......The punishment is still the same for us if we do not do anything to enhance the world or find anything new. But that never happens. At least....I think so.
I never think we were trained to be disciplined. We were born disciplined. None of us ever went out of line.
And that is all I know about my own childhood.
I was sent to the White Room immediately, as when we were of age, we are sent to the White Rooms. We are never allowed out of the White Room. We may only get a ration every few months- weeks if we are that hungry. We just work. They visit the Rooms at times to upgrade on the technology or for any other reason, such as asking us why we haven't done anything. They come through only one door in the entire White Room that is locked from the outside. There's nothing much else to speak about.
The White Room is more of a vast space of emptiness. There's just a few objects lying around here and there, but most of it is space. There's a window that allows oxygen to get in, and carbon dioxide to get out. There is a bed, when we must rest. We usually only rested for one hour, before waking up and getting back to work. We also left our extra clothes there. We sit at the Float Chair to work. We use the Electro Screen as a type of computer screen, like the old days, except it is more advanced. It can grow large or big, to any size, and it was made by us in the early days. And at last, there is a bathroom in the corner, with a sink and shower tub. It flushes immediately into a vast network of pipes. Into the sewer, perhaps?
We use the computer mainly as a home place to work and send new information to an entire database of our findings. Directors use our information or new inventions or equations and give them to other companies or governments, and they help fund the project, which is still a secret to the rest of the world. The project for advancement in so many areas was a doubtful subject, but by late 2026 it was growing to be a success. And look at it now.
There is a daily schedule for us, or at least a list of activities we should do. 1. Shower for 5 minutes. 2. Change your clothes. 3. Go to the bathroom when absolutely necessary. 4. Wash hands afterward. 5. Work. 6. Keep Working. 7. If you're still wasting your time reading this, then keep working.......even more than #6.
That was usually about it. They sent us a new one each day, but that was the usual daily schedule.
And finally, onto the subject of time. I stay into the Room at all times. I never leave. A clock is on the corner of the Electro Screen, but....it never truly tells the time. I feel like years have gone by. How old should I be? 18? Am I truly 18? Or am I 50? 60? It feels more like that than 2 years in a White Room. There is a daily schedule for us, but how many times have I done it? One hundred, or ten thousand? The only true indications of time for me are day, afternoon, and evening. And how many times has that occurred? I'll never know.
You can never tell what the true time is. Never.
But enough of that. I am getting off track. Staring at the window while I think, instead of using that valuable time for working. Work.....work.....work.