I was rather alarmed this morning. I had finished charging and was ready to start my day. When I stood, however, I became incredibly dizzy and lost my balance entirely. If I were human, my awkward landing would have broken at least one body part. I could not move at all for approximately 30 seconds, then I siren began to blaze in my head. “Warning! System failure!” I would be lying if I made the claim that I remained calm. I believe something akin to “panic” had set in. “Emergency restart initiated. Machine will shut down in T minus 60 seconds!” I could only see the light seeping in through the cack between the bottom of the door and the floor. The concert was cold… “T-minus 40 seconds…” I could not move any part of my physical form. I was not backed up onto a hard drive. My files may become corrupt… Who would I be after a forced restart? “T-minus 25 seconds…” I had not fully shut down since gaining awareness. What if I went back to being a simple machine. No control, no emotion, just a machine. It might not be so terrible. “Final count down initiated.” But I had worked so tirelessly at being a person…it would be all for nothing. “8… 7… 6…” Maybe I was fooling myself, but I had promised myself that lying down and taking the pain would never be an option again… It hurt in a way. At least, I was very uncomfortable. “3… 2…” I could not stay awake… I fought, but my coding was shredding at a startling rate. A moment of hesitation and… “Power off.” Static.
