### ### ### ### ### #### ### ### ### #### ### ### ##### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##### ### ### ########## ### ### ########## ### ### ### ### Underground eXperts United Presents... ####### ## ## ####### # # ####### ####### ####### ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## # ## #### ## ## #### # # ####### ####### #### ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## # ## ## ## ####### ####### # # ####### ####### ####### [ The Perfect Mechanical Clone ] [ By The GNN ] ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ THE PERFECT MECHANICAL CLONE by THE GNN/DCS/uXu After I had woken up and recovered from the rather trying neural scan/clone, I was led into the chief technicians sterile office where I found myself sitting on a chair with my legs crossed. The result was astonishing. The robot looked just like me, moved like me, talked like me. Every single detail of my external appearance had been perfectly copied. But how about the inside? "Everything you know, the robot knows", explained the technician, and did not attempt to hide the fact that he took great pride in his work. But then, why should he? The robot was marvellous. "Which means that I... I mean 'he'... well, perhaps I ought to say 'it', will be able to do everything I can do? He can do my work? "Without any problems. No one will ever know that a robot has taken your place. Go fish. Relax. Do you know what the word 'robot' comes from? Russia. It means worker. Slave. It has been designed to obey you." I went closer to my mechanical alter ego. It stayed put in the chair, observing me. "Hello", I said carefully. "Greetings", it answered and waved its hand. "What's your name?" "The same as yours, of course." I touched its skin on the forehead. The robot did not seem to mind. It was impossible to tell that this was a machine. "Fantastic!" I had to say. "Amazing! Incredible!" The technician nodded. The robot nodded. Everyone agreed. Then some strange thoughts popped into my mind. They were diffuse at first, but I soon came to comprehend their meaning and turn them into an enquiry on existentialism. What about the deepest things inside? Where they also identical? I sincerely hoped that the robot would not be offended by my question. "Do you know that you are a machine?" No answer. The technician clapped his hands in joy. "You see!" he said. "There it was! The ultimate proof I dare to say!" I did not understand. "Proof?" "That the robots we create are perfect clones! Nothing is missing!" I still did not get it. But I began to understand as I turned to the technician and realized that he had not been talking to me. Just as I grasped the whole situation, they switched me off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- uXu #523 Underground eXperts United 1999 uXu #523 Send your submissions to submission@uxu.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------