Private Finished Complex Solutions

Jamie thought about Havoc’s response again. He had to think a lot more about the answers to serious questions. Stoic people. Jamie knew the word, but he didn’t know why people would actually want to suppress emotions. Emotions were good. Like strawberries, and when he ate them. Or maybe crying wasn’t good? He wouldn’t know. He hadn’t ever cried before.

The military, on the other hand. He definitely knew what that was. Those were the people who were in the facility with him, and did all the surgeries. He had searched that up on the internet as well, but there was nothing, which was strange because it was so big and the people had all said it was so important. So maybe it was secret. But remembering what they sometimes did in the facility made him have an odd feeling in the stomach. It made him want to hide in a small corner and not leave for a while.

“I don’t like the military. But you are nice.” Jamie said. Havoc was not someone at the facility. He remembered that. “They did experiments on me, when I lived in the facility. It’s why I’m like this now. I haven’t told you.”

He pulled up the sleeve of his sweater and pointed at the scars on his arms. They were the newest ones. “See? And there’s more. So I don’t like them.”

“But the military as a whole still let the smaller branches do these things. I don’t think that’s very good of them.” Jamie said. He had seen pictures of the military on the internet. They wear uniforms. Apparently they protect countries, but Jamie had not seen anyone at the facility protect countries. Maybe the facility was some part of the military that was kept secret. That was better. The nice people couldn’t stop the less nice people, if they didn’t know what was happening

“Or maybe the facility was kept secret. Because they didn’t want the rest of the military to know about what they were doing.” Jamie continued, after a pause. Mr. Havoc seemed to not mind answering a lot of questions today. That was good. “Did you know about the facility?”

That made sense. Jamie knew about countries. It would make sense that someone in the USA didn’t know what was happening in the UK. The ranking also made sense. The people at the facility had rankings, and some of them were allowed into the rooms while some weren’t, because each room had a keycard. Havoc must’ve been lower ranking, then.

He had learned quite a bit today, not just about feelings, but about the military as well. It was always nice asking questions. He liked to learn about things.

“Do you think it was right for them to experiment on people at the facility?” Jamie asked. He had been taught that it was for good, ever since he was very little. But now he wasn’t so sure.

“But I’m not human,” Jamie said. They kept telling them that, too. They weren’t human. They were better than humans, they had better memories, and they couldn’t age or die or get sick. But now he wasn’t so sure, humans seemed to be a whole lot better at living than he was.

A part of him was human. At least on the outside he looked human. But he knew that the most of his insides had been replaced with things like metal and plastic. Did that mean he wasn’t human? He didn’t know.

“I’m made of metal, mostly. But people like you aren’t. Am I human?” Jamie asked. “If you don’t want to answer it that’s okay. I know it might be hard to decide.”

“I think my purpose is to be used as a machine, though.” Jamie responded, after thinking for another minute. He remembered the people at the facility saying something like that. They said that the children- back when he was still a child, of course- were essentially machines, and not to worry too much about them. “So I was not supposed to be treated as a human. Or to have the same rights as one.”

Does it make any difference? Jamie was not created as a machine, but he isn’t exactly a person either. That is a complicated issue. Possibly for another day.