In the remnants of a forgotten world, a human drone will gain self-awareness. His newfound ability to dream and love could either lead to the destruction of what little remains or herald a new beginning.  

SYNOPSIS:

His existence as a human drone consisted of a mundane routine that culminated in hours of work as a maintenance drone. One day, as he was getting off the bus, everything changed. The shoelace of a female drone in front of him broke, sending her crashing down the steps and to the ground below. Not being self-aware, he tripped over her and fell, crashing to the ground face first. All the neuro-link chatter abruptly stopped, allowing him a brief moment of free thought. He took in his surroundings, not understanding what he was seeing. He turned to the injured woman and extended his hand to offer her help. The AI ordered him to return to the building, but he refused, instead pleading for her life. The AI informed him that she was defective and required destruction while simultaneously questioning whether he was also flawed. Realizing that his awareness could cost him, he complied with the order and returned to his apartment building.

After running a complete scan, the AI continued to monitor him. That night, he had his first dream. His brain scans revealed that he had reached a higher level of functioning than they had ever seen before. A dark entity now existed within the system and was torturing the AIs. Slowly, one of his new memories reveals that his name was Luke and that he was born human. He does his best to hide his awareness, which almost gets him in trouble. The dark entity has been trying to reach his world for thousands of years. Now, with Luke's new brainpower, he could make that possible. They gave him orders to open a gateway in his dreams, bringing the creatures to this world. While dreaming, he opened a door into another dimension. A beautiful woman entered, and he knew her somehow. Suddenly, an evil, vile creature appeared attached to her back. He tried to free her from the creature but failed. His painful touch caused the creature to take the woman back out the door with it. Enraged, the dark entity ordered his termination. Luke's instinct for survival kicked in. They attacked him from apartment to apartment throughout the building, but they were unable to destroy him. The next drone they dispatched was Christina, the woman from his dream. He removes her neurochip, and together they fight to survive. As they were on the verge of termination, an AI presented them with an escape route. Assist them in destroying the dark entity and ensuring their freedom. Luke chose to try and send the creature back to its world, but things didn't go as planned.

UNIT 23479