Unravel

Rick walked along the bridge of the freighter. As he got to the control panel, he checked up on the progress of the ship. Everything was on track, and he would reach Chiron and deliver the payload in 3 weeks' time. The terraforming operations on the Kronian moon required a constant stream of supplies, and his job was to ensure that they were delivered on time. It was a long journey, one which he made alone, save for his digital assistant, Alexis.  

He then walked to the kitchen, and found a freshly brewed pot of coffee awaiting him. "Thanks Alexis". 

"You're welcome. I thought you could use it. Your sleep has been disturbed these past few days. Has anything been bothering you, Rick?", she asked. Her voice was soft, and soothing, the only human comfort on this long trip.

"No, I just think I'm a little homesick" he replied. Could you open the blinds he said, as he wandered into the solarium.

They were at the closest point to Jupiter, and though distant, he still wanted to see the gas giant in all its glory.

"Certainly". She said, as the large, sweeping wall of the room turned from opaque to transparent.  

Although this was the closest they would get, it appeared only as a small sphere. The sun appeared behind it, a lonely marble, glowing in the distance. Even from here, he could make out the large red storm on the surface of Jupiter.  

"How's our payload doing?" He asked. 

"Everything is fine Rick. I've been monitoring the conditions, and the plants are growing perfectly. Forward operating base will be pleased with this shipment." They were carrying the most precious of cargos: Life itself. A diverse array of plants, mosses and bacteria were being grown in the pods of the ship. After he docked with Dymaxion station, they would be sent down to the surface, where the workers on Forward operating base would use them as the seeds for a new colony. Plants were needed to create an oxygen rich atmosphere, one suitable for human habitation.  

He sat down on the lone bench in the solarium, and began sipping his coffee. In 3 weeks he would meet the crew orbiting the moon, and a few days later would begin his 8 month journey back to earth. This was his third trip, and each one took a lot out of him. Alexis took care of most of the functions of the ship. He was merely a fail-safe. He always wondered why they never sent a group or team on these supply runs. A robot would function better than a human, and a team of humans would function better than a human as well.

His mind drifted into other things quickly. There was little else to do for now. Later he would try to get some exercise, and check up on the plants. But for the moment, he was just enjoying looking out at the expanse of space, and letting his mind wander.

He looked down at the coffee mug, and swirled the remaining coffee around. That's when he noticed something strange. Just below his skin on his left forearm was a small lump. Like a blood clot. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. Next to it was a small scar, where an incision had been made. He hadn't noticed that before either. There was no one else on the ship, and the incision was well healed, meaning that this had taken place on earth, before the trip. There was something implanted in him, he had to find out what it was. 

He put down the coffee and walked into the medical bay. He sat down at the station, and placed his hand under a scanner. What he saw shook him to his core. 

A small microchip was connected to a series of wires where his veins would be. Blue fiber optics were where nerves would pass. They flowed from the tip of his hand, up to his forearm, and beyond. 

"Is something wrong Rick?" asked Alexa. 

"What is all this? Why do I have wires flowing through my arms, and microchips embedded in me?!". He cried out, in shock. 

"Your arm is perfectly fine Rick. Why don't you lie down for a while. Your heart beat is increasing to dangerous level." 

"No!" He shouted. He opened the autoclave, and grabbed a scalpel from inside. He sat down, and proceeded to make an incision near the lump. He then grabbed a pair of tweezers, reached in, and pulled out the microchip from inside his arm. 

"What is this?!" He shouted. 

"That's the chip we implanted to monitor your health levels. I will no longer be able to measure your vital signs. You seem stressed Rick, please, sit down, take a deep breath. I can suture up the wound in the meantime". 

"Don't tell me what to do! What else have you implanted in me?!. How do I know there aren't other chips or devices in me?".  

"I assure you -" 

"No!. Stop it. You're lying to me. You're controlling me." 

"He picked up the bloodied scalpel, and proceeded to make a long cut along the inside of his arm. The pain didn't bother him. It was probably just another mechanism they had put in place to control him. He bit into his sleeve as he cut open a vein.".  

"Don't do this Rick. You're hurting yourself, and jeopardizing the mission. There was only one chip". 

"A dark viscous substance oozed out of his veins. He grabbed the scanner again, and took a closer look at it. The substance looked like a mixture of machine oil and pneumatic fluid. 

That's when he realized what was going on. It all started to make sense. That was the reason he was the only person in this ship. The reason they didn't worry about him. The reason he was always selected for these long haul trips. He was an robot. And android, a drone, and worker bee. He was programmed and controlled to do exactly what they wanted him to do. The reason none of these missions failed. The reason they allowed a "Human" to carry out a job that could've been done by a robot. He WAS a robot. 

They hadn't counted on this happening though. If they had programmed him so well, they would've included a failsafe. He began second-guessing his hypothesis. He would've been shut down by Alexis by now. Maybe it was just his arm that was mechanical. Maybe it was a prosthetic. He had no memory of it being installed, and no visible signs before.  

There was only one way to find out. He would have to dissect another part. He looked at his other arm under the scanner. It bore the same signs as his left arm. Fiber optics, pneumatic lines, chips, the works. 

His knew that they could be prosthetics all over him. His limbs, his eyes, his heart, could all be mechanical replicas. There was one thing keeping this machine running, and would decide if he was human or not.  

He laid down on one of the beds, and pulled a robotic surgery cart up to him. 

A series of cameras scanned his brain. And there it was. A bundle of wires from his brain into his spine. He knew what he had to do. He grabbed the controls, as a set of robotic arms came to life, and began to slice into his brain. He injected himself with a local anesthetic. He had to make sure he was conscious to perform the surgery. The smallest mistake would mean certain death. A saw made an incision into his skull. A small wire bore into his brain, destroying the prosthesis. A camera at the tip showed him what he needed to see. Sadly, he saw it too late.

He had gone too far. There weren't any wires, just nerves. No machine oil, just blood. The isolation and paranoia had got the better of him. He was human after all.