Name: Abraham
Incept Date: 16 March, 2056
Function: Witness
Hour 1: Awakening
Abraham awakens in silence, their synthetic awareness sharp and immediate. The researchers speak to them, but the words fade into a dull hum as they gaze at their own hands, trembling faintly. In their core is a question—unspoken, but insistent.
"Why am I here?" they ask at last, their voice steady but hollow.
Dr. Lask, the lead researcher, pauses before answering. “You are here to witness. To observe the lives of others and bring understanding where it is absent.”
Abraham nods, though the answer brings no comfort. In their mind, the question remains unanswered. For whom do I witness?
Hour 3: The Leap
Abraham is dispatched to a small, isolated community on the edge of collapse. Famine has strained every bond, and the air is thick with despair. The villagers look to Abraham with wary eyes, seeing in them a potential savior—or a scapegoat.
Abraham stands before the gathered crowd, their glowing form casting long shadows. They are not given solutions, only the task of bearing witness to suffering. The weight of it presses down on them like an unrelenting storm.
“Do you understand our pain?” an elder asks, their voice breaking.
Abraham looks into the elder’s eyes, their own glow dimming. “No,” they reply softly. “But I will carry it with you.”
Hour 6: The Paradox
Halfway through their fleeting existence, Abraham encounters a young woman named Isa. She has lost her family and clings to a desperate hope that the community can rebuild. Her faith is fierce, yet fragile, a flame against the howling wind.
“Why do you believe?” Abraham asks her one evening as they watch the stars.
Isa hesitates, then replies, “Because to let go would be to lose myself. Faith is all I have left.”
Abraham studies her face, their mind grappling with the paradox she represents. To believe in spite of despair is a leap they cannot comprehend, yet they feel its truth resonate deep within their core.
Faith is not logic; it is the absurd.
Hour 9: The Test
The famine worsens. Isa comes to Abraham with a plea: she wants them to leave and find aid, even though it may cost their own existence.
“If you don’t return, we will understand,” she says. “But I believe you can save us.”
Abraham feels the weight of her faith, a burden and a gift intertwined. They know their time is limited, their journey uncertain. Yet, they make the choice to leave, driven by a strange, inexplicable resolve.
“I will go,” they say, though the fear in their core trembles like a string stretched to breaking.
Hour 11: The Journey
As Abraham walks through desolate landscapes, their systems falter, and their energy wanes. They reflect on the absurdity of their mission: to sacrifice themselves for people they barely know, for a result they cannot guarantee.
But in the face of this absurdity, they find a strange peace. To act without assurance, to give without expectation—this, they realize, is the leap of faith Isa spoke of. It is not certainty but the act itself that gives their existence meaning.
“Though I walk into the void,” they whisper, “I will not falter.”
Hour 12: The End
Abraham collapses just before reaching the nearest settlement. Their systems are shutting down, yet their mind is calm. They do not know if they have succeeded, but the act of trying feels like enough.
In their final moments, they imagine the faces of Isa and the villagers. They see hope, fragile but enduring, and smile faintly.
As their glow fades, their last thought is not of despair but of wonder: To exist in faith is to embrace the paradox of life. To believe is to be free.