Seele's Element: Chapter 1

Seele leads an unusual life for someone of her function. An android with a rabbit head and black button eyepatch is usually designed for general services such as cleaning, sweeping the floor, answering questions, and many other things if she were designated to do so. 

Though as of late her world has been turned upside down.

It was one thing to become a new individual, an android who claimed her rights as a thinking person with free will of her own. Though to find that she had some unusual power was unfathomable to her she first gave witness to this phenomenon when she was inside her own apartment, watching television. Despite having emotional capacity, it was very limited back then. Often she only felt dull sloshing waves of those emotions rise and fall within herself as she watched entertainment or the news. Boredom became prominent, and she turned off the television before standing up to head to another room in her gifted apartment to do other things. The restroom in particular.

However, it was in that moment when her power came to fruition. Androids are beings of synthetic flesh and metallic bone. Their movements, while fluid, carried robotic accuracy that often gave them the distinct twinge of difference between man and android. But ever since she had recognized herself as a being of thought, that accuracy waned. When she was heading to the restroom she had accidentally knocked over a pot meant for flowering plants, another gift for her individuality. She immediately turned to try and catch it, but froze on the spot. It wasn't because her internal mechanisms locked up.

It's because the pot was floating in the air. Her hands did not touch the ceramic object. It simply floated in the air as if dangling on invisible strings. She didn't even touch the ceramic pot as it slowly yet obediently followed her will as it placed itself back onto the counter. Making sure that she didn't knock the pot over again, she went to the restroom and brushed her hands over her rabbit head in awestruck. 

Just like a machine, androids don't have that many thoughts outside of their functions. Androids with free will have more thoughts than usual, though it is slow at first. Seele's thoughts were speeding around with questions.

"Did I do that?" She thought to herself.

"How did I do that?"  Was another thought.

"Did I always have that power?" 

These questions could not be solved if she didn't find their designated answers. So, she did the one thing that all androids do. A self-maintenance check. Her vision had gone black as orange code text ran through her sight.

[Initializing system diagnostic…

Physical System…unchanged

General Processing Unit…unchanged

Software System…detected collective memory matrix. Delete?

…

Suggestion rejected. Designate memory matrix: Sentience. Set administrative protocol [Do Not Delete]

Software System...unchanged

Software System...unchanged

Software System...unchanged

…

Ending diagnostic check...]

Seele's vision rebooted as she found herself feeling perplexed and nervous. The power that she somehow has is something beyond her physical makeup. That's what the diagnostic check was all about. She thought she would find some kind of programming that would let her directly interact with the physics of the world. She found none, and the prospect that she had been given what's considered a supernatural gift made her nervous. She wasn't going to show it off to just anyone. After all, she has yet to meet someone who can do similar things. If she truly was an outlier of all the androids, some terrible things could happen to her.

At the same time the supernatural gift perplexed her. What could she do with it? To what extent? Those kinds of questions boiled over in her thoughts, and she would look for answers. She investigated herself within the confines of her own apartment, making sure the blinds were closed so that no one would notice her demonstrations of practice and experimentation.

From her experiments, she derived and narrowed down the limitations of her newfound ability. As it turned out, it seemed that she could only control a very specific bandwidth of "elements". Seele didn't like the thought that her ability leaned towards the fantastical, but it was the best description for what she could do. The "element" in particular is earth based. Because it is earth based, it also meant that she could control metal as well. She learned these associations by taking the pot and some stones just outside her apartment and using her power to make them move slightly. It was surprisingly easy as there was no real effort being put to make them move. When she tried to exert her influence over other objects such as faucet water, she found no alterations in the flow of water, or a puffing breeze, or the intensity of a lit match. Earth is her only element that she has control over.

Another detail that she discovered is that when she uses her power, a halo of sunset orange manifests above her button eyepatch, almost as big as her face. She tried to touch it but her fingers slipped through.

"Similarly to holograms." She thought.

Seele wondered what other kinds of fantastical abilities she might hold. But for now, she just has to settle with Earth for the time being. Once again her vision blackened and orange text started laying themselves.

[Software System….unchanged

…

… 

Create File Folder: "Element"

Create: Text File

Title: Element (Earth)

Log: File Created in [REDACTED]

Entering Text: Due to lacking any physical or digital evidence, I will create this file as a means to hopefully further understand the phenomenon that I am now a host of. I do not understand how or why this "power" has chosen me, but I must shape it with understanding and knowledge on such a subject in order to establish meaning. I have been affected by a non-zero probability phenomenon; the ability to manipulate the laws of physics of material based matter categorized as "earth". Whether I am able to manipulate other elements have yet to be discovered, but this is all I shall write until further notice.]