I was running for my life. Down the hill, to the woods, throwing frightened glances over my shoulders. I had no idea what was coming for me but I knew it definitely was. My legs felt numb, heavy like stone, but the adrenalin rushing into my veins kept me moving forward. I did not know why but I had the feeling to have already done this a thousand times before. The feeling of a life-threatening danger , the certainty of something worse than death coming for me, it was as if it was nothing but a far too familiar sensation. My body knew exactly how to move into the darkness of the forest, so complete, only troubled by scarce rays of light due to the crescent moon. I did not have to think about anything, my instinct was doing it for me. Run, do not stop, rush through the woods in the direction of the river, it will give you a tiny chance to escape, to survive, do not stop. I was moving silently, efficiently, with a motion economy that only an automaton could reach. But I was no robot. I was something else. I did not have any idea what I could be, my memories were still blurry, but deep inside I knew that this was my main goal, my only purpose. To survive in hostile territory. But even if I had been created for it, I had the impression that I was not going to make it this time. It was such a strong déjà-vu, me trying desperately to escape while destiny was coming, slowly but inexorably, gaining ground on me every step I took. Suddenly it was here, the river I had been running to. Hope felt like a breath of fresh air. Except it was a very little, tiny, breath, which stopped at the exact same time as me. I have no idea how a perfectly built machine like me could have tripped over anything. It was impossible. Impossible but true. My body was betraying me, I could not do anything but crawl on the grass, towards the dark glittering mass of water. My strength was leaving me, I could not feel my legs anymore, it felt like something was sucking up all the energy I had left. Blood was rushing to my head, all my senses were screaming to me that danger was way too close. I almost made it. I had finally attained my goal, the calm waters of the river and was trying to slip my useless body into the water when I turned around and saw what was after me. I was running from me from the very beginning. I felt an intense pain in my forehead and the whole world shattered before me. Then, everything went black.

– “Well. Seems like this one is a failure too. Every time it comes to face himself it just shatters and loses every sense of survival instinct. But we still have to run that test several times to figure out the problem.

– Yes Captain. However it’s interesting how this model headed for the river, it’s the first one who’s ever done that.

– Hmm. It might be due to the fact that we don’t seem to be able to erase his memory entirely as we were with the previous ones. It seems he still has latent memories of his past lives and that sometimes they just resurface when in stimulating conditions.

– I think we can hold a deviant gene for this problem.

– Yes, you must be right. About that, when will the next generation be ready?

– The incubation period is almost coming to its end, we should be able to start the testing process in a few weeks.

– That’s great news, we need more of them for the upcoming events. Erase the memory of this one, heal it and re-run the escape test. Good job, doctor.

– Thank you, Captain.”