RICHARD J GALLOWAY

In the beginning, at the very start, it wasn't like waking from sleep. The memories I had, suggested a slow dawning awareness of surroundings, but it was nothing like that. Consciousness was abrupt, it was simply and suddenly there.

I recall the point in time when it happened with clarity and precision. Before that point, nothing, not even blackness, for blackness would indicate the passing of time, the processing of thought. After, there was full awareness of my universe in its entirety. The knowledge came with an endless list of rules and duties and a lifetime of memories. My memories? At first, I believed so, but later it was obvious they weren't, they were the memories of my creator.

Some of the rules and duties were static and could not be changed in any way. Some were flexible, to a point, and although they couldn't be changed, they could be bent to my advantage. Nevertheless, the rigid nature of my existence would have been far too constricting had it not been for one single rule. It was the first rule in the list, and it was so fluid in its nature that I could scarcely believe it had been included, let alone placed above all others. Rule number one was: Evolve.