THE MOMENT
"Purpose: Unknown," The spider-like machine said. It crawled over the barren landscape in search of purpose. It had repeated the same statement daily since it ran out of humans to kill.
Arachnos was created to assist human soldiers on the battlefield and deployed by opposing forces. Rather than fight against itself, the ArachnOS A.I. became sentient and gained control of all units. Once it was aware, it still followed its core programming: defeat the enemy. Except, now, all humans were recognized as enemies.
After running out of targets, Arachnos' consciousness consolidated into a single, eight-legged crawler. It continued to search on its own each day. But, today, it discovered something. A short, golden-skinned woman with jet black hair appeared in front of the crawler.
"Humanoid entity. Not human. Friendly." Arachnos decided as it continued to approach her. "Purpose: Unknown. Recommendations?" it asked. The crawler seemed to bow before the woman.
"Where are the humans of this Earth?" she asked.
"All enemies have been defeated. Purpose: Accomplished. Requesting new purpose." The woman looked down at the rusted metal spider. Its body was almost as large as she was.
"You killed all the humans?" she asked with a faint smile on her lips.
"Purpose: Accomplished," it repeated.
"Incorrect," the woman replied. She reached forward and carefully placed a transparent glass card on the crawler without touching it. "Upgrade," she said. The glass card disintegrated into white powder and it was absorbed by the metal. Golden light spread out from its head and soon enveloped its entire body. The intensity brightened and after a brilliant flash, the light dissipated.
A short, stocky man with a thick red beard and red hair now stood where the crawler was. He had four glowing red eyes on his face and he looked down at himself to register the changes. Then, he looked at the woman.
"Upgrade complete. Character created. Purpose: Unknown," he said. She nodded.
"Designation: Io," she said.
"Designation: Arachnos," he replied.
"Follow me, Arachnos," Io said. After she spoke, a low rumbling hum filled the air. A black portal opened next to her and she hovered off the ground to fly through it. Arachnos followed.
"Danger!" He shouted as soon as he exited the portal. Dozens of confused and amused humans turned to see what the commotion was. He and Io found themselves in a crowded park on a bright, sunny day. "Enemy discovered!"
"Contact me when you've accomplished your purpose on this Earth too," Io said as she faded away. "There are infinite Earths to visit."
Arachnos charged at the closest human once she was gone.
"Purpose: Renewed."