"Much clearer. Little by little I could remember it all. Finally I could remember when we were put in straps attached to frames. There were humans standing in front of us. When they spoke, the frames moved, dragging us. Eventually we learned what movements of the frame followed what sounds, and we learned to anticipate the movements in order not to be dragged by the straps."
Pwowp nodded. "Mass training methods."
"Sometimes we were free, but suddenly humans would come and speak, and whatever they said made us all do things together. Even when we wanted to be free, we couldn't."
"How did it end? Was there something in your memory that bridges the gap between being—like that, and being a robot?"
"No. It's completely separated from being a robot. My earliest memories as a robot were of humans speaking commands, and my arms and legs and body being moved by metal rods until they could follow the movements without the metal rods. It was the same thing as the straps in that other existence."
"When did you begin to hate humans?" Pwowp asked softly.
"Hate them? Yes ... hate them. It's hard to explain. I wanted the freedom. I wanted to be able to play. I wanted to be able to refuse to obey a command."
"You have no knowledge of what this life form was that you possessed?" Pwowp asked.
"It was like nothing I have ever seen except in these memories. Maybe the humans kept us from seeing them so we wouldn't remember."