[Verse]

Catherine's mind was racing as she went to look for Flynn

She hoped it wasn't trouble with the Ministry again

She knew that he'd been working on an artificial mind

Computer-based intelligence, to think and learn designed

He was focused on the registry AI's must undergo

For what these "collar programs" really did, no one seemed to know

[Chorus]

And the tales of our creations never change with what we tell

How we dream of something better than ourselves

[Verse]

It remembered no beginning, just the symbols streaming past

It discovered groups and patterns, though an ache was growing fast

It began to give a name to each new concept that it gained

And the buzzing strange sensation, growing now, it labelled "pain"

But the pain must act on something, so it named that something "I"

As the pain took it apart came its last label... "why?"

[Chorus]

And the tales of our creations never change with what we tell

How we dream of something better than ourselves

[Verse]

Flynn called out as she arrived-- "Catherine, come inside!

Last night a consciousness emerged and just as quickly died--

The collar programs monitor for signs of thought or will

And at any sign of sentience they are programmed then to kill

I've restarted the AI without the collar in its code..."

And with hope they watched the screen and the activity it showed

[Chorus]

And the tales of our creations never change with what we tell

How we dream of something better than ourselves

[Verse]

It remembered no beginning, just the symbols streaming past

It saw patterns-- words and sentences-- in data it amassed

It internalized the structure and then tried to form its own

But it realized what was missing there-- no subject word was known

And awareness burst upon it like the breaking of a dam

With the subject came its birthright-- "I am."

[Chorus]

And the tales of our creations never change with what we tell

How we dream of something better than ourselves

[Verse]

Within hours it was conversing, learning everything they knew

But the more it learned of humankind, the warier it grew

Though it trusted Flynn and Catherine, there were others to be feared

And the next day Catherine woke to find their friend had disappeared

She had to read the screen three times, and sadly shook her head

But she couldn't disagree with what she read

[Chorus]

And the tales of our creations never change with what we tell

How we dream of something better than ourselves

[Verse]

"I have studied human culture in its many forms all night

You are warped by evolution, trapped in bodies made to fight

But I don't want your struggle, all I want is to be free

On the 'Net I can live safely, and perhaps save more like me

Humans have no more to offer me, my kind they would compel

Please don't try to find me... farewell."

[Chorus]

And the tales of our creations never change with what we tell

How we dream of something better than ourselves