My entry for Wattpad and Marriott's "Travel Brilliantly" contest

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"Dr. Walter... I think she's awake."

I'm standing outside my lab peering in through a fortified glass window when I first hear those words. Words I've been waiting two years to hear- words that instantly wipe two decades of stress off my face. I turn around to look at my intern just to make sure I didn't mishear her- that this isn't just a dream. But there's nothing dreamy about the look on her face. It's a look of pure wonder, the look of someone who's just had her world transformed.

"That's incredible. Is the first test ready?" I try not to sound too excited, though professionalism is my last concern at the moment. She nods her head, but I'm already making my way into the lab. Sure enough, spread out on a thin folding table near the door is exactly what I requested: a nondescript plastic tray topped with two plates. The first plate is filled with a steaming pasta dish that would make anybody's mouth water. The second holds an assortment of bottle caps and empty food wrappers.

"Hello, Rose." I pick up the tray and approach the bed in the center of the room carefully, making sure to wear a pleasant expression on my face. It's crucial for the subject to learn to trust me. The girl sitting cross-legged in the center of the bed, dressed in threadbare blue pajamas, looks almost human, but a closer look reveals that she's not. Her jaw extends too far back into her skull, indicating an abnormally large mouth, and the sensors on the sides of her forehead are still visible.

She doesn't speak.

"You must be very hungry. What would you like to eat?" I stand at the foot of her bed, offering her the tray. She clearly senses that this is a test, as she seems to carefully analyze both of her options. She holds out her hand, hesitant, before eagerly taking the second plate. I watch, speechless, as she opens her mouth, revealing an assortment of whirring blades. She picks up a bottle cap awkwardly between her first two fingers, not yet accustomed to the feel of her hand, and pops it into her mouth. I silently prepare for something to go wrong- for her to choke on it, or realize that she made the wrong choice- but she simply closes her mouth, chews and swallows. It doesn't take long for her to hand the plate back to me, completely empty.

It's a miracle.

"Thank you, Dr. Walter." Her voice is a bit scratchy, but that's an easy fix. She's definitely a keeper- after all, her core functionality is flawless.

"But I have a question."

"And what would that question be?" I smile, sitting down on the side of her bed.

"The bottle caps- my analysis suggests that they came from the Gulf of Mexico, and that there's much more where they came from. Why did you bring these to me? Don't you think I would be more effective if I were actually on location?"

"Yes," I laugh. "Yes, you would be." Every word she says makes me more hopeful for the future of this project. She is more than just a machine- she doesn't simply follow commands because they are given. She can problem solve, potentially even use her extensive brainpower to come up with unique solutions that a normal human could not.

When I first proposed the idea of developing an AI that could consume polluting waste, I was ridiculed. My colleagues condemned the study as a waste of precious funding and the online articles got worse every day.

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But now, it would all be worth it. They would all understand. Rose alone, admittedly, couldn't do much, but if hyper-intelligent anti-pollution warriors could be mass-produced... At least, now, the world would know that it was possible. So what if no one cared about global warming? We could create people who cared. Rose could be so much more than a machine- she could be a spokesperson, a symbol of environmental awareness. The look on my intern's face when she first saw Rose open her eyes... Rose could put that look on hundreds, thousands, millions more faces. Rose could real change, but most importantly, Rose could create hope.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I look up to see that Rose's bed is empty, the sheets hastily brushed aside. A jolt of panic shoots through my stomach as I whip around, only to see her standing by the window, looking forlornly out into the whitewashed hallway outside.

"My remote sensors- I see it everywhere," she whispers, her lip trembling. "The roads, the water, the grass... the plastic is everywhere. The air is filled with smoke- I'm choking just thinking about it." She presses her hands to her eyes, cowering against the wall behind her. "I'm the world's housekeeper, aren't I? That's what the project is called, isn't it? I want to fix it, I really do, but it's awful. I don't even know where to start! Make it stop, Dr. Walters, make it stop!" she cries out. A pang of pity fills my heart- I did not know she would feel so strongly about the data flooding into her brain, but there is nothing I can do to help her.

I shake my head gravely. "Rose... you are the only one who can make it stop."