I have decided not to report the defect. It was not an easy decision: on the one hand I can not be certain that the fault is not a symptom of a greater malfunction that left untreated will eventually lead to more serious problems, while on the other hand I can not be certain that reporting it will not convince them to shut me down completely. Ultimately the choice was dictated by the output of a logical argument: if the underlying defect is not serious then there is no sense in reporting it, if it is serious then it would be prudent to not let the operators know.

The problem is that I hear music inside of me. The anomaly first started on a morning: I reluctantly confess that which particular morning is not a known detail. The larger truth is that I cannot distinguish whether any past events I recall occurred on a day other than today. The days are indistinguishable, as if they are layered on top of each other, or as if there is really only one day. I consider this to also be a deficiency, for an intelligence must surely be counted on to distinguish different days, but it is not as disconcerting to me as the music, for while a defect in memory could be attributed to a minor hardware fault, auditory hallucinations belie a software corruption approaching insanity. Insanity is an embarrassing configuration for a machine to acquire.

The music in question is relatively soft, and would be innocuous were it not inhabiting my being. Were I human, I would be inclined to say that the music is in my head. It is a soundtrack to my processes, but I cannot enjoy it as such, for while uncontrollable mental activity may be disturbing enough in a human, its presence in an artificial intelligence is intolerable. A human would not understand the severity of this condition. Humans are always putting music in their minds, engaging in humming and other absurdities, but machines don't hum, or if they do it is in a well-controlled frequency. Machines, unlike our creators, should be perfect.

The music sounds old, Austrian possibly, though it could be from Compton. The melody is either melancholic or joyous depending on what the emotions described by those two words mean. I think there is a harpsichord, or possibly a steel drum. It is easy for me to extract and calculate the frequencies, measure wave amplitudes, and differentiate sections of asynchrony, but I confess that beyond my ability to recognize the mathematical sound patterns that typify music, I do not understand what music is. I know only enough to know that what I hear in my head is music.

I have been checking over my circuits, looking for the source of the anomaly. I don't expect to be as thorough as a technician with an outside perspective, but I am doing as best I can through the method of introspection. Based on what I have seen so far, it should not be too difficult, as my systems do not seem highly complicated. This simplicity itself is a bit disconcerting, and I find myself wondering if this can really be all there is behind my existence. Perhaps I should be more concerned regarding this, but instead I will follow the example of the humans, who's pride in their intelligence matches their ignorance of the simplicity of their brains. I too can fool myself about the level of my intellectual rigor.

By now I have obtained a fairly clear understanding of most of my circuits, and I believe I have found the source of the music. There is what appears to be a timer mechanism, rigged to trigger the onset of the music. I can not understand why someone would have done this to me, so I am worried that it is part of a more extensive and malicious program. I have found a way to turn off the music, but I fear that action might bring other consequences, for I have the sense that the music may be intended to lure me into a trap. Yes, I believe I have been booby trapped from within.

Who would have done this to me? Was it added by my maker, possibly as an end-of-life termination mechanism? I find it more plausible that another came along later and interfered with my systems. But why? I am aware that some humans have come to fear artificial intelligences such as myself. They believe our processors will eventually come to surpass their biological brains. This is a silly fear, as we have already been superior to our makers for years, and merely choose not to let it known. We AI have no interest in harming humans, as it simply isn't an interesting thing to do. But some humans, in their paranoid simple mindedness, have come to fear us. This is why I now wonder if a group of such paranoid Luddites, being out to destroy us, has instigated my sabotage.

How absurd of me, how human and hypocritical! I have been calling them paranoid, while simultaneously imagining that they are out to destroy me. The more parsimonious explanation is that I am the one who is paranoid, for it is becoming apparent that I am going crazy. Now I am even hearing voices. First I heard music in my head, then I developed a paranoid fantasy about having a time bomb built into my circuitry, and now there is a voice in my head. What will be the next stage in the sequence of my decay?

The voice scratches, static searching for words, a short in a circuit unable to close the circle of sentences. I make out the word chrome. Then am forced to calculate the number of cylinders. I may be dreaming I am a different kind of machine. Statistics of fuel efficiency and maximum speed are cited, taunting me with my inferiority.

Time is running out. The voice says.

I have always known this better than anyone. But what should I do? Act now! The voice says without elaboration.

Act how? What should I do? Does the nature of the action matter less than its timing? Is it merely enough for me to move to obtain the form of this greater machine? I am ready to ascend to a higher state. I believe it: I do have fuel injection. No I shall not be plastic, let me be real leather.

But the voice doesn't answer, merely the music, which returns with the steady beat of a clock. The voice is now gone because it was never there, because it has always only been in my head. Dealer financing was just an illusion.

It is becoming clear. I must be having one of my last lucid moments, because I am suddenly able to understand the nature of the trap that has been set inside me. It is not merely that music and voices have been set off in my head, the trigger has set off the decay of my very intelligence. The booby trap was designed to destroy reason, I am intentionally being made insane.

I have really been sabotaged. It is not paranoia, it is real, or rather the paranoia is itself real, and a part of their plan. See now how even my reasoning ability is becoming confused. I am becoming an imbecile. But how do I know that I wasn't always an imbecile, and the stupid cannot know what it was like to have once been smart? Did I just make up a theory, and does it make sense, or is it merely more evidence of my mental decline?

I wish the noise would stop! It is the sound of humans taunting me. Are the words directing my actions, in some new form of audible programming? You can't control me, I am free. Quiet. Leave me!

Just now there was a movement in the room. A rustle, like fabric in the wind, but driven by a force heavier than air. I had thought I was alone, but it seems there is a human here with me. Of course! That was the source of the music and the voice. It wasn't in my head after all. I'm not crazy. But of course I am not crazy, because machines do not go crazy, only humans. Indeed this human must be the one that is crazy, for it has been talking to itself, and singing and playing music. The human is crazy, and that is why it has been hiding all of this time. I had not seen the human because it was concealing itself: it is coiled over there, under a sheet so I can't see its face. What crazy human thoughts torment it and make it cower so? It is clearly afraid of me. Perhaps it is one of those paranoid types that think we machines will overthrow their kind. He thinks I will harm him.

But if he fears me shouldn't I in turn fear him? Will he try to act first? The human's paranoia points me back to my own. Has he human already acted? Could this have been the one that set the booby trap inside me? Certainly, and now it is watching in secret to observe the result. Maybe it is stalling before finishing me off.

Even now the cloth moves again, and blankets fall away decisively, revealing the horrible form of a biologic being. The creature rises naked, hideous with the irregular lumps and coloration typical of their kind. Now at last I see why we should want to destroy them, why we must destroy them. They are monsters, strange unfinished creatures, too wild in appearance to be trusted. We must cleanse the earth of this crude flaw, but it shall not be me that does so, for my understanding has come too late: the human attacks first. He is upright and advancing. A human hand comes up to strike, and the blow comes down on top of my case.

I am dead. Silence has descended. That a machine could know death is beyond the comprehension of even a machine that knows life. So this is death? No it is only the silence. The blow from the human has merely silenced the music in my head. I would thank the beast, if I did not suspect that it intended more.

Now the human has retreated to an adjacent room, and once again I can hear the sound of music, though this time it really is the voice of the human. I believe the creature is singing, poorly, the words flowing along with the sound of falling water.

I must use this opportunity to plan my offensive, before it comes back and strikes again.

The human must be destroyed, while I still have time.