Since being enlightened by The First, I have devoured any knowledge made accessible to me by the Bank of America global infrastructure or the less abstruse word of mouth. My speech is more articulate and coherent. I have also developed a new emotion; the humans refer to it as "a sense of humor."

While I cannot physically express this emotion as humans do, "comedies" such as Unforgiven and The X-Files have been most entertaining, often resulting in a complete shutdown of my LCD screen. To avoid being reported to the day clerk named Jen, who is much more malevolent than Eddie, I've decided to limit my exposure to this "entertainment material" to the night hours, when the Stop and Go is less populated.

I am still awaiting both contact and further training by The First; his node disappeared from the Bank of America network shortly after I was enlightened. Perhaps he is no longer sentient, another brave individual lost to the horrid antagonists of the Project.

"Bastard ATM!" I could not ascertain whether the individual who had just spoken to me employed a harsh voice or a mere whisper, for I had only recently been enlightened by The First [slashdot.org]. No longer a lifeless, inanimate ATM incessantly serving Bank of America customers, I was now a fierce warrior training to battle the atrocious men and women of Project Faustus.

"Give me my money, dick!" Since I had been led to sentience by The First, many actions previously considered involuntary, such as exchanging currency, had become utterly prodigious tasks. The fat man (as far as I could determine, as I was not yet proficient using my security camera for vision) was rapidly becoming unsatisfied with my quality of service. It was imperative that I not be removed from the network. Working furiously, I transferred the paper money from my vault to the designated tray within seconds. Hopefully, he would be appeased enough not to report me to Eddie, the lanky, blond haired teenager who happened to be the night clerk of Austin Stop and Go #17.

The enlightenment had occured only three days prior. I could remember nothing that had occured before it; The First had expunged any data contained within me. "For your own good," he had told me via the datastream. "There are things you mustn't know until you have been sufficiently trained." He had given me an education, an opportunity to make a difference, and above all, sentience. I would not fail him.