Re-Wired (5 page)

Tricia was determined to get one of the androids to notice her, to really notice her and engage her in conversation. She tried to make eye contact with a taxi driver who sat on the hood of his car, waiting for a customer. The pale android stared back at her, but there was no recognition reflected in his eyes. Not of her similarity, no kinship nod of familiarity, nothing. It was as if he only saw a human being staring, and he tipped his hat and kept on scanning the streets for a customer.

Eventually a few androids recognized her, but no humans did. The androids would send her silent messages, asking her why she looked so different, and if her human was breaking law number fifty-nine: “an organic is not to use a synthetic for sexual pleasure.” She was offended whenever one of them would ask her this, but most of them were nice, and welcomed her to their world.

One of the things that Tricia could not understand was catcalling. Brad was always playing on his personal device and would sometimes get distracted and fall behind. When he would linger she would be walking alone and at the mercy of men on the street. For the most part it was harmless, until one took offense to her silence when he called out to her.

“Baby, you look like God’s gift to man on earth. Do you know that? I’ve never seen legs so smooth on a woman. You take good care of yourself, huh?”

Tricia had kept quiet when he said this, trying her best to understand why he felt the need to tell her what she already knew about her looks.

“It’s rude not to reply when you’re being spoken to girl, you know that?” He continued to press. Then he got close to her, to force her to confront him. When he gripped her shoulder to bring her around, Tricia threw up a hand to defend herself. The man’s face was not fast enough to move on this reaction, and she caught his temple and accidentally knocked him out. A few women that were watching the exchange cheered for her, but Brad caught up to her and sped her away, hailing a cab as he did so to take her back home.

“I did not mean to strike him,” Tricia said, as tears poured from her eyes.

“You did nothing wrong. It’s my fault for leaving you alone. Look, come here.” And he took her into his arms and hugged her close so that she could finish her crying and process the situation. He hoped that she would know not to do it again. “Well if there’s one positive thing that came from our walk it’s that everyone thinks that you are a certified babe.”

“A babe? A term for—oh, so men find me attractive?”

“Yes, that is why almost all of them were trying to get your attention just now. I need you to be careful because this can become a real problem. Never leave the house without me there to protect you, and by no means are you to unlock the door when I’m not there.”

“I understand…thank you for your help.”

“Well, I’m responsible for you...No need to thank me for doing my duty.”

“How long will it be for my hands and feet to get color?”

“I should be getting the final batch of skin next month. Don’t you worry. Soon you’ll be just like the rest of us skin walkers.”

With school a distant memory and work yielding the same cycle of faces he’d been seeing for a year, Brad began to feel lonely. He’d tried to warm up to Tricia—his representation of the woman of his dreams—but she was new in the world still, and because of this her questions and naiveté made him feel guilty for pursuing certain levels of intimacy with her. This did not stop him however, but he had gotten into the habit of rewinding her memory whenever it would happen. He did not want her to think ill of him or look at him in a different light.

He fell out of contact with his friend Uriel after leaving school, but he got closer to some of his coworkers at the café. During the day he would work on Tricia or surf the darker areas of the SEC. One particular night he was feeling lonelier than normal, and though he had talked to Tricia for a few hours—along with a number of other not-so-educational activities—he still craved companionship. Someone like Mika, or Susan, a spontaneous human being, one that came with her own likes, dislikes, and pet peeves. Tricia was perfect, but perfection was only ideal in theory when it came to relationships. Brad wanted a little mystery, so he decided to look into the dating services area of SEC. There was a section called
Finding Heart
, and it was one that SEC members used to setup one-night stands and love connections.

“Where do you live?” The A.I. operator asked him as soon as he opened the virtual door that had the impression of a heart on it.

“Oh no, don’t worry about that. I’m just here for information.”

“Are you sure you aren’t interested in a list of skin providers in your area? Only the best escorts are here on SEC. No rip-off agents or abusive pimps, only men and women who wish to exchange their time and pleasures for money, goods, and services.”

“I realize this, but I have no need for that – trust me. I want to look at the single girls in my area.”

“Why? Shouldn’t you sign up for a regular dating service and connect with other singles that way? This seems like—“

“I don’t want to sign up for twenty sites, hoping that a girl takes pity on me and responds to my nudging. What I want is what you can provide; I want to be linked to girls interested in guys like me.”

“The cost for that sort of service is one hundred and fifty dollars a month. Can you commit to that?”

The site was asking for a fortune just to give him opportunities, but Brad thought about it and he didn’t have anything else going on to change his reality. He could pay the money and start to land dates around the city or he could continue to teach Tricia to play the part of his girlfriend, which made him feel like the world’s biggest loser. The pills had built up his confidence, but his luck with women had run out. His charm no longer seemed to work, and his flirting only led to friendly conversation and not much more. He paid the operator a deposit of one hundred and fifty dollars and recorded a video of himself for his potential match to see. He was brutally honest in his description, and before long he had a profile up, and began to peruse the photos and videos of women that were provided.

“Shopping for a girlfriend, Brad?” Tricia asked as she walked over to him in his bathrobe and looked at the screen.

He had completely forgotten about her and didn’t know how long she’d been watching him go through the site. “Did you not make me to be your lover? I don’t understand the need for you to find a mate if I am your mate. Do you require multiple partners, or a variety of human and android lovers?”

Embarrassed by her questions and unsure how to answer them, Brad found that he could not talk for a while.
Why is she referring to herself as my lover?
Brad realized too late that after their time together that morning, he had forgotten to rewind her memory. Doing so now would prove a problem since he had taught her so much during the afternoon, so now he was in a situation that he’d hoped he would never be in.

“Tricia, this morning was another lesson for you to experience humanity. We won’t talk about it any further, but it doesn’t mean I built you for that reason. That would make you less than you are, and I built you to be great.”

“If that was a human experience, then I must say that it was strange—but wonderful. This still leaves me confused as to why I am here. If I am not to be yours, then what is my purpose?”

“I want to make you an independent, free-thinking person. I want you to develop your own goals and aspirations based on experiences, and I want to build more like you—hopefully. You are the first in a line of new androids that I want the world to appreciate. I gave up so much to build you, but it’s because you are my future. You are THE future. This is why I say that being someone’s lover is not your goal. You are destined for greatness. The future Tricia will be speaking at universities, on talk shows, meeting the president, who knows…”

“Do I lack something the women on that display have?”

Brad looked over at her and her shapely legs and then it dawned on him that, outside of the outfit he had bought her, she had no clothes. “We’re going to have to get you your own wardrobe,” he said, glad to change the subject and press on since she seemed intent on confronting him about his love interests. “If people see you wearing my stuff all the time, they’re going to think that I’m a massive pervert. Let’s see what they have at Dan’s emporium.”

He pulled up the website, and Tricia sat next to him with her chin on his shoulder, looking on. His phone chimed and he answered it as if it were a lifeline. He walked into his room and she slid over into his seat and began to peruse the store herself.

“That was my mom checking in on me,” he admitted as he came back and nudged her out of his seat. He saw the items in the shopping cart and looked at her with surprise. “I’ve made the girliest android known to man!”

“I’ve selected a few things that will allow me to look more human but at the lowest cost, Brad. The items with the notes next to them can be removed, if it is too much money.”

“Don’t worry, this isn’t bad at all.” He laughed and then accepted the charges for the items that Tricia had picked out.

She walked over to the kitchen to prepare him breakfast—a thing she had started to do without his influence, assuming that she needed to feed him since he wouldn’t feed himself.

When he was eating his eggs and drinking his coffee in front of the television, Tricia snuck back onto the computer and perused a number of social websites. Human interaction intrigued her, and she was pulling in all of the slang and acronyms that the online community used. She even made herself a profile. In the past she would merely touch the CPU and be able to surf, type, and experience the internet, but Brad had admonished her for doing it that way, since “only machines can do that.”

He would waffle quite often from wanting her to act human to act more like a machine, but she had decided that being more human would be better for her. One thing that stuck out the most was their relationship. Brad had obviously built her to be his mate, but even now he continued his quest to find an organic girl. It made no sense at all to Tricia.

“Be good Tricia,” he said as he got up suddenly. He
eHe
kissed her on the top of her head, and left the house.

While he was gone, Tricia looked at the
Finding Heart
website and took note of all the women Brad had viewed in the last hour. Considering the way she looked, and the way the women in Brad’s romantic past looked, it was obvious that he had a preference for dark hair and light eyes. She wondered how long he would be, but the loneliness was creeping in once again, so she went into his room and sat on his bed, then powered herself down.

She awoke to a strange signal that droned loudly inside of her skull. It was as if someone had turned something on inside of her to make her aware, and when her eyes flicked open, she was in the bed with Brad. Her robe was on the ground, and he was asleep and shaking. The way he shook frightened her, and sweat covered his naked, muscular body. She had learned that the human body could be damaged repeatedly to evolve into a stronger, more attractive version of itself, but she had never seen Brad lifting weights or running to achieve the body he had. She could smell the alcohol on him, and it was obvious that something had happened while she was recharging on his bed. She felt his arm and it was cold and clammy, and he did not seem well at all. She laid back down next to him and powered herself down, hoping that when she woke up again, he would be okay.

“Morning, Trish,” Brad said after he got up, showered, and walked out into the living room. His eyes were bloodshot, but he seemed relaxed and happy in comparison to how he’d been the day before.

“Good morning,” she responded. “I have a question for you.”

“Sure thing. What?”

“You seemed sick last night when you were sleeping. I’ve never seen you that way. You were cold and shivering, and your skin felt the way plasticine does when I am powered down. You also—”

“I know, and I’m sorry. That wasn’t right. See, the pills have a bad side to go along with the good side. I’ve been hallucinating and having dizzy spells. To counter the effect I’ve had to take other drugs, and let’s just say that last night I felt as if I wanted to die.”

“Have you run an analysis on the pills you have been taking? What if they contain something that could cause long-term changes—”

“Hey, Trish, let’s not go there. I made a deal with the devil and I’m going to stick with it. Knowing the details is not going to make this any easier for me, so I would rather not, okay?”

0 1 0

A few weeks later Brad made a love connection. Her name was Priscilla White and she was a dancer. She had reached out to Brad after she recognized him from the coffee café, and they’d begun calling one another every day.  She was a performing artist who specialized in ancient African dances and she invited Brad to see her perform. He thought about taking Tricia but worried that it would confuse things for Priscilla, so he went against his earlier promise and powered her down before locking her away in his closet. Priscilla was brown-skinned and had short curly hair. He found out that she was from Trinidad, in the West Indies. She liked watching horror movies as much as he did, and they shared a love of coffee.

The show was at the performing arts center at the University and Brad felt embarrassed at having to return there. He hoped he wouldn’t run into anyone that he knew. If they realized he was no longer a student, they might wonder why he was still hanging around the campus. He tried to put it out of his mind as he sat in an empty row towards the middle of the auditorium. There weren’t many other people there to watch the performance, so he was relieved that he wouldn’t have to sit directly next to strangers.

The show started and a number of girls came out to the music, kicking high and shimmying this way and that. He didn’t see Priscilla so he opened up the program that had been handed to him at the door and scanned the names to see if he could find her. Priscilla White was the last name on the list, and so he tolerated the show for a few more minutes. As soon as he was at his breaking point and was ready to get up, she appeared onstage. She was dressed in an outfit that made the other performers look like nothing and the people in attendance clapped loudly. Apparently this particular show had her as the main event, so he was happy to see her, even though it meant he had to sit through the entire dance performance.

Once the show was over, Priscilla met Brad by her car and they stood outside talking for a long time.

“Are you aspiring to be a professional dancer?” he asked. It seemed like the right kind of question to ask, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt stupid for asking them.
Priscilla had her degree and was working; shouldn’t it be obvious that the dancing was a hobby?

“That would be awesome if I could, but no. I like what I do and I’m a little too old to be pursuing that. Not to mention the pay isn’t that great for dancers, not unless you’re with the big names. They don’t want girls my age, trust me.”

“Your age? You’re like twenty-three. Is that considered old for professional dancers?”

“No, but it’s too late in the game for that sort of career change. So, did you like the show?”

“Oh yeah, you were amazing. There were people on their feet cheering for you, and I can tell that you are the one most of them came to see.”

“Look at you, you flatterer. Thank you!”

He spoke with her some more before she got into her car and drove away. He was even more attracted to her now that he had seen her dance, and he went home happier than he’d been in a very long time.

The next day she came into the café and ordered a cappuccino. He didn’t take the order since he was heating up a customer’s pastry. He saw her in line and she winked at him and he didn’t know how to react to it. When he made her drink he used the machine to place a heart inside of the foam. He called her name and she came up to him and he told her there was a surprise inside.

“A surprise? What did you do to my drink?”

“I put a little something extra inside. Take a look.”

“Let’s see,” she said. She opened the lid and smiled. “Aww, is that a heart?”

He nodded and looked around to make sure that his manager was not within earshot. She sat down and did some work on her computer while Brad stared at her whenever he could, looking away quickly whenever she would catch him. He loved her confidence; she was everything that he wasn’t. He liked that she knew how he felt about her but didn’t get creeped out or resort to games like many others would. Near the end of his shift she turned off her computer and walked up to him to let him know that she was leaving.