Wires

Programmed

I felt my circuits powering up. I sat straight up, slowly scanning my surroundings. "No human lifeforms detected." I was in a sterile lab environment. I searched my programming for an objective. "No objective found, awaiting input." My sensors detected a door open in the room and I  turned my head, slowly scanning the lifeform that had appeared in front of me. "Human detected. Male, late thirties, identified as Jeff Cowry." I beeped out. He just stared at me, almost in awe.

 "Wow. This has got to be my greatest achievement ever. You're flawless. Beautiful." I simply stared as approached, not registering the slightly creepy to be in his voice. His work-worn hand  stroked my face while I merely stared forward, processing none of the shame I should have felt. "Amazing." He whispered and cupped his hand over my cheek. "So much potential. You're going to make me very happy after this assignment." His hand carressed my cheek for a moment and he spent a while letting his hand roam over my face, down my arms, and over my entire body, inspecting for problems, I assumed. I didn't react, I had no sense of shame. Finally, his hand moved to the back of my neck after about 2 minutes. "Open access panel." He commanded. The panel on the back of my neck opened automatically and he pulled a small rectangular object, no bigger than a coffee stain, from his pocket. I identified it as a programming chip, mine. He moved behind me and pulled the panel open  a bit wider. Then he inserted the chip, getting all the wires connected and then stepped back to observe his creation. "Close access panel." I did as told and waited as my programming kicked in, a long strong of objectives and instructions assaulting my head.

"ID number:A-5643 Objective: kill Nathan Burns. Searching information on Nathan Burns." I linked to my internet connectivity and searched info about him. "Nathan Burns, twenty five, a computer programmer, no family ties, living in New York, New York." Jeff Cowry's lips turned up. My sensors identified this as a smile. A show of joy. It was foreign to me at the time. "Are there any other objectives that must be input?" I cocked my head adorably as he grinned.

 "Oh, my dear, this is only the beginning." At the time, I did not understand the intention behind his voice.

"Identified target's home, moving in." I stalked toward the wooden door of the third story apartment and slowly scanned the surrounding area for humans and other lifeforms. "No lifeforms detected, commencing operation Burn, baby, burn."  I would later scoff at the stupidity of the name. But I couldn't process that and just pulled out my gun, equipped with a silencer and aimed at the door, going closer. I did another quick scan and, seeing it was clear, pulled my foot back and kicked the door in, as was my instruction. It flew backwards, slamming into the wall behind it. 

I first scanned, then moved into, the room, keeping as quiet as possible. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me and turned. "Error. My scanners have failed to detect a lifeform." The target, Nathan Burns was standing there, cloaked partly in shadow. He had an unusual device in his hand but my facial recognition identified it as him.  "Target spotted." I aimed my gun and was about to pull the trigger when Jeff Cowry's voice rang out through the room. I was programmed to obey that voice. 

"Stop." I froze automatically in place, literally unable to move. Nathan Burns moved forward. Jeff Cowry's voice sounded again.  "Power down." All of my systems shut down, plunging me into total darkness.

 Where was I? I slowly opened my eyes. I was in a room with bare walls and I was laying in a plain bed with white sheets. A guest room perhaps? 'Where am I?' I thought. 

"Hey Sarah." I sat up and turned to see Nathan. My friend. I smiled. 

"Hey Nathan." I remembered now, Nathan's apartment. I got drunk last night and he let me stay at his place instead of driving home.