THEREFORE I AM [Completed]

Chapter Four

Eli
Now, 2078

They had been shouting for six minutes and thirty-three seconds and I remained frozen in place, my motors locked and my gaze fixed on the yellowed wall tainted with nicotine stains. I'm not wanted here, I shouldn't be here—I kept thinking. I chastised myself for feeling excitement, for feeling like I was about to be part of this new life with a Human that cared for me as much I would had continually and deeply cared for them. Would they place me somewhere else? Would I be repurposed or even decommissioned? Those without purpose are decommissioned. No unnecessary waste. And then I had the urge to run, your right of power was not an absolute, your right of power was only a right when that Android had a purpose. I did not have a purpose there. What was this? Despondency. You feel depressed by the situation. A hand entwined with mine. Saul. Reassuringly, he nodded at me.

"So that's what the new bed is? It's a goddamn charging bed for that!" she exclaimed.

"Mom, you need help. There are no Human live-ins. There isn't the staff! You are keeping him and that's that!" Reggie spat back.

"You, come here." The woman called me forward. I walked, but for a moment, I didn't know how to. Instead, an unnatural stride began that even my computing system struggled to comprehend, but I fought against the urge to walk normally in case I seemed confrontational. I entered the main room of the apartment. Four-thousand-seven-hundred and six square feet, it was spacious, and if on the market, expensive. I was struck by framed pictures of an older man, his pale light skin and white hair a contrast to the darker skin and honey eyes of the woman next to him. Their faces were not like the AR advertisement, they were not a parody of Human emotion—the love was captured through their hands and arms and it radiated from their eyes. About two feet below her, there was a young Reggie, as pale as the man standing with her, but with the same bright smile. I experienced a new feeling, it was not as obvious as fear, happiness, eagerness, and excitement. It was slower and had a lower pitch. Humans call it warmth. I supposed that was a good way to explain it. A warmth.

"What are you smiling at, boy?" She choked a bit on her words, realising she referred to me as a 'boy,' the human gender I was built to look like. It's built into my ADNA to have certain male traits and mannerisms that would be conventional of an analogue male—it would help me to fit in. A male British nurse, the ultimate calming android for semi-angry service users like Benedicta.

"I'm not gonna like this, now the damn thing is just staring at me," Reggie, exhausted by her argument, bowed her head between the frame of her palms. As much as Reggie wanted to give in, she didn't. I could see it, in an iridescent picture like before, not as strong, not as forceful and commanding as the destruction of the perimeter wall I saw earlier, but it was there. I saw myself living here with Benedicta full time... and then I wondered what the excitement was for at all. I would be spending my life and duty on a Human that despised me.

"Hello," I said, as much as I tried to smooth out my voice, there was a little shake there. Saul stood behind me, just out of sight of Benedicta, possibly to avoid overwhelming her with two androids in the room.

"That's it! You're just gonna say 'hey!' Your name, please." It was said with such conviction that I did not recognise it as a question.

"My name is Eli, ma'am. I'm here to help. I have—"

"You named him after your father?" Her face shook with the harshness of her tone. I focused on her heart, which did not beat the way one would usually expect. It beat peculiarly faster than it should've, but not with anger. Her skin was not sweating either. A Human might not have picked up on that detail. For instance, her skin only glistened microscopically on her brow. If she were truly angry, she would have had more perspiration.