Wires

Underneath

There was silence. Total silence. 

"A-5643?" Nathan. I just stood there, leaning into Asher. I wished I could feel the warmth of him...wished I could feel his synthetic skin. And, as these thoughts crossed my mind, I wished I could smell roses. Wished I could feel cool air against my skin. But...I felt nothing. 

"Don't call her that. Her name is Hope." 

"Dad, just shut up." Asher's suddenly harsh voice startled me. His tone was level and smooth but his words conveyed hatred. No.

"How about you guys just don't call me anything? I hate both names." Nathan opened his mouth. "Nathan, you call me Sarah and my foot will be so far up your a** it will come out your mouth." I made an intimidating face, noticing for the first time how my cheeks moved to mimic human muscles. It was strange, how metal mimicked flesh.

"You should be allowed to determine your own identity. Your own personality. You never got that choice." He held me close...but in a platonic way. He was being comforting...and I appreciated it. 

I finally pulled away. I needed to learn to stand on my own two feet.  And it started now. 

"I want you to remove my commands." There were groans and yelps of protest both Jackson and Nathan. 

"You're a-" 

"A flight risk, I know. But, every time I hear a command, especially a stop...I go into panic mode. Jeff...those ten years were extremely agonizing for me." I tried to keep my voice steady. I still didn't know how that happened. It should have been impossible. 

"What do you mean?" Jackson asked. But Nathan knew. He had always known. He came over and put a hand on my shoulder. 

"No one should have to go through that." Nathan shook his head. 

"Y-you don't mean-?" I looked at Jackson. I didn't need to do anything. He just put a hand to his mouth. Silence. 

"I'm going to charge. Nathan, if you could help Marco remove the commands?" Then I rushed into my room and slammed the door. 

Another round of knocks. Another. Jackson has been out there for half an hour. 

"Dad, mom wants you at home. I'll take care of this." Asher. There was some arguing and whispers, and I didn't bother engaging my super hearing. Then Jackson retreated. 

"He deserves the truth, you know. He's scared for you." 

"Asher, please. Just go away. I understand you wanna help, but...I need to do this on my own." 

"Why? Why can't we help you?!"

"I'm beyond that now." I was looking down at my hands, fascinated with the vein-like wires connected to my joints. I wondered how they worked? I could Google it...or...no. No, that was insane, or was it? Jeff gave me self-repairing outer structure. Marco made this body but off of Jeff's technology. Maybe. I popped the top of my index finger and extended my blade. 

I moved the knife to the back of my right hand. I was careful in cutting as thin as possible, peeling back the pale synthetic skin. My wires were exposed and I prodded at them. They seemed to give power to the joints, which moved my fingers. My joints were small, round balls. My hand seemed to be held together without any sort of adhesive. They used magnets in the balls. They also seemed to have a sort of...electricity conducting property. I wondered what my face looked like underneath. 

I spent a long time, cutting away skin and examining myself. It was all quite weird, my 'bones' were hollow to allow for less weight, and in a lot of ways, I had the same bone structure of a human. Jeff was a psycho but a genius. 

I heard a grinding of a key in a lock. Sh|t! I couldn't do anything as the door opened, revealing Asher's shocked face. I stood there, my skin laying around me in flakes and chunks. He just stared. 

~ASHER'S POV~

The sight that met my eyes was terrifying. She-or what used to be her- had half of the skin on her face missing, exposing her wiring. Her entire right arm, hand, and leg, had none. It was like one of those creepy illustrations of a half-human, half-robot. But it was real. Really terrifying. 

"Asher." It was hard to look at her. To look at what she did to herself. 

"W-what did you do?" I tried not to sound scared.

"Just trying to...come to terms with all of this." She said, examining her body. Then, as if by magic, skin started to form and crawl over the exposed metal. The shiny silver of it was quickly consumed. 

"I-I can't believe you would do this to yourself." She shrugged. As if she didn't care about her own well-being. 

"Curiosity killed the cat, I'm not a cat." The skin had finished and she turned to me. Her synthetic looks had returned. She was...too perfect. We all were. And it wasn't fun, being the human ideal of beauty. 

"You know you can do that without cutting away, right?" I asked. She shrugged. 

"Of course I do, I checked the diagnostics, but I'm tired of depending on my systems." Wow. She was...unusual. She had lived through a lot and you could tell. She turned away. "Get out."She whispered. And I didn't argue. 

Dad was standing outside. He looked faraway and his hair was disheveled. He shook his head. Mom had been fighting with him lately. The arrival of...Hope? A-5643? Nameless? Had shaken them. 

"Asher, be honest with me, do you have feelings for her?" He asked. Weird question. 

"Dad. Are you serious? You're married! You're happy! Cara needs you. You're her dad. Hope - the other A.I - doesn't want to see you." I shook my head. This was not the time for nostalgia. 

"The other A.I..." Dad turned away and slunk off down the hall.  

~A-5643'S POV~

Here goes nothing. I thought to myself, standing in front of Jackson's front door. I was done avoiding him. I lifted a hand and knocked softly. No sound or movement from inside. This was insane. But, even so, I knocked again. Again. Nothing. Then, finally, I shouted.

"JACKSON,GET YOUR HAPPY A$$ OUT HERE!" I screamed, not caring who could hear me. The door was finally opened...by Jackson's wife.