Automaton Girl

Part 2 - Chapter 5 - Error

Part 002

I think it is owed to most of us, especially the man whom I have gifted my one and only successful creation to, the story of Test Subject 1 - CR 0. The person I, the Creator, gifted life to.

This is the story of me, her, and it.

When I was a young child, my mother and father had gifted me a chemistry set for the holidays. It was my first experience with science, a subject I had before not been very fond of. It was the first time I had ever become so fascinated with such a hobby, and soon, I had become devoted to it.

When school had passed by faster than I could even blink, my parents had sent me off the college with nothing more than a quick peck on the cheek and a firm handshake. Perhaps a pat on the back was in there too. Anyways, it was an unemotional dispatch. My family had always been like that. I never fought with my mother because I barely spent the time of day around her, and my father was a constant worker so I barely saw him, either. It was very stotic. Very...well, unemotional.

When in college, I met a girl. Just like any other college boy does, we spend our high school days being jerks to girls before getting to college and realizing we want something real. I hadn't really experienced a relationship at all before meeting this girl. Her name was Hailey and she was more than I could've hoped for.

She was the kind of girl who made me feel like never leaving when I was with her. I didn't just meet with her because I wanted to kiss and touch her. I wanted to spend countless nights just talking with her. She was the most interesting, down-to-earth, beautiful girl I had ever met. I had fallen deeper and deeper in love with her every time we were together. I was starstruck, and it was amazing.

But like the old saying --- all good things must come to an end --- Hailey and I departed. In a less than typical 'break up'. Haily passed away seven months into our relationship.

Needless to say, it probably drove me mad. I dropped out of college. I had lost touch with my parents --- not that I need their emotional support anyway --- and this probably worsened my depression, as I had no one to really talk to. I took all the money I had been saving up to use after I graduated college and moved to a town you would think old people would retire to.

And that's when I found my answer.

I think it was halfway through my train ride to this small town that calls itself Joultry, when I realize that I had the brains and will to do something crazy. And so, I rented a small house and began my research.

I've written this sentence describing how I created Test Subject 1 - CR 0 about twenty times before I realized there's no way I can really describe it without feeling a sense of inhumanity within me. So I'll leave the part of what Test Subject 1 - CR 0 really is for now. Perhaps you'll find out later.

When Test Subject 1 - CR 0 first opened her eyes, she looked just like Hailey. Beautiful, long dark hair and ivory skin so pure. Although Hailey's hair was short, this long hair accomdated how long it would've grown to be if she was still present today. Not a blemish in sight. I had originally intended for her eyes to be a dark brown, but for some reason the tint came out a honeycomb yellow. So I left her eyes untouched, and I felt like it would be near impossible to go back and correct them now.

I don't know what I was expecting. Perhaps, if things had worked out, right now I'd be addressing her as 'Hailey' and not calling her Test Subject 1 - CR 0. But that is not the case.

As you should guess, things when wry of how I expected.

The one thing --- the one, most important thing --- is the one thing I forgot. Test Subject 1 - CR 0, physically, was perfect. Slim, medium-tall hight, hair, eyes, everything. She resembled Hailey in every way possible.

But she did not resemble her emotionally.

I granted Test Subject 1 - CR 0 with the ability to move, speak English, and respond. But other than that, Test Subject 1 - CR 0 was...well, nothing. When she spoke, she was very monotone about it. She was not the quirky, upbeat Haily that I knew. She barely acted upon free-will. She mainly stared at me, waiting for the next thing to happen. She was so stotic. So impassive. So...doll-like.

Granted, this was probably my fault.

I, the Creator, am flawed.

And I, the Creator, am flawed in the most important department of the human intellect:

Emotion.

I suppose you could compare how devestating this fact was to --- perhaps, getting a new toy. You're excited. You build it. You complete it. You're so excited --- the commercial hinted everything it was, such as fast, exciting and entertaining --- only to find out...it's not. It's everything but you had hoped for. All your time, energy and money --- wasted. It was a failure. You are devestated.

My madness began to get the best of me when I tried my hardest to understand why she couldn't feel. I tried treating her exactly as I had with Hailey --- I cooked her meals, watched our television programs, but had yet to take her outside. I felt she was incomplete and underprepared for the outside world.

But she was nothing like Hailey.

And that drove me mad.

I had created someone identical to Hailey in every way, but yet so indifferent at the same time.

It hurt me.

It killed me.

I couldn't take it anymore.

I had never onced touched Test Subject 1 - CR 0. Because it felt like I was cheating on Hailey. With a woman who was nothing like in in spite of looks.

I took a long, long walk and left Test Subject 1 - CR 0 home. I thought for a long time and debated with myself what I should do.

Many theories ran through my head. I thought the most simple was to just go home, put Test Subject - CR 0 down, and toss her remains somewhere no one would look. After all, I was just a friendless twenty, almost thirty-something who had sheltered himself in this small town. What harm could anything do now?

But that is when I passed him.

A boy who reminded me so vaugely of myself.

He looked depressed. His eyes looked coldly at the ground as he made his way through the streets of Joultry, with a backpack on his shoulder and a paper in his right hand.

And everything I had thought of doing beforehand had vanished. I wasn't going to toss Test Subject 1 - CR 0 away. I was going to give her away. To someone who I knew could do what I couldn't.

Now you may be asking, how do you know he could do what I couldn't?

Well,

That's a secret.

Another secret we will save ---

--- for another time.

to be continued

*Photo credit to Mikotube