RoboNomics

Chapter 66 - 2016

I look up as we approach the structure. Even from below, it looks like a giant can of cola, stripped of its label. I don't understand how we're going to get inside it.

Donald's three lawyers, Rupert, Austin, and I crowd into an automated golf cart. It speeds towards the structure and the androids that await us at its base. 

I look up. The massive thing, the vehicle that's supposed to take us to our new home, glints in the afternoon sunlight, dazzling me. It's been maybe the craziest day of my life, and it's barely noon.

It started when I woke up, ravenous, after my breakdown in the shower last night. I ordered a massive breakfast of eggs, toast, pancakes, hash browns, bacon and sausage. Then I stumbled into the bathroom. 

I'm clean, fed, and rested. But as I look into the mirror, I notice lines that ring around the bottom of both eye sockets. Those lines were never there before.

I also find that although I'm clean but my long, dark hair is still hopelessly matted. It surrounds my head in a halo of knots and frizz. I go to the edge of the tub and sit down. 

I sigh and wonder what Donald's legal team will think of me when I show up looking like a street kid in borrowed clothes. And then I suddenly know what I need to do. I walk swiftly into the living room.

"Tell me," I command the android that still stands behind the bar. Its eyes light up as if it's waking. "What amenities does this place have?"

It immediately begins to rhyme them off. 

"There's a restaurant and lounge, a pool and fitness center and also a spa and –"

"A spa?"

"Of course, madam."

"That's just what I need. Could you send me someone from the spa?" As it assents I turn back towards the bedroom.

I should have known that it would not be a human cutting my hair. The machine glides into the bathroom on wheels. It has six arms and a little white fold-out chair.

"Just do what you can to get rid of the mats." I sit down. 

As the hair falls away in chunks, I notice that my features are becoming more prominent. I've never felt so naked. When it's complete, I twist to survey myself in the mirror. 

I feel lighter, but I can see that there's no way to hide my face now. My sharp little chin and angular nose are the first things my eyes land on.

#

When we exit the elevator and walk out into the lobby, I immediately spot Rupert. He sits on a white upholstered bench that wraps around one of the thick pillars. 

The holographic receptionists are gazing intently at the back of his head, but it doesn't seem to bother him. As Austin and I walk towards him, the holograms flicker all at once and then they're looking at us. I try to ignore their smiles.

"Well, are you ready..." Rupert starts as we approach. He rises awkwardly from his seat. "Ms. Anderson, your hair!"

"Yeah," I run my hand self-consciously through my new pixie cut. It's shorter than I've ever worn it. "I thought it would be better than all those knots."

"Well I think it's beautiful." Austin preempts any other comment on the subject.

Rupert nods. "Very striking, indeed."

Austin and I are both dressed equally as formally. He is in a white collared button down and grey slacks. I am wearing a fitted white sheath that I found in the closet. I thought, considering the climate, that white would be light and breathable. But when I put it on and look at myself, I don't see myself in the dress. I see a tiny woman with little to fill the dress. My figure is as boyish now as my hair. The garment hangs from my shoulders as if it were still on a coat hanger. I no longer look like myself.