Titanium

11 2 0
                                    

"Hand me that electric screwdriver." I asked Tilly.
        She looked around on the table before giving me what I asked for. Tilly was my daughter. I adopted her about a year ago. She's nine years old now and hasn't changed a day since I got her. Tilly's long brown hair blew off her shoulders and hit my arm as I worked on my car.
I gave her a hair tie and said, "Tilly, would you please put your hair up before it gets stuck in anything?"
          She groaned and took it out of my hand. She reached up to grab her hair and accidentally hit the tool table, knocking a handsaw off the top. It fell to the floor and slashed her deep in the stomach on the way down. Tilly fell to the floor and grabbed her belly. I dropped everything I was doing and picked her up to take her to the hospital. She moaned as I put her in the backseat. I told her to move her hands so I could analyze the wound but was shocked at what I saw. It wasn't bleeding. Where there should have been blood and guts was simply wires and metal.
"How badly does it hurt?" I asked Tilly.
"Not too horribly. It could be worse. I think it just grazed me." She responded. I grabbed her waist and helped sit her up. She hopped down from the car. "Sorry for overreacting."
I saw a spark flash from behind her thin, white shirt.
"Tilly, please follow me." I requested and walked off into the house with her hand in mine. I led her into the bathroom, turning the lights on and closing the door behind me. I reached over to grab the bottom of her shirt and lifted. I placed the dirty shirt over the shower curtain and turned to look at her wound. I lifted Tilly onto the counter and held her waist as she stood up.
"Tilly," I stated, "look in the mirror for me. Did you know about this?"
She turned around and, upon seeing her wires, gasped and fell back into my arms. "Mommy! What's wrong with me?!" She yelled.
I didn't know how to answer. "Nothing is wrong with you, sweetie. I'm gonna fix you and see what's going on in that belly of yours. Okay?"
       She nodded her head slowly and lay back on the counter. I reached under the sink to grab my toolbox. Tilly closed her eyes while I slowly opened the metal box. I picked up each split wire and applied electrical tape to each one. I finally got to the last piece. I told Tilly that I was almost finished, and she scrunched up her face and nodded her head. As I fixed the last one, Tilly started to jerk upward and spasm out of control. I grabbed one knee and one shoulder and attempted to hold her down. I repeated quietly, "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay..." I was holding back tears when she finally calmed down and lay still. I brushed her hair back and opened her eye. She flipped the other eye open almost mechanically.her hand reached out and grabbed the slash on her stomach. A bright light shone from beneath her hand. She lifted her arm and the light continued to shine down from her hand to her belly as it seemed to sew itself up. When she was fully healed, Tilly sat up and looked directly into my eyes.
"I remember," she said, "I was built by a man named Hewitt Finley. He was a kind man. After finishing me, he fell asleep and passed away. I guess he didn't completely finish his work, though, because he forgot to seal the wires that connected my memories. I was found by the agency soon after that, and you adopted me. Now, you've completed me. Thank you."
I was astounded and confused. "Tilly, what do you mean? What are you?"
She cocked her head and responded, "I am an artificial intelligence apparatus. My purpose was and is to heal the wounded and ill. I was downloaded a medical file. I know about every illness or injury possible for any human being to sustain. I know how to heal each one, and I am equipped with everything needed to do that."
"Can you show me?" I asked.
Tilly simply said, "Come," and led me back to the car. She got in the passenger seat, but I knew where we were going. I drove us to the hospital just in time for an ambulance to arrive with a man being carried in in a stretcher. He had a brace around his neck and a bloody bandage just below his shoulder. Tilly walked up to the man and placed her hand above his injury before the paramedics were able to run him back inside. The light grew brighter and the connection between Tilly and the man intensified. Little strings of what looked like skin stretched out from her fingers and disappeared below the bandage. One of the paramedics grew curious and lifted the bloody cloth. He was being sewn up faster than any doctor has ever even tried. In seconds, the man was completely healed.
"He has a mild concussion, but all his serious, physical wounds are sealed. So long as he gets lots of sleep and stays very hydrated, he should be good as new within the month."

Five years later:

        There are at least ten TAIAs (Tilly Artificial Intelligence Apparatus) in every hospital and one for every doctor's office, now. Tilly still visits on the weekends to help me with my car or chores around the house. She explained to me the process of building a TAIA. I've been building them ever since she saved the first man at the hospital. Hundreds of people are alive right now who wouldn't be if it weren't for her. Tilly was our future, and she will always be my daughter.

The End.

TitaniumWhere stories live. Discover now