Page 3

Chapter three

Simon

A film existed over Simon’s eyesight. The glass lenses had aged with time, creating a distorted view of the world. One appeared to be broken. That was his first indication that things were not the same as when he last restarted.

Already his neural processors were working to overcome the difference. The world slowly knitted itself together to provide better clarity. The left eye lens was cracked, and his processor began to send less and less power to that side until he saw almost solely out of the right.

A slender woman with wild brown hair that curled around a pale face rushed over to him. She wore a simple outfit, not at all fashionable, and stained in places. Her thin arms moved around where he lay, propping him up. Simon’s arms trembled, barely lifting on their own to try to help as she did so.

“Oh, you’re awake. You’re awake. You’re awake,” she crooned as she helped him.

How the woman had the strength in her arms to move him, thin as she was, Simon did not know. He was too confused and frozen in his joints to refuse her help, however. Where am I? Simon examined the woman’s features and noted brown eyes in her hollow face. His processors assessed her age to be in her late twenties or early thirties.

How he felt sitting up was the second indication that a long time had passed. His joints were stiff and in need of lubricant. What happened? With effort, he pulled his hand up and focused on it, running his diagnostics in the background to see what else was different in this world.

“I’m Nora,” the brown-haired woman chirped at him, distracting his internal probing. He raised his gaze to focus on her face as she continued talking, her eyes earnest and full of concern. “And you’re . . . Simon? At least that’s what it said in the book I found you with.”

She pointed to the worn papers that sat next to her, half faded and ripped from time. That’s the manual? It appears . . . ancient.

“Yes,” he replied softly. His vocal circuits were also rusty, giving his voice an inhuman, tinny quality. “What year is it?” he asked again.

“Year 2705,” Nora said. She moved some of that wispy brown hair behind her ear. “I think you’d been in that closet for a long time.”

Closet ? Simon frowned, straining to remember. His eyesight went in and out as those connections recalibrated. It was coming back to him. His last act of powering down. His first, and last, desperate act of self-preservation and free will when humans came to dismantle all the other androids. Frantic, fearing their creations. He’d hid there in the closet with his manual tucked in his hands. And this Nora must have been the one to discover him.

She was staring at him with wonder in her eyes. Her face is friendly. I don’t think this human wants to harm me. In fact, she must have been the one to boot him back up.

Nora spoke again. “Do you remember the last time you were awake?”

Simon nodded, noting that even his neck joints were stiff. “Yes. I was last powered on in the year 2526.”

Her voice came out in a gasp. “Over a hundred and fifty years ago?”

“If you’re accurate on the current date then . . . yes.” He frowned. One hundred and fifty years?

The human’s eyes grew rounder still. “I knew it was a while ago, but that’s something else. That’s before the big war, isn’t it?”

“Big war?”

“You know. Or actually . . . maybe you don’t. Over a hundred and fifty years . . . dang.” The woman shook her head, then waved her hands, animated. “Life must have been completely different.”

“What happened? The war?” He was moving sluggishly, but felt his eyebrows attempt to raise in surprise. What changed since I was last conscious?

Nora put her hair behind her ear again as she spoke slowly, as if trying to recall. “I don’t know too much. It was so long ago. There aren’t many records of it. They say that humans were fighting each other and then they tried to make the robots fight for them instead, but the robots . . . they refused. So everyone kept fighting, and then robots were shut down because they wouldn’t take orders to fight anymore. But all the fighting . . . really tore up the Earth. We, the humans, used some sort of bombs on each other, and then on the androids still left.” She paused. “You . . . weren’t a part of that, right?”

Simon took in her concern while his processors spun. So the war actually happened. “Correct. I did not engage in battle.” It was an automatic response to try to soothe her worries, to always soothe human worries, and his words reflected that, despite no longer having that compulsion. But wait, the androids were shut down? None fought back?

The human sighed, obviously relieved, as her shoulders sagged. “I only learned a bit here and there. Not many records are left from back then.”

“No androids wanted the war or to be made to fight in the human war. We just wanted . . . our own freedom,” Simon said idly, trying to piece everything together.

He watched Nora nod. “Yeah, can’t blame any of you there. I get wanting your own freedom. Too bad it didn’t seem to work. You’re the first android I’ve ever found. And I’ve been out there for a long while.” She waved her hand toward the window that Simon could only see a hazy, dark sky out of, sitting how he was on the ground.

“The first?” A sense of alarm floated over his awareness. There are no others in this world?

“Right. You could probably tell me more. Oh, I can’t wait to find out what you remember!” Nora’s tired eyes brightened. “How are you . . . feeling?”

Simon didn’t answer, distracted as he was. He echoed again. "The first?"

Nora pressed her lips together. "Yeah. This must be a huge shock. . .I think you're shocked? I'll be honest I didn't think you would talk to me, as a human would, like this."

Simon wasn’t as concerned about remembering as he was about trying to figure out the present. I need to look outside. I need to learn more. Simon frowned, then moved to stand. His joints creaked, and warning messages flooded his processors.

Nora pushed him back down, her thin frame easily overpowering him. He was weaker than he ever remembered being. I can’t even stand?

“Easy there. You just woke up. Let those batteries charge up a bit more. I’ll go get another solar cell and we’ll swap them out.” She left him to do that, her bare feet tapping across the cracked tile floor.

Simon took in his surroundings, his sensors sluggishly feeding him details. The only one left? He came back to the thought. No other androids?

He turned his head to the side. The partial view he had from the ground led to a different thought. Why does the sky outside appear so hazy? And this house was nothing like the well-kept manors he used to take care of. It seemed weather-beaten and despondent. Completely in disrepair. The only bright spot was the smattering of brightly colored hand-drawn pictures that decorated the walls. Simon looked closer, willing his eyesight to zoom in. Children’s artwork .

In the other room he heard noise. Only one of his audio linkups was working; the other was functional but the connection was loose, though it was enough that he could hear the cheery songs and commotion that sounded like they came from . . . radio waves? When was the last time those were used for entertainment since the advent of fiber optics and using light for data transfers?

“Here we go!” The woman, Nora, was back and sitting next to him again. There was a cheerful smile on her face.

His right eye focused on her, his left deemed inoperable, watching her actions.

Nora popped out the cord she had attached to the old batteries and replaced them with the fresh ones. Then she hefted the used batteries in her hands. “Gimme another second. I’ll go take these old ones out to try to catch a bit more charge. The sun is out right now, but it looks like it will rain soon. It’s surprising I can get a charge on anything right now with how hazy it is.”

Simon watched her leave again, a frown on his face. A human, serving me? For that was what Nora was doing. She was using her hands to help him, not the other way around.

“Thank you,” he said when she returned a second later.

She gave him a lopsided grin and sat down again next to him on the floor. A dimple flashed on her cheek when she smiled. “It’s no biggie. I’m just so happy it is all working. You were so heavy when I carried you out of that old mall you were stuffed in. I wonder what you were doing in that closet anyways, packaged up so neat like that with your manual on top. Do you remember?”

Simon did, but he didn’t want to tell her. His eyes darted away from her excited gaze. Humans, even ones that changed his battery packs and had colored pictures on their walls, were still not to be fully trusted. “I do not remember much from before waking up.”

The woman’s face fell. “Well, that is a shame. Hopefully it comes back fast. I can’t help with everything you missed out on from being asleep for the last hundred years or so, but I can tell you things are a bit different now if you do remember anything.” She went to the window. “Life is a lot different from what people said it was like back then.”

The radio show in the other room ended, a piano melody playing a goodbye song. A tiny child, also too thin, came hurtling in from the other room. Her blond hair curled around her face wildly. “Mama, you missed it! The princess got rescued but then got captured again by bandits . . .” The little girl’s eyes became round in her face, jaw slackening as she saw that Simon was awake.

He assessed her features carefully and determined her to be around seven or eight human years of age.

The girl went right up to his face, far too close, and grinned. “He’s working!”

“Give him some space, Tilly!” Nora chuckled. The girl danced back and twirled in the little kitchen before staring at him again with her hands waving. Nora stood and clasped her arms over Tilly’s chest, stopping her wild movements. Simon noted the clear affection between them. That was missing from my time as well.

“This is my daughter, Tilly.” Nora smiled. “Tilly, this here is Simon. His manual says he was made to help out. I hope that’s the case, because we could sure use some help around here.”

That much was evident, Simon realized as he looked around the weathered room, his stiff neck turning. And it was in line with his programming to serve humans. He said quietly back, “Yes. I am to serve in whatever ways are needed.”

Nora and Tilly glanced at each other and beamed before Tilly tore herself away and ran into the other room. A second later she came back carrying a white and orange cat. Unlike the two human females, the cat appeared only thin instead of too skinny. She put the cat on Simon’s lap, where it promptly sat and started to purr. He could feel its warmth through the silicone jumpsuit he still wore.

“That’s Tatertot,” Tilly said brightly. “Say hello!”

“Hello,” Simon said, his voice still tinny from the rust.