Re-Wired

by Greg Dragon

  He was pleased to hear that she had detoured her route for him, and though he struggled to keep up, he felt lucky to be in the company of a pretty girl. After about a mile he felt as if his chest was about to explode so he stopped with his hands on his knees and Priscilla jogged back to check up on him.

  “Aww Brad, you aren’t a runner, are you?”

  “Does that disappoint you?”

  “No, but you should really exercise. Come on, we’ll walk the rest.”

  When they got back to his place, Priscilla pushed him inside and pointed to his bedroom. “You need a shower buddy; you smell a little funky.”

  He popped her with his rag playfully, which resounded in a satisfactory squeal, and then he hopped into the shower as she’d commanded.

  While he was in there, Priscilla walked into his bedroom. “Hey Brad, I’m really tired,” she said and he peeked outside the bathroom door to see her playing with the statues on his counter.

  “I’ll be doing laundry tomorrow. You can sit on the bed and rest till I get out.”

  He hoped that his invitation didn’t make her think him a pervert, and he hoped that Tricia would remain hidden and powered down so that there would be no issues. Even the accusation of a human owning an android for relations outside of work came with legal ramifications, so losing Priscilla romantically would be the least of his problems if Tricia revealed herself. After about twenty minutes, he walked out of the bathroom in an old jogging suit that he wore for leisure. Priscilla—who had taken him up on his offer—was on the bed asleep, and her legs hanging off the side let him know that the exhaustion had gotten the better of her.

  I have a beautiful girl in my bed, he thought, and wondered how it was that he was so lucky to have the privilege of hanging out with her. He shook her awake and pointed to the shower, but she shook her head and groggily asked him to drive her home. When they got to her apartment the tables turned, and she went to take a shower while he looked through her video files for a movie to pass the time. He found a catalog of new releases, selected one, and started watching it. He was starving but he didn’t feel comfortable enough to raid Priscilla’s fridge. When she finally made an entrance, she was in a flowery frock, her hair wrapped with a matching bandana.

  “You look like a Carly Venice video,” he said, referring to the young pop singer who prided herself on dressing like the neo-soul divas of the 1990s.

  “Shut up,” she said, smiling, because she took it as a compliment. She sat next to Brad, who was showing no interest in the movie. “I’m starving, how about you?” she asked, and it was as if she could read his mind.

  He drove her to Benito’s, a Greek eatery, and then they walked to the liquor store so that she could buy some Chardonnay, and then back home to her apartment. It was late, and they finished the movie while eating their leftovers and drinking wine. At one point Brad looked over at her and saw how shapely she was in the light of the television, and wondered if it was appropriate to sneak a kiss. She was obviously interested, having spent an entire day with him—part of which was in his bed—but he didn’t want to chase her away.

  “What?” she said as she turned to him smiling.

  “Oh, nothing. Just looking at you. Sorry…” he said, embarrassed that she’d caught him staring.

  “It’s alright Brad. You can look at me. Today was nice. I like hanging with you.”

  He didn’t realize how tired he was, but by the time the movie ended he was asleep on the end of Priscilla’s couch. When he woke up, he had a comforter covering him and a pillow beneath his head. Priscilla’s bedroom door was closed, possibly locked, but it was dark everywhere, and the bright blue numbers on the clock below the television read 4:15 a.m. He went back to sleep, and then woke up to the sound of Priscilla walking around.

  “Good morning, light weight,” she teased him, and he ran to the bathroom to release the urine that he’d held for over an hour so as not wake her.

  “Want a bagel?” she asked when he emerged. She spread cheese and tuna on hers.

  “I’d love one, but crap—I’m supposed to be at work.”

  0 1 0

  The next week while walking the aisles of a grocery store, Brad saw Mika, who made to wave at him until she saw Priscilla walk over and place some food into his basket. Priscilla had them shopping for the meal she would prepare later. They were going to do their customary movie night, and she wanted to make tacos to go along with it. He didn’t know why it mattered to her who Priscilla was, but it seemed to affect Mika’s mood, and she turned to keep walking, as if she had never seen him. It was a small victory in his head, especially if his wishes had come true and she was now single and regretting the way she’d led him on.

  Brad and Priscilla had gone through two movies when he decided to put in A Hero’s Redemption by R.F. Chambers. It was an independent film that explored the life of a couple made to live with one another in a small, secluded house. He sat next to Priscilla on her couch, and while every urge in his body was to pull her in for an embrace, he worried that doing so would end their new friendship, so he kept his hands to himself. This was their third movie night in two weeks, and nothing had transpired past a few playful touches, and a hint here and there. His heart was racing, sitting next to her, and she had gotten so comfortable with him that she wore a nightgown and had pulled her legs up on the couch.

  He kept trying to steal glances at her through his peripheral vision, but she would catch him every time and then offer up a small smile that he couldn’t read to save his life. Things got really uncomfortable when the main character in the movie had a sexual encounter, and the director decided that it needed an entire ten minutes to play out in graphic detail. Brad, without thinking, brushed his hand across Priscilla’s thigh and she paused the movie and stared at him, shocked.

  “Why did you do that?”

  Because you are irresistible, he thought. “I thought I saw a bug on your leg. It was a reaction.”

  “Ooh, I think I see a bug on your arm,” she said, and she thumped him on his arm with a big grin on her face.

  He brushed her thigh gently again, and this time she relaxed her legs and leaned back a bit. He took the invitation and got closer to her and kissed her lips. The movement was awkward, and he kissed her the way one kisses the cheek of a relative, or a close friend. This prompted further teasing by Priscilla, and she took matters into her own hands and kissed him deeply. They kissed for a time, Brad still afraid to let his hands roam where he wanted them to go.

  “It’s about time,” Priscilla said after they’d been kissing for a minute. She snuggled into his arms and they resumed watching the movie.

  Brad wished that he was braver, as he would have had gotten further into things with the willing Priscilla. He felt the evidence of his body being ready, but his brain still held on to the fear of rejection. “About time?” he asked.

  “Yes, I was wondering when you were going to kiss me. We’ve been going out for weeks and you never even tried, so I was beginning to think there was something about me that was making you wait.”

  Brad turned red with embarrassment. What did she want him to do? Push up on her and act like some sort of aggressive sex fiend? No, he wanted her to know that he respected her so, like a gentleman he had waited for her approval. She felt good against his body, and as the movie went on he grew more and more confident. By the time the credits were rolling, they were kissing again, and this time his hands made their way to places he’d only dreamed about touching her.

  “You should go home now before I do something I’ll regret,” she said.

  “You should do it, anyway.”

  “I’m sure you’d like that, wouldn’t you? But, it’s late, so you should go home.”

  He leaned in and kissed her some more, but she was strong and walked him to the door and locked him out. It had been a wonderful night, and this was evidenced by the big smile he had on his face as he walked out to his car. The taste of Pri
scilla’s lips was still fresh on his mind, and it was hard to think about anything else. His vision seemed cloudy and hazy, but he had been drinking, so he squeezed his eyes tight and opened them, trying in vain to sober up as he found his car and headed home.

  Inside the apartment, Tricia was missing and he looked in all of the closets before turning on the lights to find her asleep on the couch. The haziness of his vision passed and he kissed her gently on the forehead before going into the bedroom. What was he going to do with her? Should he introduce her to Priscilla now, so she would be aware of his life’s work, or should he wait until they were further into their relationship? It was a relationship, right? He asked himself as he laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

  When he awoke, Tricia had ironed his clothes for work and had them arranged on the counter. He looked around for her but she was nowhere to be found. He had a momentary panic attack as he thought that she had run away. It was only when he found her powered down in the closet that he relaxed and could breathe again. The fact that she would voluntarily hide herself and power down in the closet made him sad and sick with himself. He lifted her into his arms and brought her to the couch, where he laid her down and cried. I have been the biggest jerk to you Tricia, he thought, and then he wiped his face and headed off to work.

  0 1 0

  Tricia pulled her hat down low as she walked along the busy sidewalk, doing her best to avoid eye contact with anyone. She found the drugstore she was looking for and went inside and sat in the waiting area. She was alone, and the pharmacist she had been talking to on the phone finished up her shift and came out to meet her.

  “Tricia?”

  “Yes, hello, Jolene. I hope this isn’t too much trouble?”

  “No, not at all. I am very interested in this pill you were talking about. Did you bring the sample?”

  “Yes, it is right here. One tiny pill that made my mas—I mean, my brother gain confidence. I think it is doing more than that though, and if you can let me know, I can either warn him or get rid of them.”

  “Wonderful. I’ll take it home and analyze it, and then I’ll call you and let you know what I found.”

  “You’re very kind. How much do I owe you?” Tricia asked, even though she knew that she didn’t have any money, and would have to find a way to get some from Brad secretly.

  “Probably nothing, but let me see how much work it will be first. If it turns out to be some Zenine or Drencyn, I won’t charge you anything.”

  Tricia had gone against Brad’s wishes and left the house. But with his wavering moods and the increased time that he kept her powered down, she no longer felt it was in her best interest to listen to him. There were lapses in her memory too, and whenever she would wake up inside of his room, it was as if she’d been re-wired to forget how she had gotten there. Living with Brad was one blackout session after another, and when she was coherent and with him, they were arguing, and he was threatening to lock her away.

  The Brad she knew from the past would never treat her so cruelly, and she wondered if it was due to his mysterious new girlfriend that he was acting the way he was. She walked back to the apartment slowly, letting the sound of the city and the contact with the people embed into her memory banks for the times in the future when she would be locked away. Jolene would look into Brad’s pills for her, and though he was almost out of them, he’d said he would order more, and the Japanese would be more than happy to keep him supplied. More pills meant more neglect and abuse by the new Brad, but if she could fix him then life would return to happier times. Brad had been lonely, and the pills had helped him to become more attractive. Though he had built her to be his friend, the pills now made him see her as nothing but a nuisance.

  “Hey beautiful,” a middle-aged, balding man said to her as she walked past a small mall entrance.

  “Are you talking to me?” she asked.

  He came over to her, adjusting his tie. “Anyone ever tell you that you look like…erm, what’s the actress? Judy Pops, the one that was in Lady Hellgate? I think you look better than her though—“

  “Thank you, but I have to leav—“

  He grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving, and smiled as he squared up with her while taking her other hand. “Don’t run off so quick, Judy. I just want to talk to you. Do you have a man?”

  “Yes, yes I have a man.”

  “And he lets you walk out here by yourself like this? What kind of man is that? I would never let you go it alone.”

  “Could you please let go of my hands? I have to go.”

  “Alright, alright. Can I have your contact code? We should hook up later. You don’t act like you’re from around here. I can take you to a nice restaurant. I’m telling you, the one I have in mind…they have the best rib-eye.”

  “No, thank you,” Tricia said, and she walked away from him quickly, crossing her arms over her chest to stop her breasts from bouncing, and keeping her head low to avoid any other would-be suitors. I must not come out alone again, she said to herself, and when she got near her apartment complex, she ran inside and locked the door.

  Stepping into the apartment after her traumatic encounter, Tricia began to notice things she had looked past when she was still confined there. The place was a dump, and Brad hadn’t bothered to straighten up the way he used to when he was a student. The classic neat freak now had sketch papers everywhere, and the kitchen held discarded dishes from days past. There were half-finished beers and what appeared to be two bowls of old fried rice. There was a noticeable stench of rotted food coming from the kitchen, and a roach scurried across the wall. So Tricia proceeded to clean it all up and put the place in order. She would not allow Brad to make her into a servant-droid like many of his friends had, but she knew that a clean house would help his psyche, so she got right to it.

  04 | Will you be my girlfriend?

  “So, when was the last time you were in a relationship?” Priscilla asked as she walked hand in hand with Brad around the artificial lake.

  “Oh, well—er, a year? She and I really weren’t, well she stopped taking my calls about a year ago. Is this a relationship?”

  “Well after last night, it had better be. I don’t let just anyone spend the night, and I trust you, so… I want you to say it.”

  “Will you be my girlfriend?”

  “Yes!”

  A trip that had started out as one of their standard dates had quickly become one of the best days in Brad’s life. He and Priscilla had kept on doing movie nights at her house after the day Tricia had cleaned up, but she wouldn’t sleep with him, at least not until last night. Tricia had gotten better about his frequent absence, and he left her to take care of the house when he was away—especially since he practically lived with Priscilla, whose home was amazing. He found it strange that after visiting his home and commenting on how “cozy” it was, Priscilla seemed unwilling to hang out there or ask him questions about it. So he spent most of his time at her place, eating her food, watching her television, and being with her.

  The routine would go as follows: he would go to work in the morning, stop by the gear shop to sell a few rotors, and then drive to Priscilla’s house in the evening to hang out and sleep at night. He had been doing this for two months now, and Priscilla didn’t seem to mind. Rotors were what he called the tiny, flying robots he made from excess mechanical parts. He had gotten better with artificial intelligence, and began to hustle the little toys for extra money to supplement his small barista’s income. Career-wise he viewed himself as a failure, and he struggled internally with whether to reveal the genius of Tricia to the world or to keep her as his personal secret.

  Tricia’s revealing would get him arrested, at least for a time due to her illegal parts. But she would revolutionize modern robotics, and he would be on every talk show across America. After the talk shows, he’d be approached by a private company and they would throw millions of dollars at him to replicate the process. Tricia woul
d cease to be special, and would more than likely be disassembled and reverse-engineered. This latter fact made him not want to do it. She was a person, a person he had built, and he didn’t want her murdered and dissected for money. But being with Priscilla brought the pressure of wanting to do more. There would be outside competition from men that had a lot more than he had, and could do a lot more for her than he could. There is nothing special about me. I’m just a broke, coffee pusher, he thought. So it was out of fear that he’d begun selling rotors.

  It had crossed his mind to make another Tricia, but this time keep the A.I. restrained, and remove the ability to freely think from it. The idea could work, if not for the skin he couldn’t afford, and the things he had done during groggy nights— things that he didn’t write down or store into memory. The truth was, Tricia was a brilliant mistake. The day he’d walked in and saw her dancing was the day he realized this. Androids didn’t do that; they didn’t crave learning like human beings did, and they didn’t get upset when their masters spent more time with their girlfriends than them. Sometime during the hacking of her A.I. and the installation of foreign parts into her frame, he had found true intelligence. He could pretend that he had the means to do it all over again, but he would need a new Mika to break his heart, several drugs to keep him awake for days, and the luck he’d had when she came to life.

  “Let’s go to Celia’s tonight to celebrate!” Priscilla said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

  He could hear the happiness in her voice, and it was because he had committed to her. The fact that he couldn’t afford Celia’s Steakhouse didn’t matter to him. He had to find a way to afford it. How sobering would it be for him to remind her how poor he was when she had just become his girl? The situation depressed him, but it wasn’t enough to interfere with the pride he felt in having a girl—a very special girl—as his girlfriend.