Created

Chapter Thirteen

It was dark, that was the first thing I remember. It was dark and I could hear voices.
"Is he working? Why isn't he doing anything?" A girls voice. On my left.
"I don't know. I mean, I turned him on. But he's just standing there!" A man's voice, to my right. Eyes still closed, I turned my head over to the man's voice and the girl on the other side of me squealed.
"Omigosh!! He moved! Did you see that!!! He MOOOVED!"
"Ye-Yeah, I did see!" And then his voice got closer to me. "Adam? Are you okay?" It took me a minute to remember what to do if someone asked me if I was okay. I nodded. I was okay. "Well then, can you open your eyes?" Yes. I opened my eyes. The voice in front of me transformed into a man who looked about eighteen. He was a bit shorter than me with thick, wavy red-brown hair and blue eyes. His blue eyes widened. "Woah," he said quietly and pushed his slipping glasses up. The girl rushed over beside him and I saw her for the first time as well. She had long dirty blonde hair and a cute nose, an expectant smile spread across her face.
"Omigosh!" she gushed again. "Omigosh, Erik, he's perfect!" The girl grabbed Erik's arm and sighed deeply. Erik leaned forward closer to me, looking worried.
"Can you smile?" he asked. Smile? I knew what it was... I think... After a minute of pondering, I spoke.
"Why?" I asked. The girl squealed again, but Erik, concerned, shushed her gently and turned back to me.
"Well, because you're happy. You smile to show you're happy." Happy. Okay, I can do that. Happy. I looked at the girl on Erik's arm. She was funny. She made me happy. A bit hesitantly, I smiled at her. If it was possible, the girl got more excited. "Great!" Erik slung his free arm around my shoulder and hugged me. He then looked at me seriously. "Now you need to know your purpose in life. Come with me." Erik began walking away and I followed him. Melissa stayed behind, scribbling on a clipboard. A bit disoriented, I hurried to follow Erik, realizing as my thoughts became clearer and more normal. Not so straight-forward and robotic. I smiled a bit. That made me happy.
The room was big, but it seemed small because of all the stuff. There were lots of tables and lots of papers and just flat out lots of junk. Even though it was a bit scary with the grey cement floor and the grey cement walls and the bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling, when I was there with Erik and Melissa, it had a home-y feeling.
As Erik led me out of the basement lab, I noticed a lot of blueprints. At the top, they all said 'Adam'. Curious, I stopped and picked up one. There was a drawing of a face. Even though I'd never seen a mirror, I recognised it as my own face. Half of my face looked normal with normal things like hair and skin, but the other half was metal and wires and a bare eye. Repulsed, I dropped the paper. A shudder ran down my body. Another paper showed a diagram of nerve wires and instinct programming. One more paper showed a motherboard panel where my heart should be. Scared, I put a hand to my chest, expecting to feel the pounding of a heart underneath but felt nothing. I didn't have a heart. Shaking, let the paper drop back onto the table. I looked up for Erik and saw him just ahead. I ran to him and grabbed his shoulder. He turned around, alarmed. I took his hand and pressed it against my chest. I watched his expression change from shock to pity and regret.
"I don't have a heart," I whispered. "I don't have a heart." Sighing, Erik took his hand away from my silent chest and bit his lip as he avoided my eyes.
"No, Adam," he sighed deeply. "You don't have a heart." My mouth was dry and I had to force breath into my lungs. Or did I even have lungs?! I had no heart. I had no heart. I felt dizzy.
"Why?" I asked again. I could see Melissa approaching us slowly out of the corner of my eye. She looked sad as well. "Why don't I have a heart?"
"It's not a bad thing, Adam," Melissa said. She had gotten to me and had her arms around me. I could feel her squeeze me but I didn't feel comforted. "It's not a bad thing."
"It really isn't, Adam," Erik told me. "You're no worse off than the rest of us."
"The rest of you, meaning, those with hearts."
"...Yes."
"Why don't I have a heart?!"
"Because you're not human, Adam!" Melissa cried and hugged me closer. "It's okay, though! You're just like us, really! There's no difference!"
"Except you two have hearts."
"Actually, no," Erik said. I looked up, surprised. "I'm human, yes, but I don't have a heart, not a real human heart." Confused, I looked between Erik and Melissa, looking for an explaination. Melissa spoke up.
"A few years back, Erik and I were down here in the lab and-and," Melissa choked, but managed to finish. "And he just collapsed!! I'd noticed he seemed tired all day, like something was wrong. And he was standing there, just fine and then dropped! I ran over and he wasn't even breathing! I didn't know what to do, so I screamed for Arta! She came and-"
"-And she saved me before I could die. She used the prototype of a new heart she'd been working on," Erik finished. "So, no, you're not the only one without a real heart."
"I'm so sorry," I told Erik. "That must have been so scary." I would agree with him outloud, but in my head, I thought 'It's not the same. You can still feel a heartbeat with a mechanical heart. I have no heart.' "But if I only have wires, what am I?"
"You're an android." Android... I thought hard. I'd never heard that word before.
"Whats an android?" I asked.
"A created being," Melissa tried to explain. "Like a human, like a human and a robot." A robot... I instantly tried to shut off all emotion and closed my eyes. If I was a robot, then I could do intricate sums in my head, I could calculate with precision, perfectly, unlike a human. If I wasn't human, I could multiply 500,326 and 2,890,342 and it would equal 1,446,113,251,492. 1,446,113,251,492. My eyes flicked open and instantly fear struck my heart. 1,446,113,251,492. I took in a sharp breath and fearful step back. 1,446,113,251,492. Why could I do that?!?!?! That wasn't natural!!!!!!
"I-I..." I stammered in shock. That was too scary. Too scary. I would never do that again!! I could never let myself do that again!! I had felt no emotion until I turned it back on!! I promised myself that I would never do that ever again, never become an emotionless calculator.
"Adam, are you okay?" Erik cried, jumping to me.
"I, n-no, I'm fine," I muttered, trying to recover. I felt awful.
"No, you're not," Erik said as he studied my face. "C'mon, I know something that'll make you feel better." Erik took me by the hand and led me away and I left my awful thoughts behind.
* * *
"Okay," Erik said, smiling as he flounced on the beat-up couch. He looked up at me and grinned. "Have a seat!" I had followed Erik into his bedroom. It was on the second floor of the lab and was huge. He had everything from a brand-new flat-screen TV to the off-the-curb couch he was sitting on. It was actually kinda funny. Melissa lay on her stomach on the floor in front of us and kicked her feet excitedly, even though there was plenty of room on the couch. By the way the both of them were acting, I guessed this was normal. I sat next to Erik and watched him prop his feet up on a small coffee table and kick a few random magazines off. He looked over at me and grinned. "We are here to teach you something important," he told me. "Your purpose in life."
"My purpose in life?"
"Yeah! And, c'mon, loosen up! You look so tense!" Awkwardly, I wiggled a bit to 'loosen up', but my attempts only received laughter from Erik and Melissa.
"You're doing it wrong!" Melissa exclaimed and in seconds, she was up on the couch next to me, tickling me. And, dang was I ticklish. Pretty soon I was as loose as I'd ever be, holding my stomach as tears rolled down my cheeks, trying to get Melissa to stop making me laugh so hard! As much as some people hate being tickled, it was really fun! Still wiping tears, I settled into the couch, 'loose'. I was still kinda laughing.
"Good," Erik smiled. "Thank you, Melissa," he added and she nodded, satisfied. Then he turned to me, serious as ever. "Alright, Adam, as for your purpose in life." I tried to look serious. "Look over there, over the mantle." I looked over and saw about thirty things strewn atop the mantle. I got up and began pointing to things to narrow down my search. "No, not that. No, more to the left-stop!! Right a little! Okay, no, look behind that! Woah, that's not supposed to be there!! Melissa, would you take that back to the bookcase, just throw it anywhere. Thanks. Okay, it was behind that, I think. I think... Yeah, yeah that!" And finally, finally, I was holding a black picture frame. Staring in awe at the picture, I settled back into the couch beside Erik and we both stared at her.
"This is Arta," Erik said breathlessly. "She's the most beautiful thing in the world." And I agreed. Her black eyes seemed mysterious and endless. Her blonde hair was beautiful and to her waist. She looked like a goddess.
"How can she be so beautiful?" I breathed.
"I dunno, but she manages splendidly," Erik replied.
"This is my purpose in life?" I asked and looked back up at Erik. Regretfully, Erik tore his eyes from Arta's picture and nodded. "Why?" If possible, Erik sat back farther.
"I love Arta," Erik told me. "I love her with my whole heart but she doesn't love me back and she never will. But all I want is for her to be happy." I nodded, listening intently to Erik's every word. "I just want her to be happy and to love someone. That's happiness, Adam. I wanted her to love. If not me, someone. Someone who would love her back and be with her forever and a day and never leave her. The perfect person for her. I knew I couldn't just ask someone to love her, that's not right! So I gathered up all my intelligence and realized, 'heck! I'm a scientist! I can make an android! I'll make him the perfect lover and send him right on over to Arta and voila! She's happy, I'm happy, you're happy! All we need now is world peace! Only thing is that she doesn't know about this whole android thing. She doesn't know I was working on you or who you are or what you're supposed to do. It's all a secret, okay? Or she may take it the wrong way. Okay?" I nodded as I listened and was silent after he finished. I would be keeping a secret from her... That didn't feel right, but I brushed the feeling aside. I was an android. Heck, it was a small detail. Miniscule. Who'd notice? There were bigger things to think about. Like Arta. I already loved her. I loved her!! And to be with her would be perfect.