Human After All

To walk into an android shop and have your pick of the litter doesn't seem like much of a luxury to Beau anymore. After having three smaller androids glitch on him, he was reluctant to buy another.

PC897139, Dahlia, was still functioning properly, and she hadn't gained much of an attitude, so Beau was thankful for that. However, since Dahlia was only a small android, she couldn't do much. Small tasks, yes, but hard CPU work such as hacking or anything near that level was too much, and could overload Dahlia's hard drive.

PC304104, Leslie, one of the older models had lost her ability to see when Beau challenged her to push the limits of her CPU and hard drive accessibility. Beau almost felt bad for her, but thought it was ridiculous to feel emotion for a robot, let alone pity.

PC098453, Kiyah, child at heart, had never learned how to speak. She just never picked up on it. Beau could very well order her to do things, but she was stubborn, and it took more than usual to make her listen.

Beau remembered walking past the android/personal computer shop to find a poster with the newest personal computer robots on the cover. His parents offered him to pre-order one, but Beau never liked first products. They tended to glitch a lot more than he liked, plus he doubted how well these products really were.

Beau had heard that these robots could pick up on emotions, act like a human being, but somehow, he doubted it. The human mind is complex, and if anybody was going to clone it, he thought they sure as hell wouldn't put it in a robot.

Welcome to Abionmaton, year 2056, the day and age of technology. Through times of war, they pillaged through, becoming a neutral and successful territory. The world of technology was progressing, one computer chip at a time. Now the world was very peaceful, and definitely more civilized.

After staring at the wall as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world, Beau forced himself onto his feet and into some real clothes. Beau had to go out in public and pick one thing he really wanted for his Clu. Of course the new droid came to mind, but he imagined it being phony and not living up to its standards. What a disappointment that would be.



"Leslie."

"Yes, master?"

"Search up my paranoid-linux enter key. Take it easy though." Beau said. Drew, one of Beau's friends, sat next to him with a loud and unsatisfied scoff. "Kiyah."

The little droid bounced onto the bed and into Beau's open palm.

"Please keep Leslie's levels from fluctuating. She is, in fact, in need of help." Beau paused. "The doc should be here tomorrow, Leslie."

"Yes, master."

Beau looked down at Kiyah who was still cradling the teddy bear in her arms.

"Kiyah." His voice was firm.

She squeaked and headed toward Leslie, making sure her levels were constantly fluctuating, but stable and reliable. Dahlia, however, sat on Beau's bed, playing with the nails on her thin fingers. .

"Master, what shall I do?" She asked through false modesty. Beau shook his head.

"Watch her." He pointed at Leslie. "You're gonna have to do this one day, Dahlia."

"I love how we treat them all like they're less than us." Drew said loud enough for Beau to hear him. Beau knew that his friend was well against usage of robots. He said it was like slavery. Drew shook his head. "They still have feelings." Drew continued. Beau just waved it off before Leslie finally opened the paranoid-linux.

The computer screen showed the seeders and leeches of the paranoid-linux, avoiding government contact. Many hackers used this application to save themselves from government trackers. While the government was usually lenient, Beau would rather be safe than sorry.

"You're overreacting." Beau said. "How am I treating them like they're less? They have names, they drink and eat food, wear clothes that I have to buy, and they can speak, breath and hear just like any other human being."

"But we make them do things that they wouldn't normally do if they weren't our slaves." Drew paused and huffed. "Some people use them for sex, Beau!"

Drew stood up, slipping his arms through the long sleeves of his hoodie. He was a very impatient and sensitive kid, and when Beau had his personal robots out while he was there, Drew just thought it was terrible and would leave before he would say something he regretted.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Beau. I think my mom needs me to tell her what I want for Clu." Drew said. "I was thinking of getting a new desktop, one of the older models."

Beau thought about what he wanted for Clu.

Clu was a time of the year where people bought presents for other people. He had heard there was another name for Clu a long time ago, but it wasn't used anymore. Or at least Beau thought it wasn't used anymore. He knew that the old type of Clu had something to do with religion, and nobody really practiced religion anymore, so that was probably why the old practices died out.

"What do you want?" Beau asked. He was considering buying a present for Drew, just to make up for the fact that he had personal robots. Conflicting interests between friends is never fun.

"I'm thinking about it." Drew said. "My mom will probably just show me a catalog and I'll pick a model. Then she'll go get it before Clu is over. We never do anything special."

"What if I got you a personal robot for Clu?" Beau finished hacking into a gaming server before disconnecting Leslie from the large screen. Leslie blinked a few times before her eyes went gray. She jumped off of the dresser, using her small feet to feel her way around the floor. Kiyah hopped off the dresser and grabbed Leslie's small arm, leading her to the small steps that led up to Beau's bed. They walked up slowly before taking a seat next to Dahlia. Beau turned to Leslie who seemed even more drained than usual. She would expire soon.

"I'll see you." Drew waved before opening the door to Beau's room, leaving the apartment in slight disgust at the sight of the tired robot on Beau's bed. He was never fond of how the robots were either treated as humans or as slaves. Beau treated them a bit like both.