Sequel: Flare ›
Status: Edited version of Human After All for NaNoWriMo.
Human After All (II)
II
Watching a bird fly seemed like the most blandest thing to do in the world of technology, but Beau found himself doing it frequently. Perched at his window, he would watch for the colorful creatures swaying in the sky, taunting him with the beautiful dance of freedom. Beau longed for it every day. But being free meant being spontaneous, and that was one thing that was not in Beau's nature.
So he just watched the birds laughing at him through chirps and clicks of their tongues. They would dance their bodies from left to right before disappearing through the trees, or fading away into the digital sky. Were they even real? Nobody had ever touched one. They were just too far in the air. They were always in sight, but just out of reach.
Beau's cell phone rang from the living room, soon followed by the tiny footsteps of Dahlia bringing him his phone. As she skipped in, her pink pigtails bounced at the sides of her face.
“Thank you.” Beau smiled at her as she reached for the phone in her small hands. She stretched her arms to him and dropped the phone in the palm of his hand, then giggled and scampered off in the direction of the hallway.
“Hello?” Beau said.
“Beau, darling!” He pulled the phone away from his ear, and rolled his eyes. His mother always called on the eve of the holiday, pouring out hints on his present. She would try her hardest not to tell him blatantly, but Beau always knew what he was getting. Her hints were never subtle. “How are you, dear?”
“Fine, mom.” Beau said. Dahlia came skipping into the room again, tugging at Beau's jeans. When he didn't respond, she pulled harder. Beau waved his hand in the direction of the hallway. “How are you?” He said flatly.
“Oh, fine, darling. Just wrapping your present! I have a feeling you'll like this year's gift.” She said. Hint #1, Beau thought. “In fact, you'll be... fascinated. Especially with your tech-nature and such.” Second clue: it had to do with technology, and it was probably something he used a lot. Another robot? “And with all those little robots around, this one should be different!” While his mother was pouring out hints, Dahlia was busy whining and moaning at Beau's foot. She moved his jeans away from the bottom of his leg, though Beau paid no mind.
The pieces were all so easy to put together. It was obviously a robot, but he couldn't tell the make and model yet. She would crack soon though, and just tell Beau what they got for him.
“Oh, I just can't wait for you to get it!” His mother continued. “It's—“
Dahlia bit down on Beau's leg, leaving small teeth marks on his leg. Beau shouted, dropping the cell phone on his bed. Dahlia pulled herself away from Beau, arms crossed over her tiny chest.
“What was that for?” Beau said firmly, grabbing the small bot by the back of her shirt. Her pigtails fell to her shoulders while she pouted in anger.
“You didn't listen to me. Therefore, I had to use force to get your attention.”
“By biting me?” Beau exclaimed. She nodded as though it were nothing.
“I must have master's attention in the case of an emergency.”
“Well, what's the emergency?” Beau said impatiently. Dahlia smiled with pride.
“I'm very, very hungry.”
Beau scoffed loudly, putting Dahlia down on the bed next to him. He could hear his mother shouting from the other line of the phone, her obnoxious and nasal voice penetrating through the silence. He wasn't so angry that she was yelling, as he was that he missed his chance to hear what his holiday present was. His mother wouldn't repeat it now.
“I gotta go, mom.” Beau cut off her shrieking long enough to put in an entire sentence. She took a small breath.
“I didn't mean to yell, honey. What happened? Are you all right?” She seemed to be genuinely worried, but he didn't care. He just had to get off the phone.
“Nothing, ma.”
“Well, your father and I will drop off your present tomorrow. We have business in another town, so we won't be there when you open it. But at least you'll have it!” His mother said this as though it was nothing. Yet in her mind, it was nothing. They were never there for the holidays when Beau was young. Work was first priority, and Beau was tired of that mindset. As soon as he was 17, Beau moved out of the house, and supported himself instead of relying on anyone.
“Oh, gotta run, darling! Love you!” His mother yelled at somebody from the other line of the phone, then the line was dead. Beau threw his cell phone on the bed, turning his attention to Dahlia again, who was twirling her foot ever-so mischievously. He had to admit, even though Dahlia was the trouble-maker of the group, she was the most reliable bot he had received.
Beau put his hand level to the ground, and Dahlia jumped into his palm. Beau then placed her on his shoulder.
“What do you want to eat, then? Since you couldn't wait earlier.” Dahlia placed her finger at her bottom lip, thinking for a few seconds before clapping her hands together.
“Pizza!” She shouted. Beau laughed weakly, but made his way to the quiet kitchen, leaving the dancing birds behind him.
***
The day of the holiday had came. The morning was chilly, and a bit frosty as Beau closed his bedroom window. What would be waiting for him in the living room? Would he even like it? He missed the feeling of opening the first present in the morning. Tearing the gift wrap open, staring at the first amazing toy he received, smiling like a child. But he was too old for that.
Beau rubbed his head while Dahlia, Kiyah, and Leslie slept in an open drawer in Beau's dresser. Leslie yawned, rolling over in the blanket they had over their frail bodies. Beau crept out of the room like a wind, and into his kitchen where all he had to do was push a button and there came a cup of coffee.
The streets were void of cars, but people were walking along the sidewalks, either in glee, or in a rush to buy last minute gifts. The best presents were gone already, so last minute shoppers rarely ever had a good pick of gifts.
Beau took the cup off steaming coffee off of the counter, and started his way to the living room in hopes to find something decent on the television. The news was usually cheerful and fun on the holiday, so Beau hoped it would take his mind off of the present his parents got for him. Beau wanted to visit Drew, see what he got for the holiday. They could probably work out some new programs if Drew got a new computer, especially since Drew was never really tech-savvy.
Just as Beau went to sit down, he spotted a large, about life-sized container at his door. His mother must have still had the spare key to his apartment, so that was how she left it inside. A mauve colored silk blanket cascaded over the containers cylindrical shape. Beau grazed his fingers over the material, hastily pulling it off of the container with a sudden peak of interest.
Under the silk blanket sat a glass cylinder, and inside of it, a robot. But not just any robot, a new model. It was the robot he told his parents not to get! He should have known they wouldn't listen to him, or his wishes. Beau gazed at the robot, studying its facial feature with focused eyes. Its skin was flawless, and his hair was long, feathery, and auburn-colored. It accentuated the robot's face perfectly, matched only by the long eyelashes the robot had. Beau took a step back, and recognized the bot to be a male. Beau never had a male personal computer before.
The boy wore a plain white shirt that contrasted with his blue jeans. Beau marveled at how real this boy looked. Even the joints of his body looked real, no apparent lines showing where the circuits met and ended. They must have spent weeks on this one robot. Imagine how long it must have taken them to do the rest!
Beau opened the door to the glass container, grabbing the user manual out of the pocket of the robot's pants. There were specifics about robots that had to be learned before actually using the bot. They came with a pre-destined name, age, language, sexuality function, hair color, and so on and so forth. Beau never used the sexuality function (but then again, most of his androids weren't a day past 12 years old either, so what use would it be?) The thought of having a bot interested in a relationship was strange, and slightly discomforting. Beau had heard of it, but hearing and doing something were obviously two different things.
The robot's skin was a cream white color, and he had faint freckles splattered across his nose, and parts of his cheeks. Beau opened the manual and found the first page, telling the basic information of the robot.
*PC936777 User Manual
Name: Joshua Seydrin
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Eye color: Glasz
Hair color: Auburn
Sexuality: User's choice
Language(s): English (First language), French
Beau went on to read the rest of the manual where it indicated the bot's restart button that was located on the back of the right knee, and the programmed emotions. The android was to be a sensitive, almost meek and scared in nature. The manual said it took more influence from outside roles, rather than itself, and put others before itself. That was a bit redundant though, because isn't that what robots were supposed to do anyways?
Dahlia was the first of the girls to wake up, running into the living room just as Beau located the On/Off button behind the robot's ear. He pushed away the soft auburn hair and gently tapped the button, and took a step back.
“Master, it's another robot!” Dahlia shouted in glee. She even ran into the container and made circles around the bot as he was still waking up. The bot's eyes slid open, revealing vivid colors of green, blue and gray. He was shorter than Beau, but then again, most bots were. Beau was a great height of 6'2”, while bots were made to be anything under 5'8”. This specific bot appeared to be 5'6”.
“What's his name?” Dahlia tugged at Beau's leg, as the bot stared at its surroundings with curious eyes. Beau reached a hand out to the boy, deciding against calling him bot anymore. He watched as the boy gently placed his hand in Beau's, uneasily slipping out of the container.
“Introduce yourself.” Beau said. The boy seemed scared at the sudden tone of his voice, but Beau's expression didn't change. The boy pointed at his own chest, swallowing a ball in his throat.
“Hello,” his voice was soft, almost frail, “I am PC936777, named Joshua.”
“You're just Joshua.” Beau corrected. He hated when his bots called themselves by their call number. It was so humiliating to that bot. They had a name for a reason.
Leslie and Kiyah slowly walked into the living room, Kiyah rubbing her eyes as she saw the tall bot before her. She stopped in her tracks, as Leslie continued to walk without the slightest clue of what was in front of her.
“Leslie.” Beau said. She stopped. “Meet Joshua. He's one of you.” Leslie clapped her hands together, while Joshua studied her small frame carefully.
Joshua fell to his knees, and placed his open palm on the floor. Kiyah urged Leslie into the palm of his hand, and Joshua lifted her to his face with haste. His breathing was soft, gentle, nothing like Beau expected. Joshua was more than Beau bargained for.
“Joshua.” Leslie reached her small hands to his face. Her fingers caressed the soft skin of his face. “My name is Leslie.” Her voice was small and squeaky. Joshua nodded while she studied the beautiful features of his face. Then she pulled her hands away from his face, and smiled. “I apologize. I can't see, so I must use my hands to visualize certain things.”
Leslie hopped off of Joshua's hand as he leveled it with the ground again. Then he turned to Beau, innocent eyes searching for guidance already.
The silence between them was broken by Beau's introduction. “I'm your master. My name is Beau. Please call me Beau.”
“But master is your name.” Joshua protested quietly.
“No. My name is Beau Homem-Christo.”
“Beau.” Joshua sounded out the name carefully. Beau gave him praise for the pronunciation, to which Joshua laughed lightly. “Beau!”
“Now... do you like these clothes, Joshua?” Beau asked deliberately. While Joshua was still just a young robot, he had to learn how to make decisions for himself, without having other influence him in the slightest. Beau wanted to know how well Joshua could function decisions by himself.
The auburn haired boy looked down at his clothes, taking a few awkward glances at Beau for even an expression. “Yes?” He said. Beau didn't change his emotions. “No? I-I don't know, master.”
“Exactly.” Beau said. “But you must make your own choices in life. You are just as human as I am, and I think you deserve the right to make your own decisions. So decide.” Joshua looked down at his clothes. For some reason, he felt like he didn't like that.
“No....” Joshua said quietly. Then he took a breath. “I mean, no. I do not like these clothes.” He said firmly.
“Good!” Beau praised him. “Let's get you new ones then, shall we?” Beau looked at the boy who was unsure of what to say. Then Joshua nodded.
“Yes, master.”
“Beau.” He corrected Joshua before telling Dahlia, Leslie and Kiyah to change their clothes. Beau finished what was left of his coffee, and searched for a spare jacket in his house. It was too cold to not have one on. Beau decided he would buy Joshua a new wardrobe, and then go to Drew's house. Beau had to show off his shiny new toy.
So he just watched the birds laughing at him through chirps and clicks of their tongues. They would dance their bodies from left to right before disappearing through the trees, or fading away into the digital sky. Were they even real? Nobody had ever touched one. They were just too far in the air. They were always in sight, but just out of reach.
Beau's cell phone rang from the living room, soon followed by the tiny footsteps of Dahlia bringing him his phone. As she skipped in, her pink pigtails bounced at the sides of her face.
“Thank you.” Beau smiled at her as she reached for the phone in her small hands. She stretched her arms to him and dropped the phone in the palm of his hand, then giggled and scampered off in the direction of the hallway.
“Hello?” Beau said.
“Beau, darling!” He pulled the phone away from his ear, and rolled his eyes. His mother always called on the eve of the holiday, pouring out hints on his present. She would try her hardest not to tell him blatantly, but Beau always knew what he was getting. Her hints were never subtle. “How are you, dear?”
“Fine, mom.” Beau said. Dahlia came skipping into the room again, tugging at Beau's jeans. When he didn't respond, she pulled harder. Beau waved his hand in the direction of the hallway. “How are you?” He said flatly.
“Oh, fine, darling. Just wrapping your present! I have a feeling you'll like this year's gift.” She said. Hint #1, Beau thought. “In fact, you'll be... fascinated. Especially with your tech-nature and such.” Second clue: it had to do with technology, and it was probably something he used a lot. Another robot? “And with all those little robots around, this one should be different!” While his mother was pouring out hints, Dahlia was busy whining and moaning at Beau's foot. She moved his jeans away from the bottom of his leg, though Beau paid no mind.
The pieces were all so easy to put together. It was obviously a robot, but he couldn't tell the make and model yet. She would crack soon though, and just tell Beau what they got for him.
“Oh, I just can't wait for you to get it!” His mother continued. “It's—“
Dahlia bit down on Beau's leg, leaving small teeth marks on his leg. Beau shouted, dropping the cell phone on his bed. Dahlia pulled herself away from Beau, arms crossed over her tiny chest.
“What was that for?” Beau said firmly, grabbing the small bot by the back of her shirt. Her pigtails fell to her shoulders while she pouted in anger.
“You didn't listen to me. Therefore, I had to use force to get your attention.”
“By biting me?” Beau exclaimed. She nodded as though it were nothing.
“I must have master's attention in the case of an emergency.”
“Well, what's the emergency?” Beau said impatiently. Dahlia smiled with pride.
“I'm very, very hungry.”
Beau scoffed loudly, putting Dahlia down on the bed next to him. He could hear his mother shouting from the other line of the phone, her obnoxious and nasal voice penetrating through the silence. He wasn't so angry that she was yelling, as he was that he missed his chance to hear what his holiday present was. His mother wouldn't repeat it now.
“I gotta go, mom.” Beau cut off her shrieking long enough to put in an entire sentence. She took a small breath.
“I didn't mean to yell, honey. What happened? Are you all right?” She seemed to be genuinely worried, but he didn't care. He just had to get off the phone.
“Nothing, ma.”
“Well, your father and I will drop off your present tomorrow. We have business in another town, so we won't be there when you open it. But at least you'll have it!” His mother said this as though it was nothing. Yet in her mind, it was nothing. They were never there for the holidays when Beau was young. Work was first priority, and Beau was tired of that mindset. As soon as he was 17, Beau moved out of the house, and supported himself instead of relying on anyone.
“Oh, gotta run, darling! Love you!” His mother yelled at somebody from the other line of the phone, then the line was dead. Beau threw his cell phone on the bed, turning his attention to Dahlia again, who was twirling her foot ever-so mischievously. He had to admit, even though Dahlia was the trouble-maker of the group, she was the most reliable bot he had received.
Beau put his hand level to the ground, and Dahlia jumped into his palm. Beau then placed her on his shoulder.
“What do you want to eat, then? Since you couldn't wait earlier.” Dahlia placed her finger at her bottom lip, thinking for a few seconds before clapping her hands together.
“Pizza!” She shouted. Beau laughed weakly, but made his way to the quiet kitchen, leaving the dancing birds behind him.
***
The day of the holiday had came. The morning was chilly, and a bit frosty as Beau closed his bedroom window. What would be waiting for him in the living room? Would he even like it? He missed the feeling of opening the first present in the morning. Tearing the gift wrap open, staring at the first amazing toy he received, smiling like a child. But he was too old for that.
Beau rubbed his head while Dahlia, Kiyah, and Leslie slept in an open drawer in Beau's dresser. Leslie yawned, rolling over in the blanket they had over their frail bodies. Beau crept out of the room like a wind, and into his kitchen where all he had to do was push a button and there came a cup of coffee.
The streets were void of cars, but people were walking along the sidewalks, either in glee, or in a rush to buy last minute gifts. The best presents were gone already, so last minute shoppers rarely ever had a good pick of gifts.
Beau took the cup off steaming coffee off of the counter, and started his way to the living room in hopes to find something decent on the television. The news was usually cheerful and fun on the holiday, so Beau hoped it would take his mind off of the present his parents got for him. Beau wanted to visit Drew, see what he got for the holiday. They could probably work out some new programs if Drew got a new computer, especially since Drew was never really tech-savvy.
Just as Beau went to sit down, he spotted a large, about life-sized container at his door. His mother must have still had the spare key to his apartment, so that was how she left it inside. A mauve colored silk blanket cascaded over the containers cylindrical shape. Beau grazed his fingers over the material, hastily pulling it off of the container with a sudden peak of interest.
Under the silk blanket sat a glass cylinder, and inside of it, a robot. But not just any robot, a new model. It was the robot he told his parents not to get! He should have known they wouldn't listen to him, or his wishes. Beau gazed at the robot, studying its facial feature with focused eyes. Its skin was flawless, and his hair was long, feathery, and auburn-colored. It accentuated the robot's face perfectly, matched only by the long eyelashes the robot had. Beau took a step back, and recognized the bot to be a male. Beau never had a male personal computer before.
The boy wore a plain white shirt that contrasted with his blue jeans. Beau marveled at how real this boy looked. Even the joints of his body looked real, no apparent lines showing where the circuits met and ended. They must have spent weeks on this one robot. Imagine how long it must have taken them to do the rest!
Beau opened the door to the glass container, grabbing the user manual out of the pocket of the robot's pants. There were specifics about robots that had to be learned before actually using the bot. They came with a pre-destined name, age, language, sexuality function, hair color, and so on and so forth. Beau never used the sexuality function (but then again, most of his androids weren't a day past 12 years old either, so what use would it be?) The thought of having a bot interested in a relationship was strange, and slightly discomforting. Beau had heard of it, but hearing and doing something were obviously two different things.
The robot's skin was a cream white color, and he had faint freckles splattered across his nose, and parts of his cheeks. Beau opened the manual and found the first page, telling the basic information of the robot.
*PC936777 User Manual
Name: Joshua Seydrin
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Eye color: Glasz
Hair color: Auburn
Sexuality: User's choice
Language(s): English (First language), French
Beau went on to read the rest of the manual where it indicated the bot's restart button that was located on the back of the right knee, and the programmed emotions. The android was to be a sensitive, almost meek and scared in nature. The manual said it took more influence from outside roles, rather than itself, and put others before itself. That was a bit redundant though, because isn't that what robots were supposed to do anyways?
Dahlia was the first of the girls to wake up, running into the living room just as Beau located the On/Off button behind the robot's ear. He pushed away the soft auburn hair and gently tapped the button, and took a step back.
“Master, it's another robot!” Dahlia shouted in glee. She even ran into the container and made circles around the bot as he was still waking up. The bot's eyes slid open, revealing vivid colors of green, blue and gray. He was shorter than Beau, but then again, most bots were. Beau was a great height of 6'2”, while bots were made to be anything under 5'8”. This specific bot appeared to be 5'6”.
“What's his name?” Dahlia tugged at Beau's leg, as the bot stared at its surroundings with curious eyes. Beau reached a hand out to the boy, deciding against calling him bot anymore. He watched as the boy gently placed his hand in Beau's, uneasily slipping out of the container.
“Introduce yourself.” Beau said. The boy seemed scared at the sudden tone of his voice, but Beau's expression didn't change. The boy pointed at his own chest, swallowing a ball in his throat.
“Hello,” his voice was soft, almost frail, “I am PC936777, named Joshua.”
“You're just Joshua.” Beau corrected. He hated when his bots called themselves by their call number. It was so humiliating to that bot. They had a name for a reason.
Leslie and Kiyah slowly walked into the living room, Kiyah rubbing her eyes as she saw the tall bot before her. She stopped in her tracks, as Leslie continued to walk without the slightest clue of what was in front of her.
“Leslie.” Beau said. She stopped. “Meet Joshua. He's one of you.” Leslie clapped her hands together, while Joshua studied her small frame carefully.
Joshua fell to his knees, and placed his open palm on the floor. Kiyah urged Leslie into the palm of his hand, and Joshua lifted her to his face with haste. His breathing was soft, gentle, nothing like Beau expected. Joshua was more than Beau bargained for.
“Joshua.” Leslie reached her small hands to his face. Her fingers caressed the soft skin of his face. “My name is Leslie.” Her voice was small and squeaky. Joshua nodded while she studied the beautiful features of his face. Then she pulled her hands away from his face, and smiled. “I apologize. I can't see, so I must use my hands to visualize certain things.”
Leslie hopped off of Joshua's hand as he leveled it with the ground again. Then he turned to Beau, innocent eyes searching for guidance already.
The silence between them was broken by Beau's introduction. “I'm your master. My name is Beau. Please call me Beau.”
“But master is your name.” Joshua protested quietly.
“No. My name is Beau Homem-Christo.”
“Beau.” Joshua sounded out the name carefully. Beau gave him praise for the pronunciation, to which Joshua laughed lightly. “Beau!”
“Now... do you like these clothes, Joshua?” Beau asked deliberately. While Joshua was still just a young robot, he had to learn how to make decisions for himself, without having other influence him in the slightest. Beau wanted to know how well Joshua could function decisions by himself.
The auburn haired boy looked down at his clothes, taking a few awkward glances at Beau for even an expression. “Yes?” He said. Beau didn't change his emotions. “No? I-I don't know, master.”
“Exactly.” Beau said. “But you must make your own choices in life. You are just as human as I am, and I think you deserve the right to make your own decisions. So decide.” Joshua looked down at his clothes. For some reason, he felt like he didn't like that.
“No....” Joshua said quietly. Then he took a breath. “I mean, no. I do not like these clothes.” He said firmly.
“Good!” Beau praised him. “Let's get you new ones then, shall we?” Beau looked at the boy who was unsure of what to say. Then Joshua nodded.
“Yes, master.”
“Beau.” He corrected Joshua before telling Dahlia, Leslie and Kiyah to change their clothes. Beau finished what was left of his coffee, and searched for a spare jacket in his house. It was too cold to not have one on. Beau decided he would buy Joshua a new wardrobe, and then go to Drew's house. Beau had to show off his shiny new toy.