Ricardo's point of view
I stormed out of the Science Lab, my mind whirling as I tried to make sense of what had just happened. Behind me, I heard Jeremy calling out, his footsteps quickening. "Ricardo! Wait up!" He caught up to me as I slowed down, his hand held onto my shoulders. "What's going on?" he asked, falling into step beside me. "Not all of us were built for speed, you know. Some of us didn't get that upgrade."
I ignored his playful jab, my thoughts elsewhere. "That girl…she isn't human," I muttered as I reached my locker and punched in the combination. The door swung open, and I quickly grabbed my things.
Jeremy frowned, clearly puzzled. "Naomi? What do you mean, 'she's not human'? She looks pretty human to me."
I slammed the locker shut. "I can just... feel it. She's not a human being.."
Jeremy let out a low whistle. "Whoa, easy there, Ricko. You think she was made in a lab, like us? We should be getting signals from her like we get from other crappy androids"
I shook my head, exasperated. "No, she's not an android. I know that much. But the feeling I get when she's around—it's not something a human could give off. Maybe she's a witch or something."
Jeremy chuckled. "A witch? Seriously, man? You've been watching too many movies. Maybe what you're feeling is just a glitch from the latest system update. Gaston's always tinkering with us."
I rolled my eyes. "Maybe, but I'll need to keep an eye on her, just to be sure."
Jeremy's grin widened mischievously as he waggled his eyebrows. "Or maybe... you're falling in love with a human?"
I punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Come on, Jeremy. We're androids. Love isn't exactly in the equation. We are Androids for heaven's sake."
He shrugged. "So what? Gaston and Daniella seem to be doing just fine. Besides, we've got emotions programmed into us, right? We're not like those cheap, mass-produced androids out there. They have emotions alright but ours are far more advanced. We're special. Just yesterday, I watched a sad movie and cried real tears. No idea where they came from, but it felt real."
"You think I'm falling for her?" I shook my head, more to convince myself than Jeremy. Even so, the Android-Human relationship is absurd and not advisable. Humans are biological beings, they pass away, have needs to procreate etc. Partnering up with an artificial being like me or any technological being would simply not do. I haven't even heard of an Android that genuinely fell in love with a human. Yes, I said genuinely.
As we made our way toward the school exit, I couldn't help but smile. "You've always been the emotional one but I'll hand it to you, you have the most advanced intelligence among us all . Mine sucks as hell, I am just happy it didn't fail me in the test. The wind hit us as we stepped outside, a welcome change against our synthetic skin. "This wind is great," Jeremy said, his arms outstretched. "It's like a natural coolant."
He then shot me a sideways glance. "So, why were you giving Naomi a hard time today?"
I snorted. "She's a nerd, like you. That's why."
Jeremy raised an eyebrow, amused. "What's wrong with being a nerd? Nerds are the ones who save the world. Thanks to a nerd, we both exist. You know. Maybe if you gave her a chance, you'd see she's not so bad."
I scoffed. "You act like you've known her all her life."
"I don't need to. I can tell she's cool," he replied. "You were acting like a glitchy android back there."
I stayed quiet, unwilling to argue with him further. Jeremy could be relentless once he latched onto something.
As we walked, the city buzzed with its usual energy. Cars honked in frustration, and pedestrians hurried past, oblivious to the fact that two androids walked among them. The sunset bathed the skyline in a warm orange glow, making the towering Lockwood skyscrapers look even more imposing. For all the technological advancements humans had made, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Where were the flying cars? Shouldn't they have figured that out by now? I would have expected their cities to look more… futuristic than this.
---
Later that evening, Daniella had dinner ready for us. Jeremy and I sat at the dining table as she placed bowls of food in front of us. The house was bombarded with delicious aromas of food breeze through our smell detection units in our nostrils.
"Hey, Ricardo," Daniella said, her voice gentle. "You've been awfully quiet since you got home. Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine. Just thinking about something that happened at school," I replied, trying to sound casual.
Jeremy snickered. "Maybe it's got something to do with a human girl."
I glared at him, hoping to shut him up, but of course, he just laughed harder. Annoyed, I sent him a mental message. Laugh one more time, and I'll fry your circuits.
He quickly toned down his laughter but still wore a teasing grin. If Daniella wasn't here, I'd be running round this table with his arm in my hand while he chased me with the area sparking with exposed wires.
Daniella raised an eyebrow, clearly curious. "What's really going on, Ricardo?"
I sighed, realizing I couldn't avoid the conversation. "It's about a girl at school. I don't think she's... human. When I got close to her, I felt this weird sensation, like she zapped me or something."
Jeremy rolled his eyes, but I ignored him.
Daniella's expression became serious. "That's strange. We're not built to feel electrical shocks. If we did, we'd probably power down or worse explode. Maybe there's a bug in your system. Gaston should check it out."
Jeremy, always the skeptic, grabbed a sausage and spoke with his mouth full. "Do we really want Gaston involved? If he finds out about this girl from his memory , he might go after her."
I glanced at Daniella. "What if you checked me out instead? I trust you more than Gaston."
She sighed, sitting down across from me. "I could try, but Gaston built us. He knows every circuit, every wire. If there's something wrong, he's the one who can fix it. But I agree—we need to keep this girl off his radar. He's not exactly... innocent."
Daniella twirled her fork in her pasta, lost in thought. After a few moments, she looked up. "Does this girl show any other signs of being…different?"
"Not really, except for the fact that she's extremely smart. Her grades are off the charts," I said. That isn't too extraordinary, there are humans that are very smart, take Gaston for example,only he uses his smarts for greed.
An uneasy silence filled the room until a knock at the door interrupted us. I accessed the porch camera and sighed. "It's Gaston."
"It's Gaston—the man who fell in love with his android," I chuckled. Daniella shot me a deadly glare. She had the ability to change the color of her eyes from their usual hazel to any other shade, and right now, they were a striking red.
It was amusing to think about how lonely Gaston must have been to create an android just to marry her. He couldn't win over a human, so he resorted to building one. Poor Daniella didn't have a choice but to accept it. I was sure that if she had her way, she wouldn't be with Gaston at all.
Jeremy sprang up and dashed to the front door. A moment later, he returned with Gaston closely behind him. Gaston was a short, chubby man in his mid-forties, with olive skin and a bald head. He wore a white lab coat over his clothes and carried a briefcase in one hand. As he approached Daniella, he leaned down to plant a kiss on her forehead. I could see the disgust in her eyes, but she masked it with a forced smile.If Androids could vomit, all the contents in her mechanical digestive tract would be on the floor.
"Hello, honey. How was work?" she asked, her tone not exactly cheerful.
"It was good. I am currently resuming work on a project I tried to test out a few years ago." Jeremy helped him remove his lab coat and hung it on the coat hanger. He took a seat and started dishing some pasta for himself.
"Gaston… shouldn't you wash your hands? The germs on your hands could cause you to fall sick. Humans are very fragile to this kind of thing," she advised, a hint of irritation in her voice.
Gaston merely shrugged his shoulders, dismissing her concerns, and started twirling his fork in the pasta. Daniella let out a quiet sigh, clearly frustrated but choosing not to push the issue further.
Jeremy's curiosity got the better of him. "What project?"
Gaston smiled slyly. "A few years ago, I may have convinced a surgeon to implant a neurochip into a patient's brain. It's designed to heal any disease or injury. It could heal in a few seconds or hours depending on the severity of the sickness or wound. It also gave the human a "special abilities".But I lost track of the patient, so I don't know how well it's been working."
Daniella frowned. "And how are you planning to continue the project without the patient?"
Gaston's smile widened, sending a chill down my spine. "You'll see soon enough."
Jeremy and I exchanged a glance. Whatever Gaston was planning, it couldn't be good. I just hope my guess about the patient being Naomi would be wrong.