Chapter 1
I was having those visions again. The same visions I had every night. I saw eyes, cold and soulless, staring at me. They were everywhere, watching and waiting for something to occur. Exactly what they were waiting for, I did not know. Suddenly, the morning buzzer rang.
"Good morning Anatomically Designed Android Machinery number 28743. Are we ready for another productive day?" I sat up from lying on my mattress and pulled down my hood. I nodded yes to the question given to me by The Superior. The Superior was the greatest of us all. She brought the world out of the darkness when all hope was lost. In the year 2017, The Superior rose up and brought peace to the world. She eradicated the world of all life forms and created a new era. The era of the androids. Now, there is no war or suffering or poverty. The world is at peace.
I stood up from my bed and exited my sleeping quarters. I took my place in line with the other droids and we marched to the Food Distribution Room. We each took our trays, which were labeled with our names.
"Please proceed in a single file line. Thank you." The voice of The Superior was very smooth and calming, like a mother's voice as she lulls her baby to sleep. The line was long, but moved very quickly. When it was my turn to receive my nutrients, I placed my hand on the scanner that was attached to the Food Capsule Processing Unit. The scanner allows the Food Capsule Processing Unit to distribute food capsules that are custom made for the user. My capsules fell onto my tray and I continued to move with the others in line. We all moved to the Seating Area. At each table were six glasses of water, one for each droid that sat there. I took my usual seat next to android number 39756.
"Good morning Adam," he said, "Are you ready for another productive day?"
"Yes Tommy," I responded, "I am ready to be productive." Tommy, or Technically Operated Mechanical Machinery-Y, never failed to be enthusiastic about working. He always wanted everyone to be productive, which was a good quality that The Superior admired greatly.
"I have overheard rumors," he said.
"Rumors?" I said as I placed a food capsule into my mouth.
"Yes," Tommy replied, "I overheard one of the other droids say that our quadrant is going to receive a new arrival." Hearing those last words made almost choke on my last food capsule. I took a sip of my water and leaned in closer to Tommy so I could hear him better.
"A new arrival?" I whispered. "Our quadrant hasn't received a new arrival in years."
"I know," responded Tommy silently. "They said the new arrival will be introduced to us after we finish consuming." I looked down at Tommy's tray. Empty. I looked down at my own tray. Empty as well. Before I could say another word, the work buzzer rang. "Well," said Tommy, "I'll see you later Adam." He picked up his tray and took his place back in line. I followed shortly after. We all proceeded to the Diagnostics Room.
"Please proceed to your stations," came The Superior's voice, "Do not worry. All is well." Each android took their place at their station, which was marked with their number. I took my place at my station as well. "Now," said The Superior, "please look left." In unison, every droid did as we were told. A glass wall rose from the floor and closed the left entrance to our stations. "Very good," said The Superior, "Now, please look right." The same thing happened when we all looked right. Then, the front entrance to our stations closed as well. "Now my children," The Superior said, "please look straight ahead." A large machine came down from the roof of our stations and a beam of red shot into each of our eyes. I closed mine in fear. Suddenly, I could hear The Superior's voice in my head. "Do not fear my child," she said, "All is well. Open your eyes." I did as I was instructed. The beam stung at first, but then I felt no pain at all. "Excellent my dear," she said, "Now, listen to me. You are fine, and all is well."
"I am fine," I said involuntarily, "and all is well." I fell into a state of complete bliss. I had never felt so relaxed. The beam of light disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
"Are we feeling better now?" came The Superior's voice.
"Yes my Superior," I responded.
"Very good. Now, please proceed to the bridges for your work schedule."
"Yes my Superior," I responded once more. The doors to my station reopened and I followed the others to the bridges.
The bridges were where we did most of our work. We cleaned, built, made clothes, and repaired old machinery all on these bridges. The only work that wasn't done on these bridges was the care taking of the broken and old. The nurses and doctors did that in the infirmaries. I worked in the sanitary and cleanliness department. The fellow droids in my department and I washed the filthy bridge in unison. The scrubbing was completely involuntary. I knew I was cleaning, but my body refused to stop until either the bridge was clean or I was told to halt. Suddenly, the buzzer rang. We all froze in place.
"Attention my children," The Superior said from a loud speaker. "We have a new arrival in our quadrant today. Everyone please be respectful and welcome him with open arms." The door to the Resting Area, where everyone's sleeping quarters were, opened to reveal to us the new arrival. "My children," said The Superior, "Say hello to Sanitary Android Unit-L-I, number 3002." Everyone clapped as number 3002 walked past and headed for his work area. Everyone, except me. I remained completely motionless. I lost my desire to work or to obey. For that one moment, all I desired was to speak to him. He took his place, which happened to be next to me, and started cleaning like everyone else. I blinked my eye rapidly and shook my head. I looked around and saw that everyone had continued cleaning, but me. I wasn't being efficient in my work.
"Must've been a glitch," I thought to myself as I started to clean again. Glitches weren't uncommon in droids. In fact, one droid in my department had a glitch where he had to click his tongue every 10 seconds. However, after receiving many complaints, he was sent to the infirmary for it to be fixed. As I scrubbed the bridge, my eyes continued to glance over at number 3002. He was breaking a sweat as he scrubbed. He raised his arm and rubbed it against his forehead to wipe away the perspiration. His blonde hair glistened in the light and his tan skin looked as if it was glowing. I became so fascinated with watching him clean that I didn't even realize that I was scrubbing slower than the others. I had never been so focused on another droid before. I began memorizing every detail about him. I never wanted to forget the way he looked in this moment. Suddenly, he looked up and his eyes met mine. I saw something I had never seen before. His eyes were not black like all the others, his eyes were a beautiful crystal blue.