Candice and I thought an android would be better in the long run for Victoria rather than a human nanny. Less money, no sick days or vacations. An android couldn't quit or be fired. If it broke, it would be an easy fix. And if a new, better model was made, we'd upgrade. Humans couldn't be made better. Humans aren't capable of being better.
We'd been trying for a few years before Victoria came along. Both Candice and I had our problems with her hostile environment and my weak swimmers, though her uterus wasn't the only hostile thing about her. And I'm sure she'd make the same comparison about my sperm and me.
I love Candice, I do. High school sweetheart, proposed after graduation. She was there for me when my dad died and chose to stay closer to home instead of go to her dream college across the country. All for me. I made sure to at least give her her dream wedding, despite needing to ask everyone I knew and the bank for loans. Our first home was a small apartment on the bad side of the neighborhood, but I had four jobs to make sure we didn't stay there long. But work left her bitter, clinging, selfish. Work was important, and I never understood why she couldn't see that. I was doing it for her, for us, to give her a better life.
I love Candice, I really do. So I bought her an android to help. We named him Johnathan, the name Victoria would've had if she was a boy. Johnathan was designed for housework, child care and security. Only the best for my girls. He was a dream come true for the first several months. Pregnancy and the delivery had been hell for Candice, having to spend most of the last trimester in bed. Johnathan took care of Victoria as Candice regained her strength.
I checked in frequently with Johnathan, logging into the CyberLife account to view his sight in real time while at work. I'd made sure of that feature when we bought him, sort of like a nanny cam in his head. I'd watch him change Victoria's diaper, bring Candice breakfast in bed, vacuum the living room, do the laundry, draw a bath for Candice. I checked all the time despite never seeing anything to worry about.
Things were easy, and after a year I stopped checking. I'd been promoted at work which meant longer hours, sometimes needing to travel around. To my surprise, Candice wasn't upset about it like she had in the past. She understood and appreciated my hard work. She had Victoria and Johnathan to keep her company. So, I didn't worry.
With Russia pinning their flag up north, and the possibility of war seemingly days away, the news of android protests was at the bottom of my worry list.
When things happen to others and you watch it on the news, or read it in the paper, you always think that it'll never happen to you. With androids leaving their owners to apparently be free, you think it'll happen to your neighbors, not you.
But the house was dark and empty when I arrived home from work. Victoria was screaming upstairs, bubbly and desperate. I called Candice but her phone was on the nightstand. I called Jonathan but there was no answer. I called the police. They searched the house to find some of Candice's clothes were missing as well as the money we were saving for a rainy day.
It wasn't until days later, watching TV and seeing a group of androids walking toward the camps the others were gathered in that I saw Johnathan and Candice, hand in hand, chanting along with the others. I was dialing the police, screaming at the screen, when I watched my wife and her plastic lover be gunned down by soldiers.