Chapter 2

The rest buzzer rang to announce that the workday had finally ceased. I placed my sponge in my bucket just like everyone else and went to take my place back in line. Number 3002 walked past me. My desire to speak to him became immense and I quickly managed to take my place in line right behind him. My desire to converse with him became so immense that I had to take action. I could feel the perspiration dripping down my forehead as I reached my hand out to tap his shoulder.

"Excuse me," I said, "I don't believe we've formally met?"

"No," he said with a voice like silk, "I don't think we have." His voice had a strange accent that I wasn't familiar with. I assumed he must've been a European model that got transferred here.

"Well," I said nervously, "I'm number 28743. I'm Adam. Pleased to make your acquaintance." I put my hand out so he could shake it. He gently grasped my hand and began to shake it. His hands were so smooth and soft. I began to feel slightly disgusted with myself. My hands must've felt so worn down and rough from years of scrubbing.

"Glad to meet you Adam," he said, "My name is Sauli." Sauli. What an unusual name. All the other droids had simple names, but not him. He was different. "May I ask you something?" he said, snapping me back to reality.

"Of course," I said, "What do you wish to ask?"

"Well," he responded, "I was told by one of the transportation droids on my way here to find an android that would be willing to share their sleeping quarters with me, due to the fact that mine won't be ready for a week or so. So, I was just wondering if I could share your sleeping quarters?" I gulped and just stared at him for a moment.

"Of course you can!" I said, sounding a little more excited than usual. "Anything to assist you. After all, I'm supposed to welcome you with open arms." He bared his teeth at me. However, his mouth was curved on both sides. I had heard about this before. I believed that it was called a smile. I had never seen a real smile before, only on posters embracing android life. His smile seemed so genuine and bright, as if to say, "thank you" without words. Smiling confused me.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Oh!" I responded, slipping out of my daydream and back into real life. "Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well," he said, "It's just that you look so serious, maybe even a little angry."

"My apologies," I said, "I can assure you that I am indeed happy you are accompanying me."

"If you say so," he said. "Shall we head to your sleeping quarters?" I nodded yes and stepped in front of him.

"Follow me," I instructed, "I will take you."

Moments later, we arrived at the entrance to my sleeping quarters. I placed my hand on the scanner next to the door.

"Android number 28743 verified." came a voice from the scanner. "A.D.A.M. please enter your 6 digit pass code for access."

"Look here," I said to Sauli, "You should know the pass code if you are going to be staying with me. It will allow you access into my quarters when I am not present." Sauli moved closer to me so he could see the keypad. Being that close to me gave me a whiff of his scent. He smelled magnificent. I quickly blinked my eyes to snap myself out of another daydream and continued to teach Sauli the code. "4,7,8,9,0,3." I said softly to him as I typed. The door to my quarters flew open. "Did you remember it?" I asked.

"4?" He began, slightly hesitant.

"Correct," I responded, "Now the rest."

"7,8,9,0,3. Is that right?" I nodded.

"Well done. You were programmed with an exceptional memory. It took me weeks to memorize my pass code when I was first introduced. I had to write it on the inside of my sleeve." He smiled at me again. It amazed me to see a smile as glorious and bright as his. "Please," I said, "come in. It's getting late." Sauli entered my quarters shortly after I did.

"It's quite small," he said, "And very dark." I looked around my room.

"Why yes," I replied, "I suppose it is." I walked over to the bed and pulled off the top sheet and one of the pillows. I placed them on the floor. "Here," I said, pointing to the makeshift bed I created on the floor, "is where you will sleep." Sauli nodded and then walked over to my monitor. The monitor had the word, "Awake" displayed along the bottom in large letters and had many graphs and percentages displayed along the middle.

"What is this?" Asked Sauli, as he pointed to the monitor.

"That's my monitor," I answered as I fluffed my pillow.

"What does it do?" I put my pillow down and walked over to the monitor.

"It displays my information," I said, "See?" I pointed to my picture that was displayed in the upper right corner of the monitor. "Here," I said, pointing to the word, "Awake", "displays my state. And over here," I said, now pointing at the charts and percentages, "displays how my productivity at work, how healthy I am, and my estimated time of destruction."

"Oh," said Sauli, sounding slightly impressed. "We didn't have monitors where I am from."

"Really?" I asked. "How did you keep track of yourselves?" Sauli shrugged.

"We just knew. If something was wrong or if we needed to be taken to the infirmary, no one told us to, we just knew. I tilted my head in confusion. How could they have known what to do without being told? It fascinated me. "By the way," he said, "What did you mean by, 'estimated time of destruction'?"

"Oh," I responded, "My estimated time of destruction is the approximate time I have left."

"Left to what?" he asked.

"To live," I responded. "When that clock hits zero, I may either breakdown or be taken away to be deactivated because I will be obsolete."

"Oh," said Sauli, sounding uncomfortable. "Well, it's getting late. We probably should sleep."

"Yes," I said, "of course." Sauli got down on the concrete floor and pulled the blanket over himself. I put my hood up and sat on my bed. I looked down at Sauli lying on the ground. For a reason I didn't understand, I didn't want him to be on the floor. I desired him to be with me, on my bed. "Sauli?" I called.

"Yes Adam?" He replied.

"Why don't you…come on the mattress with me. There's plenty of room." Sauli smiled up at me.

"Thank you Adam," he said, "I would like that very much." I moved over on my bed to make room for Sauli. He grabbed his blanket and pillow from the floor and put them on the bed. He laid onto the bed right next to me. I could feel warmth coming from his body. It felt magnificent. "Goodnight Adam," he whispered.

"Goodnight Sauli," I whispered back. I watched Sauli slowly shut his crystal blue eyes. Those eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness of my room. I too then shut my eyes and drifted off into sleep mode, feeling strangely more comfortable then I ever had before.