Memories
*Out of the action, and into the story!
"That won't be good." Said the tall man, looking down at his creation. He failed to do the procedure correctly. This android would have emotions.
Penny woke from her nightmare. Every now and then, she always had nightmares. Her hardware burdened her with infinite memory.
"Vlad, no. You will not destroy this one. I believe she won't turn."
A knocking was heard on her door.
"Carl? What is it?" Penny asked, her voice weakened from a bad night's sleep.
"A message from The Creator," said Carl, opening the door to her room. "It is another order."
Penny sighed. "Go ahead."
Carl proceeded to give out the order. "I decree that you are now forbidden to go outside. You must remain within the household, you will not interact with humans. You will now practice 4 hours a week."
Penny laughed. "Override order."
Nothing happened to Carl.
"Carl? Override Order!" Penny exclaimed getting worried.
Carl responded. "Order overrided."
The man with a mask concealing his face spoke. "If you attempt to disobey my orders, I will destroy you with this," the man said, pointing to a button. "It is a destruct button. Do not dare defy me. Your surveillance unit will report to me regularly. If he does not report to me, this button will be pressed with no mercy. The only reason I kept you alive," said the man, "Is because I saw your potential. You could win the tournament if the others fail to do so. Keep that in mind." He walked from the room, leaving the terrified girl to her thoughts.
"Thank you, Carl." Penny said, grateful that Carl had responded.
Carl left the room, leaving Penny to herself.
Beside Penny lies a huge, burly man. "H-hello?" Her weak voice called. He turned his head slowly. He merely stared at her, then turned back around.
"Where am I?" Not turning around, a deep voice came from his mouth.
"Hell."
Penny got up, she needed to see what was wrong with Carl. She opened the door to the living room.
"Excuse me?" Penny asked, confused.
The man laughed. "At least for you, you have emotions." The man stood up from his rest. He was huge, nearly as big as an Ursa. His head touched the ceiling.
"Carl?" Penny called.
"Yes?"
"I need to see your hardware."
"I cannot allow you to do—" Carl started, but was interrupted.
"Override that command. Code: 2452." Penny said, using a code she herself deciphered using Carl's model and year of creation.
"Command… overrided." Carl said, rebooting himself.
A little panel on his back split, showing wires and circuits that not even the most tech-savvy person would be able to understand.
But Penny could.
Ember looked at her. "I'm not supposed to be talking to you." She said, turning her head away from Penny.
"You have very pretty hair, friend." Penny said, pointing at her dark green hair.
Ember turned around.
"Thank you, but don't call me friend." Ember said, losing her nerve and finally leaving the containment room.
With a couple pulling of wires, Carl was back to normal. The Creator was foolish, and had kept Carl under his default state, allowing Penny to do anything she wanted with him.
"Test." Penny said.
"Test completed. All systems well."
Penny smiled. "You're great, Carl, you know that?"
Penny stood there, looking where Ember had left. She would never have friends. Vlad hated her, Ember would never disobey The Creator, and the other one… Nika, was it? She scared Penny. She was exceptionally tall, dark-skinned, and talented. All she ever did was meditate on her bed all day, even when orders were issued. When the group practiced, she showed boundless talent. That would not matter. In the next week, Penny would move to a separate house. The Creator wanted to speak to his creations face to face, but Penny was a danger, so she would be moving out. He would still keep an eye on her, through a surveillance unit.
Suddenly, Carl froze. "Tape end."
Penny jumped up, and quickly ran to Carl.
"Replay! Replay!" She frantically repeated.
"Tape rewinding…. Tape playing."
Penny had to use a looped tape to make The Creator think she wasn't doing anything. She had made Carl record for 6 months, whilst staying in the house. She then put the tape on repeat. Whenever the Creator would take a look at what Penny was doing, he would only see a repeated tape. The beauty of it was that she synchronized it with the time of day, to add more realism to it. It was unlikely The Creator would catch a loop.
"Hey…" Penny said, walking towards Nika. She woke from her meditation. "What do you want? Why must you interrupt me, sister?" At this, Penny became excited.
"Sister? Did you call me… Sister?" Nika merely shrugged it off. "We are both from the same Creator." Penny felt like crying in joy.
"Wow! I really have no one that likes me around here, it's good to know someone recognizes we shouldn't all hate each other!"
"Hatred is immature. Vlad and Ember, though, cannot experience hatred. Neither can I. But we can't experience anything else. They are fools, pretending to show emotions. Of course, the Creator made them like that."
"Automatically loop that tape when it ends, Carl." Penny said, relieved.
"No problem, Penny." He said.
Penny, unable to control herself, laughed uncontrollably. Sometimes it happened, when her emotional output came out wrong, and she would have emotional outbursts.
"Made them like what?" Penny asked.
"The creator needed fools to follow his orders." Nika said.
"Do you… not like him?" Penny asked, confused.
"Of course not. He is my creator. I was born unemotional, as I said. Therefore, I cannot take sides. Only orders."
Penny was unique. She wasn't like androids, or humans. She was one of the only of her kind. An emotion-feeling android. How the Creator accidentally did it, she would never know. She only knew that she had cursed him. She lived in a world she would never fit into.
"Here, have this." Nika gave Penny a bottle.
"It will artificially create an aura for you. It only works for a couple days at a time, so only take sips at a time, when you need it."
Penny eyes filled with tears of joy. "Thank you!"
Nika gracefully accepted a hug. "I wish I had emotions…." She said, longfully staring at Penny's tears.
She looked at the old, rusted bottle. She only drank a bit when she went outside.
"I wish I could refill it, it's half empty." Thought Penny, looking at the bottle.
Without it, she'd probably be dead. You'd be surprised how easily one could get hurt without aura. With one well placed strike, they'd be dead.
"Hey, friend." Penny said, calling towards Nika. They were at the practice warehouse. It was Penny's last day.
Nika continued to practice, not acknowledging Penny.
"It's my last day."
Nike turned around.
"I may not speak to you. The Creator believes it is not healthy for me to want emotions."
Penny opened her mouth, but was stopped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Carl.
"We need to go, [Subject Name Here]" He said.
Penny turned around. "Ok. I hated this place anyway. My name is Penny, by the way."
