Une Nuit Foncée (One Dark Night)

This pattern of him coming to see me, bringing me food, and asking me questions happened every night for a long time. I felt myself getting stronger and stronger daily, and for this I was relieved. It meant that soon, I could escape.

"Here." My friend tossed me two warm carcasses as he entered the cell. He seemed tired…or, at least as tired as a robot can be.

I weighed the warm food, one a pheasant and the other a pigeon, in my hands. I could smell them…and they didn't smell raw. My heart leaped into my throat with excitement. "They're cooked!" I exclaimed, wanting to hug him, although that would be awkward.

"Yes." He smiled at me. I noticed once again that he could actually do that.

"Why?" I asked. The smell of cooked food was absolutely tempting. My hunger, though, was not so overwhelming anymore. It was getting harder and harder for me to hear him enter the cell, and I was getting rather plump. But, if that meant that I was healthier, then I wasn't at all depressed. I pulled a leg off the pigeon and sank my teeth into it.

"You are getting healthier. It is time you stopped eating rare meat." He sat by my side as I ate, staring out my single window in a contemplative manner. I longed to know what he was thinking.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Anything." His head turned towards me, the black nose shining in the moonlight.

"What are you thinking right now?" I swallowed heavily, beginning to eat the pheasant. Cooked food was more filling than the rare meat I was used to, and the texture tickled my tastebuds.

"I am thinking about the night." His lasers gravitated towards the night sky. "I am thinking about owls and rabbits and bats and moths."

"You think a lot, don't you?" I yawned, stretching as the last of my first cooked meal in (maybe) sixty seven days disappeared into my gullet. I was actually feeling rather full, a sense that I'd missed in my days here.

His ears flicked a fly away. "And about my brethren."

I sat up straighter. Just as I was thinking about my friends, he was thinking about what he must've considered family. Even though they were evil, and had tried to kill me, they were still basically his family. "I'm sorry." I murmured.

"It is not your fault. They are acting on programming, as am I. They have no need to care for me as I care for them, because they cannot. It is not a part of their directive." He seemed aloof, tired, far away.

"Do you long to be flesh?"

He smiled as much as he could. "To be honest? Yes."

"I used to fear robots." I told him.

"You should still. We are a dangerous lot."

"Don't include yourself in this." I rested a hand on his shoulder. Man, I could barely keep my eyes open! I was content, and very sleepy. I yawned again, my once-tense muscles relaxing.

"You are tired. You should sleep."

"I'm full, that's what." My head met my knees as I embraced them, pulling them close against my chest. I could no longer feel my bones. I had to press hard to feel them, though my ribs still stuck to my skin. "Now, what else is on your mind?"

"Escape." He said.

"You know, I never bothered to ask you what your name was." I responded.

"Spirit."

I grinned, giving a thumbs-up. "Okay, Spirit. What's the plan?"

"It has not yet reached formation."

"Still chewing on it?"

Spirit laughed. "Yes."

"Okay." I shrugged. "It's cool, I can wait. If you need me to do anything for you, let me know."

"I will." Spirit stood and reached for the window. "I must depart."

"Bye." I waved to him before stretching out and closing my eyes.

And, for the first time since my stay, I slept deeply.