"We can be together all the time, forever and ever, until the sun stops shining!"
42 opened her eyes. The room around her was dark, and the only light came from her recharge module and the module next to her, the one belonging to... She quickly shook her head, not wanting to think about him. It was bad enough that he haunted her dreams; she didn't want to spend her waking hours feeling guilty as well.
Realising that she probably wasn't going to get any sleep, 42 unplugged herself from the module and began wheeling back and forth across the Science Bay.
The first few days of sentience had been rough - she'd tried to hide it, but it still came through in the way she treated everyone. To suddenly go from being a simple AI that could barely think for itself to a... a person (or the robotic equivilant anyway) was a massive change. The new-found thoughts and emotions confused her... she hadn't known how to deal with them. It didn't help that only a short time after gaining sentience she came face to face with the most attractive robot in the whole galaxy - not that she hadn't met XR before; on the contrary, they had talked often. But that was different. She hadn't been sentient then; she was just a computer who had basic artificial intelligence capabilities. The conversations she and XR had had then weren't romantic - they were of a purely business nature. Usually he was giving her commands.
Anger welled up within her. She didn't like being ordered around. She may not have been sentient during most of her life, but she still remembered the years of following orders and being controlled by others - by those fleshpods. She hated it.
STOP it, a voice seemed to tell her. You're being selfish. You have control of your life now - don't dwell on the past.
That was true. Thanks to XR (why did she feel guilty thinking about him?), she now had her own body... her own life.
And what did you do to repay him? You dumped him!
42 frowned. What was this voice anyway? Her conscience?
You didn't have to do that! You live on the same station with him - a relationship wouldn't interfere with your new life. In fact, it would add meaning to it.
Not wanting to acknowledge the validity of these thoughts, she quickly returned to her charger. Maybe I can get some sleep and forget about all this, she thought hopefully. For the first few days of sentience, she'd been too mixed up by all the new things happening to her to realise how much she'd hurt XR - to realise how badly she'd treated him. But now that her life was beginning to settle down, and she was finally able to make sense of her thoughts and emotions, it was dawning on her that maybe she hadn't done the right thing.
It didn't help that she and XR both slept in the Science Bay, and had to see each other every night when they recharged. Neither had spoken to the other since their break-up, but 42 could tell XR was still hurting badly.
And it's YOUR fault.
She shook her head. I just wanted to...
You were just SELFISH, that's what. You wanted your life all to yourself. You were afraid he might somehow take control of it - even though that's the last thing a nice guy like him would ever do.
42 shut her eyes tightly and tried desperately to fall asleep.
Quit being so self-centred and try to set things right. Talk to him tomorrow - tell him you're sorry. Tell him you were wrong. Tell him you love him...
42's eyes fluttered open again. Was it true? Did she actually love the little robot beside her?
Yes, you do. But you haven't told him yet, even though he freely confessed his love for you. It's time you changed that.
She sighed. I should. He deserves to be treated so much better. It's time I treated him with respect. Not wanting to waste another moment, she unplugged herself and moved to XR's side. Taking a deep breath, she yanked out the power cable and waited for XR to awake.
"Is it morning already?" XR yawned and slowly opened his eyes. Then he saw who had woken him. "What?" he asked curtly.
"XR, I..." She gazed into his gorgeous round eyes. "I... I love you." She knew she couldn't make it right overnight. It might take days to work through all their problems.
But she was willing to go through that. XR was worth it.
