5.

Crap, crap, crap.

How did she know? Did her pod tip her off?

I stand and brush grass off my pants, and then approach. "Oh, hello."

"Is this how you hide and perform, what was it, 'espionage'?" She sounds wry.

"No. I have way more nimble and crafty ways, that, um, cannot be disclosed." I shift my weight on either foot. "So. So, what brings you here?"

"I am here to speak to Pascal." She gives me the up and down. "And perhaps you, now that you're here. I wasn't sure if I'd find you."

I don't say anything. What could she possibly want with me? Now that 9S isn't here, is she going to kidnap me?

"Have you seen 9S?" she asks.

"Huh?"

"The scanner model who was with me when we met. Have you seen him?"

I look left, and then right, as if he may suddenly pop up. "No, why?"

"It's nothing."

"Has he been missing?"

"Not at all." She sets a hand on her hip and blows a strand of hair out of her face when she sighs.

"Is everything okay?" I do not know why I pry but I can't stop myself.

"He disappears whenever we rest," she says. "When I ask about it, he says he's gathering intel about the machines. He doesn't specify any more than that."

"Oh. He sounds like a hard worker?"

She taps her fingers against her hip. "I thought maybe he has been talking to you."

I hold up my hands. "No, no. I haven't seen him at all."

But then where does he go?

Not that I should bother wondering. I don't know anything about him at all and there's literally a hundred things he could be up to. For all I know he goes fishing in his spare time.

"If he does come seeking you out, can you not encourage him?" She approaches me, her heels clicking against the mortar. "While I, too, am drawn to humans, I am not as driven by my emotions as he is."

"What?" I scratch my head. Why is there a burning sensation in my ears? "What?" Androids are drawn to humans, and she thinks I am a human. If I was a human, that would make sense. This is awful. Deception is awful. Well, it is supposed to be. Lying is bad, Pascal says, but I do not mind lying if an android like her is drawn to a weird, floppy machine like me because of it.

"For some reason, Command has left the fact humans are on Earth in the dark to us. They have done so for a reason." She lifts a hand, the white and black glove reflecting sunlight for a moment as she reaches for me. "I know this, and I also know what happens if we stray too far from the path Command has assigned us."

Her hand drops.

"You are not my mission, nor my business—as hard as it is to walk away." She spins on her heel and takes a few steps towards the path to the village. She glances back over her shoulder at me. "What I have now is more precious than information that is out of reach."

Wow, I must be really well made weapon. I seem to put androids through a loop.

I give a nervous laugh and shrug. "Well, okay." I don't fully understand, but basically we should all stay away from each other, so that's good, right?

Basically, if her chain of command catches her or 9S straying from their mission to go snoop in other corners, bad things happen.

Still, what will she lose if she strays from her orders and acknowledges a human—even if I am fake—is on Earth?

Why is she going against her inner instinct to protect whatever she's trying to protect?

She disappears down the path, covered by the fog.

My ears stop burning and I kick at a stray rock.

Stay away from the androids. My goal has never changed and now that I've talked to 2B, I've found out their goal is the same. Or should be.

It'll be easy to avoid each other.

I try to read. Pascal brings me food—some berries and vegetables that grow nearby. I am such an immaculate design I even share the necessity of eating like humans of the past. It is actually nonsensical how much I resemble a human, biologically.

I read two more "romance novels" and find myself understanding. Or, at least I think I'm understanding. There are no humans to confirm the truth.

Not all female and male humans develop "feelings" for one another. It seems to be at random. Sometimes encounters trigger it, and sometimes pastimes or hobbies humans may share, and sometimes it just happens because it happens, which is vague and unhelpful.

It seems like a very complex and daunting system.

And as the days pass, I find myself looking around the village.

I raid Jean-Paul's house and he spouts a riddle at me. He won't chide me—he doesn't really care if I go through his stuff.

He doesn't bother to ask what I'm doing.

"Jean-Paul?" I interrupt.

He looks down at me.

"I love you."

He has gotten many female machines' attention, so he must be used to this.

He blank-stares at me for a moment. "Oh, of course, that is to be expected. What is love if not an existential yet ungraspable concept? At its core, it has many faces."

Yeah, I don't get it. I walk away as he carries on talking.

Next I check the junk pile Sally calls her "treasure trove" but do not find what I am looking for. I do not find Sally herself, so I cannot tell her I love her and gauge her reaction.

I go under the foundation and inspect any possible hiding spots, but I come up empty.

What am I expecting?

To find 9S under a sheet of plywood with a pair of binoculars?

It's wishful thinking.

I want him to be curious about me like 2B said they are. 2B has made it clear she's going to stay away, but she said 9S has difficulty keeping his emotions in check. She thought he was disappearing to hang around me.

I want him to be hiding in nooks in the village, gathering data about me.

Maybe he'll gather a bunch and eventually confess to 2B that he has been straying, and maybe 2B will cave too—and they will come play with me?

Roger, a little machine without arms, bumps into me to get my attention.

"What is it?" I turn to him.

"Tag. We wanna play tag."

"I am busy." I nudge him away.

"Busy doing what? You've been checking every corner. Did you lose something?"

Another small machine approaches. "We can help you find it! Hurray! A scavenger hunt!"

"A scanvenger hunt!" another machine cries.

"Scavenger, idiot!"

I regard them with a frown. Their games are boring now. I used to love tag. I could run around all day until the wind left me, but since meeting 2B and 9S—what games could we play? They have similar physiques as me and seem to be on a similar emotional and intellectual level.

I mean, Roger asked to play tag and he has no arms to even catch me with.

Although I am a machine, I am designed to fit in with androids, right?

I ruffle my own hair. "Ugh, I don't want to."

"Play!"

"Hunt!"

"Play!"

I head for the ladder and climb back up, ignoring their calls.

I'm restless.

I should not want to see the androids again. Pascal has taught me well, but something in me is threatening to burst.

I go back to my room and read more, but it's hard to focus. I read lines over and over again and they don't process.

Maybe I should get water? To clear my head? And maybe—if I am being monitored—

My pulse becomes rapid.

I head out of the village to the stream nearby. It's a quick walk, one I make all the time. I cup my hands and take a drink. The water is cool and pleasant and refreshing.

My heartbeat pounds away.

Please, please.

I stand up and wipe my mouth with my arm.

Maybe 9S is—

Something rises in my line of vision.

Black, long, and thin, with a crude face near the jagged blade.

A spear.

It's 9S' spear.

A jolt goes through me.

It's 9S! He's here!

The spear rises, floating itself directly in front of me, with the point of the blade aimed for me.

Wait. I should not be this happy when a spear is being pointed at my head.

9S' voice comes from behind me, devoid next to my ear.

"Got you."

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