The sun blazed through the windows of the clocktower, scorching the concrete plaza. The pigeons were conspicuously absent, rendering the usually lively campus deserted. Most of the activity came from a few worker androids which moved under the shade of the screens, emptying trash cans or pushing brooms.

Kate skirted the plaza as she avoided the sun, her backpack slung low on one shoulder and her sweater tied around her waist. Her professor decided to schedule two books this week, so she carried them in one arm to avoid adding another twenty pounds to her backpack and risk pulling a muscle.

Part of her simply wanted to stay on the campus and find a tree to sleep under rather than go home. If it hadn't been over a hundred degrees she very well might have. Detroit weather was getting warmer, and the city hadn't quite adapted to the rise in temperature. If there was one thing this city needed, it was more trees. More trees and less automation.

Something got her attention as she headed towards the carpool. She turned, and spotted a familiar shaggy-haired figure jogging to catch up with her.

"Jesus Kate," said Matt, leaning over slightly as he paused next to her. "I called your name like ten times."

"Some water, Matthew?" Matt's android shifted the backpack that he was carrying for him.

"Not now, Seph." Matt looked at her. "You okay?"

Kate rubbed her eyes. "Yeah. Sorry, just tired is all."

"Yeah, you look tired," said Matt. "We still on for Netview tonight?" Kate groaned. "Okay…" Matt continued, nodding slightly. "Tomorrow then."

"Sorry, I just…" Kate let her hand drop to her side. "I had a shitty night." She turned and moved towards the carpool, Matt following alongside her.

"You know, you really don't have to keep putting up with Jamie," said Matt. "Told you, all you have to do is call your dad─"

"It's not─" Kate bit her lip, but she could tell it was too late. "I don't need to call him."

"Alright then," said Matt. She heard him kick a pebble across the concrete as they walked. "Did… something happen?"

The concern in his voice made her clench the books she was carrying. She breathed in deeply. "I'm fine. My mom's just driving me crazy as per usual."

Matt laughed lightly. "Stalking you through your bedroom window per usual? Or just trying to marry you off to an Iranian prince per usual?"

"Butting her head into my business as per usual," said Kate as they stopped at the carpool. "She got me… something."

Matt looked at her. "Something? Oh shit." He grabbed the water bottle from his android's hand and unscrewed it as he looked at her. "Did she get you one of those Nanopens? They don't tell you in the commercials but they can also track where you go and what you do…"

"No, she…" Kate pinched the bridge of her nose. "She got me an android."

Matt choked, halfway through a swig from the bottle and sprayed water everywhere. "Oh─ what─ that's all?" He doubled over as he laughed, coughing in between. His android stood next to him, looking slightly concerned as if not sure whether to help or not. "Oh my god… oh my god, only you…"

Kate rolled her eyes as a taxi pulled forward, the electric doors raising automatically. She threw her books in and slumped into the front seat, drawing her legs up. Matt scooted into the seat next to her, still snorting with laughter. His android climbed into the back, and the car rolled silently forward.

"So you─ you stayed up all night because you were mad at your android?" Matt took his glasses off and cleaned them on his flannel shirt, still laughing. "I can totally see you just sitting there… glaring silently at it all night… with a glass of whiskey in one hand."

"I wasn't mad at it, I was just…" Kate shifted uncomfortably and stared out the window, resting her head against her hand. "I didn't know if they can see through walls or have super-hearing or something."

"What, that's your concern?" She heard him lean back in his seat. "That your android is spying on you, secretly judging you… the fiend!"

Kate sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Look, it's totally different when you've got an android as your servant or whatever. Maybe you're used to it but in my opinion it's just privacy rape."

"Yeah, Kate," said Matt. "Only you would immediately jump straight to android conspiracies."

"I'm not─ I don't think I'm being spied on or something, it's just… it's just creepy." Kate looked sideways at him. "This thing wants to do my laundry, clean my house, make me food… he made this giant breakfast, I mean─" Kate motioned with her hands "─like five eggs, about ten pounds of bacon, pancakes… he said something about my metabolism being too fast and I'm five pounds underweight or whatever."

"Listen to yourself complain about someone doing all your chores," said Matt, shaking his head. "You get used to it really quick. Pretty soon you'll be asking it to wipe your ass for you."

"Oh god, don't make me think about it." Kate put her feet up on the dashboard, burying her face in her arms. She let out a heavy sigh. "I finally get away from my mom, and she still finds a way to put me in a prison."

She could hear Matt scratching his head. "You know, the offer still stands. If you need somewhere to escape to. I mean I'm just down the street."

She turned her head slightly sideways to look at him with one eye over her arm. He was staring absentmindedly out the windshield with his head in one hand so that his shaggy brown hair fell to the side. She bit her lip in a vain attempt to keep from smiling.

"Yeah but…" She worked frantically to keep her cynical momentum going. "I don't want your android spying on us. No offense, Seph."

"No offense taken, Katherine," said Seph. Matt shook his head slowly, but Kate could see the smile on his face.

The taxi smoothed to a stop under the shade of the trees, and the familiar blue house loomed into view overhead. Kate gathered her backpack and her textbooks off the floor of the taxi, not looking forward to stepping out into the heat again. She looked over her shoulder. "I'll try to get on tonight, Matt. Same as usual if I don't pass out."

"Don't worry about it," said Matt. "I might just go to the tech lab. Have to make up for last week."

Kate looked at the floor as she smiled. "Sorry about that." She heaved the backpack over her shoulders and gathered the books up as the car door opened. The hot air fell over her like a blanket, and she began to sweat as she stood up. She turned behind her and gave a small wave. "See ya."

"Later," said Matt. A smile spread across his face. "Have fun with your andr─" The car door slammed shut automatically, and the taxi sped away.

Kate sighed and her head fell back as she slouched her shoulders. She listened to the rustle of the trees as they swayed in the afternoon breeze. Normally at this time, she would be experiencing the weight of the day leaving her body as if she was wringing it out of her like a sponge. Now it clinged to her, threatening to drag her down in the heat. She blew a twisted ribbon of hair out of her eyes, and moved up the brick steps towards the front landing. She hesitated a moment before grabbing the knob and slowly opening the door.

It looked for a moment like she was stepping into someone else's house. Everything had been moved. All the surfaces were cleared. Jamie's pile of clothes had disappeared from the dining room table, and the stacks of boxes that she had shoved into the corners of the living room were gone. Kate could see clear down the center of the house past the kitchen which looked like someone could prepare a Christmas dinner in it with no issue. The countertops shined, the wooden floorboards gleamed a deep golden hue, and the couches and chairs had been scrubbed clean. Even the air had a hint of freshness, like breathing into a load of freshly cleaned laundry.

Kate stood still in the doorway for a moment, taken aback by the new state of the place. She moved into the entryway, closing the door silently behind her. She hadn't seen it this clean since she first moved in.

Her awe was slowly swallowed by her vulnerability being out in the open. She drew her books close to her chest and moved past the dining room and kitchen, observing them as she walked.

"Good afternoon, Katie."

Kate nearly tripped as she spun around, her hair whipping in her face. She hadn't even noticed the android standing in the corner of the living room which was surprising since his black and white uniform clashed harshly against the soft brown hues of the walls. He carefully set down the pieces of a lamp on the coffee table and did that warm not-smile with his eyes.

Kate took a step backward. "Hey." She threw a glance around the room. "You cleaned the house."

The android looked around as if he hadn't noticed it. "Of course. There was a minor plaque buildup on the drywall and I was able to approximate the tone of the paint to match, and I also took the liberty of ordering a replacement shower head for Jamie's ensuite. I only have access to your mother's bank account so I placed both orders in her name."

Kate nodded slowly as she took another step back. "Okay, umm… you know this place doesn't need to be absolutely immaculate. I mean it's just me and Jamie here."

The android looked at her, and Kate noticed the LED on his temple spin yellow. "I understand," he said. "Do you want me to do something other than cleaning?"

"No. I don't know." She rested her shoulder against the wall as she stepped near the hallway. "I guess just… carry on."

"Are you hungry?"

Kate felt her muscles tense and she shrank a bit into the hallway. "No, I'm fine."

"You didn't eat much this morning." The android took a step towards her. "Based on the remaining food, you only consumed roughly one-hundred twenty calories. I can make you some lunch."

"No really, I don't want anything."

"Part of my duty is monitoring your health," said the android. "A healthy diet is the first step in preventing episodes of epileptic seizures─"

"Yeah! Okay! Thanks for the reminder." Kate spun and walked down the hallway, her nails digging into the covers of the books. "I don't want anything. Don't make me anything. Leave me the fuck alone please." She slammed her shoulder into her bedroom door as she entered it, then swung the door shut behind her.

The books fell into a crumpled mess on the floor, and she flung herself face down on her bed. Her fatigue was overpowered by an intense frustration, seeping through her body like a poison. She breathed out a heavy sigh, and despite herself, stars dotted her vision and she felt an electric jolt pass through her temples.

She raised herself into a sitting position, pressing her hands against either side of her head and massaging gently. The electric sensation faded and the stars gradually twinkled away into nothing. She couldn't help a small miserable laugh that escaped her. It would be the most satisfying irony if she passed out from this.

For a while she simply sat on the bed, one leg bent in front of her and the other hanging off the side. She rested her elbow on her knee, leaning forward with her forehead in her palm. There was silence in the house, interrupted only by the sounds of the birds through the windows near her computer desk. The swaying trees created morphing gold patterns on her wall, sending the room into a flurry of motion. She looked up at the computer screen, noticing that her room hadn't changed since she left it that morning. That much was comforting; at least her room was still a safe haven for now. A haven or a prison. It didn't really matter.

She rubbed her forehead as she stared at the screen, an energy suddenly coursing through her. Without a second thought, she slid from the bed and moved into the computer chair, grabbing her headphones and pushing them over her ears. The screen came to life, bringing up the blank document from yesterday. She pushed the playlist tab and picked up the keyboard as low electronica reverberated in the speakers. Setting the keyboard on her lap and resting her legs on the computer desk, she finally began to write.

It annoyed her to no end that some of her classmates considered themselves writers. Some of them were absolutely destined to live in a castle and go down in history as the most amazing writers of all time. And others… well they didn't seem to understand the idea of the human condition. That stories were meant to be read by human beings because humans only had a limited time on this planet. She'd read stories about people drinking a cup of tea that were so powerful they kept her up at night. And others that involved love, murder, or death that she had literally thrown out her window and refused to review in the workshop. It wasn't enough to be told that "in this story, this man was very important and he was killed because his country was oppressive and we all must think about this sort of thing." She could care less about what it meant and more about what the man thought of his salad at lunchtime.

The patterns of the trees moved across her wall as the time passed. She changed positions constantly as she typed, putting her keyboard back on the desk, standing up and moving around, crossing her legs and resting her elbows on either side of the keyboard as she let her mind carry the story. Sometimes if she let herself drift into an almost dreamlike state, the words came automatically like poetry. Or it would simply put her out, and she would wake up hours later with her face on the keyboard and a few hundred pages of two or three repeating letters.

She only became aware of the time when her vision was blinded by that yellow beam of sunlight through the trees. She raised her hand up, blocking it as she checked the page number. Eight pages. Decent enough. The story seemed to be concluding itself anyway, and there was no point in pushing it. If she loved it now, she could sleep on it and absolutely hate it in the morning.

She stood up from her desk and stretched. It was still too early to feel accomplished. She'd written eight pages in a few hours before, only to find that the last two pages would take her weeks to finish. It sometimes helped to have an outside perspective to hurry the process, but she felt awkward about letting others read her stories before she'd finished them. There was something about someone identifying the direction, and accusing her of having experienced the situations or feeling the emotions of her characters. She didn't need to be a psychologist to know there was a reason all the stories involving sex were written by men.

She swept her phone off her desk and flopped back onto her bed, staring at the small screen. She thumbed a quick message to Matt, a slight apprehension building in her chest. Matt was one of the few people she'd allowed to read her stories before she submitted them to the workshop. He wasn't what she considered an amazing editor, but in times of crisis, he'd helped her pull through. And there was something comforting in the fact that he already had an understanding of her writing habits which made him slower to judge.

A few minutes passed as Kate stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows drift by. A dull sadness replaced her apprehension. She flipped the phone up again to check on the off-chance that she simply hadn't heard it go off. There was nothing. She let out a sigh. Of course she had decided not to go to sleep, and this was the day that Matt had gone to the tech lab.

Kate moved back over her bed, resting against the wall as she hit a remote on her phone and bringing up the menu on the T.V. She hit play, and curled up on her side as the old-fashioned two dimensional Enterprise 1701-D rolled across the screen.

It was a different experience being alone, watching the very bad special effects and poor make-up without anyone to heckle with. Kate checked her phone every so often, but checked it less and less as time went on. The windows grew dark and the screen became the only focus of the room. Kate hugged her pillow, her eyelids getting heavy. Eventually the explosions and the red alert sirens merged together. Data was always in danger. Troi was constantly worried about something. And Riker never seemed to miss the opportunity to attempt procreation with some alien species. It was ridiculous that something so repetitive and predictable could make such a good story over and over again.

Something tapped her shoulder and she jolted, the flashing lights of the television partially obscuring the circular blue light above her. She blinked, rolling onto her back as a face came into focus.

"I'm sorry. I called your name but you didn't answer."

Kate sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes. "What is it? What happened?"

The android took a step back, tilting his head slightly to one side. "I made dinner. Do you want me to bring it to you or would you rather eat in the dining room?"

Kate stared at him for a moment, letting the words sink in. "Are you… you woke me up for that?" She stood up, slightly unbalanced. "You came into my room while I was asleep?"

In the darkness, she could see the android's LED flash yellow. "I'm sorry. When you didn't respond, I felt it necessary to enter your room and make sure you were okay. You have a predisposition to high anger levels and in combination with your lack of sleep, your risk of─" He paused, his LED flashing yellow again. "It puts you more at risk."

Several emotions battled eachother in Kate's head. She took a deep breath. "I'll get it myself. Now can you please…" She pressed her hands together and put them to her mouth, pushing her anger aside. "Can you please get out of my room."

The android nodded and stepped towards the door. Kate breathed deeply, keeping her hands clenched together.

"Would you like me to close the door?" said the android.

Kate blinked slowly. "What do you think?" There was a moment of silence. Then the door creaked and there was a soft click, leaving Kate alone in the bright lights of the Enterprise.