Sophie wandered through the town, confused and distraught. The citizens of Eaden usually got along, but now everyone was avoiding her like the plague, Ellie wouldn't look at her, Aaron shuddered at her touch, even her teacher looked nervous.
Finally she arrived home, expecting comfort, but instead her parents greeted her with that same cold indifference.
"What is going on?" She cried in frustration. "Why is everyone avoiding me? It's like I'm not even human!"
"You're right." Chell said, a mix of pity and disgust on her face. "You're not human, not anymore."
With that, she and Wheatley vanished, leaving Sophie completely alone.
Wheatley was used to nightmares, he had had years of practice talking Chell through imaginary versions of Aperture, and he had experienced quite a few bad dreams himself. But in his experience, people usually woke up screaming, not...sniffling like Sophie was now. "What happened? He asked.
"I-it was awful." Sophie said. "Everyone had abandoned me because I wasn't h-human…"
"You are human Sophie!"
"No I'm not!" She cried, tears still falling. I'm not and it's no use pretending otherwise. If it wasn't for those nanites I wouldn't even be alive right now!"
"So just because someone gets a… what's it called- pacemaker, they're not human anymore? You're as human as ever. But-but even if you weren't," he continued, "you'd still be you. Let me tell you a story:"
"Once upon a time, there was a bloke named Stephen. He was an average guy who did average things, you know: goofed off at work, spilled his coffee, occasionally stared at the pretty bagel lady outside his cubicle. But then his bosses decided they had a new job for him. They cut out his brain, rearranged it a bit, and wrote it all up into code. They turned that human...into me."
"Course I panicked when I found out, even asked Garret to delete my memories. But then I thought about it for a while, and I realized, it didn't matter what I was. Human, robot, unicorn, no matter what, I was still Wheatley. It doesn't matter what you are, what matters is who you are."
"What if I don't know who I am?" Sophie asked.
"I do: You're Sophie Newell, you've got your mother's brains, my good looks, and the biggest heart of anyone I know. You're my daughter, and you are special."
"I guess you're right." Sophie said, drifting off to sleep. "I'm just...me."
Wheatley smiled as he walked back to his room. Times like these, he was glad he was a little different.
Ahh, the age old question that every enhanced human asks themselves: "What am I?" Luckily, Wheatley's here. He might not be the best at human things, but every once in a while, there's a problem he's uniquely equipped to solve.
