The Bot

“We’re going to be late! Grab a banana on your way out!” Sylk rushed past Cass and into the kitchen to rifle through the cabinets. Her school ID card was in one hand as she used the other to grab a box that was buried at the back of the kitchen cabinet. Her eyes lit up. “The last hot tart! Score!” Sylk motioned for her roommate to hurry up. “Come on, Cassidy.”

“It’s Casey today,” She responded as she fidgeted with a long strand of her brown hair. It was a wig. Her makeup was done to look girlish, complete with fake freckles dotted across her face. She had black eye contacts. She was wearing a brown flared pinafore over a flowy white dress.

Sylk paused. “Oh. Right. Thought you dressed a little differently from how you would dress as Cassidy. You would usually go for a more dark academia look with her. This is… different. An interesting choice of character for school.”

“I know I’m not usually Casey, so you might not remember her-”

“Cottagecore writer, a poet, shy, likes to keep to herself in a library or a café. Duh, I know her. I know you.”

Casey grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. “I know you do. I know.”

Sylk put the hot tart in her pocket for later. She leaned against the kitchen counter. “Hey, listen, if this is about last night…”

Casey’s expression turned deadpan. “It’s not. I just want to be someone else at school. Someone more solitary. I want to keep to myself.”

“Okay, but your friends aren’t gonna be used to it. You’re so good at redoing yourself that they might not recognize you at all. Do you plan on finally telling people that you like being different characters every now and then? That you experiment?”

“What friends?”

Sylk squinted at her roommate. She wished that Casey had a soul just so that she could figure out what they were thinking. What they were feeling. If  they were feeling. Sylk had to rely on human instinct instead of her soul-seeing abilities. It was a wake up call to be paired up with someone who had no soul as a roommate in freshman year of college. She couldn’t just look past Casey's physical body and see her for who she really was, Sylk had to learn who she was through trial and error.

“Okay… Well, we’ll definitely miss the supway if we don’t go now. We both got 9ams! Up, up and away!” Sylk clapped and they both ran to the door. They grabbed their bags off the counter as they headed out. Sylk’s was a holographic sequin tote bag, while Casey’s was a leather messenger bag.

When they went down the hallway, they went past the elevator and straight onto the balcony of their apartment building. It was a windy day, but the sun made it warm enough to avoid jackets. Sylk was not a fan of jackets, but she was a fan of creative layering. Today she wore an off-the-shoulder red top with a copper vest and brown pleated skirt. Her hair was made up of enhancements, each strand was implanted with cybernetics that she could control remotely. She was able to change its color and she did it almost constantly, sometimes multiple times in a day. At the moment it was a dark brown that faded into crimson.

They climbed up the ladder next to the balcony until they were two balconies up. Then they crossed onto a bridge that was connected to the building across the street. Once they were inside, they waited in line at the supway stop.

New York was considered a sky city. Most of the people traversed through balconies and bridges instead of streets and ground cars.

Sylk scanned her wrist at the supway turnstile, but Casey sighed and she dug for her wallet and took out her regular ID. The people behind her impatiently waited, probably wondering why she was being so old-fashioned instead of just soul scanning. The only people who didn’t do soul scans these days were criminals or elderly.

Once she was through, Casey and Sylk ran to the supway, and they saw it as it rolled up. They sped up their pace on the stairs, and they crossed the yellow line just moments before the doors closed and it began trailing along the tracks that it was hanging from.

Sylk laughed as they caught their breath.

“Since we caught the 8:30 one, we might just make it in time for class!” She said happily. She glanced around before finding two empty seats for her and Casey to sit at.

Sylk took out the hot tart and opened it, steam coming out from the bag. The plastic cover was lined with micro-heating so that it stayed hot no matter how long it took to open. Reminded of the breakfast she'd also grabbed, Casey took out her banana and began to peel it open.

“Your hair, Casey,” Sylk said in between chewing.

“What about it?” Casey took out a compact mirror and saw that her wig was slightly unaligned. Something only Sylk would notice of course, as a fashion and cosmetics major. Casey twisted it back into place, patting it as she did so.

“You should just get the same hair enhancements I got. Using wigs can get pretty expensive.”

“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be able to change the texture. What if I want straight hair one day and curly hair the next?” Casey put her hands together shyly, “Besides, um, I don’t really like body enhancements. I- I don’t think I’d get one unless it was for medical reasons.”

“Okay shyness slay, I see that you’re getting into character,” Sylk grinned as she teased Casey.

“Hush you,” Casey said.

The supway rolled on over the city for a while. The view was spectacular, but it was old news for these two. A tourist might find it impressive, but they only saw it as a way to get to their destination as quickly as possible.

Once they got to their university, they went their separate ways. Casey wondered how her class would react to her new look, but she’d try her best to keep to herself and avoid suspicion.

It only spelled trouble when people knew that she liked being different people, that she wore her faces like masks. It was best to just stay alone. If she was lucky, the professor wouldn’t even notice her.

𓆩♡𓆪

“Are you a new student?” Professor Howell asked as soon as she walked into the classroom.

Casey was off to a bad start. Well, at least she wasn’t late.

“My name is Casey,” She said instead of actually answering the question. That way, it was only a lie of omission.

“Looks like we have two new students today. You can go sit by him,” The professor motioned to the back of the class.

She grimaced. She didn’t really want to sit next to someone, let alone some new guy. She gripped her bag, wanting to hide behind it as she headed towards the back of the classroom. The other students looked at her curiously, but nobody seemed to recognize her as Cassidy. Finally, she found the chair she was meant to sit in.

When she saw him, her heart skipped a beat in surprise. He was an android. Dark skin, telltale metallic ears and neck. At his shoulders, elbows, and fingers were metal hinges, and his eyes glowed a dull blue. Robots weren’t that common, and robots meant to look humanoid were even rarer. She recalled a law being passed last year that gave androids more rights, like school and work opportunities. That explained why he was here.

He waved.

Casey ignored him and sat down in her seat. She had a distant cousin who had enough money to afford an android, and he used it to work as a nanny for him.

Some rich guy must’ve wanted his robot to experience an education. Most androids were made with a preset amount of learned data, but they were able to experience and grow on top of what they already knew. It made sense to send one off to college if you wanted it to learn a different skill set.

She took out her displayer from her bag and began typing out what the professor was saying. Only the most important parts, things that sounded like it would go on future tests. The displayer showed a translucent hologram of her notes app in front of her, and it projected a keyboard display onto her desk. She could physically interact with the keyboard and it would input the letters into her notes app. It was smaller than carrying around a laptop, though some students preferred laptops anyway. Displayers were a fairly new technology.

She tried to keep to herself, but the robot kept looking over at her and smiling. What was he getting at? Did he want to fight? Casey used to take taekwondo as a kid, and she could pack a hefty kick. Normally she’d be Cassian if she were getting into that kind of trouble, but she could make an exception.

“Could you just focus and take notes?” Casey finally asked after an hour of class going like this.

“I am noting everything down, just not physically,” the robot tapped the side of his head.

“Good for you, but some people are trying to focus, and we don’t have shortcuts.”

“You could use live caption,” the robot suggested.

Casey sighed. “Yeah, but then the notes wouldn’t be summarized like I want it to be. It’s like it’s your first time being here.”

“It is!” the robot said happily.

Now that she was properly looking at him, she noticed that he was wearing a strange shirt that seemed to be a white lacey blanket fashioned into a top, like a greek toga. His bottom half was normal, just black pants and shoes. The synthetic skin looked very realistic. If he had more of his skin covered you could probably convince yourself that he was human. Even his dreadlock hair looked realistic, like it might’ve been made out of the same material her wigs were made of. She’d never been able to look that closely at a robot before, let alone one designed to look this humanoid, but it was certainly interesting.

The professor wrapped up the class and reminded everyone about the paper due in a week. Casey nodded, wordlessly adding it to her schedule.

Some of her peers took this opportunity to try and greet the new students, but their main focus seemed to be on the android. Casey was grateful about his presence for once, because she used that chance to slip away and out into the hall.

She had some time before her next class, so she went to the library to catch up on some light reading. Damascus Souls of Purgatory and Moral Ambiguity, a 522 page book by Josh Grellenfield. 

Casey found a quiet spot by the window, overlooking a rooftop park. She dug around in her bag and took out her book, then she put on headphones so that she could play lyricless, calming music.

After reading for a while, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Looking up, she saw the face of the robot staring back down at her. She cringed as she was caught off guard. She took off her headphones to hear what reason he had for interrupting her reading time.

“Ah, I apologize for disrupting you.”

“Why are you here? Do you need help with the library? There’s a librarian for a reason,” Casey sucked in a breath and tried to re-characterize herself. Casey was shy. Casey was not supposed to be combative.

“I scanned the class earlier and I noticed that you came up empty, so I was wondering why,” the robot smiled. Casey blinked, then realized what he said and blinked again. 

Sylk was very upfront about being a soul seer since the beginning, but this android had used his built-in soul sensors without her permission and without warning. She didn't owe it to him to explain her condition.

Her expression turned blank and empty, betraying no emotion. “Why should I tell you?!”

“I will be leaving forthwith, so I wanted to know the answer before I go.”

“Interesting to know. Thanks for your honesty. However, you can just go. I will not be telling you anything."

Once asked, Casey would usually be pretty forward about telling people that she didn’t have a soul. Nowadays, people could get a pair of glasses that could scan souls with the click of a button. That’s how they could tell the true intentions of certain politicians, and how the world improved quickly after good people were put into leadership roles. However, unlike soul seers, the soul scanners took a while and looked like the frame of an old picture, not a live feed. Androids had this soul scanning feature built into their eyes.

“I am sorry if I offended you, I am merely curious.”

This secret was Casey’s and nobody else's. She crossed her arms and stayed silent.

“You seem to be in a frustrated state. I could make you tea to calm you down.”

“I don’t need tea,” Casey turned her head away from him. She fiddled with her long brown hair. The offer of tea made her curious about what kind of robot he was originally built to be. He seemed inclined to serve, so perhaps a butler. Then why was he in a psychology class? "And I'm not frustrated. I do not feel frustrated, nor will I ever."

“Your body language indicates that you don’t want to interact anymore. I will cease to bother you, though I am greatly disappointed at the lack of an answer.” The robot frowned.

His face seemed so real. The expressions came easily to him. He must’ve had mechanical parts underlying his synthetic skin working overtime, down to the twitch of his eyelid and the creases of his eyebrows.

He began to walk away, but Casey found herself leaning forward. “Wait.”

The robot turned around and his face lit up. “Have you changed your mind?”

“I’ll tell you why I didn’t show up on your scanners if you tell me where you come from and what you were built for.” Casey laid down the offer. He wouldn't be able to resist a deal like this. They could both answer each other's questions, so it was a win-win situation. 

He frowned again. His eyes flashed purple for a moment, then they went back to a dull blue and he shook his head. “I apologize, but I am unable to tell you that.”

That only served to make Casey more curious. “What was that flash in your eyes? Why can’t you tell me? Are you embarrassed? Do robots even get embarrassed- wait, don't answer that one. If you were a janitorbot or something I wouldn't judge you. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Every job is valuable, you know.”

The robot turned around and began to walk away. Casey stood up to follow him.

“Please refrain from pursuing me. I only joined the class out of curiosity. I was never meant to stay at this university for longer than a day or two.”

“Wait, why is that? Did your owner tell you to do that?”

“I’m not owned by anyone!” The robot said loudly as he turned to look Casey in her eyes. He looked offended, perhaps even distraught at the idea of being owned. Casey gasped and took a step back. It only just now occurred to her that he was a robot and could easily overpower her if he got angry enough. She thought her questions were innocent enough, but he didn’t seem to think so. She supposed that was how she felt when he asked her about her not showing up on a soul scanner. Casey knew what it was like when someone wanted to know too much too quickly.

The robot also took a step back, almost like he was surprised at his own lashing out. “I apologize. Good day.” Then he sped away.

Casey tilted her head, wanting to know more, but also wanting to give him his space. She would probably forget about the whole thing in a week anyways.

She looked down at her phone to check the time and realized she had to get going to her next class. So much for keeping to herself today. Casey would have to catch up on her book at another time.