The Backstory

Once they’d finally dragged the robot home, Cassio and Sylk left him on their leather couch. Sylk had to rush in and move the big green carpet out of the way so that if the robot bled more it would go on the wooden floors and be easier to clean up.

They tried to staunch the worst of it, but a few black splatters definitely leaked on their way home. It didn't help that Sylk was drunk and Cassio was very tipsy.

The robot was so unmoving that they weren’t even sure if they could save him. He was on the brink of death, or whatever death meant for a robot.

Sylk went to her bedroom and crashed to sleep. Cassio put a blanket on the robot’s body, unsure if it really needed things like that, then he sat on the chair in the living room to look over the robot. He eventually fell asleep too.

𓆩♡𓆪

When the morning came, Cassio woke up and saw an empty spot on the couch and nothing but a black spot where the robot had been.

“Where-” Cassio looked around, but he quickly saw that the robot was sitting on one of the bar stools in the kitchen. Sylk's toolbox was open on the table in front of him, and he was using the screwdriver on his elbow, attaching the broken arm back into its place

“Good morning to you, mysterious friend from my memory,” The android greeted cheerfully.

“My name is Cassio,” He yawned. “We were gonna call a mechanic in to fix you up, so you don’t need to worry about-”

“NO! No mechanics, uh... no thank you, Cassio.”

Cassio was taken aback. The android was nice enough until he had these little outbursts. He crossed his arms.

“Listen here. I was kind enough to help you out and graciously allow you in my apartment, so you should answer some of my questions. I need to know what I’m dealing with here.”

The android fell silent as he thought about it. “I won’t be staying long if it’s that much of a bother.”

“I'm going to cut to the chase. I know you have a soul,” Cassio said sternly.

The robot stopped screwing in his arm and looked up to meet Cassio’s gaze. Cassio was trying to gauge the android's expression. He seemed upset and slightly surprised.

“That's an interesting theory.”

“Theory? Don't try and trick me. You absolutely have a soul. I’ve never even heard of an android with a soul until now. I used a soul scanner on you yesterday and I have a picture of you with the soul,” that last part was a lie to see how the android would react, though now that he’d said it he wished he’d actually taken the photo.

The android stood up and looked distressed. For a moment, Cassio thought it might come at him. Normally, androids couldn’t harm humans, but he was clearly able to last night. This robot seemed to have no trouble with ripping out the parts of his programming that he didn’t want.

Then, the android sat back down on the kitchen stool. He put his hands together.

“Please, human friend. You said I met you in the past. Please delete the photo. It will only bring you trouble.”

This was the type of bargaining chip that Cassio needed to use to get answers out of the android. He smiled at the victory of having good blackmail. “I won’t delete it until you tell me what’s going on with you. I want to know why you have a soul, why you don’t want mechanical help, and why you were hurt yesterday. And throw in why you’re able to harm humans in that line of questioning as well."

“I- I can’t tell you everything. I can’t tell you why I have a soul, but I can tell you why I don’t want help. People are after me, and those people were the reason I was hurt yesterday. My… Well, the person who technically, legally owns me wants me back. She’ll do anything to make it happen, even if it means sending people to hurt me so badly that I’m in critical condition and my emergency systems try to recall me to her for mechanical help.”

“That was the thing you ripped out from your mouth last night, some kind of homing signal,” Cassio nodded as he understand the context for that moment. The android nodded and said “I’ve ripped out other things as well.”

“The thing that makes you unable to hurt humans.”

“Honestly, that particular part of me was frighteningly easy and very surface level, I’m surprised more androids don’t partake in this.”

“I’d rather not think about how easy it’ll be for the robot overlords,” Cassio said with a deadpan expression. 

The android hesitated trying to process if that was a joke or not, then smiled and even laughed. Cassio had never heard an android laugh before. It was mechanical and repetitive, but still human-sounding in its genuinity.

“It’s unheard of for objects to have a soul,” Sylk said. She was standing at the frame of the hallway, and Cassio was unsure of when she’d snuck up on them and for how long she was standing. The android jumped in surprise when her voice carried into the room. He didn't know someone else lived here. 

“What do you mean?” Cassio asked.

“I mean that it’s not allowed, Cassio. It’s illegal for objects to have a soul. Only living things have souls, no offense,” She looked at the android and then back at Cassio, “Androids are very human, yes, and I'm all about android rights, but I just wanted to let you know that they can’t just make their own soul. So he had to have gotten it from somewhere, and even if they did get it from somewhere, that process would be very illegal.”

Cassio looked at the android with a bit more scrutiny. They were joking just a second ago about the android being able to harm humans, and now it was clear that the android was walking around with an illegal soul. Sylk also looked at the robot, but there was a glitter of excitement in her eyes and a small smile starting to form on her face.

"It's the most badass and metal think I've ever heard," She said.

"Um, thank you?" The android said questioningly.

"Please take this more seriously," Cassio stated.

Why had Cassio gone through with this endeavor? Why did he really? Was it because he finally found something in this world that was more broken than he was? Ever since the breakup, he’d been more… raw. More easily affected by the little things that didn’t used to bother him.

Now this dangerous and unknown entity was in their home, and it was Cassio’s fault. Sylk seemed to be warming up to the idea of a cool mysterious android, but Cassio knew now that it’d only spell trouble that wasn’t worth it.

The only thing he needed to know was what the android wanted, what his goal was, how he existed in the first place.

Most of all, he had to know how the robot got hold of a soul. How did this pile of wires and circuitry and metal get his hands on the thing that Cassio had wanted throughout his entire life? Even if the practice was a illegal, Cassio had to know.

“Where’d you get it?” Cassio asked. He stood up from the chair.

Sylk’s smile dropped. “Cassio.” She shot him a warning glance.

“Where’d you get the soul?” Cassio was looking right at him, but the android was avoiding his gaze.

“WHERE DID YOU GET THE SOUL?” Cassio asked again, louder.

“It wasn’t my fault, I promise. I had no choice in the matter,” The android looked ashamed.

Sylk shook her head and sighed. “That’s not why he’s asking about your soul, android man- Oh, hmmm... what’s your name by the way?”

The android showed them his wrist, which had A31-R embossed on the metallic surface.

“A31-R doesn’t exactly roll off the top of the tongue very well. Hmm… I’m gonna call you Amir,” Sylk threw up a peace sign and winked at him. He smiled sadly back up at her, “That sounds nice. Thank you, friend.”

“Sylk, I’m Sylk,” She bent down to shake his hand.

“Stop it with the introductions,” Cassio didn’t like how Sylk was taking a liking to the android, “You’re telling us where the soul came from or you’re out of this apartment and booted to the streets, A31-R,” Cassio turned away from them and stormed into the hallway and then into his bedroom. Amir flinched when the door slammed.

His roommate sighed again. “Don’t go anywhere. And um… try to clean up your mess in here maybe? You’re bleeding everywhere like a girl’s first monthly, if you catch my drift.” She went into the hall and knocked on Cassio’s door. He didn’t answer, but she talked to him anyway.

“You were the one who asked if we could keep him. Now that you know how dangerous he is, you’re just gonna kick him out again? I mean, I get it, you want answers, but the big guy clearly isn’t ready to talk right now. We’ll peer pressure him into telling us his full past at some point, but for now we gotta be patient.”

Amir poked his head into the hall. “Um, this isn’t a very big apartment and I can very much still hear you from here.”

“I know, Amir,” Sylk reached forward and pushed his head back into the living room.

“Anyways, Cassio, just come out and let’s talk about it first before you kick out the robot for no reason. I think he’s very interesting. If all else fails, we can sell him to whoever his old owner is.”

“I will reiterate one more time that I can overhear your words!” Amir said loudly.

“This is that same robot you met in class yesterday, right? The one you were telling me about? Aren’t you curious about why he went to your class? Let’s start with small questions like that first.”

Amir appeared at the frame of the hallway again. This time, it was his turn to ask the question. “I met them at Rowan University? Then, this memory I have of Cassio is from the girl in psychology class- the one who had the same voice? How is that possible?”

Cassio finally opened the door to face both of them.

“I like being different people sometimes, A31-R. You know why I do that? Why I break myself into pieces? Into easily manageable parts? It’s because I have no soul. I was born with out one. I’m soulless.”

Amir blinked slowly. “How is that-”

Cassio turned to Sylk. “By the way, I frankly couldn’t care less about questioning Amir anymore. I only have one question for him, and if he won’t answer it, then what’s the point?”

If something like an android could get a soul, it meant Cassio could as well. Maybe if he had a soul he would be able to feel emotions properly, to know who he was supposed to be, to get back Mina and live the picture perfect life he always wanted.

“Please friend, the soul question is a difficult question to answer. Please understand.”

“No, I don’t understand. I don’t get why you would keep something like that to yourself. I’m not asking for much, only one answer. Don’t we deserve that much for helping you?”

Amir grimaced.

Cassio stepped forward and pushed him.

“Hey.” The robot looked bewildered.

Cassio pushed him again. “Does it hurt? You said it hurt yesterday. Do you feel this pain when I push you? Do you feel my pain?” Cassio pushed him again.

“Friend from my memory, Cassio, doing this will not make you feel better.”

“I’m not your friend,” he elbowed past Amir and stomped away. He left the apartment. 

Sylk facepalmed. “Other than being born a soul seer, this is literally the most interesting thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t believe Cassio is so hellbent on your soul thing.”

“I am glad that you find entertainment within this predicament,” Amir said.

“It’s not that I’m entertained, it’s just… Cassio saved you. He found you in that alleyway and he decided to save you. Cassio has never helped anyone like this before. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I know he begged me to help drag you here. At first I thought it was out of curiosity, but he kept looking at you and I kept thinking that I saw… I dunno what I saw. I think he really needed someone to save.”

Amir looked at the door. “I am worried friend Cassio. Where will he go?”

Sylk shrugged. “He’ll wander. Maybe he’ll end up at a park. Maybe he’ll end up at the university. I don’t know,” she clapped her hands together, “Never mind that, do some more research about how to help fix that hole in your stomach.”

𓆩♡𓆪

Cassio found himself wandering around his college campus. The apartment was so cramped that he couldn’t stand to be in there any longer. The android had a soul. A soul! Cassio had wanted it his whole life, and years of countless research and doctors visits and prayers had gotten him nowhere.

Now, when he brought home an entity that had somehow obtained one, he just happened to be the world’s most secretive android. A friendly android, but secretive nonetheless. He wasn’t giving Cassio proper answers. It wasn’t right.

Sylk had taken a liking to him. As soon as she came out this morning and gave him that name, Cassio knew that their fate was sealed. She had even done research about objects and what it meant to have a soul. Cassio had never even heard of something like that, but Sylk had managed to dig deep and find out that it was unlawful. Illegal why? Illegal how? This had to have been done before, but news like that would make headlines. Cassio had never heard of it until now.

Cassio sat down on one of the benches on a balcony on campus. Students who lived in the dorms meandered around lazily, some of them heading to the cafeteria or heading to the library since it was a Saturday.

He took out his phone and began doing some research of his own. He already knew that all living things were born with souls, including plants and animals, albeit their souls were less colorful and stayed consistent throughout their life. From how Sylk described seeing live human souls, they were constantly moving and changing. A visual of something like ink dropping into water, or a kaleidoscope of color that kept shifting. Certain colors meant certain things, and soulerist experts studied the ins and outs of what the soul meant based on the visuals of how it moved and its color changes.

When he tried looking for androids with souls, he had to scroll through four pages of the search engine just to find an article about the theory of androids being crafted so well that they grew a human-like soul, some kind of dissertation written by a mechanics major. Most of the major results were about how androids were soulless, but still deserved human rights.

He tried to change his search to make it about objects specifically, but that wasn't yielding answers either.

He would have to go back and ask Sylk how she found out that putting souls into objects was an illegal practice, because his own research wasn’t getting him anywhere.

A group of girls sat down on the bench to the side of Cassio and they began talking loudly. He frowned and considered moving to a new place, but then he overheard what they were talking about.

“I honestly can’t believe they’re giving those things more rights. My dad said an android started working with his team in the office and it was totally unfair how fast it could process information and create reports. Soon enough they’ll upend all of our jobs, I swear.”

“Did you hear? There was a rogue android on our campus the other day!”

“What do you mean? Like, just walking around freely? Can they even do that?”

“It’s rare, but it happens. Androids will run away from their owners and live on the streets, looking for spare parts and trying to blend in. There was one that attended a bunch of random classes the other day. Someone posted about it, and a bunch of other students said they saw him too.”

“Here, check this out,” The girl began scrolling through her phone to find something. Cassio stood up and walked over to them.

The girls warily saw his approach, and two of them kind of smiled. He was a mess, but some of his glittery makeup from last night was still on his face, his hair still galaxy-colored and his eyes pure white. He must’ve looked like a hot guy that had just rolled out of bed, which wasn’t far from the truth.

“Sorry to bother you ladies, but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation and I’m curious about this android too,” Cassio smiled his most award-winning smile, and the girls glanced at one another and giggled. One of them tucked her hair behind her ear and blinked up at him flirtatiously.

“Of course! Here, look,” The girl handed him her phone, and he saw a post with a picture of a “wanted” sign with a picture of A31-R. He was in a suit, and it was obvious that the picture was cropped because somewhere to his side was the brown hair of a woman standing next to him. Below the post, the caption read “Rogue android, wanted alive. Last seen at Rowan University. $500,000 reward for returning it, $75,000 reward for any information regarding its whereabouts.” Cassio’s eyes widened at the price. Half a million dollars? Seventy-five thousand just for basic information? Just who exactly owned A31-R?

“Where was this posted? Who was it posted by?” Cassio asked as he handed the girl back her phone. She started tapping on her phone to find out.

“The wanted poster was put up by the police department. I don’t know who first posted the picture of the wanted poster, it’s just been making its way around campus because a lot of the students saw the robot walking into random classes on Thursday and Friday.”

“When did he go missing?” Cassio asked.

“Um, I don’t know,” The girl sighed. She seemed to be getting less interested in him the more that it became clear that he only wanted to know about the android and not her. People were so easy to read. 

Cassio leaned his arm against the wall behind the bench so that he was standing over and looking down over the girl. “Let me give you my number. I’d love to exchange theories with you.”

She blushed as she looked up at him. The other two girls were elbowing each other and giggling on behalf of their friend for getting Cassio to flirt with her.

Playing with people's hearts was second nature to Cassio. Throughout his life, people would fall for particular characters, but it only amused him. They didn’t really know anything about him. They couldn’t. Cassio was a creature that could never be known or understood. Mina only got close because she was always pestering him, always too curious for her own good. Nobody could really exist in this world and like all of him.

“Um, sure. I don’t- I don’t even know your name,” The girl smiled and she handed him her phone again.

“Cassio Lee,” He said as he typed his number, and he put a heart emoji by his name in her phone. “Don’t forget it,” Cassio gave her back her phone suavely and then turned back to go back to his apartment without another word. 

When he turned around, his face fell into a frown, and the girls were none the wiser that he couldn't care less about anything in the world, let alone any of them.