(no subject)
I dreamed I was in a port watching a couple of ships come in. The ships were plastered with advertisements, all of them for individual models of hyper-realistic robot companions. The docks swarmed with parents and children, all coming to pick up their new toys.
A blonde woman and her bratty little 9-year-old girl came by with a cocky-looking, brunette, 12-year-old-seeming robot to pick up an identical cocky, brown-haired robot. The little blonde brat squalled over the timing saying she didn't want the second robot until next week when her birthday was, and the mother agreed to pick it up then. As they left, the robot looking like a kid pretending to be brave, I leaned out and said to it, you can stay with me if you want. She turned, gave me a grin, and high-fived me.
The little brunette climbed up onto the shipping crate where I'd been watching from and said, "Hi, I'm KJ."
I introduced myself, and then said, "I have a second question..."
Before I could ask, though, she said, "Right, Question Number 2! My model is a fully functional..." I don't even remember the spiel.
I cut her off after an astonished moment. "No, that's not my question. I want to know..." I looked out at all the other 'robots' going home with families and bratty children. "Are you really a robot? It seems so... unlikely."
KJ stopped, started to speak, blinked, and closed her mouth. Then she smiled a wry, painful little smile and said, "Yeah, I am, but not in the way think."
I took KJ home to my house, where I apparently lived alone, and we had a couple days of relative calm. She acted like a good little kid sometimes, and other times like an abused adult who couldn't quite believe she'd left whatever bad situation she'd been in. She never acted like I would have expected a robot to act, not once.
Then, she started saying she had to go back to the docks. I asked why. She smirked and said, "You couldn't understand." But her smirk was almost tears. I pushed. She laughed bitterly and said, "Because I'm programmed to obey my masters' wishes, dumbass, and she wanted me in a week."
I told her that there was no reason she had to consider the blonde brat her master. Didn't she break contract or something by abandoning you? KJ only shook her head. A struggle ensued, mostly inside KJ, but occasionally she would act out. Eventually, the week passed and she didn't go back to the docks.
Peace returned. But only for a few days.
KJ woke me screaming at one point. She was in horrible pain. "Have... to go... back..." she panted.
I said okay, if that was what she wanted, but why?
She laughed that painful little laugh again and told me that if I really wanted to see why, I could come with her.
I did.
We got to the docks, and there were no ships. Instead, a number of what looked like giant electrodes hovered out of the water. Other robots walked up to the electrodes and put one over their mouths, then vanished beneath the surface.
KJ took one. She looked at me. "You really want to know?" I nodded. She handed it to me and took another. We put them on at the same time.
Once we were in the water, I realized it wasn't sea water at all. It was clear and greenish and a little more viscous than it should have been. Other electrodes attached themselves, and we found ourselves pulled down, down to an underwater building.
We were put into a line of robots, all kinds of models. KJ, standing behind me, said, "Do you see those two over there?" She pointed to a young black pair of what looked like twins. "That's Kris Kross."
"Um," I said, "Weren't those 90s rappers or something?"
She nodded. "And that model, over there, that's Barbie-Britney." She pointed to a little blonde with unrealistic features, who, sure enough, looked kind of like Britney Spears.
I looked back at her. "K...T?" She nodded. KT Tunstall, Jr.
"They get us from the music genome project."
"Pandora?"
"It's not called that for nothing, you know."
That was all the time she had for explanations, because then we were pushed into a packed room, standing like sardines or Japanese commuters, subjected to mind-numbing 'orientation' videos. Obey, obey, obey.
Then they put us through basically an autoclave and sent us to sleep it off before returning to the surface. They had given us no food, and I knew KJ ate. We were shoved into a corridor lined with cabinets, all painted a peeling and dirty white. Most of the cabinets were closed. I finally came to one that was open, and, following directions, stepped inside and closed the door.
It was tiny. It was horrid. It was silent. You don't need locks for a prison.
After a few minutes, I stepped out. I wasn't alone. I could see wardens, scientists, prowling the rows. They didn't notice me, or could tell I wasn't a robot. I walked up and down, whispering, "KJ?"
Finally, I came to a little plastic box. KJ was huddled inside, whimpering. It was so small that even little KJ had to fold up as small as she could just to wedge inside it. It had a lock.
I was furious. A scientist came up to me, and I punched him so hard he fell, reeling. Then I started to tear open the box, which was soft enough.
The scientist got up and screamed for help, pushing an alarm button, but apparently they'd never had a break before, because everything went wrong for them. The alarm and the chaos shook the 'robots' from their cells. I had KJ lead the way out.
My alarm rang.