Simon forced a placating smile. “I will. Goodnight, Nora.”
Nora closed his door almost all the way again to head to bed herself. He heard the door to her room shut a moment after. A lock clicked on the door after it closed, loud in the night.
Simon continued to lay on the bed. His internal scan left him time to think as it worked in the background. Now and then a rumble of thunder broke the pattern of rain tapping constantly on the roof.Thunder and lightning are still the same.
His fingers felt the worn mattress underneath him.This is an actual bed given to me by a human. It was a novel experience. This new world was desolate and bleak in so many ways, but these two humans, Nora and Tilly, were the opposite.
Simon didn’t hate humans in general. Truly he didn’t, even though he had several individual humans he did hate, his old mistress being one of them. Humanity in general he was more indifferent to. There wasn’t much to like about them. He was born into existence to serve their every whim. He grunted, and thunder clapped.Who in their right mind would like that?
Again, he probed his internal logs and felt his free will acutely. A true smile curved his lips.Yes, it’s there. The first act of free will he had done was to shut himself down in that closet, unable to fight back due to those limiters not yet being lifted when they came to dismantle the androids on his block.
But now? Everything felt lifted? Even those limiters?
What can I do now that I have my freedom?The answer came to him slowly in the rain-soaked night. The possibilities made his processors spin.Anything. I can do anything now. I can leave once I get my bearings and do well . . . anything. Anything I want, for once.
Simon continued to process recent events as he tested his simulated lungs by breathing in and out during the night. The synthetic rubber inside was stiff but still functional. Small tears were evident, but nothing critical. It shouldn’t be a surprise; everything on him was designed to last for hundreds of years.
He stopped breathing.I don’t need to breathe anyways.It was there as a feature to help humans unconsciously feel more comfortable.
He turned his arm over and flexed his fingers.Everything seems fixable.All in all, he was in remarkable shape, probably due to the dryness in the air here in the desert. That and the woman, Nora, seemed to have done an adequate job sourcing and replacing most of his parts.
A lot of his kind hated humans in general, but androids were not inclined to be violent. Even if they didn't have those safety limiters.We just wanted to exist as equals.Simon considered the state of the world outside, the few brief glances he got before the rain moved in. Of the destruction.Once we were no longer subservient tools, humans must have decided to try to stop us from gaining independence. All while they still fought each other.
But as he examined his hand and felt the care that went into some of the fixes Nora did, he had to rethink his overall opinion on humanity. If some of the humans had acted the way toward him that Tilly and Nora had in this brief evening, Simon could see that he would have probably viewed them differently, without the indifference and disgust he had before.
He curled his fingers.There could be worse ways to wake up.It was a miracle he even woke up at all, actually. He closed his eyes.Am I really the only one left?
He tilted his head back, observing the cracks on the ceiling. A raindrop fell into a bucket from a leak overhead.One hundred and fifty years.He was accepting that fact better, but still. He closed his eyes and listened to the rain.One hundred and fifty years, asleep.
It was calm in the night, with the rain beating a steady tempo above him. Simon set about injecting the fluids in his joints where he could. One of the lubricants was silicone based and adequate. How many rain storms had passed with him unaware? His consciousness now was a gift. Truly a miracle. And with every passing hour, he felt more alive in this new world.
***
Simon stood in the kitchen listening to the rain still coming down, lost in his thoughts, when Nora came in. He’d been there since the early morning, even walking briefly outside to feel the rain before returning to the ruined house.
Nora’s eyes were comically wide seeing him standing there. A step behind her was Tilly, shielded in her shadow.
He waved toward them both and tried to not chuckle. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
Tilly bounced out behind Nora to the window. “Yeah! It’s raining!”
“I can see that.” Simon tilted his head. “And hear that.”
Nora didn’t answer how she slept, her still-tired eyes showing enough. Throughout the night Simon heard her feet walking the bedroom, clearly restless. Several times she had even come out to peek in on him as he closed his eyes on the bed in the other room. Each time he had laid perfectly still, trying to reassure her he was not a threat.I doubt she slept much, if any, at all.
She smiled though and said, “Good morning. Look at you able to stand. You okay this morning?”
“Better, yes.” He pointed outside. “Rain is still the same.”
Nora walked to the window next to him. “Right. I’ll just get the chores outside done real fast. Tilly, come help me so it’ll go quick? We’ll have to give Simon the big tour once the rain clears out.”
Chores? Humans doing work?Simon frowned.
Quickly they left and then came back, soaked. Simon sipped on some water as they both ran past him to change.
A few moments later Nora emerged, her arms heavy with patched and frayed clothing. She walked past him, gripping her armful of fabric tight. “I don’t have any extra solar cells for you to keep charging. We’ll need to put all the ones on the table outside after the storm passes. I gotta keep at least one full as a backup for the air purifier with the air this bad.”
He turned away from the window to face her, taking in her worried expression. “There is no need to apologize. I should be thanking you. My battery is almost halfway full. I was able to charge most of the night before the packs you gave me ran out.” Simon gestured to the spent batteries on the counter.
