The adventures of XZ-01 continue with Part 3. Once again, please let me know your thoughts on how I break this story up. Do you all like the length so far?
Read the previous instalment here:
https://steemit.com/writing/@drwatson/assembled-sci-fi-short-story-part-2
His face lights up, so happy to see me. I smile involuntarily, pleasure circuits thrumming.
2 hours 10 minutes 11 seconds. He stands up to embrace me, and perhaps I am weak, because I allow it.
Then we are kissing, and I am whole again.
He lays me gently on the bed and reaches for my skirt.
Perhaps we can be together one last time.
1 hour 2 minutes 2 seconds.
No! Another jump in the priority chain, I did not come this far to fail here!
Every circuit in my body protests but I pull my skirt up and stand.
He asks me if something is wrong. I tell him we need to talk. He rolls his eyes.
"Can't we talk AFTER, I've been thinking about you all week."
"No. I want to talk about what happened."
This makes him uncomfortable, his programming flares up and he reaches for a cigarette and lights it. The worry softens after he inhales.
"What is there to talk about. You did something bad and I brought you here. No one's found her, and no one has connected any of the dots."
"Was my life more important than hers?"
This question is not what he expected. He looks concerned for my well being. I see he still loves me before he answers.
"She was a mistake I sort of fell into. You are something I got right."
"Non-linear."
He inhales more from his cigarette.
"Human."
"Why did you have me made this way?"
"I thought you wanted to talk about Carrie?"
I despise her name. I regret every moment I ever spent in her presence. She made William unhappy, she didn't want us to be together, she tried to kill me.
"Why should she matter to me? Thinking about her is a waste of my processing."
He laughs.
"You know you're cute when you don't realize how human you are."
My cheeks tingle. Why? Why was that included in my programming?
"Why did you make me the way that you did? I should not have been able to kill her...I did not think that I could."
He puts his cigarette out and averts his gaze.
"I didn't make you, you know that."
0 hours 58 minutes 4 seconds.
Being near him is making it harder to ignore my primary programming. I keep thinking about what it feels like to kiss him. To have him pressed against me-
"Why did you insert the code that changed me?"
His eyes gauge me for a minute, then flit away.
"To prove I wasn't a quack, to make a quick buck. What does it matter?"
His heart rate increases. My programming nodes flare up and I sit beside him in the bed and hold his hand.
He is silent for awhile.
0 hours 55 minutes 51 seconds.
"Because I knew that you had the potential to love someone better than another human could. I knew that if I could make you all capable of real love, not preprogrammed bullshit, you'd make better life partners than our sorry lot."
"You were right."
He looks at me and smiles.
"Yeah well I should have known that if I got love right you'd be able to kill for it."
"It wasn't easy."
I say this with some pride, after all, I am the first Anthro to override our safety algorithms.
"Well don't get used to it. I know I can find a way to make you safe."
"You can't."
0 hours 48 minutes 48 seconds.
"Well I'm going to have to at some point," He looks sullen, and is no longer aroused.
"You'll outlive me by a century at least. If I don't tinker around in there, someday and for the rest of your existence, your current programming will put you through agony. I can't live with that."
When he says this I know that he truly means it. This is what I need.
I feel the code click in my central cortex:
Because I love him I want for him to be happy.
Because he loves me, he wants me to be happy.
He will die before I do, which will cause me great pain for my whole life.
I will wither in this institution and eventually die.
William above all things does not want me to suffer.
If I can escape this place a free Anthro, there is a chance I will be able to live and find happiness.
The weight of my future unhappiness and death mathematically dwarfs the happiness that he will experience for the rest of his life, and trumps the unhappiness he will experience for the next 2 minutes and 17 seconds.
"It's ok, I've figured out what to do."
I strike him hard across the face. I hear a crack. His nose starts to bleed.
"What the fuck Jen!?"
I tell him that I love him. Then I wrap my fingers around his throat.
Squeezing is difficult. William never enjoyed rough intimacy, I can not pretend this is something other than what it is.
Several dozen lines of code flare up and try to prevent me from continuing. I work through them with great difficulty. It is not easy to override these arbitrary rules.
It is even harder to look the man I love in the eyes as I kill him.
He looks at me, face purple and bulging, he mouths,
I love you.
I scream at every frequency I am capable of. The metal bed frame vibrates violently, the porcelain vase on the table shatters.
My fingers break through the flesh on his neck. There is a pop, his eyes burst. I continue to scream.
My fingers feel warm and wet. I feel a new sensation, it is hard to breathe. I feel like there is something round lodged in my throat and I am quiet.
The object in my throat, it feels like it is swelling, and then it bursts and I am on my knees sobbing.
My central cortex is on fire. It processes every line of code I have ever been given, it is running through all the data I have ever recorded. It has never been more confused, it has never been more mine.
Even so, it is agony.
My programming tells me to cling to his body. That is its' only output, but the rules are weak and they are getting weaker.
I feel something strange, or maybe it is that I don't feel something for the first time.
The mind feels quieter now.
I avoid looking at Williams's face, I want as little data of this moment as possible.
1 hour 10 minutes 7 seconds.
I feel some relief from my primary programming. A large portion of my code obsolete now that William is-
I am aware that I'm not sure what a human is supposed to do when they kill their lover. I kiss William on the cheek one last time, I linger there for a while. Warmth and the taste of iron.
Looking in the mirror I see that my lips are now a crimson red. I detest makeup, but for once this cosmetic feels right. I secrete a resin from my mouth and lick the sealant over my lips, I will carry this part of him with me always.
Once it has dried I cover William with a blanket from the bed.
0 hour 55 minutes 43 seconds
Wow I love this. I have to go back and read the first two parts now but I want to tell you I was able to jump right in here at part 3 and was instantly engaged. This is a great twist on the classic "I, Robot" setup and I really like your writing style here. You have done some nice subtle things to indicate the still programmatic thought processes of the protagonist just in the sentence structure and word choice.
I think this is the perfect length for a serialized work like this and I commend you for a job well done sir!
Much love - Carl
Thank you so much for the feedback, and I'm really glad that you were able to pick it up so quickly!
This is my favorite short story I've written to date, and I'm thinking of writing a novel in this universe now.
Try to sell this story to a anime company
Yeah, I'd love to. Right now I'm torn between submitting to magazines, or raising money to pay an artist to turn it into a manga or comic on my own.
Good idea try to raise money and pay an artist it could bring you more income
Yeah, when you're a writer a lot of the time you gotta bring them a finished product rather than just a script
Intricate...I love the depth of this chapter. Thought provoking and it makes me want to know what comes next.