Pins and Needles

Prologue

Dr. Williams sighed as he fell into his armchair, rubbing his face in his hands vigorously and blinking in the dull light of the evening. The sun was just beginning to set, and the warm glow that poured in through the window had turned golden as the hours had dragged by, the sky now a deep red hanging over the city.

It had been a long day. He had found himself confined to his chair once again, listening to session after session of the petty woes of the average man, the struggles of manic-depressive housewives and the tough life of the oppressed teenager. He enjoyed his work, and truly, Dr Williams believed that psychiatry was he rightful position in society; it was just that on a bright day like this, he could think of million places he would rather be than listening to other people's problems.

'Yvonne, I'm starting to lose hope again,' he said through the speaker to his receptionist. The system was old and crackled when he spoke, echoing through his empty office. The fuzz of the microphone sparked and he heard a woman cough.

'One more to go,' a dull voice replied. 'You've got another appointment booked for half past - a Mrs. Asteroi.'

Dr. Williams cursed under his breath, and then exhaled loudly. 'I had forgotten. Could you phone my wife, please, and let her know I'll be home late.'

It was Yvonne's turn to sigh. 'Only if you tell her to stop shooting the messenger.'

The line disconnected and Dr. Williams leaned back in his chair, massaging the sides of his head with his hands. He didn't want to imagine what kind of dull worries Mrs. Asteroi would have - perhaps her husband wasn't being attentive enough, or she was becoming bored of middle-class suburbia after all these years...he had heard all of it before. And a new client meant more time, the difficult introductory period, and of course breaking through to her and encouraging her to open up. His head pounded just thinking about it.

He pulled over his notepad and scribbled down a few notes down on the thick white paper, and then headed over to turn on his stereo. What he wouldn't do for something different - a patient that would really compel him. Something new and unexplored. He shook his head as he fiddled with dial, and felt a pang of regret.

'All these other psychiatrists with their ground breaking research and revolutionary cases,' he muttered. 'And here I am, listening to people's insignificant concerns for $50 an hour.'

The sky and had grown darker, now bruised with purple inky splodges, and he switched on his lamp with a yawn. He hadn't been home early in weeks. Things were tense in his house; his wife and his relationship had been 'deteriorating slowly', in her own words, and he had a strange suspicion she had been reading too many self-help books over the weeks she'd spent alone in the house. She had accused him of being too obsessive, too driven by work - and she was right. When was the last time he spent time with his children? Williams shook himself roughly.

'I'm going to disconnect whatever channel Opra is on,' he told himself, making a mental commitment. 'Get these ideas out of her head.'

What he needed was something to distract him. Exciting new work to take his mind of things. He needed a challenge. He needed -

'Dr. Williams, Mrs Asteroi is here.'

His train of thought had crashed, and he stared incredously at the speaker for a moment before pulling himself together.

'Oh, right, yes, of course. Send her in.'

He took a second to readjust his time and slip his glasses on. He pulled his blank notepad over to him and rubbed his eyes quickly as the door opened, and his new client stepped into his office.

He blinked in disbelief. His day was about to suddenly improve.

Far removed from the simpering middle aged woman he had expected, Ava Asteroi was young, tall and attractive. She had very pale, almost porcelain skin, and shoulder length, vivid red hair which sat sleek and shiny in feathered layers around her face. Her lips were painted a dark red, and her eyes were shaded in dusty black. She seemed nervous as she approached his desk, in an oversized black coat and dainty kitten heels.

'Dr. Williams?'

He gathered himself quickly and recovered from his surprise, giving himself a mental slap. 'Hello. Mrs. Asteroi, I assume?'

She smiled shyly. 'It's Miss Asteroi, actually.'

He cursed Yvonne and her administrative errors. He shook her hands and then gestured for her to sit down.

'I have to say, from your file you aren't at all who I was expecting. You say a collegue from work reccomended you here?' he said calmly, convincingly disguising the shock in his voice. She nodded.

'Well, actually, it wasn't so much reccomended as it was...mandetory,' she said quietly. 'It was a condition of me keeping my job.'

'I see,' he said slowly. 'She said that you had been suffering from delusions of some kind and it had been affecting your work. If it's okay to ask, what were these delusions?'

Ava paused, clicking her heels together under the desk. She seemed anxious, biting her lips and fiddling with her hair. 'She thought I was crazy.'

He laughed slightly. 'We don't use that word here.'

She looked at her feet. 'I don't want you to think it too. But somebody has to help me. I'm worried I might sound insane.'

'Miss Asteroi,' Williams said kindly, removing his glasses to wipe them. 'Everything said in this room in entirley confidential, and will be treated professionally, regardless of how...crazy, it sounds.'

'Okay. See, I've kind of had a suspicion for a while now. I guess I've always known something hasn't been right with me, since I was young.'

He nodded, encouraging her to continue. She took a deep breath. 'But now I think I know for sure. It all makes sense, suddenly, but I don't know how...how to prove it. I don't want it to be true, but...'

'What do you know, Ava?'

She looked up and met his eye. 'I'm not a real person. I'm a robot.'

He had found his patient.