Write to Rank 2023

Memory

When I woke up, I was aware that the room was colder than I normally liked it to be. I knew that I'd feel warmer if I got dressed, and so I placed my bare feet onto the cold, white tiled floor and got up. Along the similarly tiled wall was a white wardrobe. It was where I'd start my day.
  I picked out my favourite black and white hoodie and a black shirt to go underneath. I also found out some nice grey jeans and some socks to put on, and I quickly slipped into them. There; nice and toasty.
  The room no longer felt so bad, and I sat and waited until Mom came in. When she arrived, she had that short black hair I'd come to associate with her, as well as a white, long coat above a black shirt and skirt adorning her body. She straightened her glasses and smiled at me.
  "Good morning, Sigma. Did you sleep well?" Mom's high heels clacked against the floor as she walked along.
  "I slept well, thank you." I assured her.
  "Good. Come on, let's go." Mom beamed, and then reached out her hand for me to take.
  We walked into the hall, my feet clicking against the floor alongside Mom's high heels as more people in white coats smiled and said good morning to me. They were all so nice to me... it made me feel good.
  "Ok, then," Mom stopped when we reached the door at the correct point in the corridor, "Are you ready, Sigma?"
  I thought for a moment, before shaking my head, "I'm not sure."
  Mom rested her hand on my shoulder, "You know that they'll love you, right? And it'll help us both out a lot if you come in there with me."
  "How?"
  "How what?"
  "How will it help us?"
  Mom smiled sadly before putting the code into the keypad to unlock the door, "That's not for you to worry about, Sigma."
  I nodded. I did worry about if it would help us, because Mom deserved the world but instead had to deal with me, and that didn't make me feel good.
  When the door opened, me and Mom were greeted by an old couple; a man and a woman. They both wore luxurious clothing, and looked absolutely in awe at the sight of us. The both smiled in their shock.
  The husband added, "I can't believe you managed to pull it off, Christine."
  As Mom locked the door again, she shrugged and said, "It's all in a day's work."
  The wife asked, "Does it do all the things you said it would?"
  Why did the use of 'it' make me feel so odd? I felt like she was using it on me, and that created an uncomfortable itchiness on my back that made me squirm. I whimpered as I did so and Mom glanced at me.
  "He uses he/him pronouns, miss." Mom told her.
  "Oh, wow! It- he's like a little person!" the woman said and bent down to look at me.
  I hated the use of 'like' even more than the use of 'it'. Something stirred within me, and I couldn't hold it in any longer.
  "Mom, what's going on?" I asked weakly.
  Mom looked at me again worriedly, "Please, Sigma, don't talk now."
  She then turned back to the elderly couple. The smiled in anticipation as Mom looked at them.
  "Of course, you know that Sigma here is the world's first artificial person. He has an artificial intelligence embedded within him, which allows him to feel human things like gender identity, sexual attraction, opinions and preferences." Mom smiled as an image was bought on the screen in the room before she continued, "He also has an almost full collection of human organs, and even grows up like a real person. It's definitely my best work yet, in my opinion."
  A screen was lit up in the corner of the room. The image showed a humanoid with white metal everywhere apart from some areas, like its chest and underarms, which were navy blue and were labelled as feeling like skin. It also had a navy face with a singular circle for a face, and out of its head was a small wire linked to a ball of light, like a satellite receiver.
  I didn't understand.
  It was labelled as a robot... but it looked like me.
  "This is S1G-MA Mk1. He'll be a perfect replacement for couples like yourselves who can't have children." Mom smiled. She was genuinely happy. When was the moment she stopped caring about me?
  I had no pride to swallow, apparently, so I stamped my foot and glared at her.
  She looked at me and then I complained, "I don't understand, Mom. What is all this?"
  Mom looked at the couple and then grimaced, bending down to be on my level. I suddenly felt very squirmy again, like I had a feeling she was going to say something bad. But she wouldn't. She wouldn't do that to me.
  She whispered, "Sigma, you're an artificial life form. I've really tried to tell you before, but, but..." and then she got up to address the couple as well, "There's a programming bug in your system where you erase memories that upset you. And I guess you can't get over the fact that you aren't... human. Like myself. And these two."
  She'd never loved me.
  Who could? I was a structure - I wasn't even a person. I was a thing, and from the sounds of things I wasn't even perfect. When other people smiled and said hello to me, were they being patronising? Or did they actually care?
  No... no, they wouldn't do that!
  When my mind snapped back to the present, Mom was explaining, "I can create a better version of him if you fund me more, though. So how about it? Wanna help change the world?"
  "THIS ISN'T TRUE!" I yelled, and I saw Mom glow red as I took a step closer. Was I doing that?
  "Sigma, calm down!" Mom demanded.
  But all I did was scream loudly. All I could see was red. It burned my vision. Everything burned.
  Everything was a lie.

***

  The temperature in my room was exactly how I liked it. I sat on my bed, bouncing slightly and giggling when I went out of control. I did it again, and again. It was fun.
  But I knew that I was distracting myself. I was lonely, and I'd never felt like this in so long. Mom had said that she'd had a work issue involving the deaths of some of her clients, which was terrible.
  She said she wouldn't be able to visit me...
  It hurt, but I knew that she'd come back to me eventually. I just needed to be patient. I was good at that.
  At least I had my new security guard. He wasn't the same... but he was good enough. And he made me feel important, too.