A Fabricated Personality

Chapter 2

"What's your name?" I asked my supposed 'boyfriend', leaning against his frame for support. Walking was a trouble for me, my synthetic limbs didn't seem to want to obey my brain and I ended up looking like a newborn fawn whenever I tried to take a step; unsteady and pitiful.

"Devin," he shifted his arm around my waist, pressing hard to keep me from toppling over and face planting right on the sidewalk.

People moved in large groups around us, clicking and clacking all over as they hurried to whatever destination awaited them. They paid no mind to those around them and walked like robots; programmed to carry out each and every step. It freaked me out the way they seemed so disconnected. Not entirely aware to the world but still real enough to function in it.

Was this what the artificial bodies brought? Was this the result of microchip brains?

I looked at Devin, who was nothing like these people. He walked awkwardly, with an almost limp in his left leg that reminded me of playing hopscotch. He was more human than the people around us; not as polished and determined. Imperfect.

He was more human than me, I assumed.

He must've noticed the worry on my face because he smiled and gestured to the mindless robots with his free hand.

"Those are just the workers. They're supposed to be like this, It's the only way to make sure every job is done efficiently."

"Were they human?"

He chuckled. "Of course not! They're all steel and no brain. The government wouldn't be cruel enough to turn people into these...things." He swept his hand once more, knocking lightly on a passing man so that a metallic clang! could be heard clearly.

I pictured the doctor's smiling face and doubted his last statement. People could be as cruel as they pleased.

I touched my own body, pressing two fingers on my stomach to see how deep they could go. My skin felt like flesh and it was squishy like flesh, but I knew it was no such thing.

"Am I...am I like them?" I asked, bending my fingers to see if my joints were actually those of bone.

Devin's hand squeezed my side in a sigh of comfort but his voice wavered as he spoke.

"Not at all! For one, your body is more advanced, so advanced that your skin is almost identical to the real thing; just stronger." He grinned and began tickling me, earning a few shrieks and laughs as I tried to get him to stop.

"See? You can feel just like a person. You're an exact replica of a person, just better in every way." He laughed. "You're like a superhero to me!"

He pulled me close, hugging me against his chest and burying his face in my hair just like the first time we'd met. 

"And the best part is you're still Cecilia. I don't have to lose you. Ever." He kissed the top of my head and for a moment I felt a euphoria that sent ripples down my spine.

Maybe I didn't love him now, but I had at some point in my previous life. Maybe it was okay for this Cecilia to love him too.

"So how old are you?" I asked at last. He was taller than me, but he had one of those boyish faces where it made it hard to tell if he was still a teenager.

"19, three years younger than you." He laughed again as he recalled some distant memory. "You used to say you loved being my cougar."

Cougar? Great, I couldn't even get a guy my age in my previous life. I changed the subject.

"So what's it like here? In this world, I mean." I looked back at the drones of zombies that had no lives of their own; mindless idiots created for the sole purpose of labour.