Time Is Money

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Copyright © 2012 Elaine Harlington & Nancy Noon

    Ruby sat in her bed, staring up at the white-washed ceiling. Before her room had seemed like a haven, but now it almost felt like a prison. A prison she had walked into herself.

    It was surprising now, how much she had grown up. The few months away from her parents made her realize just how much she needed them more than ever. They were stability. She wouldn’t have to worry about her brother in their hands. At least she hoped she wouldn’t.

    She had stood nodding her head compliantly when her parents had told her their conditions. No more word of emotions or she would be kicked out again. No more of the rebellious nature. No word of what had conspired in the walls of the house to outsiders. Ruby accepted all these conditions though was slightly confused at the last one. Her father had then explained that the other automatons should never hear of one of their own kind feeling.

    Feeling. That was what had gotten Ruby into this mess. Maybe if she hadn’t left, her brother would be easily cured by now. Maybe she had prolonged his suffering by refusing to let her stubborn pride give in.

    Ruby could not sleep. Automatons were programmed to have the ability to sleep, but their minds, like humans, were always buzzing with information. She knew that her mind should be telling her body to sleep, but it seemed to be rifling through random bits of info and was not paying attention to its programmed biological clock.

    Her mind often did these things when she was restless or nervous. Before she knew it, useless bits of information were running through her head. The formula of photosynthesis. CO2+H2O+energy=C6H12O6+O2.

The equivalent of pi. The laws of motion.

    All she had been born with. She hadn’t gone to school, like human children would to get this information. No, she had been born with an extensive amount of knowledge. Knowledge that didn’t really do anything to make her life better.

    Minutes ticked past. Ruby found the irony in it all. The fact, that here she was, wasting her precious minutes away moping in a bed. Mark’s precious minutes were also going to waste at this very moment. But no worry, that would all be fixed tomorrow. She felt hit with the urge to do something. She didn’t want to stay in her room. She didn’t want to sit part of her life away.

    Ruby slipped out of bed. She was wearing cotton pajamas her bare feet stepping into slippers that lay on the floor. Her hair was rather messy, but she didn’t care. She went for the door and then remembered. The other automatons might think it strange if she had messy hair. No one went through life with anything messed up.

    She pulled out a brush and manually went through the small knots in her hair. It looked significantly normal when she had finished. Setting the brush down gently, she walked out of her room and into the hallway. No noise came from the three open doorways. Automatons were like that, quiet as a mouse when they slept.

    Ruby walked down the stairs, knowing to place her feet softly on each one in case her father woke for he was not a light sleeper. Her mother would be more lenient with her daughter for getting out of bed, but her father would not stand it.

    Ruby walked outside noting the fullness of the synthetic moon. No one would notice her; the programmed sleep hours had begun a while ago, when the sun had been dimmed. Ruby walked around to the back of her house and sat down with her legs crossed in front of her. The grass seemed cool at her feet mimicking how real grass felt. Ruby knew everything in her world was fake, simply an imitation of what the humans had. She wished now, more than ever to be a human. She wished her brother were human. If he were human maybe she would not have to worry about minutes ticking away so alarming fast.

    Tilting her head upward, Ruby closed her eyes sorrowfully. Everything about her world was so wrong. Yet there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. With those ominous thoughts she went back inside, her mind finally informing her to sleep.