sentient // phan

http//: 11

"I was thinking you could get your own room." Dan said, subconsciously straightening the bag I had just set down on the counter so it matched up with the edge. I made eye contact with him and pushed it back. He tilted his head and smirked, straightening it once more.

"If that's okay with you." I replied, pushing it sideways again. He poked me in my chest.

"I have, like, eight extra rooms."

"3. Not including the on-suite bathroom attached to the master bedroom which you don't use for some reason." I replied, picking the bag up to eliminate further contest. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, you're seriously going to need to learn about my exaggeration issues."

"Among others..." I mumbled, walking into the living room and taking out the various clothing items we had purchased. Dan followed me quickly.

"Other what? Issues? What are you implying?" I folded a pair of jeans, then undid it and tried again. I gave up and dropped it back onto my lap. Dan took a seat in the chair across from me.

"I have a feeling you know what I mean." He picked up a shirt and folded it, pulling out the corners so it was a perfect square.

"So what? I'm a perfectionist. It's not a bad thing." He wouldn't look up at me. I leaned across the coffee table and took his hands.

"Dan, it's a disorder." He pulled his hands away and got up, walking away. "It's an obsessive compulsion. It's called a ritual. It's not exactly OCD-"

"Shut up!" He waved his hands next to his head. I dropped the arm I had held out to him. "I know okay? It's an issue. But I don't need your help!" He ran to his room and slammed the door. I raised my eyebrows. That escalated quickly. I must have struck a nerve with that. I leaned against the wall and let out a soft breath.

How could I help him without him hating me? We were already on shaky terms; his spontaneous change of heart is the only thing keeping this friendship intact. So if I hurt him, he would get rid of me. Or worse.

To my displeasure, the ⅗ made me begin to make dinner. I was going to call to Dan for his help, but found he was asleep. So I finished the meal and just set it on the counter, not sure what to do. I took a seat on one of the breakfast bar stools and spun, the lights in the house steadily fading out until my eyes were the only source of light as seven turned to eight which turned to nine and then ten.

Then, something occurred to me. I checked my settings, and, sure enough, he hadn't turned the function off. I bit my lip as a smile threatened to dawn on my face. I slipped my boots back on as quietly as I could by the door, pressing the door open and making my way to the lift.

Walking should be fine. I wasn't going anywhere too far away, plus I am incapable of feeling tired, so I could even run if I wanted to.

The night air was cold according to my synthetic nerve endings, but not too cold that I would stop working. I made my way quickly out of the residential district and all the way downtown, my eyes shrouded in a map that showed the way I needed to go via blue line, my feet moving quickly beneath me.

I quickly stepped onto the pressure mat the the organic florist with only a minute until midnight. The man within the fragrant store gave me an apologetic smile as he pulled off his apron.

"I'm sorry sir, but we're closed."

"There's still 47 seconds to midnight. Please, it's important." He sighed, stepping aside for me to continue along. I became transfixed by the many colours that surrounded me in the form of roses and tulips and frangipanis and zwartkops. Even some kinds of flowers I didn't recognise.

"Couldn't say no to my first customer today." The man said, pushing a rag across the front counter as though he needed something to do with his hands.

"Can't see why. They're all so gorgeous. You're the only place that even sells these anymore." I replied, rubbing the petal of a dahlia between my fingers.

"Midnight is kind of an odd time to buy flowers. Got a girl back home? You guys fighting?"

"A boy, actually. And we're sort of in a fight- I'm not really sure where I stand with him, but wherever it is it's on thin ice. Do you have this in orange?" I asked, looking up at him. He shook his head.

"What's out there is what I got. Not a very active business anymore. Everyone wants those pretty artificial flowers that don't need to be watered and don't drop petals and are alive forever." He sighed and spun a lily between his fingers. "Quite a shock when my mum found out I wanted to start growing flowers. I was convinced that, if people could just see them... people have only seen pictures of the real thing, you know? It's easy to forget there aren't real trees or clouds or grass anywhere." I set my hand picked bouquet on the counter with a sympathetic smile.

"Well, I love them." He examined my picks.

"If you got a sunflower you'd have one of everything." He chuckled, punching the code for each flower onto his tablet.

"Do you want me to get one?" I asked, pointing my thumb over my shoulder. He shrugged, not looking up from his machine.

"Would make my job easier." I quickly came back with a bright yellow blossom and set it back on the counter. The man grinned and hit a few more keys with his stylus, finally looking up at me, scanner at the ready.

"That'll be a hundred credits even." He caught a glance of my wrist, and finding it bare, cringed. "You're not under-aged are you? Sorry but I'm going to-"

I projected the image of Dan's bar code onto the counter from my eyes, making the clerk jump backward in shock, ramming his body into a large stack of boxes.

"Jävla helvete Jesus Kristus förbarma dig över min sköra själ!" He cursed quickly, a hand over his heart.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." I replied, turning the projection off. He took a few deep breaths, and then got to his feet, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"So you're a... you're a droid?" He asked, smoothing down the front of his apron, his breath slowing slightly.

"Yes. Sorry. I thought you knew." He shook his head and a chuckle escaped his lips, pressing his hands to the counter to support himself.

"Most human-like fucking droid I've ever seen." He mumbled. He took one final deep breath and smiled up to me. "Sorry. So you're a companion droid or... You know what, never mind. It's been a long night. Let me ring you up." I projected the bar code onto the counter again and he scanned it. He checked the display. "I'm sorry, I must have scanned it wrong. This says Dan Howell." He made to scan the code again but I shut it off.

"Yeah. Dan Howell." The clerk raised his eyebrows.

"You expect me to believe you belong to Daniel Howell, avoid robot hater?" I narrowed my eyes.

"What's that?"

"Yeah. Howell hates bots. He founded a company that melted them down. Campaigned against them. Sued some of the scientists behind them. I went to law school for a few years before I dropped out- We studied his cases. Said things like 'unnatural and easily corruptible'. Couldn't be trusted not to turn evil one day. That kind of thing." I blinked slowly, looking down. "Sorry to break it to ya', buddy. Now you going to give me a real account or are you just messing with me?" I shook my head and projected a copy of my deed, signed by none other than apparent-robot-hater Daniel Howell. The clerk looked taken aback but grinned slightly.

"Guess you showed me, then." He pressed a button on his tablet and it spit out a receipt. He ripped it off and held it out to me. I blinked a few times before I finally took it in a sort of haze. "Want me to wrap them? I can put a little baby's breath in."

"What? Oh, yeah. Sure." He turned to the large rack of different coloured papers and plastics, cutting pieces apart.

"Have a nice night." I said when he handed me the freshly wrapped bouquet. He smiled.

"You too. Sorry about that whole-"

"Yeah, it's cool." I interrupted, and left the shop.