Artificial

~

     Jiang Zhen was in the papers for the second day in a row. Yesterday morning, she was found dead in her room of unknown causes. Children and adults alike peered over their friends shoulders to read the update on this strange phenomenon. The doctors at first had assumed it was a heart attack from chronic stress, but Zhen was found to be healthy with nothing pointing to a specific cause.

     Nothing other than vitamins and rice in her stomach; her blood, heart, and brain were devoid of toxins. The ultimate cause of death was determined "ascertainable", and Zhen's parents agreed to give up their daughter for scientific experimentation. The story that had piqued everyone's interest was pushed aside due to the abrupt conclusion.

     The doctors examined every last detail of Jiang Zhen. They eventually realized there wasn't much else they could do. The paperwork was passed and the scientists in the biomedical research had free reign over the new, healthy corpse. Zhen's brain was immediately removed and preserved in a glass jar of neon blue fluid upon her arrival in the laboratory. The scientists worked day and night electrically charging the dead neurons and replacing the rotting meat with metal and wires.

     A woman in a lab coat pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose as she finished the last few stroke of car paint on Ai's new body. No one referred to the body or the brain as "Jiang" or " Jiang Zhen". Once the last of her decomposing body was tossed into the trash chute scientists would eagerly run over to work on "Ai".

     Ai had a chrome-finish from head to toe. There were wired designs drawn in overlapping patterns around her arms and legs. The metal used on the joints didn't quite match the rest of the body. Bolts and screws jutted out from her limbs. Every wire mimicked a vein, each and every gear working together to power the body how a human organ would.

     "Welcome Ai."

     An unfamiliar voice was speaking as Ai's eyelids fluttered open. There was a blinding white but it was immediately dimmed to reveal a room with mint-green walls. There were burn marks on one wall, spreading to the otherwise spotless white floor tiles. Ai was lain across a lab table. She was surrounded by an assortment of knives and clamps. There was a smaller lab table next to her, completely empty.

     Her knuckles twitched, until they were slowly and stiffly curling and uncurling. Her arm slowly bent back and forth with a popping sound.

     Then she stared up at the ceiling with the leak in the corner. Staring for too long made her lenses thicken to zoom in on the leak. Green lines bordered the liquid, until she identified it as water that had leaked from a storm. Her eyes wandered to the door as it swung open with a tall, lean man striding through.

     "Hello. I am Da Jian. I'm here to make sure you are functioning properly." It was the same voice she'd heard from earlier. The man stared at her intently, clearly waiting for an answer. Could she speak?

     "Function." Her head tilted to the side, as the gears in her neck turned rapidly and let out a high-pitched whirring. A mechanical voice, like the vocal chords were tied together haphazardly and inserted into her throat.

    Jian punched his fingers furiously into his tablet. "vocal response program is functioning. Needs routine maintenance", he murmured.

     "Function, function, function." She repeated the word, letting it roll off her rigid tongue. Jian frowned and scribbled an extra note onto his tablet.

     Instead of a simple speaker, Ai had muscles that moved to make her speak, as if she were human. Ai moved her head from side to side. Her joints were twitching and squeaking.