Becoming Human

Road Trip Pt. 2

(Connor's Analysis)

The world is more beautiful than I ever could have thought. And Ashley makes it even more beautiful. We're on our second leg of the road trip. Ashley enjoys a lot of older music. All music she's played was from when her father was a child or teenager. Some are older though. She enjoys it. It makes me smile to see her dancing and singing. It's... cute.

I have to remind myself often that she's human. She has physical needs like hunger. She gets uncomfortable very quickly. She won't let me take pictures on her phone anymore. She said I took too many. How can I take to many? Everything I see is just thousands of pictures. That's how humans see the world as well. Their eyes take pictures of the world at a rapid rate, just like mine. I guess they forget things like that. Humans tend to forget information when they don't use it.

She gets bored easily and plays games on her phone until the battery dies. Then she charges it and changes the music a lot while she waits for it to charge. Sometimes she takes pictures of the places we pass, or the clouds. Other times she takes pictures of me. I don't know why she wants pictures of me, I'm always with her.

During love songs she points at me a lot. It's cute. She's been smiling a lot since we left, no matter how bored she is. Kamski was right, she really needed this. Her smile is irradiating. Her eyes have much more life in them.

She's bored again. I can always tell. She tries to go to sleep but can't because it's not fatigue she's feeling. She starts squirming in her seat. I should make conversation.

"What are you looking forward to in New York?" I ask her. She perks up and smiles at me.

"I can't wait to see the city at night. The lights are probably beautiful. I also can't wait to go shopping for cool shit and sightseeing. We've gotta see the Statue Of Liberty!" She says. She's so excited for this.

"Sounds like we'll have lots of fun." I tell her.

"What are you looking forward to?" She asks.

"I don't really know... I'm honestly just looking forward to seeing you happy." I reply.

"Connor, I fucking love you" She says, smiling.

The conversation ends there and she turns to look out of the window. I concentrate on driving and leave her to her thoughts.

"Hey can we stop for a bathroom at the next rest stop?" She asks. The next rest station is in 10 miles.

When we get there she stretches and runs to the bathroom. I need to stop forgetting her needs. She's only mentally an android, physically she is still human. I look around while I wait for her. Ashley has me wearing a hat to cover my LED. A woman with a small dog walks near me to let the dog sniff around. It's a pug. Small, with breathing problems. A lot of pugs have breathing problems from centuries of inbreeding. They're still cute dogs. The woman looks up and notices me staring at her dog.

"Would you like to pet him?" She asks.

"I... yes please. Thank you, ma'am." I reply and walk over to her. I bend down and pet the dog. He seems happy about it.

"His name is Fred." She says. The name seems very human for a dog. I like it.

"Fred is adorable." I tell her. She smiles and thanks me. Ashley walks over with her arms full of snacks from the vending machine.

"He'd pet your dog all day if I let him." Ashley says, laughing. The woman laughs as well. I stand and thank the woman for letting me pet Fred. Ashley and I walk back to the car.

Once we've pulled out of the rest station I inform her that there 1 hour and 53 minutes left of the trip. It will be around 6:31 PM when we arrive depending on traffic.

She groans and puts her seat back in defeat. I smile at her. She's very dramatic, in an endearing way.

We get to New York City at exactly 6:54PM. Ashley immediately perks up. She pushes her face against the window to see everything she can. She turns and moves her head so she can see out of my window. She's smiling bigger than I've ever seen her smile. It's calming.

"OH MY GOD WE'RE HERE!" She yells.

"Calm down, Ash. We have to get to the hotel first. Then we're going to get you dinner. We probably won't be able to do much today. But we have several days." I inform her. She rolls her eyes and scoffs.

"What are you, my dad?" She says.

"No, I'm your boyfriend who cares about you." I reply. She smiles and leans over to kiss my cheek.

I love her.