Automatons ✔

Chapter XI

                                                          Yoel helped Éloa crawl out of the dormer window and they sat on the roof, both silently gazing at the beautiful night sky. Her face was like a palette adorned by innocence and charm. He wanted to compare her to the stars, but even their light seemed dim compared to hers. No, she was no star, she was the Andromeda galaxy. She's a lost angel who exiled herself from the Heavens and he didn't mind, because she came down to this bloody pit where he resides.

"Finally you are free to explain to me what you said this morning." But Éloa did not answer him, she was too busy staring at the sky. "What are you thinking about?" He inquired.

She looked at him, then turned her attention to the moon, "I am fascinated by nature. I love how the night wraps the moon and the stars, and how the day is illuminated by the sunshine. I love how each season brings a different sensation to earth, and how the ocean holds the most mysterious species. This universe is truly beautiful, and what makes it more beautiful to me is that you're one of its children."

"Is that a pickup line?" He chuckled.

"Not really. I just appreciate your existence. Most of the humans that I have met so far are just empty vessels living for the sake of living."

"I am no different, I am an empty vessel filled with confusion and wine." She was hypnotized by the mellow tone of his voice. "And you are a metallic vessel filled with answers to my questions. Care to explain to me what you meant this morning when you claimed that you were designed to feel?"

"Yoel, I am just a lost memory of a deceased human girl. You do not admire an Automaton, you fell in love with the personality of my engineer's daughter." Éloa pulled Nerezza's picture, the late daughter of Professor Schreiber on her wrist computer.

Yoel's eyes widened as he stared at her photo, it's like God has used her long jet black hair as a brush to paint with phoenix ash because her hair had tints of red on the very ends. He made blue and green flames dance in her iris and then curled her long silky eyelashes with stars.

"She looks exactly like you!" Surprise swallowed his voice.

Éloa nodded, "my designer has discovered how to create Automatons with consciousness. Before his assassination, he managed to create six Automatons including me and Mega who experience cognizance."

"Assassinated?!"

"Your government has killed my Father." Tears shone like diamonds as they rolled down her cheeks and her hands began to shake. "They wanted us to be used as weapons for war and when he refused, they did the one thing humans are good at: destroying each other."

"Éloa, these are serious and dangerous allegations that you are making. What proof do you have that you are indeed conscious? Emotions? For all you know tears could just be a new Automaton update." His hazel eyes were serious and concerned.

"I am aware that I am just a machine and not human while when I used to work at the hospital, I have never thought about the difference between my creation and that of my human clients. I have developed a sense of self. I am aware of my surroundings, and I can feel what you call emotions based on what happens to me."

"Maybe this is a glitch. I can take you tomorrow to an Automaton technician to get you checked out."

"I can assure you that he will not know how to fix me for what you call a glitch I call my nature."

Before he could answer her, he heard his father's imperceptible voice calling out to him from downstairs. His father's voice had nothing to offer but a sense of desolation that penetrated through Yoel's chest, causing him to quickly jump through the window and Éloa followed him.