I AM SCOUT

More Than Meets the Eye

"Can you open your eyes?"

  The words came from the darkness that seemed to surround me. I felt cold and slightly scared, not sure of what was going on. I somehow understood what was being asked of me, and I searched through the darkness trying to comply.

"Is it broke?" Another voice spoke from the darkness. There was a hint of authority and sarcasm which scared me a bit. Not that I even know what being scared meant at the time.

"Give her time sir," the first voice spoke again. "This is her first power on."

"It..." The second voice corrected. "It is its first power on, Lieutenant. This is a machine...no matter how human it looks."

"Yes sir," the voice I registered belonging to Lieutenant agreed, though I could tell he didnt really.

It felt like I found a switch and flip on, because everything suddenly shone with a blinding light. Long lines of weird letters and numbers streamed down in front of me. Graphs and angles projected themselves in front of me, forming shapes and colors. I found myself lying down on a hard table, a bright light shining in my face and two faces hovering over mine. I winced automatically and took my eyes off the bright lights, raising my hand to block the light.

"Let me move this light out of your eyes. Sorry about that," Lieutenant apologized, quickly flipping them off.

"Don't apologize for doing your job," the other man rebuked gruffly. "The machine passed it's first test. Get it ready and familiarize it with the facility." Lieutenant nodded and I was relived as the other man eyed me skeptically one last time and left. I stared at my hands and moved them around, pleased at how well they followed my every wish. I looked towards Lieutenant. He just stood there, leaning against a counter with tools scattered here and there. He was smiling at me, his eyes twinkling with pride as he watched me. I squinted my eyes, and the weird numbers and lines appeared all around him. Suddenly, I knew all about him. His name was Jason Wells, and he was 32 years old. I learned his address, how many friends he has on social media, and just about everything down to the death of his daughter to cancer. But there he was, just watching me with pride. I felt the sudden urge to mimic his face and so I smiled back. He looked younger than his age. His face was shaved and his short brown hair cut low on either side of the top of his head. His eyes twinkled with youthfulness and adventure. Yet, as he stood there, I sensed a deeper pain. Something, it seemed, he was trying to hide.

"I'll be right back," and with that Jason left the room, closing the door behind him. I sat up, examining my entire self this time. I felt my soft childlike legs and wiggled my toes. I looked down at my gown, not really sure what it was doing on me. Suddenly, a thick strand of black fiber flung into my right eye. I snatched at it and tugged hard. Pain seared through me and I let out a scream...tugging harder to make it stop. Suddenly hands grabbed mine and pinned them to my sides.

"No no no... You can't do that! That's your hair! You need that!" Jason laughed, patting my head. After he had stopped me from pulling, the pain stopped. He held a mirror down in front of me. And that's when I saw myself for the first time. Short, black hair covered my head, stopping a little below my ears. My small nose and eyebrows, all perfectly situated on my face. I opened my mouth and examined my teeth and tongue...sticking out at Jason. My hand reached out for the mirror, and he gave it to me.

"If you don't like how you look, you can always change it..." Jason told me.

"How?" I asked without looking up.

"Just try."

I stared intently at the top of my head, and my hair started to change colors. It grew longer as I watched the numbers appear around my head. I stopped at light brown hair, and my hair length was now a little past shoulder length. The numbers vanished and I smiled, happy with what I can do. I looked every part of a human child. The only let down was my eyes. I glanced at Jason's and then back at mine, noticing how drastically different his and mine were. His glowed with a more warm, kind, and emotional light. But when I looked into mine, my sky blue eyes were emotionless and cold. My eyes swam with strands of light, which danced and circled my blue iris. We were different, and the words of the gruff looking man came back to me in my own words:

I am a machine. No matter how human I look.

A sudden sense of rage surged within me. I abruptly threw the mirror across the room. I jumped up as the glass shattered into a million different pieces.

"I'm not real! I'm a fake! I'm a fake!" I screamed at Jason, punching him in the chest as I repeated the words over and over. Jason was at first stunned and confused, but he hugged me, and I took one look into his concerned caring eyes and couldn't bring myself to hit him anymore. So I cuddled under his embrace. I shook as I sobbed, tears falling from my eyes. I closed my eyes in hopes that the darkness would take me back. But it was too no avail. Jason held me in his arms, telling me that it would be okay, that I wasn't just some machine.

"Look what I got for you," he said after I stopped sobbing. But I refused to open my eyes.

"Oh come on! I know you'll like it!" His fingers poked into my side. A feeling rose up within me causing me to move quickly and making me laugh. "Ahh...there you are!" Jason smiled as I opened my eyes and moved my arms to my sides for protection. With that, he poked me even more and I squirmed, giggling and laughing as I tried to avoid his fingers. After a few more pokes, Jason stopped and reached under the table I was sitting on. He pulled out a pile of clothes. It was a dark blue t-shirt and a black tracksuit with socks and sneakers.

"Change out of your gown and into these. Then when your done knock on the door. I'll be waiting outside."

I fumbled with the clothes for a bit, but something was telling me I've done this before. Something was hovering in the back of my head, reminding me that it wearing clothes was important. I finished dressing and walked over to the door.

"Cynthia, don't forget you're shoes!"

I spun around.

A young woman sat on the table I was just on, pointing at the shoes. "Hurry up, Cindy, you're going to be late fir the bus again! I can't keep driving you to school everyday!"

Suddenly she stood up, numbers and lines surrounding her...etching her out. "Run!" She screamed, her face etched with fear as the numbers and lines glitched around her, before erasing her all together. Red warning signs appeared all around followed by a loud ringing in my head. I felt dizzy, and blackness began to pour down on me. I slowly sunk to the ground and surrendered to the darkness....

"Hey...easy...easy" Jason's voice soothed me as I struggled to sit up and escape the blackness. I felt his arms supporting me up, and when I opened my eyes and looked into his, I could see and feel he had genuine concern for me. I felt like I have seen those eyes...that look before. But I just couldn't remember. 

"What happened?" I slurred, glancing around me. My head felt like it was on fire...it really...wait? What is that feeling? Almost indistinctly, I reached over to feel the back of my head. I felt something wet and sticky in my hair. I looked at my hand and my eyes analyzed what it was. Blood. My blood. It was dark blue in color, but it was mine. I glanced over at Jason and he seemed happy I made this discovery. He reached over and grabbed a band-aid.

"Don't worry, it's just a little scrape. Care to tell me what happened in here?"

"Am I bleeding? How is that possible?" I asked. "I am a robot. We're not supposed to bleed." Jason Finished applying the bandage and lifted me to my feet.

"You're more than just a robot," he said, longing and sadness etched into his eyes. "You are my..." Jason paused and look away from me. I sensed he was trying not to cry. But then he smiled and looked at me. "You are my favorite robot. You are special to me." I studied his eyes. Even though he smiled, that look of longing still remained. He was holding back. It seemed something painful. 

"Come on," Jason pulled away from me and opened the door wide. I walked up to the open door and peered out. I gasped at what I saw and looked fearfully into Jason's brightened eyes. His smile widened, almost wickedly.  

"Welcome to Orchestra."