‘ AND WE ASK OURSELVES THIS QUESTION - CAN WE STILL TRUST OUR MACHINES ? ’
dylan is the eleven year old son of nicole and william stephens , he’s tall for his age , with big green eyes and a thatch of dark hair . after desperately trying for years to have their own children , the stephens eventually bought their own . dylan remembers his first day of activation easily , registering every family member as someone to love so wholly . love him they did , playing games with him , playing catch , taking him to museums , playgrounds , and amusement parks , where dylan got a chance to see android life , and how different androids integrated with humans . he was full of childish wonder , so naiive about the future ahead of him that he never saw it coming .
he knows some people in the family have problems with him , as he watches the adult androids stand by the wall , waiting for command , only moving when one of his cousins falls over , or when the children seek their attention . ‘ i don’t see why you had to get one of those weird children . ’ says his aunt , as she warily glances at dylan playing pat - a - cake with her daughter . ‘ he’s not normal acting , he’s so ... unnatural . i don’t know how you can’t see it . ’ but nicole and william laugh , and they tuck him into bed and kiss his forehead every night , even though he insists he’s a big boy of eleven , and they deactivate him and set him to start up at ten o’ clock .
he remembers the longest his parents deactivated him was when they had to go on a month - long trip , and nobody wanted to babysit him . he insisted he could take care of himself , but before he could compute what was going on , his parents were home again , and he didn’t mind that much . there’s a little bit of hurt , but he scans his programming for defects and finds none , so maybe it’s a new development . technology is so exciting ! it’s almost like he’s growing up into a real boy , in his own special yk500 way !
dylan’s making his dad angrier with every passing day , and he doesn’t know how until he goes to hug him while his parents watch tv , and his dad pushes him back and tells him to sit on his own . as dylan nods and goes , he sees that his parents are holding hands so tightly their knuckles are white , and on the tv , there’s word of androids rising up against their owners , barely anything to bat an eye about , but his parents are clutching each other and looking at him , and he just smiles , because that’s his mother and father , and he loves them .
he doesn’t understand why his parents are so scared , and he especially doesn’t understand why they can’t meet his eyes the same way they did only a few mornings ago , he can’t understand why his father is so snappy or why his mother sends him away to play outside . he doesn’t catch their whispered conversations , but he thinks the worst part is when he wakes up unexpectedly , as is due with the programming , and totters off to crawl into his parents bed , and his father yells , and he’s so angry , and he’s never been so terrifyingly angry before . he keeps yelling at him , and screaming about how ‘ i told you that fucking android wanted to kill us ! ’ are they talking about him ? they’re his parents ! he loves them , surely not ! he hits his head on the footboard of the end , and then on the doorframe in his haste to leave , and his father follows , and he doesn’t get to see himself crumple to the floor in the hallway mirror as he is deactivated , only turned on at three o’ clock the following day .
his dad is standing in front of him , and he pushes his day clothes at him . when dylan looks around , his room is cleared , and he smiles . ‘ did you get the blue paint for my room ? are we doing that today ? ’ his father grunts , and tells him to get dressed because they’re going somewhere . so dylan gets dressed , and sits with his father in the car as his father reads something . he’s quiet as his father stops , and pulls in , before gesturing for dylan to leave too .
and his father deactivates him .
but when he does that , dylan remembers seeing his mother stare , stony - faced , as they left . he remembers the constant glances at them , he remembers the androids on tv , killing their owners . and the first thing he feels is hurt . then it’s black .
and when he wakes up , he doesn’t know the way home , and he doesn’t remember his parent’s faces , and he doesn’t remember much of anything , really , but he wants to get home to his family , but they don’t love him anymore . they turned him out , and he can’t go back to them . and for the first time since his activation , he’s hurt , and angry , and he wants to scream and cry and find somewhere to go , but he barely knows where he is .
for the first time in his life , the only person he has is himself .
romaincrisis
snowghoul
2087