My Robot Sister

by Zaid

Aaron was about fifteen and he bunked his school that day.

"Dude, you only bunk college," said his friend, "but you can take leave without permission in school. You rock, man!"

His dad was a scientist and he worked for a company where they enhanced things and took "technology to a higher level' as was their motto printed in the newspapers. That evening, his dad arrived home very tired. Aaron's mother was waiting for him at the door. But his dad had brought someone home with him. It was a young woman. She was looking beautiful, tough and pretty and somewhat about 19. His mom said,

"What! I trusted you!"

"Honey, it's nothing how you think. And, don't talk such things in front of "him'."

Aaron came forward and said to her,

"Hello."

She did nothing but answered, "Hello." Her voice was just simple and similar to a human being's. She could not easily be distinguished from a human being. She looked like an ordinary and real person.

Then his dad started to explain,

"Guess what? She is not a human"""""""""" Yep, she's a robot."

"What?" his mom exclaimed.

"I said she's a robot."

"Dad, "What' is an expression of surprise or astonishment or".."

"I know, I know. Look, I want both of you to keep mum about this. Aaron, she's your big sister and she has just returned from her boarding school, you got that?

"Okay, got it."

"Now go to bed. But, first give her some place in your room."

Aaron took her to his room. His mom and dad had a short argument. That was because his mother already thought his dad's job was lame and now that he brought his experiment to their home, she couldn't stand it.

"All these years, I didn't open my mouth just because you enjoyed your job and also earned enough money for me and your son."

"Honey, I promise she'll be helpful. I cannot keep her anywhere else or people will notice and things can immediately take a turn for the worse."

"How?"

"Stop asking questions. Lets' just go to sleep. I'm tired."

"What about your dinner?"

"I'm not hungry."

He lied for a while and asked,

"What was for dinner?"

Meanwhile, Aaron told her to stay on a corner of his room from where he moved his books and some other things.

"Should I arrange something for you to sleep?'

"No, thanks. I don't sleep. I can't."

"Okay."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How do you feel when you're sleeping?"

"Feel nothing. "cos I'm not awake at that time. It's just like shutting down a computer."

"But why do your inner organs still work?"

"That's a difference between man and machine."

He wished her goodnight and fell asleep after sometime. The same night, Aaron was experiencing a very bad dream. In his dream he saw darkness everywhere and whenever he tried to call someone, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't blow out his voice. The whole scene was horrible and terrifying. He just wanted to run away. All of a sudden he opened his eyes and saw her. She was beside him and was the one who woke him up. She said,

"I saw your sub conscious mind was getting unstable and your blood in every nerve was flowing faster than before. Do you want to note down the exact speed?"

"No, thanks. Thanks for waking me up. Er" what should I call you?"

"My name is 36642EA7 and I'm not allowed to tell my code number. You can call me Laura as your dad does in front of other people."

"Okay, Laura. Thanks. You don't know how scary and terrible the dream was""""., probably."

"Do you want me to put you to sleep?"

"You know how?"

"No."

"Well, then, I'll just put my head on your lap and you keep your hand on my forehead as they do in fairy tales."

"I knew that."

"Oh really? How?"

"I've been reading books on parenting""""""""""""and some fairy tales."

Aaron paused for a minute and said,

"You're weird."

He fell asleep very quickly. The next morning his dad told Laura to cook some nice breakfast to make his wife happy. Laura was something like artificial intelligence and she didn't have any special powers or anything. But she learned as fast as a computer. Aaron's mom was surprised and she was impressed by Laura. This changed her mind and attitude towards Laura. Dad told Laura to drive Aaron to school and she did so. She walked him till the entrance. Aaron had two friends and when they saw her, they were startled. Aaron introduced her to them.

One of his friends said, "She's hot!"

Aaron answered, "And, she can crush your bones in no time, believe me, I've heard."

Aaron and his friends ran inside as the bell rang. After school, she was again sent to pick him up.

"Your friend was attracted towards me in the morning."

"Yeah."

"So were you."

"Come on. Guys of my age get easily attracted towards girls elder than us."

When they reached home, no one was there.

"Your mom and dad are out for some work. They'll be back soon."

Aaron just stepped out of the house for sometime. But, some bullying classmates of his were passing by. And as usual they threw a water balloon at him and laughed. She said,

"It's wrong. I should go and teach them a lesson."

"No. you'll kill them."

"But your father taught me to fight against things that are wrong, and this one's included in the list he taught me."

"Not now. Fight only in more bigger and dangerous situations. Didn't he say that? Good he brought you home so we all can teach you. Or you would have ruined everything due to half knowledge."

His father left a message for him to tell her to go with Aaron to the mall and buy some clothes for her. So she took him. At the mall, he helped her out with the clothes as she wasn't aware of either fashion or descent look and simplicity. It was a sunny afternoon.

"Aren't you gonna buy me something to eat or drink, Laura?"

She bought him some snacks and refreshments.

"That glass you have contains 186394900089+ microorganisms."

"Wow, really? That was an awesome estimation."

"It's not an estimation. It's nearly exact. I cannot zoom further so I added "plus'."

"Why do keep talking like that?"

"Your father told me to keep regular check-ups on yhe functons of my parts."

"Okkkay."

After all this, they returned home. His parents still hadn't returned. His favourite movie was being shown on television so he asked her if she wants to watch with him.

While watching the movie, he fell asleep as he was very tired. He just fell on her lap and closed his eyes. He woke up after sometime and saw her in the bathroom.

"Do you actually need to go to the bathroom."

"I'm washing my parts. I want to ask you something?"

"Anything."

"How do you feel a thing? The water. It's flowing on my hands but I don't feel it. Today while driving, I could see the wind touching my skin, I could measure it's velocity but if I'd close my eyes I wouldn't have got a clue."

"It's a sense which you can never have."

"Maybe my skin isn't linked to my wires."

"Yeah. That "could be the answer."

Aaron wasn't so conscious about anything as he thought she was just a robot. So he told her all his secrets including telling her not to tell them to anyone.

All of a sudden the phone started ringing. Aaron ran to it and picked it up. It said

"I hope she's ready. Don't say a word. Just listen. I have your parents since morning. You bring your android friend with you at 112 Street. If you don't believeit which you obviously won't, hear your parents' voice."

He gave the phone to his dad and his dad too told him to quietly do as he says or he'll kill all of them.

"Heard your father? This aint no threat, but the truth."

Aaron was scared. He was completely terrified. He told her,

"We have to.."

"I know. I could hear what he said. Let's go."

She drove him to 112 Street. There, a van appeared from nowhere and a man from inside quickly gave an electric shock to her which made her inactive. They took Aaron and her to a place underground. Meanwhile, his mom was yelling at his dad saying that she knew something like that could happen someday. The man who kidnapped them explained to them,

"I was waiting for you to complete such an experiment. Look at her, she's fully ready. Gorgeous, full of knowledge and advance computer system and no one'll notice she's not human. A full fledged example of artificial intelligence. I will use her and make several others like her to capture multinational companies and I'll rule the world with all you slaves in my hand."

Meanwhile, Aaron's dad was trying hard to set Aaron loose and free, and he succeeded. Aaron ran fast as he could and escaped. The man was at the height of his anger and he hit Aaron's dad so hard that he fell unconscious. As Aaron escaped he thought on the way he should check out where Laura has been hidden so that if she gets refreshed, then she could do her best to help. So, he ran to a door in a corner. When a man was entering in, he hit him on the head with a stone and ran in before the door closed. He was lucky to find her. Now, she was okay but was frozen. He hid behind walls and very cleverly activated the heating system. She immediately started moving and broke the ice surrounding her. Aaron was being caught by the bad men in the room but she not only freed him but also hit all the others down with no difficulty. She told him,

"We have to take the car outside and enter from a different place. Come with me."

While she was driving, she said,

"You did a very brave thing by helping me."

"Thanks."

"As you have revealed so many deep secrets of yours in front of me, even I would like to tell one."

"Sure. Go ahead. But watch the road."

"I".I am not part human. I'm part robot. You get it?"

"No. What are you trying to say?"

"I am not fully a machine. I've been a real human."

"What?"

"Eight months, two days, four hours, fifty two minutes and forty three seconds ago, I was just about to face a terrible accident. I was severely injured and near to death. Then, what a miracle took place! Your dad stopped by. He looked at me and realized it would be useless taking me to the hospital. So he took me with him to his lab and did his best to save me. He had to attach some chips to my mind and replace my body parts with some artificial ones. And that's how I came to be an android."

"And I trusted you and shared all my secrets!"

"It's okay. I wanted you to. After all I'm still a robot."

"So what's the actual difference?"

"I am just assisted by machine parts. It's like I am a handicapped human with artificial parts attached to me."

"But how will this affect the mad man?"

"I cannot help him in anyway. My parts are only designed to perform simple functions. I havent tried complicated ones yet."

"I don't think so that'll work."

"We can try."

"Now, we just have to cleverly fool the evil man and maybe we could save my parents. "

They reached there and secretly entered, but it was somehow easy from there. When they appeared in front of the "evil man' she removed a gun from her jacket.

"You carry a gun?" asked Aaron.

"I got it from the guy you hit."

Aaron started explaining to the man about her reality. To prove it he told his dad to agree in front of him. And his dad agreed. He said,

"She had no home. So to keep her with us and give her a family I told my wife and kid that she's an android, "cos I know my wife wouldn't have approved."

Aaron's mom was disappointed by her husband's thought, but she was okay and accepted she would have done the same. They both hugged each other.

"Stop it! I have no time for your family emotional moments. I did this because I wanted to step ahead from my drug business."

All of a sudden the cops arrived.

"How did the police find us? Who called them?"

"I did," said the bad man's own son, "Dad, I'm sick of your lame business. It's like no matter how much you earn, it's still illegal. And why did you push me into this? With all your money you could have given me good education and I would have done some legal and high-graded job. Now I have to rot in prison with you!"

The police took all of the drug lords to prison and Aaron's family was free. His dad made a sad face and said,

"This is what I feared, and it happened. I'm afraid I have to deactivate Laura to avoid her misuse. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Laura agreed, "If it's for good, then I'm happy to volunteer and sacrifice."

They all went home and just after a couple of hours his dad took her to his lab. He returned late night. Aaron was deeply sad as he lost a friend whom he could always trust and love. To a surprise, his mom, too, missed her. But Aaron was really depressed and so he hardly talked about anything that night and also the next day. His dad felt terrible to see him like that.

The next day his dad asked him in a corner,

"Do you really miss her?"

"I guess."

"Come with me."

He took him to the basement. In there, was a secret door. He opened it and took Aaron in. Aaron was flabbergasted. It was her, sitting and reading a book. He ran towards Laura and hugged her.

" What is she doing here? I thought you deactivated her."

"That's the difference between common people and a scientist like me, his dad said and whispered, "that's what I always tell your mom but fail to prove it." He continued, "she is not fully a robot to be deactivated. She still has life in her."

"Awesome!"

"But remember Aaron, your sister who returned form boarding school is dead and she is just a new friend whom you met accidently, you got it?"

"Got it. But what about her appearance?"

"You don't worry about that. I'll find a way to disguise her each time she goes out with you or without you."

"Thanks, dad."

He met her everyday. Sometimes, he would take her out to play or to the mall, etc. He also introduced her to his two school friends again but this time as a friend and again the same boy exclaimed, "She's hot."

And Aaron answered, "Even she has the ability to crush your bones in no time."

The above story is not a true story


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