~*~
Have you ever done something genuinely stupid that you know you never should have done? Everyone does at some point in their lives. This one is mine. My story filled with fateful twists and turns all because I did something unintelligent.
~*~
The old door banged as it slammed closed behind me. I was mad, and mind you, this is no ordinary occurrence. I had been betrayed and now I needed to vent. Being a person of usual calm nature, seeing me angry could be rather disturbing to some, and indeed it turned out that way for him. I stormed down the old and broken-down stairs of our crummy lower-level apartment complex. Even in the future things are dirty, I mused to myself.
Being both human and a girl I guess I was expected to be entirely na�ve and stupid. Well, certainly I can be na�ve at times, but I am not stupid. I will admit entirely to trusting people, which has now become my downfall. People come to me and claim to be worthy of trust and I give them the benefit of the doubt. That�s what I did this time.
I ran the events of the past few moments in my head as I stormed down the emergency stairs. My friend Dreg had just informed me that in fact he wasn�t the owner of a small business that took to providing mechanical replacement parts for machines. He had calmly informed me that he was a smuggler. A thief. A liar. And all the time we�d known each other he�d been abusing my friendship to get out of harm�s way.
I felt used and entirely abused. I had trusted the dirty humanoid piece of scum. And now I was angry. As I finally reached the ground floor of the apartment complex I realized that I wasn�t really sure what I was going to do. I wanted to have Dreg arrested. I wanted to shoot him myself. That�s what I wanted, but what I really needed was a walk.
For millennia the humanoids and non-humans of the universe had been saying how superior to mankind they were. Now I felt as though they were right. Goodness knows they had tricked me. I wondered if we really were less intelligent and that maybe they should be the ones in charge of the governments and political offices. Well, in part they were, but they held no respect by the human population.
I stormed out the back door of the building wondering how I could have trusted that green-skinned creep. He was nice enough while he got what he wanted from me. I growled in frustration over my situation as I trudged through the alley. I was furious.
So furious that my blind rage caused me never to notice the figure sneaking up behind me. Not until it was too late and the darkness had taken me.
~*~
As it turned out I had actually been attacked by none other than Dreg. Apparently he had been afraid that I would go off and tell the police of his illegal activities. So that clearly explained why I found myself locked in a storage room on board a space ship. I hate being locked away like an animal, I hate people who betray me, and most of all I hate flying. This day was just getting worse and worse.
I had tried hotwiring the automatic door, but it was foolproof. I had banged and hit and kicked and screamed until my knuckles bled and my throat hurt so terribly I couldn�t utter so much as a sigh. It was after that when Dreg finally came to see me.
�Look at you, you�re a terrible mess, Akorsa,� he tsked at me.
�You�re the one who started it,� I spat back at him.
�I was really hoping you�d be more understanding than that. I mean, it isn�t like I lied to you entirely.�
�You betrayed me,� I said, looking at him with disgust.
�Well, it�s entirely too bad that you feel that way. I was really hoping to make amends before we had to send you away.�
�Send me away?� I asked, suddenly feeling very nervous.
He looked at me with a mischievous gleam in his eye. I had seen it before, but never with that evil to it. Now it scared me. �I have some old debts to pay, Akorsa. I am so close to being in the clear and I can�t have you going off and telling everyone what I�ve been up to. So I�ve decided to send you off. One of the men I need to pay back is a scientist of sorts. He�s been fooling around with Android technology for a few years now, and he needs a new specimen. That�s where you come in.�
�You�re selling me off as a science experiment?� I shouted at him. He chuckled at me.
�You�re in the real universe now, Akorsa. That�s all you humans are any good for. After all, that�s what you did to us for the longest time.�
�I never hurt you, Dreg! I was never going to tell the police! I was just angry and needed some time to vent! Why can�t you just let me go? I�m not going to tell anyone what you�ve been up to. I�ll help you, even!� I said, trying to think of the words that would earn me back my freedom, but it wasn�t working.
�I don�t need you, Akorsa. My debts need to be paid off, and with you gone I won�t have a worry in the universe about my cover being blown,� he said coldly. He turned to leave. �Enjoy your thoughts while you still can. Soon enough you won�t have them any more. You�re brain will be a piece of scrap metal.�
He was gone and I was left alone to resign to my fate.
~*~
I remember being drugged and vaguely being removed from Dreg�s ship and going near a big white building, but that is all. When I awoke I found myself on a sleeping pallet. I felt different. So very different and yet I wasn�t quite sure why. It was then that I remembered what Dreg had said about the scientist needing a new specimen. I jumped up of the pallet.
�How do you feel� said a voice I did not recognize. I whipped around to see a man standing in the corner near the door.
�What have you done to me?� I asked, feeling incredibly frightened at the thought of being turned into an Android.
�I�ve made you better than you were before.�
�What have you done to me?� I asked again.
�Many things and I still have many more to do. I�ve actually grafted metal into your skeletal structure. Do you feel any pain?�
�How long have I been unconscious?� I asked, realizing that he could not have done such things to me in a few days.
�You�ll have been here five months as of next week. I know you don�t recollect if being that long, but it has been. I shall ask again, how do you feel?�
�I�m confused, but I don�t hurt or anything. Oh, why has this happened?� I asked as I shrank away to my small pallet in the corner.
�I�m sure you�ll recall that a certain Dreg brought you here.� A renewed hatred swelled inside me at the mention of that name. �Don�t bother getting angry. There is nothing you can do anyway.�
I looked at him for a moment. �So you�re turning me into an Android of sorts, eh?�
�I am, and I must say that you are the first successful subject that I�ve had. I think I should be able to finish you.�
�And then what? Do I become another household appliance?�
�Why no! That�d be a waste, don�t you think? You�d be more or less free to do as you wished, but this is your home now.�
�So if you finish me and I make it through the transitions then I�ll be free to do that I want as long as I return here?� I asked, a plan forming in my head.
�If you�re planning on going out and getting rid of Dreg, then yes. I�d have no problem with it. By the way, my name�s Levin.�
�Akorsa,� I said as I shook his extended hand. �This could actually be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.�
�I had a feeling you were going to say that. Come, and let us get you some food. You�re enhanced, but still human. I can�t have you wasting away to nothing, Flash.�
�Flash?� I asked him, confused.
�Look at your wrist,� he said, pointing just above my left hand. I rolled up my sleeve and there, tattooed on my arm were the words �Flash-Sixty-Five�.
�What�s this?� I asked.
He laughed. �It�s your serial number.�
If I didn�t feel like a household appliance before, I sure did now.
