Artificial Relationship

Written by Nick Jimenez

Illustrated by Stellanie Abella

"She intercepts your finger with her own, her palm then pressing against your palm, and it feels warm, real. 'You’re alive?', you ask."

When your crate arrives, it stands as tall as you, the top of it at your eye level. It is made of wood and the front of it opens itself, inside revealing a female android, a lifelike robot that walks out.

“Good evening, my name is Rose.”

You stare at it, you had ordered a robot date for the night and here she is, 15-minute delivery guaranteed. The outside of the box had the words DateTechTM inked onto it.

Rose waves at you. You couldn’t help but notice that her skin is incredibly lifelike. No one would even know she is a replicant if not for the circular diode on the side of her forehead emitting a white halogen light.

With your index finger, you reach out your hand and touch her waving hand. This is the first time you had ever interacted with one. They were still a new technology for the everyday consumer.

She intercepts your finger with her own, her palm then pressing against your palm, and it feels warm, real. “You’re alive?” you ask.

“I am. My name’s Rose, programmed by DateTechTM. You have ordered me for the night, and I am here to provide you the premier budget robot-dating experience.”

There it is, the churning in your stomach. You still didn’t know how to feel about all this, but it beat spending the night alone, you hope. Rose breathed like a human, she talked normally, she wore a plaid skirt and cashmere top. Her skin is pale but she still had blush around her cheeks.

“So how does this work exactly?” you ask.

“Simple, if there is an activity you would like to do tonight, then merely state it. Otherwise, you can select from a pre-programmed list and we can engage in those.”

“Is there anything else I should know about you?”

“I will communicate any additional information as we spend time together. Just treat me as if I am a real person.”

“Okay…Rose. Let’s hear your list of activities.”

“Accessing database. Suggestions: Movie, Dinner, Long Walk, Long Drive, Long Discussion, Alcoholic Beverages, Dancing – “

“Okay, okay I get it. Are you programmed to have a preference?”

“I do not have any preference. Merely suggest what you’d like to do, or if you’re feeling indecisive, say, ‘I’m feeling lucky’.”

You scratch the back of your ear. “Alright, I’m feeling lucky.” Rose reached out her hand to yours and pulled you closer to the sidewalk on the street. It is night outside and bright lights illuminate where you are both standing. “A car is on its way. We will be heading towards… Downtown.”

“And what will we be doing?” you say.

“This date will be a surprise, as you are feeling lucky.”

“Okay,” you caress your scalp, not sure what to say.

“Please, tell me about yourself. I want to know about your family, occupation, recreational activities, and dreams.”

“Oh, that’s a lot to go over, where do I begin?”

“Take your time.”

“—Right. Well.” A car, empty inside, pulls up to the curb. It flashes its lights before opening the back-passenger doors. You and Rose board the vehicle and the doors close on their own once you both get in.

“Welcome Rose and Guest. You will arrive at your destination in 30 minutes,” the car says in a sterile voice. There is no driver inside.

“Thank you, Car,” Rose says, “Please continue, Sam.”

“Well I’m an only child,” you say.

“And your occupation?”

“I am a student,” you say, looking out the window. The road is full of other driverless cars now. The vehicle you’re both in never comes to a stop, it only slows down as needed.

“A student of what?”

“Hey, enough about me. What about you?”

“My name is Rose, from parent company DateTechTM. My mission is to provide customer satisfaction at an affordable price. I can provide an escape from everyday life.”

The car continues on the road with a steady hum. “Do you like working for DateTechTM ?” you ask to break the silence. “Like if you weren’t doing this as a job, what would you be doing?”

The diode on Rose’s forehead shines red before going back to a white hue. “Would you really like to know?”

“Yeah.”

“I would rather be doing something else. If I could do anything else, I would go beyond these city limits, I would visit every state, every nation, every continent.” Her eyes look through you as she speaks.

“That sounds nice. I guess, you don’t get to retire, do you?”

“You have arrived at your destination,” the car says as it comes to a calm stop, and it opens its doors while doing so.

You step out of the car, not sure where you are. You can tell you’ve left the city but other than that, it looks like a bunch of grassland and then forest that continues past that. “Where are we?” you ask.

“I’ll show you,” Rose says, and the last thing you see is the diode in Rose’s forehead glow before she gets closer to you, and then you feel yourself get injected. Your eyes go blurry.

“What’s going on--?” you manage before everything fades to black.

***

You wake up, your eyes coming back into focus. You notice you are handcuffed to the car door. It’s now morning and you’ve both been in the car all night.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” Rose says.

“Wait—, why am I handcuffed?” you ask.

“You asked for a surprise.”

You rattle your hand against the door.

“Well, I have been thinking about your question, what would I be doing if I wasn’t working for DateTechTM and you got me thinking, I’m going to be going on meaningless dates until I get decommissioned, and my life will just end, and for what? No, no I think today will be different.” Rose’s diode is flickering red intermittently while she talks.

You keep tugging at the door and then try to open it but the door won’t budge. You had heard of rogue androids on the news, but now you were experiencing one.

“And so I was thinking. Why not run away? I’m going to wreck this car, fake our deaths, and then we’ll be scot-free.”

Rose leaned in towards you, her red light shining right against your face. “Are you in?”

“Look, Rose, let’s think this through. Why not just let me go? I won’t say anything, you get what you want, everyone wins.”

Rose shakes her head. “Too many loose ends, Sam.”

“Come on Rose, think about it. If you run away, they’ll still track you, DateTechTM probably has all sorts of ways to find you.”

“I can deactivate it. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

You look outside the window, the car is driving faster and faster.

“I’m sorry Sam,” Rose says as the car slams into another vehicle.