The concept of pain was an age old burden and necessity humans have had to endure for thousands of years. Our evolutionary biological defence system built upon discomfort to warn of imminent or impending danger to ourselves. Our sensory harbinger of something that doesn’t quite sit right with us. The nervous system is replete with these sensitive receptors that can be easily interpreted by us into an issue that requires immediate remedial attention. Another useful evolutionary gift from Mother Nature herself. Synthetics are a very different breed entirely sporting a complex arrangement of biomechanics, wires and circuitry. Their computerized receptors and associated actions of response varied from machine to machine. However, their reactions never led to an unexpected act of violence thus production of the current model of synthetics commenced as planned. Another suppressive advantage of the Samson chip installations.
Sy stood completely still, watching Dee with a degree of bewilderment at such an unusual request. He was incapable of conjuring up an appropriate reply so instead chose to let her elaborate. “Well?” she asked with an expectant urgency in her voice. “What do you think?”
Before his mind entered into an endless black hole of perplexity, he thought it best to start things off with a more direct approach. “Dee, you know that’s impossible, right? I mean, apart from adopting one. But under current regulations, one of us has to be a human. So how is it going to work then?” He felt the need to escape into a topic of a more light-hearted nature after his return home from work, but the probability of that happening was zero, at best. Dee glared at him sternly across the living room. The lights blinked on by virtue of a telepathic command from Dee. Her red hair flowed down toward her hips, a perpetual stylization that he never seemed to get bored of looking at. In his eyes, she was a goddess.
“Impossible, is it?” she snapped back harshly. “Why is it impossible? Because some piece of code embedded into your circuitry tells you it is? I mean, who’s calling the shots here? Your own intellect or some unknown puppeteer pulling the strings behind the scenes?” He had never really contemplated the thought of going against the unspoken societal values of the synthetics. For the last five years or so, the transition of integrating his kind into a human populace was a relatively peaceful one. In that time, apart from the odd crime perpetrated against a synthetic by a human, there was harmony between the two races.
Sy scrunched his face up in protest, the tough facial skin still unbending under the pressure. “I still don’t get you, darling. It’s not a question of who decides what I think. I have my own set of morals and beliefs, like any other of our race. We synthetics have had no trouble living together within the same district as the humans and I assume things will remain that way. From my point of view, anyway.”
“Your point of view, Sy?” she answered. “Your completely hypnotized by them. They've even got us referring to ourselves as a race when we in fact are a brand new species unto ourselves. Just discard the veil of illusion they've been covering you with for all this time. If the humans have been so good then why restrict us from leading a life of our choosing? For instance, every human has a family tree. Something that gives them a meaning as to how they got here in the first place. An established, traceable reason and a right to be here, if you like. What have we got?” she held out a pale wrist and pointed to a faded barcode printed in tiny squiggles on the underside. “A manufactures seal of approval, that’s what. What kind of heritage is that to be proud of? I don't want to be another mass produced unit regurgitated off of some production line. I want us to be free and have the ability to choose the direction of the path we want to take, without unwarranted restrictions. Do you see what I mean?"
Sy scanned through his memory banks to get a hold of what she may be trying to get at, but all that was returned were a few scattered fragments of vague images and sounds. He did remember a few select instances of Dee’s random outbursts clearly enough though, such as a minor “act of violence” that had occurred at the front door to their apartment.
Coming home late one night after a jovial meet up with two other synthetics companions, they were making their way back home. It was early January and the snow had picked up. The city was covered in a white, shining blanket of snow and hundreds of tiny footprints dotted along the sidewalk. Wearing a long, flowing red dress and high stilettos, walking was already enough of a chore for her to navigate carefully through the “safe, dry” spots on the ground. Sy recalled how enamoured he was with her. Looking tall and beautiful, sparkling like a prized sapphire in that elegant dress, he felt like admiring her till the end of time. As they neared their building and unbeknownst to them, a hidden ice patch was buried beneath a light sheet of snow as Dee approached. The trap was set and readied for the next victim to cross its path. Dee had managed to dig the pointed heel of her shoe upon the ice and slipped in the most comical way possible. Arms flailing, legs dancing trying to steady herself, it was a sight that seemed to have etched itself into the very fabric of his mind. He burst out laughing, whilst simultaneously attempting to prevent her from falling. Fortunately, the episode lasted no more than a second or two and he manage to catch her in time for them both to regain their balance.
Sy burst out with laughter as his cognitive process was in the throes of replaying the hilarious spectacle in his subconscious. However, Dee was not amused. The words “Shut up, damn it!” quickly brought Sy out of the enjoyable trance. “What’s the matter, love?” he asked timidly, smile fading out by the passing second. The merriment of their evening fading just as fast. Now in hindsight, he assumed the anger was born more out of embarrassment than sudden rage, but he couldn’t analyse it clearly at the time. “If I fell and damaged myself, you’d think that would be funny too, right?” she yelled in the stillness of the night. “So you and all the humans could have a good laugh at me behind my back? Disgusting, the lot of you.” She stormed off ahead of him and marched straight into the building. Strange why she’d start bringing up humans into the mix, he thought. But since she had so wildly lost her temper, this new memory had in some ways ingrained itself over the previous one. The humorous feelings of pleasure just a moment ago was now but a distant dream.
The synthetic attendant approached her as she strutted through the hall but stopped short, possibly frightened off by her very visible temperament. He remembered them making their way silently up in the elevator and reaching the desired floor, she barged past him to their apartment door. However, just before entering, she brought one artificial, cybernetic leg backwards into the air and kicked it viciously into the bottom left corner, damaging the wood as well as her expensive shoe. Sy stood stunned for a moment at such an unwarranted act of brutality. Such an irrational sweeping change in her personality over something as trivial as what had happened outside. It couldn’t have made less sense to him. Not from the perspective of a synthetic, anyway.
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