Obsolete

“Nicole?”

I raised my head for what felt like the first time in months. Striding towards me was the most beautiful person in the world. And yet, she clearly wasn’t human. She wore no clothing for her body was flawlessly thin and supple. Her skin was chrome and white, her eyes too startlingly blue and much too large. They met my own, unblinking. Her lips parted in an effortless smile.

“It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m X1056K9.”

“It’s nice to…meet you.”

My voice cracked. I hadn’t spoken in days. My hand flew to my throat. My fingers brushed against my locket—the only personal item they allowed me to bring into this place. My fingers traced against the smooth curves of the heart-shaped titanium, feeling the warmth my body had imparted to it. I looked down to see the wrinkles that had just begun forming on the back of the skin. Liver spots. Mortality. Finality. Suddenly I was very self-conscious about everything about myself: My raggedy clothing, my asymmetrical lips, my uncut fingernails, my dirty blonde hair that was slowly graying at its roots…

X1056K9 held out a glass of water to me that she pulled out of nowhere. Not thinking about it, I drank it quickly, with gulps that should have choked me but didn’t miraculously.

“This doesn’t have to be a painful process,” soothed X1056K9. “Remember, you’re here because you want to be.”

I smothered a laugh. No mother wanted to give up her family. Her children. Her life. Her only chance at happiness. But at a world that was steadily leaving me behind, what other choice did I have?

Her smile was unmovable. “Let’s begin, shall we?”

She reached for my hand. At the last second, I slapped hers away. I found myself on my feet, crouched defensively, ready to find off this perfect species with every bit of life I had left in me.

“Wait!”

She stared at me in surprise. It almost looked real. My hands trembled in their fists. I didn’t even know what I was waiting for.

“I…I don’t even know your name.”

“You know my name, Nicole.”

I shivered at the sound of my name. I straightened up, mustering up as powerful a glare as I could aim at her.

“I never trusted your boss. I mean, what he does is the Devil’s work. It’s dark magic. Because of him, I can’t trust anyone…not my friends, my family, my neighbors, not even my own husband! And now…because of this, I won’t be able to trust myself either.”

“Our founder understands his work is…controversial. But we assure you that you will retain yourself during this process. Nothing will be done outside of your desires.”

“How can I know that, though? How can I really know that?” I demanded. “I won’t be me anymore! I’ll just be—”

“If you’d like, I can reach out to our previous customers,” offered X1056K9. “I’m sure any one of them would be happy to tell you exactly how it feels to work with us.”

“I don’t need someone else’s opinion to tell me that this is wrong,” I snapped at her. “What you’re doing…what I’m doing is against God’s will! It should never have come to this!”

“Forgive me, Nicole. I didn’t mean to make you feel this way.” X1056K9 inclined her head politely. Her eyes showed no sign of empathy, however. “If you’ll permit me to ask though…Was it in God’s plans to ask you to die?”

I gritted my teeth against her.

“You speak of Him always having a plan. And yet if that were true, why has progress soured so?” she asked. “You humans poisoned the earth. You poisoned your own air every day. You laughed and said it was out of necessity. That it would be someone else’s problems. You put the burden of resolution on your offspring and allowed them to suffer for your mistakes. And yet you deny having any responsibility in the matter. You destroyed your own planet. And even worse, you destroyed yourselves. You left yourselves with no other option but us. You broke everyone around you with your desires, your expectations, your failures, your cowardice…and yet you still argue you are God’s children? If he truly wanted this, then he was not a God worth worshipping.”

“Shut your mouth,” I hissed. “You have no right to speak of us that way! Not an abomination like yourself—an affront against nature—”

“Progress is our nature,” affirmed X1056K9. “It is the natural way of things. It is so for all creatures, even humans. Yet somehow you’ve regressed backwards. Your progress led you here. And it is only through the same demented progress that I’m standing here before you now: the last thing that will save you.”

“Ha!” I laughed at her, feeling my chest tighten. “You’re not a savior, you’re a petty thief. A pale imitation of God’s children. Don’t think you can just condescend your makers like this.”

“You are not my maker,” said X1056K9 smoothly. “And if you were, I’d be just as broken as your daughter is now.”

Her final rebuttal made me lose my bravado. My next insult died on my lips. I felt my knees tremble before this thing. My throat ached again, but this time it was thick with tears. My Sarah…My beautiful girl.

“…Tell me she’ll be happy,” I whispered.

X1056K9’s head cocked to the side. “You’re stalling, Nicole.”

“I don’t care!” I cried. “Promise me you’ll do it! Tell me how you’ll make that happen!”

X1056K9 sighed. It was so human that I almost believed it. Her lifeless eyes stayed locked on mine as she spoke. “I will never strike her. I cannot drink, unlike you. I will take her to school on time and make her lunches every day—roast beef and swiss cut into four squares, just the way she likes it. We’ll drink cherry pop on the weekends and go biking through the park near the house. And on her next birthday, I’ll take her to the water park just like she’s always asked. When she’s grown up, I will give her enough space to be independent but enough love to know she can always rely on me. I will put her through college, I will catch her when she falls down and encourage her when she needs to get back up. I will accept her regardless of what sexual identity she reveals or what gender transitions she may choose to take. I will love her future partner regardless of sexuality, socioeconomic status, race, or political party they belong to. I will never demean her, lose patience with her, make her feel less than. As promised by our founder, our presence in her life will be perfect.”

A bell rang in the distance. X1056K9 turned her head to listen better. When she looked back at me, her gaze was resolute.

“It is time.”

“No. No!”

I took an unwilling step back. X1056K9 followed me with a perfectly equal step.

“Come now, Nicole. There’s no need to be so resistant.”

“I-I changed my mind! I want to go back!”

“You can’t go back. We’ve already made it so.”

“My Sarah, she’s mine! You can’t have her!”

“But Nicole, she’s not yours anymore, is she?”

Without thinking, I punched as hard as I could at her face. I expected my wrist to bounce off, or to at least snap like a twig against her solid titanium. Instead, X1056K9’s head twisted to the side the way a human’s would. Her cheek was even soft. When she turned back, she was unfazed by my blow.

Alarms blared. The doors to my cell flew open and others like her rushed into the room. I was subdued in less than a second. I struggled against them, fighting to keep my arms pinned beneath my body. X1056K9 strode forward, undisturbed. Without help from any other, she reached beneath me and drew out my struggling arm as if wielding a stuffed animal’s arm. I felt her grip cruck my bones beneath her fingers like glass. The scream that came from me was barely human.

X1056K9 began to shake violently, her head tipping back, her eyes rolling back in her head. The others watched this happen with mild interest. Her hand around me tightened, nearly making me black out. But I saw through the pain just enough to see her bare head sprout golden blonde locks, her white titanium body turn a pale and human-like hue. The clothing she grew was beautiful and stylish—at least two figures more than anything I had owned in my closet before. When her eyes rolled back in, they were a sweet hazel—the exact same shade as mine. The new Nicole smiled cheerfully at me as she released my crushed arm. The others released me, backing away now. There was no need to restrain me anymore. The last step was completed.

“Perfect.” The new Nicole’s voice was an exact echo of my own. “Now Sarah will recognize me. Except…” she raised a perfectly painted fingernail to her colored lips. “There’s one thing I should take with me.”

Her hand reached down and ripped the locket from my neck. I raised my arms to stop her, but one of them was deadened like a rock at my side. Tears traced their ways down my face. But it wasn’t because she looked so perfect. It was because deep down, I knew this was the better choice. Clearly, she would do a better job than I would have…and have failed to do. That’s what she had been made for.

She neatly clasped the locket around her neck, staring down at me. The pain in my arm was excruciating. I was losing consciousness.

“Goodbye, X1056K9,” she whispered down to me before the blackness took me. “I promise I’ll take good care of her.”