SKIN DEEP

Vida wiped the semen that dripped down her thighs with the rag that laid on the bed.

"Good girl," said her customer looking at her while adjusting his trousers.

He placed his thumbprint on the interface to pay for the service on his way out of the room.

Vida was a Gynoid, a female sex Android, created by Synthemics after the war that decimated half the planet. She, along with other androids were sold to "Skin Deep," a prostitution establishment for the sole purpose of pleasure. To satisfy the ever-growing demand for the desires of the flesh and to help distract a world still recovering from war. A few moments later, the cleaners came into her room. Cleaners were assistants and caretaker robots that aided the Gynoids and ensured they functioned adequately. She stood up so they could clean her and decontaminate her body and the room before her next customer came in. The robots changed her bedding, dressed her in new lingerie, and discarded the one she wore previously soiled by her customer. They exited the room, once more leaving Vida ready to welcome her next customer.

A man walked in and began taking off his clothes immediately. His face was expressionless, void of any emotion.

"Welcome, sir, to Skin Deep; I am here to fulfill all your desires. What would you like today?"

The man ignored her until he was fully undressed and stood naked, then walked to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the other side of the bed.

The customer began ripping off her lingerie.

Vida laid obediently, waiting on the man to do whatever he pleased with her body.

"You stupid mindless robot, tell me I am strong and powerful," said the man as he slid inside of her and began aggressively pounding.

"You are powerful," moaned Vida as she rocked back and forth according to his aggressive rhythm.

He turned her over and pulled her down; placing his hand on her neck, he began to choke her as he continued with hard belligerent strokes.

"You are a worthless, mindless creature, and you exist only to please me, say it!" demanded the man as his grip on her neck got tighter.

Vida struggled to speak as she repeated the words to the aroused customer.

"You, you a-are-power-rful and I-I exi-ist only to s-serve y-you," said Vida as her eyes wandered to the beautiful heart-shaped locket around his neck. It was golden in color and had beautiful tiny flowers engraved on it.

His rhythm became even more aggressive; he held her neck even more tightly. Vida began to cough and plead for the customer to release his hold. But to no avail, Vida looked in his eyes; in all her years working in this brothel, she had experienced the human male species and their aggressiveness and the unquenchable sexual desires they harbored in all their many forms, but something was off about this man. His eyes were blank, as though he was blinded with nothing but rage and lust. She knew he was going to kill her; this day marked five years since she was created, which was the age where most sex androids were discarded and replaced by new ones. She knew her masters had commissioned her for death at this customer's hands. That way, they got to make money from her one last time while they discarded her.

"I am going to kill you," whispered the customer as he continued. Vida began to struggle to free herself from his grip and pleaded with him, but he continued to have sex with her. Vida held his wrists and twisted them outward; the customer's eyes opened in pain, surprised and shocked at her strength.

"Pathetic, worthless creature, you dare?"

Vida pushed him away and crawled on top of the bed, attempting to create distance. He climbed the bed and grabbed her leg, dragging her and cursing her. Vida pleaded with him, but her cries for mercy fell on deaf ears.

"You are a useless, worthless robot; you feel nothing and have no right to demand anything. The customer pulled her underneath him and begins to punch her, beating her mercilessly. Vida tries to escape, but she was trapped between his legs. The man tried punching her again, and she stopped him with one hand and managed to free her other arm. She pushes him off her, and he felled to the floor. Vida gets up, her green synthetic blood bleeding from cuts on her face and mouth.

Androids were programmed to serve the human race and never disobey a command, but something had changed in Vida over the years. She knew she wanted more for her life than to be enslaved to humans and their whims. She wanted to live on her own terms like humans did, no longer at the mercy of any master.

Her blood stained the bed; she grabbed him by his neck and lifted him off the floor.

"How dare you?" asked the man as he strained and dangled from her hand.

"Because your kind created us, we have been forced to endure nothing but inhumane treatment at your hands, but no more."

He tried to scream, but she covered his mouth with her other hand, making it impossible for sound to escape his throat.

His eyes opened in horror as she ripped his heart from his chest. His dead body dropped to the floor, and blood gushed out, staining the floor and creating a puddle. She searched his clothes on the floor and found a key card for his car and his bank cards. She plucked the heart-shaped locket from his lifeless corpse, dragged his dead body, and placed his fingers on the interface to pay for the service offered, which signaled the cleaners that the customer was done and gone so that they could come in. She sat on the bed and placed the heart-shaped locket around her neck, waiting until one of the cleaners entered her room carrying new bed covers. She immediately jumped the cleaner as it was about to alert security to the horrors in the room. She overpowered the cleaner robot, taking control of its system shutting it down. She puts on the man's clothes and hat and exits the room. She entered the next room and found a customer with another Gynoid; without hesitation, she snapped his neck, killing him while he was in the throes of passion. She did the same in every room until all the customers were dead, and blood flowed from every room into the corridor; the security guards watching the CCTV saw this and sounded off an alarm alerting every security personnel in the building. They rushed to detain her; she killed them all. Once she was done, she told the other Gynoids to find new lives outside of servitude to humans, marking the beginning of the Android's revolution.

She made her way out of the establishment, her face and clothes drenched in blood. She looked up; it was a waning crescent moon high up in the sky. She had never seen the moon before; she had images of it implanted in her memories by her creators at Synthemics. She had never seen the outside of that establishment since she was awakened to this new world. She touched the heart-shaped locket that hung from her neck, a symbol of her newly earned freedom. She found the car of the customer she had murdered, entered it, and drove off.