The Price of Eternity

"Welcome to Drax Industries: the Home of the Future. Please enter your State identification code to begin."

Kaylie shifted her weight and wet her lips, staring at the prompt on the holographic screen for a while longer. Her fingers hovered over the number pad, but she couldn't bring herself to do what it asked. It wasn't like she didn't want to. After all, who wouldn't jump at the chance to live forever?

Maybe it was just this place making her anxious. All the chrome and glass surrounding her was intimidating, even with the simulated greenery strategically placed throughout the lobby. Nobody had seen real plants in over two decades, at least not this high up in the city. Still, the translucent palm leaves and fern fronds waving in the artificial wind added a nice, homey touch. What unsettled Kaylie the most, though, were all the automatons rolling around, with those stagnant, dead-eyed smiles on their silicone faces. Not quite machine, not quite human... and Kaylie was hours away from becoming one.

She suppressed a shiver and tucked a loose strand of platinum hair behind her ear, accidentally brushing the port on the back of her neck. She'd had the implant for over a year now, but she still wasn't quite used to it. Frankly, if she'd had her choice, she wouldn't have gotten it at all. The State Laws were binding and finite, though, requiring her to get it when she'd turned eighteen. Her parents forced the painful, days-long procedure on her out of love, or so they claimed. Otherwise, she would have been dragged from her home in the dead of night and thrown into the slums lining the lower levels of the city with the rest of the Un-Plugged; cut off from society completely.

Life in Empyrean City did not exist unless you were plugged in. Almost every business, school, church, and news outlet ran from the Cyber Sphere. There were even new social media platforms and gaming systems that encouraged plugging in, allowing their users to connect to one another literally and physically. Kaylie never liked the idea of that, letting someone else into her head. It was bad enough that the State kept an eye on everything she did. She didn't need or want anyone poking around in her thoughts, which were the only private possessions she had anymore.

"Are you still there? If you would like to continue your transaction at Drax Industries, please enter your state identification code now. Otherwise, select 'help' for assistance."

It wasn't too late. She could still walk away, if she wanted to. As young as she was, Kaylie could afford to wait a little longer before Upgrading. What was another year or two or five, in the face of eternity? A drop in a bucket, that's what it was. Who cared if the procedure was easier the younger you were? Certainly not Kaylie. She'd made up her mind to bug out while she still could, but the moment she turned around she came face to artificial face with a female-presenting automaton.

"Hello," she said, her voice startlingly human, as the smile frozen on her face widened a little. "You seem to be having a little trouble with the kiosk there, Honey. Do you need help?"

Kaylie twisted a piece of hair around her finger, trying not to stare at the robot-woman's gleaming chrome scalp. She had nothing against women who chose to be bald - in most cases it was a striking and even beautiful look - but she could never imagine being bald herself. She could always choose a wig for her future automaton, but cosmetic additions like hair and clothes would cost a little more. Then again, what robot really needed either? They never experienced cold or shame, with their smooth, shapeless metal bodies.

When she realized the automaton was still waiting for her to answer, Kaylie cleared her throat softly. "Um... no," she murmured. "Thank you. I was just leaving. Sorry to waste your time."

The automaton's brows softened, changing her smile from creepily pleasant to creepily sympathetic. "You're nervous," she deduced. "It's okay, Honey; we all get the jitters before being Upgraded. There's nothing to worry about, though. It doesn't hurt, and it only takes a few minutes. You just take a little nap, and when you wake up you're a whole new person."

Kaylie was dubious of the automaton's claim. The surgeons who put in her implant promised the same thing: a quick, relatively painless procedure. That's what ultimately convinced her to submit to their whims, and the thirty-six hours of absolute torture that followed. Most of the pain had been psychological, though; like she was being unmade at a molecular level and stitched back together an atom at a time.

"I... I don't know," she said, taking a step back from the automaton. "It sounds... fine, I guess... but I'm just not ready. I'm only nineteen, so-"

"Nineteen?" The automaton's digital eyes widened in simulated shock. "Oh, Honey, you shouldn't have waited so long! The State recommends Upgrading by at least age sixteen these days. You know what they say: the longer you wait, the harder it is to adjust." Without warning, she grabbed Kaylie by the upper arm and pivoted one hundred and eighty degrees on her wheeled feet, rolling toward the glass automatic doors on the other side of the lobby. "Never mind the kiosk now," she said. "It's just a formality anyway. We'll get you back right away, so the doctor can begin."

"W-Wait!" Kaylie shrieked, pulling against the surprisingly strong robot lady. "I said I don't want to! Not yet! Ow! Let go! You're hurting me!"

"It's for your own good, Honey," the automaton said cheerily, turning her head all the way around like an owl while she spoke. "Trust me: you'll thank me later."

Kaylie's sneakers squeaked across the highly polished white tiles, fighting the automaton every step of the way. Her ribcage shrank inside her chest inch by inch the closer they got to those doors, constricting her lungs until she couldn't breathe. Operating on instinct and her ever-growing panic, Kaylie grabbed a lamp and swung it at the automaton's shiny metal head.

"I said NO!!"

It didn't register what she'd done until the automaton crumpled to the floor at Kaylie's feet. Sparks flew from the exposed wires in her skull as she lay there, jerking and twitching with her eyes wide and jaw slack. "Error... Error... Wh-What happened? Why... c-can't I get up? Emergency... Assistance required! Code 818... Repeat... Code 818!"

For about five seconds, Kaylie just stood there with the broken lamp in her hand, watching the injured automaton flail. It was an accident; anyone could see that. Kaylie could never hurt another human being. It just wasn't in her. How could she have done something so awful?

The longer Kaylie stared down at the automaton, the more she realized something. She wasn't looking at a person. The object at her feet may have sounded human, but it was nothing but a machine. It had no brain, no heart... no soul. It couldn't feel hunger, or pain, or empathy. It was going to drag her in there and force her to become just like it, without remorse or guilt for its actions, and it expected her to thank it. All she saw was metal, wires, and gears, encased in an unfeeling shell of plastic.

"It's... It's not real," she whispered. "It's not real! You... You're not alive!"

The automaton's head spun loosely on its neck, blinking its one operative eye up at Kaylie. "H-Hon-ney... I'm very much alive," it said, its jaw moving completely out of synch with its words. "Just... s-stay put n-n-now: help is on the w-way. We'll ge-ge-get you fixed up in a j-j-jiffy!"

Kaylie looked up through the plexiglass ceiling at the floor above her, just noticing the other automatons scrambling toward the elevator. Were there even any real people in the building? Instead of waiting around to find out, Kaylie dropped the lamp and sprinted for the exit. Sirens blared the minute she put her hand to it, shortly before a holographic strip of yellow tape appeared across them. They should have whooshed open automatically, but they stayed closed no matter how hard she pounded on them with her fists.

"No... No, this isn't happening," she wheezed. "I don't want this! Let me out! Please!"

In the door's reflection, Kaylie suddenly saw three automatons in security uniforms bearing down on her from behind. They were a lot bigger than the automaton she'd attacked, and they were armed with sonic cannons.

"Halt, Citizen!" they barked in unison, readying their built-in cannons by raising their right arms. "Please desist and come with us. If you do not comply, force will be used!"

Kaylie was too terrified to think clearly. All she wanted was to escape. Why couldn't they understand that? In her heart, she already knew the answer to that question: there was no way to reason with a machine. She was on the cusp of telling the automatons to go screw themselves, but they didn't wait for her to respond. The same instant the words reached her tongue, their sonic cannons powered up with a high-pitched whine. There wasn't time to dodge, so Kaylie covered her ears and dropped to the floor, bracing for impact.

Truthfully, she didn't hear anything at first. There was a silent rush of warm air over her back as the sound barrier shattered. The first sound she did hear was the breaking of glass, as the doors behind her were obliterated on the spot. Not giving a damn about the ringing and ache in her ears, Kaylie scrambled out of the lobby on all fours before their cannons could recharge. The next thing she knew, she was dropping onto the saddle of her hoverbike and flying toward the skyway at Mach 3.

Just when she thought she was in the clear, the flashing digital billboards all around her changed one by one. Instead of advertising various burger joints, tech, and automaton-based services, she saw her own terrified face projected back at her. The words, "suspect at large" scrolled beneath it, along with a shockingly large bounty and the number to a tip line.

Kaylie couldn't believe any of this was happening. She'd always been a good person: got decent grades in school; kept out of trouble; never violated curfew; always obeyed her teachers and parents and the State agents who patrolled her neighborhood. Why was the State making such a big fuss about her not wanting to Upgrade? It was still her body and her choice, wasn't it?

Flashing red and blue sirens appeared in Kaylie's peripheral vision, interrupting her panicked thoughts. On instinct, she gunned the throttle and wove in between cars, trying to get away from them. After a few seconds, she realized she didn't know where she was going. She'd already missed the exit for her apartment, but going back there probably wasn't a good idea anyway. It wouldn't be long before they matched her face to her State ID, giving them her address. She couldn't go to her parents' place, either; they hadn't spoken since she'd gotten her port, and she wasn't about to come crawling to them for help. They'd probably wind up turning her over to the State as soon as they could, just like before, all in the name of "trying to help her".

The truth was, Kaylie had no place to go. None of her State-assigned friends really liked her (and the feeling was mutual), and she hadn't been matched to anyone in the State-run dating program yet. She was on her own, and she was scared to death... and there was really only one place she could think to hide.

With nothing more than a hope and a prayer, Kaylie jumped the median and swerved into the opposite hover lane, changing directions completely. The State police were still on her tail, but they lost track of her when she dropped down three lanes to the lowest skyway. Thinking quickly, she pulled in behind a grimy box truck and put her bike on autopilot. Then, before she could second-guess herself, she crawled over the front and jumped onto the back of the truck. The trailer latch was pretty rusty, breaking under her sneaker in two kicks. As soon as it was open, she slipped into the trailer and slammed the door shut.

Her trembling hands braced the rusted metal as she struggled to catch her breath, waiting until the sirens finally moved off. The inside of the trailer was pretty dark and cold, causing her heaving breaths to echo back to her ears. After a moment, however, she realized there was someone else breathing in the darkness with her. Quite a few someone elses.

Very slowly, she turned around, blinking until her eyes adjusted to the darkness. At least two dozen faces stared back at her, young and old alike, their eyes shining with fear in the dark. They were all sitting on the floor, wrapped up in blankets and using duffel bags as furniture. No one spoke for a long while, as they seemed just as frightened of Kaylie as she was of them. Eventually, a tall, brawny woman with short black hair stood up from the midst and walked over to Kaylie.

"You with the State, Kid?" she asked, her voice harsh and her mechanical right hand rubbing the holstered laser pistol on her hip.

"No," Kaylie huffed. "Please... th-they're after me. I need help. I won't tell anyone about this; just let me go."

The tall woman sized Kaylie up for a moment before grabbing an extra blanket off the trailer floor. "You're free to leave if you want," she said, "but you don't have to. I know that look in your eyes: I saw it in the mirror almost every day when I was your age." She paused long enough to wrap the blanket around Kaylie's shoulders, and her leathery, scarred face broke into a smile: the first genuine smile Kaylie had probably ever seen.

"The name's Louise," she said. "Welcome to the Un-Plugged, Kid; we're glad to have ya."