"Sine Animus" -- Installment Seven (Final)

Ami tried to stifle a laugh. All this time, my stalker was an android. He looked like any other person!

"ACE One...why are you following me? What do you want to know?"

ACE One looked up at the sky. The rain had stopped, but fierce black clouds still blanketed the atmosphere. "Why."

"Why what?"

"Why did you create me? Why must I protect humans against the robot threat? I'm more robot that human." He looked straight at Ami now. "But I have another question. Why can't I smile or laugh? Why am I expressionless? Why do I feel so empty inside? I hear you humans telling jokes and anecdotes and laughing at them, but I stand there, apathetic. I read your tragedies, Romeo and Juliet, Antigone, trying to see what makes the human race shed tears when I can't. I hate being calloused to those sorts of things. I want more than anything to know how to smile, how to cry."

"What are you saying, ACE One?"

"The articles on the computer-casts have publicized my studies of humanoid behaviors. For the two years that I have been awake, I have wanted to know how to be...like you." He stepped back, picking up the gun. "I have found many things about your race. And I think I know what it is the android lacks--we have no souls, are missing many of the basic human emotions. I want to grin and shed tears, like you humans. I want to know how a heart breaks and is mended. And that one emotion that not even you humans understand...I want to know why that is such an enigma, why it makes you weep and smile at the same time.

"Ami...all I want is a soul. I want to feel." ACE One took the gun and stepped behind her. She tensed as she realized what was about to happen.

"No! I won't let you do this to me. Look, ACE One, you don't need a soul; you're programmed not to show emotion because those feelings would eat away at you on the battlefield every time one of your counterparts died. There's a reason you were made like this...it's called optimum efficiency. You are a war machine; your only purpose is to defend us, to destroy the robots completely if they attack. You have no reason to kill me; I have done nothing wrong!"

ACE One didn't move; he seemed to be digesting what Ami had just said. But soon she realized that it hadn't fazed him. Without a word, he pressed the gun into the back of her head lightly.

With a piercing yell, Ami wheeled around, wrestled the gun from the android's fingers, and fired a shot at him from close range. ACE One seemed only vaguely conscious of the blow; he removed the bullet deftly with a finger as some of his blood oozed out of the wound. Ami groaned, throwing the gun on the ground beside her. She rushed ACE One, grabbing his shoulders and trying to push him backward. He did the same, showing no sign of giving up. They struggled against each other for about a minute.

Ami knew there was only a slim chance of overpowering him, but something in her soul told her, begged her to try. She didn't want it to happen...she didn't want to die yet...she hadn't even had time to live...

Her adrenaline was not enough to win the struggle. ACE One pushed her away and slapped her, causing a red handprint to appear on her face. With a crack of his neck, he advanced, once again picking up the gun, walking behind her.

"'Optimum efficiency' doesn't concern me. And I do have a reason to kill you, Ami. They say that when the human body dies, its soul remains suspended." At these words, Ami sank to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. It was fruitless; she had no way of escaping fate. What an exciting life I've led, she thought.

Placing the gun at the back of Ami's head, ACE One leaned to Ami's ear, saying as sensitively as an android knew how, "I believe your expression for this sort of thing is 'I'm sorry.' As I told you, I will get what I want..."

He fired a quick shot to Ami's head. She collapsed, soulless like the android that had killed her. ACE One holstered the gun, sighing rigidly.

"The problem comes...because I don't know how to get it."

"Sine Animus" -- Installment Six

Ami looked behind her as she ran once again in the rain; she saw that the man from the diner, the same one who had been following her for most of the day, was clumsily trying to conceal a long-barrel pistol under his trench coat. Her eyes widened.

Ami stopped suddenly and shouted, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

The man spoke; the thunder accentuated his low, soft voice eerily. "You have something I want. And I will get what I want, one way or another." he pointed to his gun for emphasis.

Ami clenched her fists. "Then what is it you want? Take it and leave me!"

The man remained expressionless, placing his weapon on the soggy ground. He walked over to Ami and gripped her collar tightly. It was as if he blew his next words into her ears; the storm suddenly waned and died as he spoke. "Answers. Answers that I know only you hold."

Still staring shiftily at the gun on the ground, Ami felt her heart rapidly throbbing. "What about myquestions? Why do you have to chase me around? How do you know I hold the answers?"

The man slowly dropped Ami and moved his hands to his coat. Ami at once thought he was reaching for another gun, but he only let his jet-black trench coat fall to the ground, turning and pointing to the back of his neck. A bar code and the number one had been cut into his skin. Ami recognized the markings at once.

"I know you have the answers, Ami...because you made me."

"Sine Animus" -- Installment Five

Ami rematerialized in what seemed like an otherworld compared to where she had been. The clouds overhead shed their rain on the desolate land. A single road stretched in either direction as far as the eye could see. Looking around at the nothingness, Ami felt unbearable alone. This was definitely nother city; it seemed to be more of an alternate dimension. But she couldn't say for sure. She vowed never to push all the tele-pad buttons simultaneously again, no matter who was chasing her.

She wished Laia were with her; she'd know what to do, or would she? Wait until she hears about this,Ami thought. I bet she'll never say the boogeyman isn't real again.

As thunder rocked the earth, Ami frantically scanned the horizon; the rain still came down in fat drops on her uncovered head. Seeing that the coast was clear and no cars were coming, she quickly crossed the street, scrupulously avoiding puddles as she ran.

Walking about a quarter mile, Ami spotted a small diner on the side of the road. At first glance, she thought the place looked greasy and deserted, but a clap of imposing thunder shattered her nerves and urged her inside it anyway.

Wringing out her hair and wiping her feet on the threadbare welcome mat, Ami sat at a stool, noticing that she and a man viewing a compu-cast in the corner of the diner were the only patrons in the place. She tried to settle down, ordering coffee.

As Ami sipped the coffee gingerly, the owner of the diner wiped his hands on his oily apron. "You okay, missy?"

Ami shook her head as she explained her predicament. No, she wasn't okay. She'd been running in the oppressive rain for what seemed like an eternity. When the owner asked her why she'd been running, she shuddered noisily.

"Mister...have you ever had the feeling that you're being...followed?" At this, the man in the corner looked up from his compu-cast as if intrigued.

The owner guffawed loudly. "No'm, can't say that I have." Ami, however, barely heard this response. She was brooding over her coffee, wishing the day were over, that she was back at home, at work, or at least not in the middle of nowhere.

As she paid for the coffee, the diner owner tried to cheer her up to no avail. He looked at the change she had given him. "You're short a nickel. And why such a long face? You can't be walking around mopin' all the time, even if ya do feel like someone's watching." He looked pointedly at her as she fished a nickel out of her purse. "It's that daggum govinment that's doing it to you. They find out so much about ever'thin' and they makes ya feel paranoid. Don't worry; whatever ya goin' through's just a bad dream. It'll all go away."

"Sure," she retorted. She drained the last of her coffee. "If only I had been at work today. My boss made me take a day off; he said I was working too hard."

He scratched his grisly hair, pondering her statement. "Maybe ya were. You're much too young ta be worried about workin'. Ya need to enjoy life a tad, wake up and smell the coffee. Leave workin' for da old folk like me. Life's too short ta let the govinment getcha all messed up. What can I do for ya, sir?"

Ami, surprised at the owner's abrupt change in subject, turned around to see to whom he'd been speaking. It was the person from the corner. "Excuse me," she said as she walked past him and to the door. She turned to thank the man for the coffee and the good advice. It was then that his blood red eyes locked on to hers. With a gasp, Ami bolted out of the diner. She heard the owner yell, "Daggum govinment got you all uptight, yessir."

"Sine Animus" -- Installment Four

He held out a black leather wallet overstuffed with receipts and ID cards, refusing to look at her as he spoke. "Excuse me, I think you dropped this."

Ami checked her purse, finding that her wallet was not there. The one the man held, then, was indeed hers. So that was what she'd lost; he must have picked it up when she'd dropped it.

She cautiously stepped up to him, accepted the wallet, turned around...

And felt huge hands like vises bind her, one by the waist, the other by the neck. She had been tricked for perhaps the first time in her life; to her memory, she'd always seen through every prank phone call and every practical joke since kindergarten. How had she made such a stupid mistake this time?

Torrential rain struck her cheeks and slipped down her face like cold tears. The man's muscles pressed against her soaked-through body, contracting as he lifted her up off the ground. Ami tried to break free, to hit her captor, but his body was as hard as a plate of armor. He leaned in to her ear, whispering, "Ami, Ami, Ami...I'm surprised you fell for such a simple tryst."

Before he could say any more, Ami leaned down and bit the man's forearm. His grip loosened only a little, but it was enough for Ami to squirm out of the hold and drop to the ground. He reached out to grab her again, but she sidestepped out of the way, tripping and falling on the pavement. As she picked herself up and began to run again, she heard the man's footsteps a little behind as he splashed in puddles on the street.

She didn't know where she was going, but she felt that anywhere was safer than here. She tore past kids making mud pies and commuters awaiting hover-buses and air taxis. A grocer stepped outside his shop door and Ami knocked him into a puddle as she zipped by.

Ami looked behind her, mortified by how much the man had advanced. If she didn't think of a way out soon, he was going to catch her again, and who knew what he would do to her this time...?

At long last, her deus ex machina appeared on the horizon. A tele-pad, unoccupied and seeming to glow in the midst of the crowded sidewalk, was there on the street corner. Ami ran in, shut the door, and punched every button, praying that the machine would let her go somewhere. She closed her eyes while the computer processed her molecules and transported them to what she hoped was a safe place.

"Sine Animus" -- Installment Three

She looked up at the sky, trying to calm her nerves. It was still cloudy, but slivers of sun peeked through every now and then. She decided to take that as a good omen--

Until she passed by an internet cafe and caught sight of the man she'd seen at the apartment entrance.

She began to pick up the pace, making sure to note every nuance of her surroundings. Everythinglooked normal; a woman was walking her dog, two small children were dueling with toy robots, a teenage boy was parking a hover car recklessly as his girlfriend looked on--

The man was casually strolling a little ways behind her. She turned to face him.

It was then that Ami's supposed good omen revealed its true colors. A single drop of rain slid through the air and landed neatly on the ground, coaxing a legion to follow. For a long time, Ami and her shadow stared at each other as if one were trying to make sense of the other. The action around them seemed to halt. Their eyes burned into each other, and neither one dared to speak. It was then that Ami thought she saw the man move his lips; what was he saying? She couldn't read lips well, but it looked like he was saying, "Come here."

And suddenly, the hustle and bustle of urban life exploded all around them. Ami's stalker had disappeared before her eyes into the crowd.

She broke into a jog, trying to put distance between herself and her pursuer; something told her that he was still out there. But she made slow progress, and she felt stupid running from nothing. I'm losing it; I need to go back to work or something, she thought.

Ami stopped after she turned the corner, leaning against the brick wall of a pizza parlor, catching her breath, listening. She heard the diverse sounds of the city: the beep of car horns, the shouts of tourists and vendors arguing over prices, the pattering of the rain, the plod of footsteps, the yowl of cats scuffling in alleys...

Footsteps, louder this time. 

Ami peered around the corner and let out a gasp. The man had found her.

"Sine Animus" -- Installment Two

Ami rode the elevator down to the lobby. There, her friend Laia met her. Laia seemed to have the perfect life: every day, she finished working, received praise for jobs well done, and still had time to go joyriding around the city. Laia had what Ami's colleagues all called an "exciting life"; she often tried to show Ami what to wear, how to speak, and how to make friends outside the office, but in vain. Changing Ami...was nearly impossible.

Laia greeted Ami and pointed to the compu-cast projection on the wall, gray eyes flashing. "You read about that, right?" Ami nodded, and Laia continued. "They say it's a study on the human race; what do you think it means?"

Ami took one look at Laia. "That I won't get any sleep tonight."

Laia put a hand on Ami's shoulder. "Stop worrying," she said. "The boogeyman isn't real. The only thing that goes bump in the night is the local dance club...you have nothing to worry about." Laia walked toward the car garage. "Gotta go, kiddo. Try to relax."

Ami didn't answer; she was looking out the window. Something had caught her eye.

Someone kept walking by the entrance. he seemed to be waiting for someone. Ami regarded him closely; people rarely lingered outside her apartment like this. 

Even from a distance, he seemed to loom over her. His sandy brown hair fell in untidy clumps around his flawless face. He seemed relatively normal, but Ami noticed how every now and then, his eagle eyes, the color of magma, gazed through the window, seeming to find her first before taking in the rest of the scene. They locked eyes for just a split second, sending chills into Ami like a driving blizzard.

Maybe I'm just sleepy, Ami mused. Why would he be looking in at me anyway?

She walked calmly but warily through the exit, passing the man without him noticing her. So, she'd just been delirious; he'd obviously been looking for someone else.

Ami gazed in awe at the many things she had only heard about. She heard the shouts of tenants and landlords and smelled frappuccino and burning rubber. Because she had always been hurrying to her office, she had never regarded the city streets so thoroughly in her life.

Ami reached the street corner, passing her main mode of transportation: the teleport pad. It resembled an old-fashioned phone booth, except it was equipped with a computer instead of a telephone. It was the quickest way to get anywhere; one had only to type in coordinates and wait for the machine to transport him or her. Ami had grown to love the tele-pad, for it had helped her get to work promptly every morning since she had accepted the job. Except this morning; she once again grumbled about hating mandatory vacations.

The person inside the tele-pad clearly didn't know how to use it. Ami waited outside it for about five minutes and then gave up. It was for the best, she decided. Even if she found a vacant tele-pad to use, where would she go, and what would she do there?

As Ami walked past the tele-pad, she couldn't help feeling as if she had dropped or misplaced something, but she couldn't think of what it was. She shrugged. I'm so paranoid. Why can't I settle down?

"Sine Animus" -- Installment One

Dying, dying dead.
The voices in my head
Tell me life is just a memory...
Searching for a soul.
(Issue #1 by Eni)

Ami stared at the computer-cast in disbelief. Her hazel eyes scanned each line of material as she chewed her French toast, trying to make sure she hadn't missed a detail.

There's definitely someone watching us... she thought. Shutting down the article she'd been reading, she strode to the window.

Ami lived on the top floor of an actual glass house. It was a high-rise building made entirely of sturdy glass reinforced with steel. Ribbons of pink and orange sunrise streamed through the windows and woke her most mornings. To her, feeling those rays beaming pleasantly upon her was a sign that it would be a good day.

This morning, however, was cloudy.

Ami looked out of the window at the commuters of the year 2450. Some people were crowded in hover-cars and buses, and others were flying on airboards or using aeropacks, trying to get to work on time. She felt like the Android Construction Experiment she'd been coordinating was calling her back to work; however, today was a "vacation day" for her--one that she'd practically been forced to take.Man... she thought. And I'd just improved my latest android prototype. "I'm working too hard"? Says who?

Research and Engineering Incorporated, the company that Ami worked for, had been developing the ACE project for almost three years, with myriad successes and twice as many failures. At present, the androids, robot-like beings with humanoid features, were strictly defense mechanisms against the threat of the hostile true robots, but REI's next objective was to develop a household model for consumers. Ami had come up with the main model for the androids, their arsenal, the voice modules, and even the name of the project. She was invaluable to the whole development, so her employer thought a day off was necessary; "Wouldn't want our powerhouse to shut down," he had said.
Ami still stood at the window, staring at her petite reflection with a sigh. She was hopelessly normal. She always combed her red hair back into a drab ponytail before going to work. She didn't wear makeup or jewelry, and she dressed as if she were being interviewed. Her friends and colleagues always told her to dress up (or perhaps down) and live a little, step away from the desk for once. But she never listened to them; she told herself instead that her projects were her one true love--she'd been bound to them in quasi-holy matrimony when REI had hired her five years ago at age seventeen. REI, the top company in the area, had automatically scouted her out for her expertise, even though she had just become a college sophomore. She didn't have time for clubbing or movies...she had a figurative husband and children to take care of! Her birthday was in a few days, and she hadn't begun to plan a celebration due to choosing to work overtime each night. She realized that perhaps she should break free from her work life; even so, it was almost as if she couldn't. She sighed again. I should try to make the best of my day off and follow my friends' advice, she mused.