Not Human | Original Short Story
"Not Human" by H.V. Somnes
Synopsis:
"An automaton returns to his hometown to visit his creator one last time."
Read Below:
He was born without a name. He chose to be Adam.
It was a meaningful name. Biblical, even. Representative of his creation and sentience. The being known as Adam, like other automatons in this era, was granted independence and an identity by the time his internal compendium had reached a suitable level of entries. If he were a human, it would mean Adam was allowed out into the world once he was at a specific level of maturity and intelligence.
Though he wasn’t a human. He was constantly reminded of that. He wasn’t conceived in a biological sense, but conceived in the back of someone’s mind. Someone who was long gone at this point.
Adam was over fifty years old. He didn’t look a day over thirty.
The doors to the train opened, allowing all of its passengers to step out onto the train station platform. With a backpack over his shoulder, Adam stepped out as well, acting almost like a fork in the streaming paths of people as he slowly took in what he was seeing.
As anyone could see on a nearby map, the town of Blackwater was the final stop on any train ride going east. It didn’t lead out into an ocean, mind you- it led out into a desert that was declared “no man’s land,” where normal people would dehydrate and die. Adam himself thought the walk through no man’s land was dreadful, so he much preferred the train.
He had grown up here. Scratch that- he filled his compendium here. The recesses of his processors still had echoes of the different logs he made around town to gain his independence, egged on by his creator.
Adam swiped his card to pass through the turnstile, not trying to take in the sights and waste all the time he had here. He could easily tour his old home later- he had work to do now. He climbed up the steps and out of the train station, entering the densely populated but still relatively small town.
Working in the hustle and rush of a massive city had made Adam forget how much he missed a small and quiet place like this. Sure, people were talking, but the big city had people yelling, the honking of car horns and even screaming at times.
The automaton had been in the city when he got the news. Adam wasn’t sure how they managed to find him, especially since he was certain nobody remembered the name he picked for himself, but they did. He was called in the middle of work.
Still silent, staring straight ahead, Adam walked through town. He could’ve asked for a cab, but his experience in the city proved that they didn’t really take kindly to the articulation most automatons had while speaking.
He was headed down to a small shack, one at the end of town. It was a straight shot from the train station to the shack, so Adam didn’t have to make any turns. In fact, his legs did all the hard parts for him- it was almost like muscle memory… except he didn’t have muscles at all.
There were some people outside the shack. A man, a woman, and a dog. As Adam approached from the short dirt driveway pulling away from the road, the man noticed him first. His face dropped, his eyebrows furrowing and eyes widening in a way that Adam knew was in bewilderment.
“Holy hell… William?”
The name struck Adam by surprise. It had been a long, long time since he had been called that. Though his corrections were typically lightning fast, with it being such a long time, he responded only a few seconds after.
“No. It is Adam.”
“Adam… Oh, right. You’re William’s tommy.”
The term tommy was used short for automaton. Adam was familiar with the term. They didn’t use it much in the city, but he would hear it all the time in Blackwater once people figured out he wasn’t exactly human.
At this point, the woman was also turned, looking Adam up and down.
“...why do you…?”
“The holographic cloaking device I use isn’t able to form an original human visage.” Adam replied to her, knowing the question she was asking before it was even said. “I took the features of my creator, instead. At least… my creator, the last I remember him.”
“So if you turn it off, you’re a real robot? Metal, wires, the like?”
“That’s what I’m saying, yes.”
“Do people ever confuse you for William?”
“Not since I left this town, no.”
Adam gripped the strap of his backpack. It was awkward questioning, even if he couldn’t really understand how awkward it was. He could sense that the man and the woman were both mildly uncomfortable with Adam being there. Or at least, how Adam looked like a man who had died a decade prior.
“I’m sorry about William.” The man said.
“I acknowledge your condolences.”
“How come I didn’t see you at the funeral?” The woman squinted her eyes at him suspiciously.
“I was there. I simply wore a hat and glasses to obscure how my face looked. I was one of the pallbearers. I sat next to Margeret.”
“Ohhh, right! I did see that. I was wondering who Peggy was crying on.” The woman rubbed her chin, nodding. “You didn’t stay for the reception after the service, though.”
“There wasn’t any point. I can’t eat. Margaret needed help at home with cleaning.”
“...right.”
Adam readjusted his grip on his backpack. “...where is Margaret?”
The faces of the man and woman dropped, realizing why they were out there in the first place. They shared a glance with one another, as if silently asking who was going to tell Adam first. Adam, not reacting, stood there and stared at both of them.
Below, the dog that was with the couple huffed out of its nose, laying down with its head resting between its paws. That seemed enough to jolt the pair out of their staring contest, the woman turning back to Adam.
“She’s inside. The doc’s giving her one more look over.”
“The priest’s already been here, so you don’t have to worry about any final rites or nothin’.”
“I assumed she would’ve already received them. I wasn’t worried.”
“Right… well, she’s in there if… you wanna talk to her.”
“Thank you. It was nice meeting you.”
“Yeah… you too, Adam.”
Not waiting for another word, Adam turned and walked inside. As he did, he stopped in the doorway and turned- he was taught by Margaret to always take off his shoes and coat at the door. It was only polite.
After he hung up his coat, he heard the pair outside speak through the screen door he passed into. From what he’s learned over the years, he could assume they figured he was out of earshot at this point, especially since his mechanical parts were so silent. Adam paused what he was doing as he heard them speak.
“Man… What a weird guy.”
“That’s how tommies are. They’re not like you and me.”
“I know, but like… Margaret and William both developed Adam. You’d think he would be just a little solemn and not so stiff.”
“You saw him at the funeral, right? Was he crying?”
“I didn’t think tommies could cry.”
“Fair point. But did he look upset at all?”
“No.”
“Right. He didn’t even stay for the reception, he was too focused on cleaning up Margaret’s house more than he was being around to celebrate William’s life.”
“You’d think their software would develop a little more so they could show empathy or something. It’s eerie how much he doesn’t care… Both when William died, and now with Margaret going.”
“I’ve learned two things since moving here, darlin’. Number one, it’s always cooler inside stores than it will be inside your own home; and number two, tommies don’t feel anything.”
“Do you think we should’ve stopped him from going in there looking like William? It might put Margaret in a freakout.”
“Please. He’ll do just like he did when he walked up here, he’ll just correct her. Even with his last owner dying, that tommy will correct her. It’s what they do.”
There was whimpering, and the sound of skittering claws. The dog was up on its feet.
“Oh boy, the mailman’s passin’ by…”
Adam stopped listening after that. He slipped off his shoes- which were real- and headed towards the back of the house. Much like with the town, as he stepped across the old home, he recalled old logs he had of helping his past creators with things. He remembered them talking to him, and teaching him.
He carried on. His memory was impeding his progress.
Those words that the man and woman said stuck with him, out of everything. It had jolted him out of his trance he had been in ever since he got to town. Where he worked, automatons weren’t really treated differently (at least not to his face) to other humans. It definitely helped that, with the holographic cloaking device, he looked the part.
But that’s all it was. A hologram. A fake. He wasn’t a human at all. The clothes he wore fitted comfortably over the false body he gave himself. If anyone pressed too hard into where the “skin” was, they’d push right through to the metal. Rising and lowering pins on his body gave the impression of the flesh being real, but they could be forced down to the cold metal below it.
Looks like returning to his hometown had more effect on him than he first thought. He wondered what he was even doing here in the first place- it’s not like he was present when William died. Margaret wasn’t even present.
Yet his legs carried on anyway. All the way to the hall at the back of the house. A woman stood at the end, in front of the master bedroom door- Adam recognized her from her face. She was the local doctor. She was the same one that gave him the news about William years ago.
The doctor had been looking in through the partially open door until she heard Adam’s footsteps closeby. As she saw Adam, she perked up, knowing who he was immediately- it was a comfort. Unlike most people in town, the doctor hadn’t known William and Margaret years ago. She only knew him as Adam.
“You’re here.”
“Yes. I am. You’re the one who called me.”
“I know, I’m just… surprised you got here so soon. I called you last night.”
Adam didn’t have a suitable response for that. He stood in front of her. Without his backpack, or even his jacket, he stood there fiddling with the hems on his plaid shirt. It was a habit he saw William do all the time- mimicking him led to Adam picking up the same habit.
The doctor moved back, grabbing her clipboard from a nearby table that had a plant on it. She folded through the pages, looking at the charts and data she had gathered for who knows how long. Adam continued to wait, staring blankly.
“She’s been flickering between stable and unstable for the last few hours.” The doctor spoke, still looking at her charts. “When I called you, she had become unresponsive for about half an hour. We think she’s on the downward spiral right now.”
“How much longer does she have?”
Pausing at the question, the doctor gave a look that Adam knew was sympathetic. She put her clipboard back, sighing deeply.
“...not long,” She said to him. “It’s gotten bad. Really bad. Like the deterioration is reaching its peak. You came at a good time, because if what’s happening there is what I think is happening… she has at most an hour.”
“Okay. Have others had the chance to see her? The couple outside?”
“All the important ones. Those two are just neighbors, they’re just staying around to keep me company.” The doctor nodded. “Other than that… you were the only family she had.”
“I was their creation.”
“I know what I said, Adam.” She replied. “...you should see her. This might be the last chance you have to say goodbye.”
Adam processed the request. Obviously he should, but it was like he thought before: what was the point? What was happening to Margaret was rapidly deteriorating her brain. Adam didn’t have a cure for that. He wasn’t even authorized to use medical equipment.
Yet his feet were carrying him through the door before he could come up with a decision.
Slowly, carefully, he shut the door behind him. The bed was to his left, pressed against the left wall. Across the room was a window, with open curtains, illuminating everything.
The first thing he heard was beeping. In place of hospice care, as there wasn’t anywhere close to Blackwater to house dying patients, they brought medical equipment to the home: including an IV and a heart rate monitor. The latter made up the noise in the room, though Adam could sense the dripping of water in the IV.
There she was, laying on the bed. It had been a decade since he had last seen her, and she looked drastically different just from the part of her upper body he could see. Her hair was wiry and thin, allowing him to see her head. Her face was much more wrinkled, her arms were thinner, you could see the veins just underneath.
She was resting. Her arms, overtop the blanket that was up to her chest, rested with her palms facing the ceiling. The IV was connected to her right arm.
Adam prevented himself from updating Margaret’s appearance in his logs to match this description. This wasn’t the woman he remembered… definitely not the one he wanted to.
Much like with William, Adam had fallen out of contact with Margaret due to his work in the city. He visited on holidays and called for special events, but other than that he hadn’t really come out to see her. The last he talked to Margaret was her birthday, over half a year ago- she was so bewildered and confused she forgot it was her birthday.
When Adam called on the date of William’s death anniversary a few months later, a doctor picked up instead. Adam knew that Margaret’s mind was worsening, but it had gotten much much worse all of a sudden. The doctor advised Adam not to call, and for any talk to Margaret to be in person, so as to not confuse her. However, upon hearing of what Adam looked like, they concluded that probably wasn’t the best idea.
This was the first time he saw her since last christmas.
His footsteps gently thudded against the carpeted floor as he walked around the bed, still staring at her body laying in the bed. The heart rate monitor said that her heart was weak.
All Adam could think about was William. He had died suddenly in a car accident during a particularly stormy night. It was DOA, and William was the only casualty in the crash. Adam was informed of this by a distraught Margaret over the phone. In order to support Margaret, as that was what he was made for, Adam returned home in time for the memorial service.
He was offered to see the body since he was family. He declined for the same reason he denied his scanner to update what Margaret looked like in his memory.
Family. That’s what the doctor said he was. Family. Was he really, though? William made Adam, Margaret helped develop Adam, and they both helped him grow in a sense. But he was just a machine.
It was best not to think about it. Once more, his processing was in the way of what he was doing.
As he stepped to the side of the bed, he looked down at Margaret. Because he was standing in front of the window, he blocked the light from Margaret’s face. This was enough to make the elderly woman stir, opening her sunken eyes to look up at Adam.
Something interesting to note about Adam’s holographic cloaking device: as the name suggests, it ran on light. It projected the visage that the robot wanted over his metallic body. Because of this, light could shine through it- but, however, in an effort to combat this, the cloaking device would still attempt to hold shape as light passed through.
So as Margaret looked up at the figure who was standing over her, she not only saw Adam with the features of her late husband… but also saw the light literally making his “skin” glow.
Adam stared down at her, not moving. He didn’t even know what to say.
Margaret spoke first.
“William? Is that… You?” She said, her hoarse voice barely a whisper.
It was happening again. Adam was being mistaken for his creator because of how he looked. He opened his mouth, almost ready to correct her… but didn’t.
“Are you here… Here to take me… Deliver me to Heaven?”
Heaven. Adam knew that William and Margaret believed in religion, but Margaret was the one more involved with it than William was. Adam had sat in on a few services with her on her request. He mostly did it to keep her company.
His mouth was still partially open, his mind trying to correct her, but the order not following through. Then, he said something that even surprised him. Something he didn’t even have to put an order in for.
“Yes.” He spoke softly.
Adam leaned in, kneeling on the ground, getting closer to Magaret’s level. Her left hand reached out to touch Adam’s cheek, the pins on his face rising to give her the sense that the cheek was really there. She was too weak to push them down.
“I knew I would see you again…” She muttered softly. “I missed you… so much…”
“I missed you too.”
She was short of breath. She could barely talk.
“We can be together forever… I just wish… I could tell Adam…”
“It’s okay, Peggy. He knows. He knows.”
The automaton slid his arms under Margaret’s frail body, slipping under the blanket to do so. He held her in a cradle, not leaving the bed, leaning in and pressing his head to hers. She was so light in his arms, even for an automaton.
“It’s okay. I’m here.”
The hand was still on Adam’s cheek. It was barely a minute until Adam heard it- the monitor. The last breath wheezed from Margaret as the monitor blared still.
Margaret’s hand slowly rested on Adam’s shoulder, falling limp as the rest of her did in his arms.
Adam stayed where he was for a solid minute. He couldn’t sigh, but if he could, he would. Slowly, the robot lowered Margaret back down onto the bed, his hand on the back of her head so it wouldn’t move funny.
He put her back to how she was before. He tucked her into bed, and fixed her hair just the way she liked, even if there wasn’t a lot left. The blaring of the heart rate monitor continued, the straight line traveling across the screen indefinitely.
With one last touch to Margaret’s hand, Adam left. He slipped out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him so the scene wouldn’t be seen by anyone passing by. The doctor, nearby, was immediately there. It was clear she heard the monitor.
“Adam…”
“She’s passed.” He said. Margaret had taught him not to say the word “die” as it was callous. “Her body’s still in there.”
The doctor sighed, running a hand over her head and down her hair. It was a sigh of relief, almost, rather than a sigh of resignation. Adam knew it well. Margaret wasn’t in any pain anymore.
“I guess she was holding out until she saw you.”
“Or perhaps everything matched up perfectly.”
“Whatever it is… I’m glad she got to see you.”
Adam kept quiet about what happened in that room. He could easily tell her that Margaret didn’t see him, that she saw the face and plaid shirt Adam had on and thought it was her deceased husband, but… he didn’t. He kept that log to himself.
“I gotta call the funeral director so they can get the body.” The doctor said. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Adam replied, in a mild tone that made it seem like it was obvious. “Are you staying here to make the phone call?”
“I’m gonna step out, actually. Feels a bit wrong making a call in the same house as a corpse. Do you… need company?”
Adam paused. He didn’t have a suitable answer.
“You can go.” He replied. “Tell the neighbors outside they’re free to stay as long as they’d like… but I’d like to stay alone in the house until the funeral home employees arrive to retrieve the body.”
“Alright, if you’re sure. I’m… sorry for your loss, Adam.”
“I acknowledge your condolences.”
The doctor nodded. She left after, giving one more glance to Adam over her shoulder just in case before she did. Adam heard the screen door close, and a bit of chatter outside.
It took a moment for Adam to move, but he eventually did. He walked away from the master bedroom, headed down the hall, and walked into the kitchen. The automaton went to a chair at the dining room table that was in the center of the kitchen- a special metal chair, one made for Adam himself. He sat down.
Part of him posed questions. What now? What of Margaret’s remains? Who will organize the funeral? Adam was able to organize one, but where would it be? What of Margaret’s will? Is Adam going to receive her house? The house he grew up in?
He didn’t have a suitable answer.
As he sat in the kitchen, he recalled memories. A particular memory stood out: the one that earned him this chair. A younger model of Adam had attempted to sit at the table, but destroyed the chair under his weight. Adam was confused, but William and Margaret laughed it off.
Nowadays this model was light enough for any of the chairs to withstand his weight. But he still preferred this chair. He enjoyed replaying the memory for the context.
As he sat there, alone in this house, he continued to do that. He looked among the items in the kitchen, those that had different logs of Margaret and William explaining what they are, what they do, and why they have them… and he replayed them. Again and again.
Adam did it over and over. He replayed those memories. He didn’t know why, but… he just kept replaying them. Sitting there alone, at that dining room table.
Two bodies were in that house at that moment. Both cold and unmoving. But one of them at that moment was truly alive… Even if he wasn’t human.
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