Androids

8 years. 8 years and probably two months. To live. That's all Miranda Highwoode had. Today's doctor visit was the one that set her fate, the one that let her know she was dying. Well, and also the fact that the right side of her once beautiful face was slowly melting away, like plastic after being placed over fire. So far you couldn't tell that her right eye was sinking further down, because she still looked like she could be a model. However, it would be a few more weeks or months before the full transformation began.
         Miranda sat in her car, staring out the window. At the birds, twittering overhead and landing on the tree branches, and dropping feces on the already nasty piece of trash she called transportation. At the other patients that were probably going into the doctor's office for checkups, instead of life changing discoveries. Miranda was dying. Her beauty was diminishing. And there was no way she could stop it. Slowly, with hesitation after thinking about the reactions of her family members, she pulled out of the parking space. If she drove fast, she would be living life like she never had. But still she lived carefully. As careful as it was intended anyway. There was complete silence as she drove towards home, a place with people whom loved her, and who knew what she had, yet couldn't tell her how long she had because they didn't adorn their walls with certificates of college completion.
         If she knew she was eventually going to die, why hadn't she gone out on more dates, why hadn't she had wild nights out with men she barely knew, why hadn't she traveled to plausible places outside of her hometown?
         This question haunted her as she stopped with a crunching sound in front of her house. Nobody was home, except for maybe the cat, who enjoyed lazy days like this on the windowsill, dreaming peacefully. But today was different. The cat was nowhere to be found.
         “Stupid cat,” Miranda muttered.
         She had noticed a half eaten mouse laying nonchalantly at the base of the couch. After throwing it out with utter disgust, Miranda sat on the couch and clicked on the television.
         “New technology allows you to live longer. To regain your beauty, no matter how old you are. Your beauty will be retained for eternity.”
         “...” Miranda stared at the screen. “Yeah right...”
         But when the phone number for a free consultation with a Doctor Williams popped up, Miranda scrambled towards her bag, where her cell hid, forgotten. She dialed the number, many times actually, before she actually got it right. Her nervousness was keeping her from composure. Her whole body shook: whether it was from nervousness or eagerness was hard to tell.
         “Who are you calling?”
         And she dropped the phone, while a lazy voice (“Regen Lab. This is Stephanie speaking”) drawled on the other line. Miranda stomped on the phone.
         “No one, Harry. No one.”
         “What did the doctor say?”
         “Doctor Williams?”
         “Doctor Williams...? Who's that? No, I was talking about your appointment doctor. What did he say?”
         Miranda sighed and felt her shoulders and head droop. She couldn't bare to look her brother in the eye. He would be heartbroken, as would be her mother and step-father.
         “Well wouldn't you believe it?” Miranda tried at lightness. “I only have 8 years to live. Isn't that great?”
         “Ei—eight years? NO!”
         Harry lunged at Miranda in a bear hug, and she could feel warm moistness on her shoulder. She patted his back as consolingly as possible and pushed him lightly away from her. Her smile was brighter than the sun on most days, but that particular morning it was wan and a bit dirty.
         “It's okay, little brother. I-I'm okay with it. You should be to.”
         “But, Miranda...you're too young! You're only 22! You can't be dead at 30! That's when you should get...
         “I'm sorry,” Harry finally said after an awkward and deadly silence.
         Miranda glowered at him and stalked off, grabbing her bag. If she couldn't call Regen Lab, she could stop by. After all, her little piece of garbage car could take her all the way to the Inner City. With fear that Miranda might punch him, Harry didn't make any effort to stop his bigger sister. He shouldn't have brought that up...what an idiot he'd been! But, with a genuine worry, he watched her drive off, a black cloud of exhaust smoke trailing behind her.
–
         The beauty of Regen Labs was nothing compared to the rest of the Inner City building's surroundings. There was even a small coy pond, where colorful fish swam lazily, enjoying the sun. Miranda watched as people of the same color and dress exited and entered the many doors of Regen Labs. They were all matched perfectly, wearing the same tidy blue suits and (for the women) flowing skirts that reached just past the thigh and noisy blouses that showed their elegant arms. They were beautiful, as Miranda would one day not be anymore.
         Racking up as much courage as she could muster, Miranda shakily walked towards the building's entrance. When her hand almost touched the handle, a jolt of panic ran through her. Suddenly, her brain was firing warning signals.
         Run! This place isn't safe!
         The door opened. Miranda stepped inside, and the warning signals grew steadily louder and panicked. Closing her eyes and shaking her head violently, Miranda stepped towards the receptionist desk.
         The woman at the receiving end of an appointment was inhumanly stunning. Her skin was beautifully pale, with not a hint of a blemish or pimple, or even any signs that this woman had had those disasters. Her hair was so shiny and brilliantly luscious that when the light from the overhead lamp hit it, the reflection bounced and hit Miranda square in the eye.
         “Agh!”
         “Oh! I'm sorry! You should have spoken up. Do you have an appointment Miss...”
         “Highwoode. And no, I-I don't have an appoinment. I-I was wondering if maybe...you accepted walk-ins? If not, I could make an appointment.”
         “Don't be silly.” The smile that this receptionist gave to Miranda was simply astonishing.
         “We accept all kinds of clients, walk-ins or expected. Just fill this form out and I'll have a doctor with you as soon as possible.”
         “How long...” Miranda stopped. The woman's eyes were gorgeous. They were a fragily baby-blue with a hint of violet and they glimmered with a...maliciousness? No. That wasn't it. They glimmered with sincerity.
         ACKKKK!
         “Okay thank you,” Miranda smiled, not showing her teeth, feeling very undeserving of this wonderful opportunity. To even be here was blasphemy on her part. This place was just...perfect.
If the surrounding area was magnificent, it was nothing compared to the inside. The building was outfitted with mirrors everywhere. Whether it was so that the beautiful people could admire themselves or just for decoration was anybody's guess. The lights overhead varied: some were brighter than others, and some were out completely, leaving their hallways in complete darkness.
         Why is no light illuminating those hallways?
         “Shut up,” Miranda whispered to herself. She sat on a very cozy, plush chair and filled out the form.
         “H-hi a-are you h-here for the p-procedure? You s-should be.”
         Miranda looked up at the person who was trying to start a conversation with her. She noticed his head was twitching and an electrical sound emitted from somewhere near him, so when he spoke, it sounded like if he were a robot.
         Maybe because he is a...
         “He's not a robot.”
         The guy stopped moving, and so did everybody within earshot. They looked at Miranda. The receptionist quickly ran out of her cubicle and, smiling politely, led everyone on their way.
         “Jeremy. You know you shouldn't bother someone while they're filling out the form.” She smiled at Miranda, with a hint of...malice. No. It was sincerity.
         “I am so terribly sorry about Jeremy. He's very...umm..intrusive. Robots. How ridiculous. You read a lot of Sci-Fi I assume?”
         “Well..umm...yes.”
         “Hmm. Well, are you finished?”
         “Yes, ma'am.” Miranda handed the form over. The receptionist thanked her, took the form, and began inputing the information in the computer. It was barely even ten minutes before Miranda was told to wander into one of the obscure hallways.
–
         Dread and fear soon filled Miranda's whole being, and it shook her. This horrible feeling started filling her as soon as she stepped into the darkness. Her steps were calculated and careful, in case she should trip over anything in the hallway. She, with no luck, searched for light switches with her hand, but as her luck would have it, there were none. Her footsteps were the only one she could hear as she walked, slowly. How was she to find this doctor? His office?
         The sound of a saw alerted her towards her right. Not being able to see anything only made her hearing stronger. The sound of the saw was low and far away, yet her ears could pick it up as easily as a rock song playing from a speaker right next to her ear.
         And then she heard a very faint, pained scream.
         Her heart beating faster, and her pulse racing, she stopped dead in her tracks. Feeling for the wall again, she suddenly felt something like a door knob underhand. She pushed it down and swung the door forward, but it was just a room with tubes. Big tubes that were nailed down to the floor. The lights here were dim, yet she could make out what was in those tubes.
         There were...people.
         Miranda stared around the room with surprise. They were beautiful people, just like those that roamed the halls and the front outside. Except these were floating in water, not freely walking around. They had IV lines around them to the point of strangulation. There was metallic-looking liquid slowly gushing into these people. Miranda could see that they were equally placed: on the left were 5 perfect specimens of males, and on the right were 5 equally perfect specimens of females, all with flowing hair like the receptionist at the front.
         They look exactly like the receptionist...and those men look like all the other men out there as well. Like Jeremy...
         “What's going on here...?”
         “Excuse me, miss? I'm sorry, you must have gotten the wrong door.” Miranda turned around and saw a chuckling man, in a doctor's outfit, standing at the door.
         “Come with me.”
–
         “So, Miranda. May I ask why you're here?”
         “Well, you see....I-I saw the ad on television and I was going to call...but I got interrupted. I'm here because...w-well. I'm going to be dying in a few years and I will no longer be...beautiful. I thought maybe...”
         “Of course we can help.”
         “Really?”
         “Of course.” The doctor smiled cynically. Suddenly, he extracted a chainsaw from under his desk.
         “What?!”
         Miranda pushed out of her chair, falling down in the process. She very weakly wriggled towards the door, opening it and escaping just inches the blade of the chainsaw. She stood up, her whole body shaking, and ran. The doctor was close behind. Miranda barely escaped a blade he hurled at her: it had sliced off some of her hair. The dying woman came upon the room she was in and locked herself in there. She had noticed, while she was leaving with the doctor, that it was titanium.
         No wonder she had trouble pushing it open.
         She slid down its length as the chainsaw dwindled outside her door.
         “You can't escape me forever, Miranda. You, like all others, will be part of my plan to enslave this world and make them all simple-minded androids.”
         Androids...
         “How could you do this?! These are human beings you're messing with!”
         “They were humans my dear. Just like you are, and will be. You will be one of them.”
         While her lips trembled, and tears flooded down her face, Miranda thought of how to escape. It was a futile attempt, since this room had no other means of escape.
         I want to live forever...but not if this is what it takes. I'd rather die.
         “As you wish,” the doctor said mischievously, and he walked off.
         A draining sound.
         It came from behind her.
         Miranda turned from the door...to the tubes...which were now void of water.
         And there they stood. The perfect specimens. All equally beautiful and equally naked. Their eyes were closed, and their heads were bowed. It was obvious they were in pairs, since one woman stood by one man. They were in beautiful formation. Their heads slowly were raised, one by one, and their shockingly blue eyes (with no apparent pupils) were opened in gorgeous synchronization. They were perfect but for one flaw: their crackling, electronic sounds and their metallic stares.
         And one by one they lunged.
         “AHHH!”
         Miranda managed to dodge some of their attacks, but was sliced by one of their hands, on the upper arm. Wincing, Miranda fell to the floor, clutching the wound. She rolled out of the way of the violent hurdles and attacks. The room being so small, yet big enough to support a full-grown woman rolling to avoid attacks came in useful. Then, when she was done rolling, Miranda got to her shaken legs and ran to the other side, the Androids in hot pursuit. Frantically she looked from side to side, up and down, to find something she could use to slow these monsters down. There was a chair, probably aluminum, but when Miranda picked it up, it was surprisingly light weight. Fearing for her short life, Miranda swung at the incoming mob, missing them inch by pathetic inch. The chair's legs, though, managed to destroy one of the women's faces. When the perfect metallic skin went flying off, all Miranda could see was computer hardware and wires.
         “I'm...ugly...” it said with a crackling voice. Her inhuman hand touched her face (or where there was a face) and felt nothing but wires. “I'm ugly...and you did this to me!” She lunged forward, grabbing Miranda by the neck, forcing her to drop the chair. The android squeezed hard, her hardware burning the side of Miranda's face.
         “How would you like to feel...ugly? You bitch!”
         The female android, watched carefully by the others, grabbed flask and poured in some acid from the IV line. Miranda's eyes grew wide, and she knew what was coming.
         “You shall be ugly! Ugly like me!”
         And as the android was about to pour the acid, Miranda kicked hard, and although she hurt her foot and leg badly, she managed to incapacitate the monster. But the acidic flask went flying, and it landed on one of the other android's face, marring him as well. It screeched and broke down.
         The ones that were left kept attacking Miranda, one slicing every part of it she could.
         “I will not stop until you're shreds, young dog!”
         With a last hope, Miranda managed to dodge the incoming attacks and headed for the door. She heaved it open with a lot of effort and ran down the hallway, falling every step. The androids were in hot pursuit.
         “Well, well...”
         Miranda was stopped by the receptionist, whom was holding a large knife. She grabbed Miranda and sliced parts of her facial skin. Screaming, Miranda felt the tears that leaked out of her eyes burning her wounds like acid.
         “Here! You want her? You can have her! We need as many as we can get!”
         “No...” Miranda choked, and, grabbing the knife she killed the receptionist by slitting her throat. She then looked around at all the other androids.          
         “I-I'm going to be dying...in eight years. But if I'm going to live...in a world where everything is run by...evil...monsters like yourselves...I'd rather not live in it for those pathetic years.”
         Miranda ran outside, to be under the sun, and stabbed her heart with the knife. As blood sputtered from her mouth, everybody watched, everybody watched with no sympathy. She died in front of their eyes, and they just went on with their lives.
**
8 years. 8 years and probably two months. That's how old Miranda Highwoode Android was.