Do Robots Ever Sleep? Chapter #5

Lim couldn't relax. What was real? If death was real was life real too?

The accident earlier that evening wasn't artifice. The blood smeared on the pavement was as real as real could get.

Pond didn't seem to be fazed. Sato-san had once told Lim that Pond was simple and accepting and that he was complex and overthought everything.

It was good talking to Sato-san. He was older and seemed wiser and accepting of his relationship with Pond. While Pond was surrounded by friends Lim always felt disconnected, like when Pond wanted to hold his hand in public. He wasn't used to that.

Pond was a beauty consultant and influencer. Pond manipulated reality but it was still real at the core. At times Lim felt artificial like a robot. While Pond lived in the physical world of family, friends and beauty products, Lim worked online. Without A.I. he wouldn't have an income. He was too intellectual to work in a store selling... anything.

Did opposites really attract?

Every day Pond looked into his deep-blue eyes and said he was beautiful. Was that mere artifice?

As they snuggled in bed, Lim felt Pond's warmth enveloping him. There was no deception in that.

He felt their spirits lean into each other. As he drifted off images of tuk-tuks, butterflies, the smell of durian, the quiet after the Big Bang, and the taste of chicken livers swirled in his mind. He wondered, do real robots overthink, do robots ever sleep?

The yellow pall of the day had winked out. Tomorrow would dawn pink. Tuesdays always did.

~264 words