The Creation of Amy

by Jason Rockwell

  “What song? Or do you want to choose one at random?”

  Eric told her, “Play whatever.”

  Alice started playing, and it was “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Sharon had her phone out recording all of this by now, and she appeared impressed it knew how to play.

  Later on, Eric had Alice play Xbox with him and she learned the games at an exorbitant rate. Eric even had her ride his mom’s bike with him to his friends’ house, and when they first saw her, they gasped and gaped. After their initial shock wore off, the entire household talked at once in their excitement.

  After he went home, Eric’s sister stole her away to her room and dressed her in a delicate party dress before the party started. She even gave her hair a French braid and adorned her in a gold necklace and bracelet set.

  The Marconi family and friends spent the rest of the day playing with the new android, testing its skills at video games, board games, and having her play music. Eric would never forget his eighteenth birthday; this gift seemed to make him forget all about getting a car though.

  Later on that evening, Alice started yawning, indicating her battery was getting low. Therefore, Eric had her sit in a chair in his room and plugged her charger into the back of her neck.

  Warren stepped into the room.

  “So, what do you think of her?”

  “I love her, and she’s really hot too!”

  “Yeah, she is. Your mother had some concerns, so I’m going to have a man-to-man with you about them. I know it’s only a machine, but that doesn’t make it right to treat her poorly in any way. She is very expensive and has limitless potential of what she is capable of too. I trust that you won’t get any wrong ideas about women in general now, since you’ve had a good relationship for a while before you broke up. I trust that you would never treat Alice badly, and then start treating your ladies the same way.”

  “Yeah, I understand what you mean. I’ll be good to her.”

  “She still is a machine. Have fun with her; she is yours, just be discrete, if you know what I mean. Ladies may very likely not understand or accept what this means.”

  “I understand,” Eric said, laughing now.

  “It would be easy after a breakup to be content with a machine for a while, but still I look forward to meeting your new girlfriend one day soon.”

  “Don’t worry, Dad, thanks. I’ll be okay. Not many fathers would buy their sons an android girl for their birthday!”

  “That is true, my father certainly wouldn’t ever dream of it!

  “I think maybe I’ll have her mow the lawn tomorrow, and see how she does.”

  “That’s cool; I would love to see that too!”

  They both laughed.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  July Fourth arrived, and the Mega Girls were playing at the local Fourth of July festival. Kara was in her glory making sure everything was perfect for their weekend-long show.

  Morse, Phillips, their girlfriends, along with Kara’s husband, Patrick, and all the employees were all there. Amy, Steph, and Alice played with perfection for hours, wearing out the non-android band members.

  Amy, Stephanie, and Alice wore their performance costumes from their debut at the fundraiser, and the festival received a larger than usual crowd for many years.

  A brunette, a blonde, and a redhead on stage, it was a free advertisement for MPI. Everyone chose his or her favorite android, but Amy was the overall fan-favorite.

  They played covers of 70s, 80s, and 90s rock-n-roll hits, and it seemed that Kara’s idea for good public relations had paid off. People called MPI wanting to hire the band for bars, events, and even a wedding. Nevertheless, Morse and Phillips were not too interested in that, yet still Kara’s enthusiasm convinced them to allow a few gigs.

  The two scientists-turned-executives had decided to add different looking women to their production models; also, they even assigned a few skilled female engineers to create the first male android. All the while, the old school building-turned-technology powerhouse was ever abuzz with activity.

  As time went on, millions of androids flew off the shelves faster than they could stock them, and the company found very solid ground with a limitless future. Phillips was forever working with Josh and other master programmers to create improved software, larger capacity brains, stronger anti-hacking firewalls, and real-time virus protection.

  Morse worked with other biomechanical engineers to perfect the bodies of the androids, also, to make their production more efficient and easier to repair.

  The two men profited right away from their endeavors and bought themselves new homes, so they did not have to live in the industrious building anymore.

  Amy, Steph, and Alice were simply three more employees after a while. They were very proficient and learned complex tasks. They even helped build other androids at times.

  Even though Morse had been so busy with the new business and his new relationship with Rachel, he always remembered Elizabeth. Today, he was sitting in the office with Phillips when he began thinking of her again. He remembered it was their anniversary when he looked up the date just now, and so he got up, left of the office, went out of the building, and paused to consider where to go for a walk.

  The back of the MPI building was adjacent to large hay fields that went as far as he could see. He decided to walk out into the field with his left hand out feeling the tall grass that was just beginning to brown. He went out a way and stopped. Inhaling the beauty of the world he lived in, he observed the green in the trees, and felt the sun warm his face. Noticing all the little flies and bugs zipping around, he now remembered New York.

  Part of him missed the city with all the noise and bustle, all the taxicabs and corner delis. He missed the life he had with Elizabeth and even the government lab he worked at for years. It felt like those memories were of another life, someone else’s life.

  As he watched and heard birds as they flew around, he started talking aloud, “Hey listen, Liz, I miss you,” he said looking up. “I’m not sure why exactly I’m out here; I think I feel bad that I’m starting to feel good again about life. I feel bad because you’re not with me anymore, but I still feel like I am betraying you. I know you would want me to move on with my life. Still, I feel like I need your permission. I have never loved anyone the way I love you, Liz, and I have never taken my wedding ring off all this time. Now I have met someone. I think you would like her, her name is Rachel, and she is a lot like you: strong, smart, yet gentle, kind, not a smartass.

  “I feel like the closer I get to her, the farther I am getting from you. I wish I had stopped that morning when I saw that bastard in front of our house; I regret that to this day. Still, I can’t change what happened, but I did get the son-of-a-bitch for you. It still doesn’t bring you back though, does it?”

  Tearing up now, he paused. His lungs constricted from the train of memories zipping through his mind.

  After a moment, he caught his breath and went on, “Honey, I will always love you, but can I ask you, is it okay to let you go?”

  He fiddled with his wedding ring and tears ripped over his cheeks.

  A butterfly that came from nowhere it seemed lighted on his left hand. Stunned, he smiled; the butterfly lingered on his hand and looked at him as he raised it to look at it up close. The butterfly again took to the air and flew away.

  Meanwhile in the office, Phillips was having trouble finding a shipment they needed.

  When he found Amy, he told her, “Amy, go find Morse. We have to figure out where this shipment of aluminum is.”

  “Okay, I’ll go find him and tell him what you need.”

  Amy, wearing nice Guess jeans with a logo t-shirt, searched around the building for her master, and then after she went outside, she could see him in the field, so she started walking up to him.

  Morse watched the butterfly fly away, and as he was attempting holding back more tears, he said, “Okay, hun, I’ll never forget you. I swear we will meet again.”
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  He slid his wedding ring off and plunged it in his pocket.

  Amy approached quietly and witnessed him talking to himself, so she just waited. Wiping the tears off his face, he turned to see Amy standing there.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “Mike needs you to help him find a missing shipment of aluminum bars, it is important.”

  He sighed, “Okay, give me a minute, dear.”

  “Why are you out here? Are you okay?”

  “I would tell you, but you could never understand. I just had to be alone.”

  “I do not understand. Who were you talking to?”

  “My wife, Liz,” Morse answered.

  Amy paused and said, “Where is she?”

  “She was here, her spirit anyway.”

  “You feel sad because you miss your wife, so you came out her to talk with her to make yourself feel better,”

  Her programming was working overdrive to land this situation into her unnatural consciousness.

  “Something like that. Well, let’s go back.”

  They walked halfway back to the building and Morse stopped. Amy stopped too and looked at Morse.

  “Amy, you may not ever understand, but you saved my life, you know that?”

  “How did I save your life?”

  Morse smiled, “In my darkest moment the idea of creating you gave me a reason to live, and I think it worked out okay.”

  “I understand.” She mimicked a smile.

  Morse laughed, “It may not be natural, but I love you as much as someone can love a walking computer. You will always be a daughter to me.”

  Amy slowly stepped towards him, reaching out for an embrace.

  “I love you too, Father,” she said clumsily hugging him, and he hugged her back.

  Straightening out, he told her, “Okay, mushy stuff out of the way. Don’t tell anyone I have emotions, okay? Sometimes I envy you.”

  Amy smiled again, “Okay, Father.”

  They walked back to the building and went inside.

  The end.