Single Wired Female (Wired for Love Book 2)

by Greg Dragon

  She was out again and when she woke up she had feeling in her limbs. She didn’t know how long it had been since what appeared to be a rape and murder had occurred above her body. When she saw that she was in a hospital bed, there was a sense of déjà vu but this was a smaller room that had no windows.

  Tricia lifted up her arms and observed her hands. They were slender and tan, with long fingers that ended in well-manicured nails. She did the same with her feet, then reached up to touch her nose and mouth. Once she was satisfied that she was whole again she stood up and found a mirror. Shock ran through her when she recognized the face in the mirror to be that of Tricia and not Bonnie O’Neal as it had been for so long.

  She could feel the cold floor beneath her feet and in her chest beat a heart that made her wonder if she was still indeed an android. She probed her memory to access Reynaldo’s folder and sighed with relief when she found it there along with Bonnie’s memories. She pulled on a robe and slipped on the slippers that were at the foot of the bed. She walked to the door and pushed it open, expecting to find a busy hospital where an orderly would rush up to her and secure her back to the bed.

  There was no orderly; there was an empty hallway lined with doors similar to the one that she had come through. Tricia tried each and every one of the doors, hoping within her heart of hearts that there would be someone inside of one of them that she could talk to and get her questions answered. She pressed on like this all the way to the end where she descended some stairs that took her to an empty lobby where the brilliant sun spilled in through tall, glass windows.

  Everything seemed different. No, everything seemed better, Tricia thought as she walked out onto the sidewalk and looked around. It all seemed to be better somehow. The cars, which would normally move along at a jumbled pace when traffic was busy, were all in line—moving smoothly above her. People wore smiles and they waved, winked or mouthed “hello” when they walked past her.

  She instinctively reached for her device. Maybe Sal would know what happened. But she realized that she was in a hospital gown. Somewhere in her groggy walk outside of the building she had forgotten that she wasn’t dressed. This realization led to immediate action and she ran back inside of the building to see if her belongings were inside of the room.

  When she went back inside things were different. There was no longer the long, lit, abandoned hallway that she had walked through to get to the street. What she saw instead was the inside of a house, clean and cozy, with a hospital bed, computers, and other equipment in what should have been the kitchen.

  Tricia rubbed her eyes and hit her forehead with the ball of her hand, trying to make sense of what was going on. She closed her eyes and tried to focus, then opened them again in hopes of things being back to normal when she did. Her eyes focused and she was still in the house, so she walked over to the bed and examined it closely. She had been in it, and as she scanned the computers it looked as if she had been in it for quite some time.

  She sat on the side of the bed and began to examine the records. Why was I here and what has been done to me? She wondered.

  There was a lot of work done on her, apparently, and whomever it was had done it in secrecy. She saw that parts had come from several areas of the world and she wondered if her captor had taken her to each one of these places to get them. The memories of the random buildings that her head was in as she faded in and out of consciousness led her to believe that this was the case. She looked around the room for the person who had worked on her, but despite it being clean there was no evidence of anyone having been there in a very long time.

  She got up and checked the rooms, paying special attention to the bedroom and closets, thinking that perhaps the person was hiding there. She found nothing and it made her question her sanity. Was she really in an abandoned house or was she hanging alongside several other victims of the bounty hunters, waiting to be processed?

  The zap stick of the hunter was what had put her out but she hadn’t expected to be aware of who she was when they rebuilt her. She went back to the computer and tried to access the web. Her slender fingers touched the screen and she pulled them back quickly when she realized that the computer itself was different. She had never seen one that looked like it, yet it operated in a similar fashion to ones that she knew. The screens were thin, glass frames that were a hollowed out rectangle suspended above a small platform on the desk.

  When she put her fingers near it, a keyboard appeared. It seemed to be built from laser lights, but she wondered how it worked. She touched a few keys and felt the feedback against her fingers. The keyboard was there, and the empty rectangle showed a blue screen with different icons, one that had rolled forward to reveal itself as a notepad with the words she was typing.

  The year on the computer did not make any sense to her. If it were to be believed, she would have been out for over fifty years. Fifty years, she repeated to herself and then got up to find her belongings. There was nothing near the hospital bed so she walked into the bedroom and this time when she went into the closet she paid attention to the clothes that were there.

  It was women’s clothes that stood suspended on the magnetic hangers and women’s shoes that were stacked on the wall across from the mirror. Tricia faced the mirror and jumped when she saw herself. She had expected to see Bonnie’s face and body but what she saw was her original face, better in many ways, but hers nonetheless. She rubbed her skin, opened her mouth, and batted her eyes to test. She looked absolutely human and felt more alive than she had ever felt.

  Her mood lifted and she felt at ease, so she picked out a dress made from silver material, black flats, and a short black coat to go over it. She went into the bathroom and was not surprised to find makeup where she would expect to find it. She put on a light foundation, dark eyeliner and silver mascara which made her blue eyes jump out of her face in spectacular fashion. For her lips she went with black, and then finished up her new ensemble with one of the many perfumes.

  The house seemed to be made for her, judging by the ease in which everything fit and the fact that she knew where they were. She saw that the bathroom lacked a toilet and this made her even more convinced that it was a place made for androids. Her mind drifted to the way the cars were moving and how the people were all so warm and friendly to her, even though she had stood out in front of them in a hospital robe.

  She walked the rooms, taking note of the little features that hinted at android housing of some sort. When she finished scanning it she was fully convinced that it was meant to be hers. When she went to exit the house once more, she saw that a note had been pinned to the side of the wall where she would need to touch the panel in order to open the door. It read:

  Tricia, I’ve given you your life back. Live free, experience everything, and stay away from the company. They used your data and put a hunter on you, right after they tried to make me disappear. They’re coming for me now but I just want you to know that I loved you more than life itself.

  Tricia felt weak and exhausted from the words on the note. It was a blow to her heart that she hadn’t expected. “They’re coming for me now,” was what stuck out the most because it hinted at a finality that was not just real but guaranteed. She knew who it was from and what it meant, but she was curious about this new world that was fifty years past the events of Bonnie’s murder.

  She stepped out into the sunlight and scanned the horizon. There were tall skyscrapers and hovering ads but what stuck out the most was a black building with red letters emblazoned on its surface. “Fritz, Isaac, and Eras Innovations – Bringing you and yours a better quality of life.”

  Tricia gave it a cold glance and descended the stairs. In a few steps she was back on the sidewalk, watching the people pass by. Was this real? It was very likely that she was stuck in a program meant to keep her happy and sedated until her true functions were needed. It could be real, she thought as she brushed past a man, and as he turned around, annoyed, she knew that it was reality.
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br />   A voice came to her inside of her head and when she looked around to find its source she saw a man seated on a bench staring at her.

  “Are you a new android?” he asked.

  “I guess it depends on what you consider new to mean,” Tricia replied.

  “New as in, freshly built,” he asked and Tricia hesitated in answering.

  “None of us are truly new, can you agree? Some of us come from the bodies of others, hunted or scrapped for crimes that we had no control over,” she said.

  “You’re definitely not new and you’re aware. I wonder, how it is that you are here now in Neo Seattle.”

  Neo Seattle, is that where I am? Tricia asked herself, Odd, because it looks just like old Seattle. The only thing I see different is a building or two where they don’t belong. She got up and waved to the android, then she walked the length of the sidewalk down towards the fish market.

  It surprised her how many androids were now unrestrained and going about their business like human beings. There were even partials—half man, half droid—which meant that acceptance of technology had become widespread. She recognized the androids and they in turn recognized her. She thought that she should have felt frightened because of this, but what she felt was pride and happiness that the world had come to accept synthetic people.

  She walked past the market to the docks where a number of cruise liners were boarding people sailing off to who knew where. The signs that once said androids were disallowed from boarding the ships had been replaced with advertising that told of cheap fares and charging stations on every ship.

  Android heaven. If ever there was one, this would be it, Tricia thought, though she still found it hard to accept that what she was seeing was reality. “I’m an android,” she announced to the police officer that stood near the line of people. “I’ve been with humans and I am unrestrained.” She prepared herself to be spun around and cuffed, but the policeman only looked at her queerly and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “So what?”

  “Is that a line? You picking me up?” he joked, and then started to laugh so hysterically that others who overheard him began to laugh at her, too. Tricia wanted to be upset but she couldn’t find the emotion, and before long she was laughing, too. “Get on the ship; you know you want to,” the policeman said. “It’s just a tour of Seattle’s harbor so if you haven’t cruised before, this is a free one that you want to take advantage of.”

  “Are you serious?” Tricia asked, looking around at everyone else to make sure he wasn’t pulling her leg.

  “Dead serious, sister. I saw how you were up there looking at the ships and I know from what I was seeing that you want to get on one of them.”

  Tricia didn’t know what to say but she took his advice and got in line. In a short couple of hours she found herself at the side of the ship as it pushed out towards the deeper ocean in order to start its journey. “Android heaven,” she said out loud and stared at the water as if it would respond.

  “I am me again!” she yelled into the ocean, but the sounds of the partying on the decks along with the loud crashing of the ocean made her voice come out tiny and inaudible. “I AM ME AGAIN!” she shouted at the top of her lungs and the resounding “Woo!” that came in response made her feel even happier to be alive.

  Life is complex, this was true, but so is anything that comes with large rewards for a lucky few. Who would have thought that a pretty android girl could be herself in a world where mechanophilia had been a crime? But this was the same world that held back women from doing many of the same things that their male counterparts could do. The same world that butchered people over religious ideologies and the words of twisted, evil, leaders.

  Life was always going to be harsh and cruel for those who were different from the majority. Many years ago, she had become one of the first, truly unrestrained androids and had seen her creator destroyed for it. Waking up as Bonnie and pushing for the truth had caused her to meet good human people who wanted the same change that she desired.

  With Stephen she had been lucky to meet someone who truly loved her. Loved her enough to see past her wires, and loved her enough to rebuild her so that she could awaken to a brave new world that accepted her for who she truly was.

  About The Author

  GREG DRAGON brings a fresh perspective to fiction by telling human stories of life, love and relationships in a science fiction setting. This unconventional author spins his celestial scenes from an imagination nurtured from being an avid reader himself. His exposure to multiple cultures, multiple religions, martial arts, and travel lends a unique dynamic to his stories.

  See Greg’s author page at gregdragon.com or keep up with his latest books and appearances through email.

  Books by Greg Dragon

  The New Phase

  Anstractor: Vestalia

  Phasers of Anstractor

  Supreme Leader of Anstractor

  Memories of Anstractor

  Lady Hellgate

  Blade of the Lucan

  Knights and Demons Omnibus | Season One

  Re-Wired

  Single Wired Female

  The Factory

  NEVER MISS A NEW RELEASE!

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