Toeing the carpet with one foot, Veda cracks a nervous smile. “Not… not quite like me, I do not think.” She lets go of her shirt’s hem, brushes one hand through her hair. It had been getting longer, lately, Mike had been right about that.
Her shoulders set, posture a touch defensive, as she gathers her courage and finally admits the truth. “I am no… I have never been… alive, in the sense you would normally think of.”
“You’re … not alive?” Jack watched her intently for a moment. Since his taste in fiction ran more toward fantasy than sci-fi, his first thoughts were of ghosts and the undead. But Veda didn’t look like a supernatural creature – and besides, “never been alive” somewhat ruled that out.
He decided to come right out and ask it. “Then, wh-what are you? M-maybe you’d better just tell me.”
Staring at her feet now, with him watching her like that, Veda keeps quiet, having several false starts at explaining before she finally speaks up. “I am… I suppose ‘artificial’ may be a good term, although…” Rubbing at one wrist, she forces a faint smile. “Are you… are you familiar with robotics?”
… Well, that certainly explained a lot. Jack remembered back to the first time he’d met Veda, and how vague she’d been about her past and what she did now. Suddenly, it didn’t seem nearly as strange.
“… Y-you’re a robot?” He didn’t sound scared or upset at all. Instead, he was intensely curious. He hadn’t noticed any clues that Veda was anything but human – whoever had made her was an artist.
Jack Maple 