We took care of one another because we were
family. The left engine burst into
flames but all I could want to do is turn to the right and stare into her
eyes. Looking so
pathetic but just as
beautiful, I looked at my own
reflection in her. I began to cry. It was amazing to gaze into her because all I could see was that all she could see was me. Except this was not
right. It felt right, but it could never be right.
The world
swam before my eyes. I set myself on her soft
skin, all I felt was the weight of my metal body. I remember hoping
life could come from us. When a
robot impregnates a
human being the universe hisses. Our
love created a
miscarriage; when I laid our baby
goodnight as I kissed its soft skin that would never feel
bright, not once did I look up at my woman.
I remember when I met her, my
woman.
Let me show you something, I told her. With my powerful
metal body I carried her to the top of the highest mountain, the highest building. We gazed into ourselves, one another's eyes... When she looked into mine I let her see how I saw her.
Tears of
cathode rays streamed from sockets as I reflected the
universe in its vast, but personal
beauty. I travelled for a thousand years so I could restore this montage of the world for her. I showed her the glowing light of a cosmic world; when I blinked I let her look at her own
reflection.
This is how I see you.
She wrapped herself around me and I felt
warm, I let her take me over. I shuddered in an uncontrollable but pleasant
spasm. Whenever she touched me, she felt
cold. Inside me, she would never let me know. We just stood there at the highest tower and when the sky was
purple I pushed myself from her. The
light reflected across my
metallic surface and I began to cry. We are too different. You, a
human being. I, a
robot.
No, her eyes would tell me.
Come now, brother, lover... say hello, she said. I wanted to give her myself so we would be together
forever. A
shell, like the one I am. The one thing I remember is, what it felt like to never
grow old. When the moon flashed for a thousand years, I was like the moon. We would always be here and there, to gaze into a world we can never truly touch. I
touch.
I have lived a thousand years and walked across the entire galaxy, but not until I was with her did I feel
time. Like
twin towers we were both burning down but life was never being
forgotten.
We were returning from our
honeymoon when the left
engine burst into flames. I covered the window and I stared into her eyes, which look like honey. We would not die on this airplane, not now, not tonight.
That night I looked into the sky and even beneath the fog and all, a purple light reflected across my metal body. I glowed, holding her with all of my love. Except she only grew
cold from my
armor, but of course she would never tell me...
I cannot tell you how long it took for our plane to crash into the ocean, except that for me time only exists when I am with her; when we hold each other I experience a human's
lifetime. This time I began to experience a human's
regret. I
lamented on our love and I
wished we had never found one another, so I would never have to carry this burden of loss when she is gone. I held her with all of my strength and the plane dove into the cold, cold waters of the Atlantic.
We never spoke a word because at this moment we knew that we were
different. We could never
understand one other, but she was my
honey and I was her
guardian. In my eyes I whispered to her a request, that she would always hold on as tightly as she could. We are only simple
people bound by laws of how things are, but that does not change my anger towards life and my desire to not have it
end like this.
When we hit the surface of the water I felt her spine collapse and
crush into a thousand pieces. I
kissed her
face. Now I knew more than ever that I will never understand life and
death. Now I was a
robot once again, so we drifted like
lovers would, to the bottom of the ocean. Always holding her
lifeless body, I began to gasp for air, even though robots do not
breathe. I began to
bleed over her body, except robots are not
alive. At the bottom of the ocean, my cold metallic body suddenly became
soft and the
heat of my skin set a
vibration through her corspe. Her leg involuntarily kicked. I
followed her to the end of life.
I
closed my eyes and she lay before me, with life in her
heart and a
heart in my body. I tore
reality apart to find her.
Say hello, she said. Then I reopened my eyes, and I realized I was still a robot. My body was just as lifeless and cold as hers, except for that brief moment I understood exactly why we experience life and why we experience death. For once in my life, I understood time... That time was
precious, and that
life was a gift. I sat there at
the bottom of the ocean with my woman, until her body
decayed and became nothing but dust. The
light would
shine into the cold waters and reach me at the bottom of the ocean. I reached for it and I could
feel it, in my head I imagined that it was
warm.
Goodnight, I said to the love of a
robot's life, as I swam to the surface of the
Atlantic Ocean. A
thousand years have passed, but I can feel the purple sky on my metal body. Now I know that.