As Ava pressed on the notification, the content was “How was work?”

  Ava typed on her phone, “Not much, except the mundane stuff. How about you with that snobbish boss?”

  Maya replied, “Ehh, same as always. He is always about that persona and brand, but lately he has been hesitating.”

  “He didn’t brag about you this time in the chat.”

  Ava asked on the chat, “Why? Isn’t that what he does?”

  Maya replied, “Don’t know, maybe he is grappling with some problems of his own, either way, I think he is unto something serious.”

  A message from Ava appeared, “Here is what I don’t understand. Why do you work with him anyway? You could be doing other stuff than being his secretary.”

  “And here is the thing, he treats you with respect. Unlike me and the other girls. I mean, only based on the rumors, I know”

  Maya uploaded a sigh emoticon and messaged, “Why does he treat me with respect… You asked? Because I am an android DUHH”

  Ava replied, “How lame.”

  Maya then texted, “I owe my debt to him, Ava. He saved me from a terrorist attack that was trying to attack people. I killed a lot of people during the incident - it was in the Middle East or something. Doing my duties to protect the civilians.”

  “Eventually, a powerful mortar project hit near me, my body’s G force staggered like crazy, and before I knew it. I was already crushed beyond belief.. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t get my head to do it…”

  “I felt that my head was becoming dizzy, my eyes were open, as I witnessed the atrocities happening in the scene. Enemy frontlines breaching in with their weapons, willing to terrorize the civilians.”

  “It was hell, I stayed in the hospital for a year. Doctors tried to operate on me, but it wasn’t enough to fix my now damaged nerve endings for my locomotion. I was completely shocked to no end.”

  “The price was too high, making the doctors reluctant to help. I couldn’t move my body anymore. Ava”

  Ava stares at the phone inside her hotel room, watching the wall of text that Maya is giving her.

  “I lost hope, and then a few days. Two powerful figures arrived inside the health center.”

  “Two figures, Lila and Henry”

  “They were near my body, and they were arguing, to pay for the welfare of other soldiers.”

  “Of course, Henry, being self-serving, was reluctant until eventually Lila convinced him that I would make a good servant on that basis alone to pay for all the health care costs. That’s where he makes his devilish smile.”

  “I knew I was doomed for eternity, the more I stared at his growing self-serving face.”

  “The moment I saw my body turned cybernetic, I stared at Henry, who said that he needed someone capable and tactical to stand beside him side”

  “That’s where I am no longer myself but his sword.”

  “This took place in the laboratory, and Henry paid a high price for it with state-of-the-art technology.”

  Maya then texted, “So yeah, that’s my story. I owe a lot to that douchebag, especially when he does stupid stuff.”

  Ava stared at her phone, texted, “Wow, that’s a lot to take in, Maya. I am curious, have you ever done anything with him, like sex or whatever model he brags about being with?”

  Maya texted with an angry emoticon, “WHAT NO! Okay, well, I do cuddle and take care of him at times needs”

  “I refused his advances with my authority; instead, I positioned myself as his sword, not a toy, by proving my business analytics and my role as a secretary. Even monitoring trends to help his brand”

  Ava enquired on the chat, “What was he like with the other girls?”

  Maya replied, “Oh, they are blazing hot, some of them are models from the high fashion, but at times it’s just bimbos or just girls he picked up from the internet.”

  “He goes on dates with some of them, but he usually seeks ones who have low self-esteem, and he is very self-centered as he is.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “It’s all for his image and the jealousy of others. I did speak with a few of them; they didn’t like me since they are a bunch of entitled brats hanging out with Henry, and thought of themselves as way too good-looking to engage with me or to pay any attention to me.”

  “At times, I would be direct and order them, and they would hate me for it.”

  Ava replied, “I can see that based on the way you interact with me in the club.”

  Maya then replied with an amused tone, “At times I would bring them burgers and pizza, and tempt them with delicious foods, and the moment they started to eat. I would point at them and, with a serious tone, ‘Miss, make sure not to overeat, girl, your weight might increase.”

  “And you might lose your ‘freshness’ with him.”

  With a troll face emoji.

  Ava then slowly nodded, “I see, have you seen a girl who's a little too good?”

  Maya was seen typing where eventually it popped on her chat, “Let’s just say she used Henry for modeling points in the galas, she walked away from her like a provocative runaway gig, got him into a debacle.”

  “Very arrogant, that Henry ordered me to put an end to her career by framing her.”

  “She was quite the star, wasn’t she, but that star fades away quickly.”

  Ava texted, “I see… Dangerous fella, that I should be wary of.”

  Maya replied, “Yes. At times, for damage control, I would comfort the girls that Henry had used and treat them. You aren’t the first, and you certainly won’t be the last he used for me to comfort.”

  Ava then asked another question, “Interesting, why is it like that then?”

  Maya replied, “I don’t know… I don’t care, having ladies on his arm gives him bragging points and helps his persona a lot.”

  Ava then asked, “What is it for me then? How am I supposed to survive in a world of transactions and live a life away from Henry?”

  Maya then responded, “You have a certain autonomy, you are not just beautiful, but you are equipped with the best hardware I have ever scanned, the agency to climb the fashion ladder or business. I don’t do business; I am a soldier, not a model. Stick to what you are good at.”

  She then typed, “Okay… It’s the weekend, I think I have a lot of time to do” before clicking send.

  Maya didn’t reply, leaving Ava to be seen.

  Ava held her phone before asking Maya, “So, tell me, what is it like to be an android? You and I happen to have silicon in our bodies, so I am trying to find familiarity here.”

  Ava was left until the typing indicator could be seen, “Nothing.”

  “The only thing that I could no longer experience is the human flesh experience. I will be watching these people experience all these colors that make them alive.”

  “Imagine you are in a war, and you don’t experience heat like the others, if I feel pain, it’s because it’s a binary code that’s sent to my mind.”

  “Or just real-time analysis, I don’t feel pain, but I am supposed to react to whatever the abstract is called pain. Pain has become ABSTRACT”

  She paused before saying, “Maybe it’s just my remaining humanity.”

  Ava replied, “I see, very interesting.”

  Maya responded with a conclusion, “I will tell you more about my stuff one day, you should be lucky to experience flesh while you live.”

  Ava responded with a heart and texted, “Very much appreciated, Maya.”

  Ava placed her phone down and rested. Tired, having nothing to do, anything else anymore.

  Soon, she reflexively pinched her own skin and smiled with her eyes, turning grateful, “Maybe I am as beautiful and dazzling as others thought.”

  “Now that I think about it, my body is indeed unique. I can process lots of data while being able to cook, eat, and even get laid.”

  She placed her hand on her mouth and giggled, “I am not really a robot, but I am not a human either. I have the benefits of both,” she said

  “But it’s not a gift, but something she was blessed with, luckily.”

  Feeling curious, she decided to test her fleshy side, imagining going to a shower with normal clothes, no nanotech. None of that, maybe even better.

  She wanted to experience her limitations and her biology.

  She exited the hotel and saw herself outside it, seeing the sky and the breath of fresh air and the monoliths and the skyscrapers.

  She began running, every beat counts, every step, every mile per minute was all recorded in her cybernetic mind.

  She continued to jog, while wearing her normal flexible clothes, getting the feel of her kinesthesia, lung capacity, and even breathing, every human metric there is.

  She was wearing flexible, ordinary clothes that wouldn’t wear from friction, which was the standard to test her average athletic capabilities.

  Ava’s cybernetic in real time, keeping track of every impact, speed, or even vitals while running with the wind, she wasn’t getting tired of herself at all.

  Either the temperature was optimal to allow her mobility, even meters away, allowing dexterity and running speed without any indication of sweat.

  The area brimmed with civilian activity, as the hover cars were on the skyroads, gliding around the towers and places, even hopping off to descend somewhere.

  This spacious advantage gives her the freedom to test her mobility and biological limitations.

  She soon halted herself, breathing in and out of her oxygen. She managed to secure half a kilometer by merely running, she checked to see if she had any sweat drops, and they were minimal. She checked if her clothes were provocative, but it was just normal - no signs of drench either in her shirt and pants.

  She then looked down, before looking straight at a synthetic fast food. She went inside and bought a McBurger.

  As soon as she had her order delivered almost instantly, she went to her table and ate her fast-food synthetic burger, proud that she had a functional, above-average metabolism and potential athletic body.

  “Maybe I should try exercising or running while being. Or I could do some modeling or maybe some fashion events.”

  She waved her head and said, “Nah, I want to remain low profile for a while, with that financial stability.”

  “I still want to look for my father, so I can understand my origins better.”