For My Broken Heart - short stories

Please Don't Speak To The Androids

"Will you be travelling with an android today?" asks the attendant. I give him a look that says, do I look rich to you? but I simply tell him no, I travel alone. One human ticket, please.

He sends me through the metal detector and on the other side an android holds my inspected bags.

"Thank you," I say to them, immediately cringing. I feel the odd looks already.

"Please don't speak to the androids, ma'am," says the attendant. "They are company property and you are liable for damage."

Damage? How can thanking a machine cause any damage?

"Sorry," I say. "I'm just so used-"

"Yeah we've heard the spiel, move along ma'am."

I sigh, but oblige. I head for my gate, flight 158 to the Pearson airport. As most air travel experiences go, it's noisy, boring, a long wait and for the most part feels like a waste of time.

I manage to survive boarding, by which point it is past midnight. When I'm settled in I get an orange juice box from the stewardess, and with some time I drift off into sleep.

|Please don't speak to the androids... You are liable for damage.

The next morning is one of chaos, waking up in an uncomfortable position to be thrown immediately into the wonders of an airport at 7am.

There are only two tasks on my mind, coffee and cab.

The trainee at Tim Horton's fails to stir my iced coffee, but that's fine. Luckily, at an airport in a city this big, cabs aren't difficult to flag down. After retrieving my luggage, I head outside to finally breathe in that sweet, sweet, exhaust-and-fossil-fuel scent of the city.

I head toward the nearest vacant cab, but before I can I'm cut off by whom I think is a rude stranger at first, but then by the gear symbol on their arm I can see is an android. His jacket says "🔇 Assistant". I'm reminded of what the attendant said about speaking to the androids, and find myself wondering if androids can speak, but are prohibited to do so.

Why would that be?

The Mute Assistant flags the cab and opens the door foor me. It even looks like he speaks to the driver for a brief moment, but that could've been hyperactive imagining. I get into the cab.

"Thank you," I say to the android as a get in the cab, then I flince. I glance at the assistant to see him make strange, strained movements with his mouth. Then he walks away quickly, but he doesn't return to his original post. I watch as he speedwalks down the street and disappears around the corner.

"So where are you off to?"

*

"Mara! Oh, honey it's been too long!" my brother in law, Azazel, hugs me tightly when I enter the crowed parlour. "Baby, your sister is finally here." My brother Tate gets off the couch and I can see that there are tears in his eyes.

"Dad said not to expect you," he says embracing me.

I just shrug and push him off as gently as I can.

"Could you grab me a drink?" I ask, trying to project my voice over the music that's beginning to thump.

"Yeah for sure," says Tate. He scans the room momentarily, then his eyes light up and he waves someone over with two fingers. I follow his gesture and my eyes land on another android. I get a funny feeling in my chest seeing this android. Modeled after a caucasian male, with dark facial hair and crisp curls. I realize the funny feeling is... attraction.