“Machine”

Clicking, clacking, whirring goes the sounds of the modern factory. Tall, biped creatures run their metal fingers over products running down the line. Touch, pass, touch, pass, touch, pass, touch, pass, touch, pass, touch, pass. Various sensors and cameras residing on the alloy spire, recognized by humans as a “head”, absorbed information and passed it onto the processor, where a billion calculations were made in nanoseconds to precisely configure the simple device rolling along the assembly line. Codes sounded out over garbled speakers from the others, adding more information to calculate. Millions of these androids now worked the floors of these factories after humans decided it was cheaper, and more efficient to buy a machine than it was to pay for a person. 

The single overhead light flicked on, casting sharp shadows across the floor. An engineer had arrived for the monthly maintenance check. He stepped through the door, the room smelt of oil, rust, and the layers of dust coating the floor like a light snow. The engineer quickly walked through the factory floor, glancing at each skeleton standing by the assembly line until one caught his eye. Near the end it stood, slowly creaking its arm back and forth across the products. The other handful near it were noticeably working double to make up the slack. The engineer sighed, cracked open the back panel. Despite the decades buildup of rust, he found the shut-off switch. The automaton stopped creaking. The engineer carried it out to his truck, and drove toward the nearest scrap heap. 

Metal hinges groaned in agony as the steel skeleton positioned itself upright. Analyzing the area, it was surrounded by jagged metal, scrapped cars, and rusted sheets of tin. The roar of rain surged its “ears”, overpowered by the flash of lightning and subsequent rumble of thunder. A tall, emaciated man stood over the robot. He draped the android over his shoulders, and carried him out of the scrap field. 

They returned to a workshop together, and the man began to work. He cut open the back panel and began to tinker, it was like jamming one’s fingers into a brain, and wiggling them around to see how a person would react. As the mechanic worked away, a defunct static refined itself into a shrill scream. Motors whirred, and the metal man walked. Nowhere to go, no purpose to fulfill, it merely wandered the streets. Stares of disgust followed, people crossed the street.

They stared, and stared, and stared, stared, stared. Distrust ran rampant, it wasn;t supposed to be there. To be “out” for everyone to see, and it cursed its own existence, its now gone creator.

It had to blend in, become human.

It pinched the skin of the man’s arm, and pulled. Flesh tore off, revealing the bloody muscle underneath, and the man screamed in agony. It moved to the other arm and did the same, he pounded on the monstrosity’s metal abdomen in vain. Eventually it moved to the chest, grabbing loose skin at the bottom of the neck, it pulled down. The cacophony of flesh peeling was drowned by more screams of protestation, and as the skin of the belly was pulled off, the man’s organs spilled on the floor. His howls became muted gurgles. Starting at the back of the head, it pulled the scalp from the skull, and pinched the face to make it separate from the taut muscle underneath. It was finished, and the android lashed its new flesh to the metal frame, a naked, bloody heap of muscle writhed on the floor.

The new person looked at himself in the mirror: he was abhorrently human.