Droids

By Mallika Kanneganti

It had been almost a year, and the uneasy feeling still hadn’t gone away.

I tried to go about my day, every day, like nothing was wrong. I went to work and pretended I was okay, but the constant paranoia made day-to-day living hard.

I lived with my “girlfriend”. One day last year (November fourteenth; I can’t ever forget that) I woke up and she kissed me on the cheek, but it was different. Her lips were cold and hard. I thought I saw a screw behind her ear, and the way she moved was different--jerky instead of smooth.

At first, I thought nothing of it. She could have just not been feeling well, and the screw could have been an earring, right?

I went to work, and my boss was the same. Same jerky movements, same dull look in the eyes. I made up an excuse and left immediately, then called my mom. Her voice sounded different. She spoke slower and her words didn’t flow like normal. Then I felt scared. I’ve been scared ever since then. I barely go out anymore because I don’t like seeing them. The droids.

One day, a thought occurred to me. Maybe it wasn’t like this everywhere. I turned on the news--something I never do, because it’s trash--and the anchor looked and talked just like the rest of them. I frantically got in my car, and drove for hours, the radio calming me. I finally pulled into a small diner, and the lady who took my order was just like the rest of them. I looked around, and all the customers were too. I wanted to scream. I ran outside so that the “lady” wouldn’t see me crying.

For a while after that, I tried to go about my regular life. I pretended that all the droids in my life were the same people I’d known and loved. Only it wasn’t the same. But what else could I do?

After a year, I had almost gotten used to it.

Almost.

Today, I noticed something different about one of the droids. I went to my brother’s house; I guess there was no point in going since it wasn’t really my brother but I missed him and I liked to pretend that his droid was really him.

We were playing videogames, talking about Pokemon, when I noticed his ear was leaking oil.

“What’s that on your ear?” I asked my “brother.” He put his hand up to his ear. “It’s nothing. I think you need to go now.”

“What?”

“Now.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the door, pushing me out, then locking it. I didn’t want to go, though, so I stayed in his front yard and hid in a bush, trying to see what I could through the window.

I hadn’t been watching for long when I saw him get in his car and start driving down the road. I quickly got in mine and followed him.

It was a long drive, filled with curvy roads and lots of turns, but after a couple hours, my brother and I arrived at a strange building. It looked like a factory but I couldn’t be sure. I watched my “brother” walk through the door of the building.

My hands were shaking but I told myself, I would rather die than go the rest of my life not knowing the truth.

Mistake.

Thousands of realistic human-like droids, strewn about, some laying down in piles, some standing upright. Some of them had parts missing, and lots of them were bleeding, but it wasn’t blood--it was oil. It seemed like a sort of robot factory.

For the past year, I had hoped that I was crazy, that I was mistaken about the droids. I had prayed that one day, I would see another human.

From this factory, though, I knew that the droids had to be real.

I walked around the factory, trying to figure out what was going on. I almost had a heart attack when I saw it.

Imagine a tiny human made of jelly, except colored gray. That was basically what I saw. It looked different from the droids, but I couldn’t tell if it was alive or not. It appeared to look at me, then its jelly legs bounced as it walked towards me.

I couldn’t move from fear. I couldn’t even scream. A small whimper came out of my mouth as the creature came closer to me.

Then I blacked out.

I awoke in a chair. I tried to get up but I was still having trouble moving my limbs. My heart raced again when the creature approached me. Its face was inches away from mine.

It is alive, I decided.

I should have been happy about seeing the face of something alive, only it wasn’t human.

“Hello,” the thing said.

I wanted to cry, but no tears came out.

“Don’t be scared. We’re not here to hurt you. What do you remember?”

I took a few deep breaths.

“One day last year, I just woke up and everyone was a robot.” It sounded so unbelievable, but it was the truth.

“You’re the first human we’ve seen on Earth in a long time.”

I felt a lump in my throat. It wasn’t a surprise, but was still devastating to hear.

“Can I ask you something?” the thing continued. “What year do you remember it being?”

“2020?” I tried to answer confidently, but I wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

It smiled and shook its head.

“What humans called ‘2020’ was 1,038 years ago. The human race has been thought to be extinct since about that year”

I gaped at him.

“I know it’s a huge shock, but let me explain. It started when the Zyta invaded the Earth.”

“The who?”

“The Zyta. We’re a race of aliens. We invaded Earth in 2020. We weren’t hostile; we just came for a visit. They didn’t mean to but they accidentally wiped out most of the human population by exposing them to foreign diseases.” It took a breath. “Before you all died, we learned your language and your ways. And a few Zyta still live on Earth. They made the robots to repopulate the Earth. You’re the first real human that has been seen on Earth since they came though. You must have somehow survived in suspended animation during that time.”

I didn’t know how to react. I was relieved that I wasn’t crazy but devastated that I was the last human on Earth. I wanted to throw up and cry and sigh all at the same time. I tried again to move my limbs and saw that now I could move them.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” the thing said. “But I promise, it’s the truth. I made robots of your friends and family and everyone else on Earth to preserve the knowledge of humanity.”

Watching it talk was simultaneously fascinating and disgusting. It spoke in English but its voice was hard to understand.

“I don’t want to be the only human on Earth.” I sobbed.

“It is strange that you’re the only human on Earth,” it answered. “But I’m sorry; we only had one spaceship that hasn’t worked since 2020.”

“You have to do something! I can’t be the only human on Earth!” I stared at it with my mouth open.

“You look strange for a human,” the Zyta said. It seemed curious. “Are you sure you’re a human?”

I started to cry, only when I felt my face, the liquid that I felt wasn’t tears. It was black and thick. Oil.

“No,” I whimpered. “That’s impossible. I’m a human.”

I felt the back of my ear and felt a cold piece of metal. A screw.

“No. No. I’m not a droid.” I cried more and more oil gushed out of my eyes.

I hoped my battery would run out.

I spoke to myself.

“I would rather die than go the rest of my life knowing the truth.”

By Mallika Kanneganti