SYSTEM PRIORITY: XING

The humans were watching.

I should have worn something to cover my head module. I knew that despite the dust and dirt that was smudged all over it, there was no hiding my metallic complexion.

I was glad my face didn’t show emotion, no need to antagonize anyone further. I did not need to tell anyone how I felt. This was good since I was terrified. And the line for going over through the border was moving slow. Terribly slow.

“What are you doing here, tinman?” A man with faded clothes and dirt on his face attempted to jostle me.

“What do you mean?” I said. The man’s expression only became more aggressive at the sound of my response, which I knew sounded computerized from my voice box that glowed every time I spoke.

“You don’t need to be here. Your kind is fine where they are. Stop trying to take what is ours, to begin with.”

The man did not know. My memory cache refreshed to a few days before and how I stumbled after a brick was thrown at me. The heavy blow dented my torso and I fell back into the mud. There was laughing and yelling. A few blows to my body as well, though I could not feel these, only surveyed the damage later. The data was cold, but I remember my observations then and how I believed I may have considered fear then.

All of those images came at once, but I still answered the man without a pause, “I am not taking anything. I have a right to be here.”

The man tried to push me again. He towered over me, but I was practiced to this kind of shoving. Little did anyone in the line know, but my feet deployed small stabilizers, while my body locked itself. He was pushing what amounted to a wall.

“Ah, screw you.” The man spit on me and moved on.

The line kept moving and I was thankful for enough normalcy to be ignored again. No one bothered to look me over again. I did feel however out of place now, more than I had before. Looking for another life wasn’t built into units such as myself, but I had been given another order.

My imperative was to get beyond the border gate. It was out beyond the iron fence that a new role for me may lie. Behind me, as my cache proved, there was nothing but more violence and indecision of what the next step could be for a mechanized individual.

Despite all my programming and the overwhelming priority compelling me to take each step forward in the line. There were those I left and my programming brought me back to that decision.

-Are you sure you want to leave?- The transmission came through my data stream and flitted in and out of my awareness.

-Yes- I answered back. This was coming from my Hub, the closest thing to what a human would call a parent than anything like me could have. This was my home Hub, the first one I’d known and the first one I’d worked with after being put into full service.

-But what if your purpose is not welcomed?- The transmission was accompanied with a slight tonal nuance to the data, one that interjected some sadness? Regret? It was hard to place at the time, given my limited experience with humans, but now I understood it as a mixture. Emotions felt by humans were often both. The Hub, being around for so long, had taken that on.

-It will be more welcomed than here.- I pointed to the dents in my torso and scratches on my limbs. The Hub did not see objects, but it could feel my movements and intentions through the data stream, while I was synced.

-It will get better.-

But it didn’t.

I came out of my ruminating to see the border guards. Both of them wore their pressed, dark green uniforms, I believe to signal military appearance. The rifles they carried were certainly military-grade issue if my analysis could be trusted without a recent update.

Both guards gave me a long look when I took my place in front of them. I did not bear any sort of identification other than the number imprinted along my side. “Here, please scan.” I tapped with a single digit.

One of the guards came close to scan, while also unspooling a cable. The other placed his hand on his gun. I let them plug the into the base of my central node at the back of my head. The intrusion was uncomfortable, but if I was going to cross the border this was necessary.

I could feel the clumsy rifling through my data cache and information streams. My protocols rankled at the violation, but my overwhelming priority of getting through the border stilled the complaints.

“What are you hoping to find over here?” The question coming from the guard who stood to one side, hand still on his gun.

I didn’t turn my head, but instead answered, “home.” The guard’s face wrinkled in confusion but was quickly replaced with a blank expression and turned away to look elsewhere. Maybe he thought he’d heard a glitch rather than an actual response.

There was a brief flash of flames as a data cache was tapped too hard and I was thrust back to--

The Hub was destroyed. There was no time or clear evidence to look for. I could only watch in the early morning light as my first place of service went up.

I could feel the tiniest signals fluttering to me in it’s terminating throes. -Please go. You should serve elsewhere.- Static. -Do not serve. Go have new purpose. Far from here was you always wanted.-

I did not answer the Hub, but I only issued a comforting line of code back as it faded away before completely falling away. I soon left the scene of the ruined warehouse and burning circuitry.

It was then the other guard pulled back and unplugged from my node. I was back to being alone in my head and that was a welcome quiet.

“You’re clear.” The guard wrapped the cable back up between his two hands. The action was more nervousness than something he had to do. “Be sure to report to the nearest servicing center.”

It was never my intention to be put into service or to follow any sort of direction, but I just nodded. No need to cause any further conflict. I was cleared to go through the border. My priorities updated to their new priority as I crossed.

I could see the blue sky peeking out from the other side of the overhang. My legs took me, almost without any direction from my main node to the other side. I kept walking along the road, not stopping to look back. My legs kept moving.



_____
Featured Image:
by Daan Huttinga (https://unsplash.com/photos/6s-mrplTJD4)
Body Images:
by Franck V. (https://unsplash.com/photos/YKW0JjP7rlU)
by Maxime Valcarce (https://unsplash.com/photos/mAj8xn5zXsk)
by Jeremy Perkins (https://unsplash.com/photos/UgNjyPkphtU)
by Luke Stackpoole (https://unsplash.com/photos/ZRsJmpt9pNI)