Chapter Text
1554 Park Av., Detroit
May 13th, 2034
Saturday
The elevator announced it had arrived at floor 70, and its doors opened to the modern entrance of the Phillips apartment. As John Phillips stepped into his home, the first thing he noticed was a sweet scent of lavender and the reflection of the floor. Caroline had cleaned the apartment again.
He instinctively placed his briefcase on the messy entryway table, and checked his watch one last time, as if time could’ve miraculously gone back a couple of hours. He hissed in disappointment when it didn’t.
9:00 pm
The only lights that were on were the ones at the entrance: The two white ones that illuminated Caroline’s bonsai tree and the aquarium’s bluish lights, which meant that his wife had been waiting for him to return.
He then made his way towards their living room, the dim, white glow of the glass television being the only light present. The volume was set very low, not enough for John to understand what the reporter was saying, yet the headline was impossible to ignore:
“EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CYBERLIFE CEO ELIJAH KAMSKI”
He grabbed the controller from the couch and turned the TV off. Then, he made his way towards the kitchen, turning the light above the dining table on. He hadn’t eaten all day, too busy with the meeting, and only now he felt the emptiness of his stomach.
He swiped at the fridge with the palm of his hand, and a screen with the same news channel as the one on the TV was displayed. With a soft press of his fingertip, the fridge was opened, and John was disappointedly faced with a boring stack of frozen meals.
He did not possess neither the patience to unfreeze something nor the desire to eat the same industrialized rice and chicken for the sixth day in a row, so he simply grabbed some bread, cheese and ham, took the cleaning products and cloths out of the counter, and prepared himself a quick sandwich.
He was careful not to make a mess, since he knew his wife would be less than pleased if she found as much as a single breadcrumb in the kitchen she had been cleaning all day.
He absently watched the news while he ate. The KNC reporter, a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair and a light blazer, was talking about the topic of the moment: androids.
“...androids have completely transformed the world in which we live. By letting androids into our homes and factories, the Cyberlife company has made them everyday technology…”
As soon as he finished eating, he swiped at the fridge’s screen again, and it disappeared as if it were never there. Just as he was about to go into his and Caroline’s room to check on her and go to sleep, he decided to check on Emma, even though she was probably sleeping by now.
He approached the purple door and slid it softly to the left with a movement of his hand, and his eyes were met with the soft glow of his daughter’s yellow lamps.
Emma Phillips was soundly asleep among several plush toys and purple blankets.
Sitting beside her was Caroline Phillips, who was gently brushing her fingers across their daughter’s brown hair. John stood at the doorframe silently, the sight of his family a comfort after the stress of his work.
His wife looked up to him and gave him a tired smile, before closing her eyes and letting her head fall down a little bit. She got up slowly so as to not disturb Emma, and made her way to his side, resting her head on his shoulder to watch as their daughter slept.
After a moment of silence, she spoke with a tired voice. “Did something happen at work?”
The question he had been dreading and rehearsing for. “I’m sorry dear, the entire finance department was drowning, I had to stay for the meeting and-” she shushed him lightly, nodding towards Emma. Don’t wake her up.
“It’s ok…” she said with a sigh, though there was a faint disappointment in her tone.
He brushed his hand across her shoulder and tried to see into her hazel eyes. But instead of finding any answers, she simply flashed him a soft smile and sighted before kissing him on the cheek and telling him they should go to sleep.
Since his college days, John had always greatly appreciated hot showers. Today, however, while the soothing warmth of water rushing across his skin, the warm vapor fogging up the mirrors, and the rain-like sound of water relaxed his muscles, his head still ached. They already had this discussion before, and her answer was always the same, but he could tell today might be different.
Caroline was seated upright on her side of the bed, staring intently at nothing in particular. He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “How was work yesterday, Dear?” He asked her to test the waters. If there was one thing that could put Caroline in a good mood, it was letting her talk about her projects.
She adjusted her posture, and John could see a subtle smirk in her face. “It’s going well, we just started the schematics for the 50th floor, we’ll see about the electrical grids for the 40th with the engineers once they are done with whatever they’ve occupied themselves with.”
As she spoke, he reached for the tablet on his nightstand. As always, he first opened his emails, to check if anything important might’ve popped up. He absently noticed that she stopped talking and seemed serious.
“You promised her you would’ve played with her once you got home” He didn’t look up from his tablet, but tried to divert the talk with some excuse. “She waited all night for you”.
“I know, I’m sorry Dear, I’ll play with her tomorrow, ok?” He received a notification from social media - Peter Miller, his coworker, had posted something 2 hours ago. John wouldn’t say he was jealous of him, but there had always been a subtle animosity between them ever since Miller got promoted, and when he saw the post, his blood boiled.
He put the tablet down, took a deep breath, and broke the silence “The Millers just got an android” he tried to talk in a casual, unceremonious way “an AX400, I believe”.
Caroline simply answered with an affirmative “uh”, and shot him an I-know-where-this-is-going look.
“Dear, this is the talk of the moment. All the people at the company have androids by now. It’s starting to damage my image, that we are probably the only family at the Finance department that-”
“John, we already talked about this, and you know exactly what I think” she cut him off with a rigid tone of finality.
John got up and stood in front of their bed, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. “Carol, just listen to me one last time: this kind of technology is not just something we hear about on the news anymore, it’s part of life now.” She didn’t seem exactly convinced. “C’mon, there is no reason for us to have harder lives just because you don’t like it”.
She sighed, leaning forward and placing her hands on her temples. “We don’t need some- some thing that looks like a person to take care of our lives, John”.
He sat in front of her and held her hands. “Carol, just imagine the time we would have if a machine just made half our problems disappear”. He tried to look her in the eyes, to watch her reaction. “You’re the one making it seem like a big decision. It would be just like, well, buying a vacuum cleaner”. He almost laughed at the last words. For the first time, he thinks he sees something close to acceptance in his wife’s eyes.
“I know, I know, but that’s the problem, John: it’s not- a person.” She let her arms drop to her lap and tilted her head to the side. Now she was the one looking into his eyes. “I don’t want some soulless machine with no feelings to pretend to be human with us”. She whispered rushedly, as if someone would hear her.
“Well, it doesn’t need to.” He leaned closer to Caroline, holding her hands tenderly. “It would just do its work while we get to be together, as a family”. She doesn’t answer, a contemplative look setting onto her face.
John stands up again. “Listen, this is the future and we are getting left behind. Every respectable family in Detroit has an android by now, while I have to get back from work to find my wife half-dead from cleaning all day.” He gestured with his hands, patience running low. “Cyberlife is all the department talks about, and having to dodge the subject all the time is starting to get embarrassing, Carol”.
She is silent for a few seconds, eyes drifting across the room. “I will think about it”. Before John could celebrate, she raised a hand in warning. “But if I don’t like it, it will go straight to a junkyard.”
John smiled widely, a weight being taken off his back. “You won’t regret this, Dear”. He kissed her on the forehead, and then turned the lights off.