>>>~~~~<<<
Lexi, or Professor Lexi, as she
called herself, was not your average scientist. For one, she was only 11, and
for two, she didn’t have a degree, a lab, or even recognition. To everyone
else, she was that little girl with a black bob of hair who lived by herself in
the big house on the hill. She was, however, very intelligent and very lonely.
“But not anymore,” Lexi declared to
herself. She had made an absolute mess of the garage and herself the past week.
Spare parts, oil, and the frame of a recently dismantled car cluttered the
space, while more goop and residue stained her white lab coat. Yet, she didn’t
care. Lexi would be alone no longer; she’d finally have something she’d always
longed for. An elder sister.
“But what do I name her?” Lexi
pondered as she marveled at her creation. Before her stood what at first glance
seemed to be an inert teenage girl. Perhaps around late high school or early
college in apparent age. Yet, upon a further glance, her features looked off,
too perfect, too round. Her long black hair was flawlessly combed and straight,
while her body was perfectly proportioned and lean. If you looked even closer,
you could see the seams betraying her true nature as a machine. They were
almost invisible if you didn’t know about them, but once you saw them, they
never went away.
“I got it, Annie! I’ve always wanted
a sister named Annie!” Lexi nodded to herself. “Now then, Annie, activate!” The
self-proclaimed professor pulled out a remote with a single big red button and
pressed it with gusto. Without any fanfare, the newly named Annie gently opened
her eyes and stared out into the world for the first time.
“Who? What? Why?” Annie came to
life. “Who am I?”
“She’s alive, she’s alive!” Lexi
jumped up and down. “Oh, and your name is Annie, by the way.”
“Annie? I’m Annie?” Annie looked
down at herself. “Why am I naked?”
“That’s your first question,
really?” Lexi huffed. “I bring you to life, and your first question is, why are
you naked? Babies don’t ask why they’re naked when they’re born.”
“They don’t? Um…” Annie muttered.
“My memory banks say babies can’t talk.”
“Well, I didn’t ask when I was
born,” Lexi shook her head. “My first words were asking for food at eleven
minutes old.”
“Wha?” Annie wasn’t ready to be
bombarded by such odd facts after having come into existence less than 100
seconds ago. “So, who are you?”
“I’m Lexi Anderson. I created you,”
Lexi declared. “From now on, you’re my big sister, Annie Anderson.”
“Oh, Okay,” the robot girl nodded.
“What does a big sister do?”
“I dunno,” Lexi shrugged.
~\ /~
The first thing Annie thought upon
coming to life was that, despite having no frame of reference, she found Lexi
to be a very odd person. Lexi was undoubtedly smart; she created Annie in her
garage, after all. But intelligence seemed to come with a healthy dose of
eccentricity. The second thing Annie thought about…
“How do you live like this?” Annie
gasped upon seeing the absolute pigsty of a home. Annie’s logic circuits
couldn’t comprehend how a young girl turned such a large house into a disaster
area. The living room was covered in candy wrappers and fast-food bags. The
kitchen sink was stacked with dirty dishes, while the fridge was filled with
molding food. Lexi’s bedroom was consumed by an avalanche of discarded clothing
and more candy wrappers. The bathroom had such a terrible air about it that
Annie couldn’t bring herself to look inside.
The only clean space was Annie’s
future bedroom, but that’s because it hadn’t even been touched in what looked
like years. As a result, it was coated in a fine layer of dust and spider webs.
Despite not having blood vessels, the robot girl could feel an aneurysm coming
on.
“I’m surprised there are no bugs,”
Annie pointed out.
“Oh yeah, that was annoying the
first couple of months,” Lexi shrugged. “But I built an anti-pest device, and I
haven’t gotten so much as an ant since.” Lexi pointed at a mechanical spider on
the wall. The machine vaporized a stray fly that had slipped inside the house
from the garage.
“Alright, we’re cleaning this,”
Annie declared.
“We? What do you mean we?” Lexi
gasped.
“We, you and I,” Annie tapped her
foot. “Big sister says you have to clean your mess.”
“Big sisters don’t make their
siblings clean,” Lexi pouted.
“According to my pop-culture memory
banks, they do,” Annie countered. “Now help me find a mop, and a broom…and a
bucket…and a vacuum cleaner…you know what, I’m going to make a list…”
~\ /~
In only a few short months, Annie
and Lexi built themselves an everyday life. Annie handled the cooking and
cleaning for her creator/sister while Lexi lazed around and tinkered until
Annie scolded her into helping. Lexi got her wish. She had a big sister now,
with all that having an elder sibling entails. Alas, the self-proclaimed
professor was not happy. She was used to living in her own mess with nary a
care in the world, now however…
“Lexi, what did I tell you about
leaving empty bags of chips in the living room?” Annie tapped her foot
impatiently.
“I don’t remember,” Lexi looked away
and tried to focus on her comic book instead.
“And did you take the trash out like
I asked?” Annie leaned over the smaller 14-year-old.
“Yeah, yeah,” Lexi brushed her off.
“That’s funny because it looked like
it was overflowing again,” Annie pointed out. “Lexi, we both have to do our
part in taking care of the house.”
“Leave me alone,” Lexi scooted away
and pulled out a candy bar.
“Lexi, what did I say about eating
candy before dinner,” Annie reminded her.
“Stop being annoying,” Lexi fumed.
“I’ll do what I want. You’re not the boss of me!”
“Don’t use that tone of voice with
me, young lady,” Annie wagged her finger.
“You’re not my mom,” Lexi threw down
her book and candy and stormed away. “I hate you!”
“Lexi, come back,” Annie called out
before sighing. “What am I going to do?”
Lexi stormed back to her lab (read:
garage) and slammed the door. The young professor scanned the room for the
remaining car and another box of spare parts. Lexi quickly grabbed her pack of
tools and began tearing the vehicle apart in anger.
“Stupid Annie, I made her so I’d
have someone to play with, but all she does is chores,” Lexi grumbled. “Now she
wants me to do chores too. That’s not fun!” In a matter of moments, the car was
in a million pieces, and Lexi began reassembling them. “If she wants to do
chores, fine! I’ll make someone else to play with, someone who’ll dote on me
and never yell.”
“Lexi, come out. I just want to
talk,” Annie knocked on the garage door.
“No,” Lexi snatched up a nearby
remote controller and locked the door with a click of a button.
“Lexi, don’t lock yourself in
there,” Annie pleaded.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Lexi
continued her project. Thankfully, she had already prepared for something like
this. Annie’s creation took her a whole week, a lifetime in the child’s eyes,
but with her new premade frames, she could create something new in a fraction
of the time. Sadly, she only had two frames, which meant she couldn’t screw
this up.
“Lexi, I respect your privacy, but
don’t make me assert my authority as your big sister!” Annie warned.
“Go away. I’m busy,” Lexi snapped.
“Lexi, I’m coming in on the count of
three,” Annie declared, “1…2…”
“Ignoring you!” Lexi replied and
went into overtime on her work.
“3!” Annie smashed through the door
like it was made of paper. Being a robot had its perks.
“I told you to go away,” Lexi stuck
her tongue out.
“Lexi, what…who is this?” Annie
gestured to Lexi’s latest creation. It was another life-like robot, but this
one appeared older, perhaps late 20s, with long black hair and tanned skin.
“Umm…Cassandra, yeah, that’s a good
name,” Lexi puffed out her chest. “She’ll be our new big sister and handle all
the chores I don’t want to do. She won’t yell at me, and she’ll always play
with me too.”
“Lexi, I… you’ve been in here for
five minutes. How did you make her so fast?” Annie was flabbergasted.
“I’m a genius,” was Lexi’s
justification.
“That’s not…” Annie shook her head
and sighed. “Lexi, I don’t like yelling at you, but you have to…”
“Nuh uh, no more chores. Cassandra
will do them,” Lexi clicked her remote, and the new robot came to life. “You
hear that. Your name is Cassandra.”
“I am…Cassandra?” The new creation
replied. “That sounds…right…” She looked down at herself. “Why am I naked?”
“Like a broken record,” Lexi
muttered and walked over to another device. She slammed some buttons on the
front, which expelled clothing, a white blouse, a black skirt, and
unmentionables in Cassandra’s size. “Here, clothes.”
“Clothes. Much better,” Cassandra
replied as she dressed herself.
“Cassandra, your job is to be the
biggest sister and do all the chores and work I don’t want to do,” Lexi
declared. “And you’ll be nice to me, dote on me, and never yell.”
“Chores, I can do,” Cassandra
nodded.
‘I’m a genius. Now I can play with
Annie and laze around all day,’ Lexi beamed.
“Oh, Lexi,” Annie shook her head.
~\ /~
Lexi was frustrated again. Not about
the chores, Cassandra did those excellently. It had gotten to the point Annie
was getting jealous of how much the new housemate was doing. The problem was
Cassandra had different work in mind for the young professor and her mechanical
sister.
“Can you not remember such basic
historical facts?” Cassandra inquired.
“History is boring. I want to go
watch tv,” Lexi groaned.
“Not until you finish your
homework,” Cassandra tapped her foot in the same way Annie did. The other robot
girl was sitting off to the side, gliding through her own history homework.
(But is it really homework if you’re homeschooled?)
“I didn’t program you to know
historical facts,” Lexi countered. “How can you know all this?”
“The same way you will. I read and
learned,” Cassandra answered.
“This is stupid,” Lexi stood up to
walk away.
“I don’t think so, young lady,”
Cassandra grabbed the young genius by the ear and dragged her back to her seat.
“Homework first.”
“You’re not my mom,” Lexi looked
away.
“No, but I will not stand by while
you neglect your education,” Cassandra declared.
“I’m a genius. I don’t need to know
this,” Lexi crossed her arms.
“Lexi, dear, if you are a genius,
then this should be easy,” Cassandra pointed out.
“Hmph,” Lexi looked away.
“Lexi, why don’t we just-” Annie
tried to interject.
“No, this is dumb. You’re both
boring,” Lexi ran away, ducking under Cassandra’s attempts to grab her again.
“Lexi, come back,” Annie cried.
“Let her go. She’ll come back when
she realizes she’s lonely,” Cassandra assured.
“I think she went towards the
garage,” Annie realized.
“On second thought,” Cassandra
changed her mind.
Lexi barreled into the garage,
slammed the newly reinforced door shut, and got to work. She gathered all her
spare parts, tore apart the two cars’ scant remains, and pulled up the last
robot frame. The young professor worked like a girl possessed. She wouldn’t
make the same mistakes this time. No more responsible people, this time, she’d
make someone fun.
“Lexi, we know you’re in there,”
Cassandra knocked on the door.
“Lexi, please, let’s just talk,”
Annie pleaded from outside.
‘Ignore them. They can’t get in this
time,’ Lexi doubled her work pace just in case.
“Lexi!” Annie slammed into the door,
only to bounce off this time.
“Annie, you must approach this
matter more delicately,” Cassandra advised. The “elder” sister then walked a
foot to the right and smashed through the not-so-reinforced wall.
“Ah, do you know who’s going to have
to clean that up,” Lexi exclaimed.
“Me, most likely,” Cassandra replied
dryly.
“Well, yeah, but I’m going to have
to reinforce the wall now,” Lexi pouted. Behind her was another completed
robot. This one appeared to be between Annie and Cassandra in age. The new
creation’s fiery red hair and olive skin made her quite distinctive from the
rest of her “siblings.”
“Lexi, please don’t create more life
so casually,” Annie stated.
“Whatever, Jane here won’t scold me
like you two. She’s going to be the fun sister,” Lexi activated her final
creation. “You hear that? Your name is Jane, and you’re a fun-loving older
sister?”
“Fun?” The new robot came to life.
“Fun sounds great,” she looked down at herself, “oh, I’m naked. You’ve got a
weird idea of fun, kid.”
“What’s with you robots and nudity?
You shouldn’t care,” Lexi threw up her arms, “whatever, let’s do something
fun…after we get you clothes…”
As the newly born Jane picked up
Lexi and spun her around, the other two robot girls looked on with concern and
exasperation.
“One more mouth to feed,” Cassandra
shook her head.
“We don’t really have to eat,” Annie
commented, but Cassandra did not reply. “Um, I’m more concerned that Lexi will
come to regret this, though.” She watched her new sister spin Lexi around at
frightening speeds. The young professor seemed to be enjoying herself, between
the flashes of terror at going so fast. “Oh, Lexi,” she sighed.
~\ /~
“So, have we learned our lesson?”
Cassandra drummed her fingers on the table. Lexi and Jane sat forlornly before
her, both a little roughed up, the latter still flush from alcohol (how a robot
managed to get drunk, even Lexi couldn’t fathom).
“Yes,” Lexi admitted. She had enough
fun and excitement for one lifetime. Jane had taken her on a joyride in a
sportscar. Whose sportscar she didn’t know, but the young genius hoped they
didn’t care that it was totaled in a lake.
“Sure,” Jane slurred, her eyes
closing.
“Wake up,” Cassandra snapped her
fingers, spurring the drunk robot back into consciousness.
“Cassandra, they’ve had enough. Let
me help them,” Annie entered the room with the first aid kit.
“Fine, but as for your punishments,”
Cassandra glared. “No tv for a month.”
“No fair,” Lexi cried.
“And no alcohol for two months,” the
“eldest” continued.
“Come on, it was only my first
drink,” Jane argued. “First eleven drinks, but still.”
“And no joyrides ever again, or both
will be doing all the chores for a year,” Cassandra warned. “Understand?”
“Yes,” Lexi replied meekly as Annie
began to treat her scrapes.
“Yeah, whatever, mom,” Jane blew her
off.
“Whatever? I see we have a volunteer
then,” Cassandra smiled. “Jane, you’ll be doing the laundry for the rest of the
week then.”
“What? That’s not fair,” Jane
yelled. “I was only born 12 hours ago; I don’t know any better. Besides, I was
just doing what the kid wanted me to.”
“You and I both know we’re smart
enough to differentiate between right and wrong,” Cassandra countered.
“So, the kid doesn’t get any blame?”
Jane argued.
“Was it her idea to steal the car?”
Cassandra tapped her foot.
“No,” Jane grunted. “Fine, when do I
get treatment?” She looked at Annie putting a science-themed bandage on Lexi’s
nose.
“I’ll hit you with a wrench a couple
times,” Cassandra joked.
“Oh, she gets her booboos kissed and
bandaged, but I get hit?” Jane pointed out. “Going easy on her but not me?”
“I wonder why that is?” Cassandra
coyly turned away.
As the two “elder sisters” continued
their spat, Annie finished Lexi’s first aid. The mechanical big sister patted
Lexi on the head with a smile.
“All done. Feeling better?” Annie
asked.
“Mm, fine,” Lexi shuffled her feet.
“That’s good to hear,” Annie hugged
her sister. “You can go get cleaned up while those two argue. Dinner will be in
an hour.”
“Kay,” Lexi nodded a hopped to her
feet. The teen slipped out of the room as Cassandra and Jane’s fight continued
in circles. If the two had noticed her leave, they didn’t feel the need to
mention it.
‘What a day,’ Lexi walked towards
her bedroom upstairs. Clean clothes sounded really good right now. ‘I don’t
even remember why I wanted to run off with Jane to do crazy things in the first
place,’ the young professor thought. ‘Oh well, it’s not important.’ She took
her time changing, not wanting to get pulled back into her sister’s fight.
‘Huh, that’s a new thought,’ Lexi
realized. It was strange. A few months ago, she was all alone, and thinking
about her sisters seemed like nothing more than a fantasy she was trying to
create. The house used to be so quiet, but now she could hear her sisters
loudly talking downstairs, the fight having died down. While the feeling was
strange, it wasn’t a bad feeling. It was warm, nice even. Like a splash of
color had been thrown onto her life, everything seemed vibrant for the first
time in a long time.
‘I like this,’ Lexi smiled as she
finished changing. The sounds below had changed to simple and pleasant chatter.
‘Wonder if they’re talking about anything fun?’ Lexi wondered as she bounced on
her feet back downstairs.
>>>~~~~<<<
Often we are born into our family and sometimes we must find our family, or they find us. But occasionally you must make your own family.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
