Chapter 15

“Well, we thought of you as a person even before we’d seen anything like that,” Craig replied from the bench at the beijinkind festival, watching the Rakuyo-Tech AO walk away with its owner, “But seeing these ones does cement it, yeah.”

“That’s something to think about,” Glyph commented, eyeing the Rakuyo-Tech model with a certain derision and jealousy. They glanced out the windshield of the ITSTU and saw another, older model ITSTU in the teleport lot, only a few spaces from them. Easily reachable from their tether. Their ears perked as a new idea occurred to them, “I may be absent for a while,” they said, “I’ve just thought of something to explore about the user vacancy. I’ll reach out once I’m through pursuing the lead.” They ended the connection.

Willing the part of the utility room not fully dedicated to the users’ living arrangements to be a restroom, they entered and allowed the automated functions to check their hygiene status. They hadn’t run those protocols for two days now, simply because they didn’t feel it was necessary. It was standard protocol for the Artificial Organic of any ITSTU to properly cleanse themselves daily for user benefit, but Kayla and Craig had both said that it was one of those things that should be up to Glyph themselves to decide if or when was necessary, and visiting a neighboring ITSTU certainly seemed like the appropriate time to freshen up.

They made sure their hair was properly coiffed and that they had trimmed any that was grown long, especially on the tips of their ears. They checked their teeth in the mirror for any lingering food that may have been caught from lunch. Not something they would normally need to worry about, as the nutrient paste normally reserved for them rarely got stuck there. Forever abandoning the bland, gritty paste may have been the single greatest benefit of their autonomy.

After confirming their appearance was up to PTICA standards, they made to exit the ITSTU; and like always, they faltered slightly at the door itself. There was something so nerve-wracking about setting foot outside of it, as if they were temporarily stepping outside of their own skin. Taking a deep breath, they pushed the door open and stepped into the afternoon Madrid sun.

The noise of the lot immediately violated them as they descended, and their ears folded down against their head in response. The collective hum of active hover pads, the sucks and pops of the vehicles teleporting in and out, and the din of people chatting as they left or returned to their vehicles caught Glyph off-guard every time that they stepped out, which truthfully wasn’t often. Teleport parks were some of the few places not surrounded by different trees or wildlife, and the concentration of vehicle exhaust hung in the air unpleasantly.

A young passaro burst out of a vehicle near Glyph, and began running around while their parents unloaded a stroller/incubator to transport their egg. The chick bounced around, singing in eager anticipation of whatever reason the family had for visiting the city.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” she sang, completely unaware of her surroundings. She bumped into Glyph, who caught her in their arms to prevent the girl from falling.

“Careful now,” Glyph said kindly to the girl. She looked up, eyes growing wide and fearful when she saw them.

“Mom?!” she called nervously. Her mother glanced up, saw Glyph, and immediately rushed over, snatching the fledgeling away.

“Stay away from it, Becki,” the hen commanded her child. Glyph blanched at her reaction.

“My apologies,” Glyph told the mother, “Your child bumped into me, I merely caught her.”

The hen didn’t acknowledge Glyph at all, and instead pulled her daughter back to their vehicle, admonishing her as they went, “I’ve told you before to wait for your father and I by the car. What if that thing had hurt you?”

Glyph balled up their fists as they watched the family depart without so much as an apology, or even an acknowledgment of them. It had been so easy to get used to how their users treated them that they had all but forgotten how anyone else would.

They finished their walk over to the other ITSTU. It was quite grubby on the outside; the cleaning protocols clearly hadn’t been run properly in a while. They approached hesitantly and knocked on the door, shifting uncomfortably as they waited for a response. After a while they knocked again, and barely had time to pull their hand back from the second knock when the door opened.

“What?!” the AO asked impatiently, before she even had a chance to see who had knocked. She was taller than Glyph, but not much so, with braided salt and pepper hair that went past their shoulders, but left their ears exposed. Her ears were pointier than Glyph’s were, and the left one had a sizable chunk missing close to the lobe. Both were bent in irritation. Her skin was a duller shade of orange than Glyph’s, looking almost faded or bleached; and her PTICA uniform was unkempt and stained. Her golden eyes, furrowed in annoyance, were slightly cloudy with dark rings under them, and their face was lined with old age.

“Good afternoon,” Glyph greeted awkwardly, pointing towards their own ITSTU, “I’m just parked over there ... I saw your ITSTU and wanted to drop by and introduce myself.”

The AO blinked in surprise at them for a moment but said nothing. After an awkward moment, Glyph thought it may be best to continue their introductions.

“My name’s Glyph,” they continued, “They/them.”

“Really? I could have guessed that,” The other AO scoffed in a condescending tone, then held up a finger to take a user request, “Hello, User Turak,” she said in a strained, forced tone of sweetness. Glyph glanced around awkwardly, feeling as though they were now intruding. The other AO paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and said, “Yes of course, sir, I’ll add that to my list ... no, you’re right. I’ll make it top priority. Thank you for...” she sighed as the user on the other end had clearly terminated contact, then turned back to Glyph. “Look, do you need something or what? I’m busy right now.”