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Sam sighed as she walked past the bathroom & caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, her movements artificial & mechanical & her eyes showing no emotion whatsoever. She had known for some time that she was an android, nothing more than a robot in a human likeness, but it still saddened her whenever she saw her reflection. It reminded her that even though she was self aware, though she could walk, talk, act, & dress like a human, she wasn't. Every time she saw her own image, it was like a knife had cut deep into her sensory circuits. Shaking away the thought, Sam grabbed her bag off the kitchen table & dashed out the door.

"Poor Emily..." her friend Shauna said as they walked past a stone building where 2 male androids in sharp blue uniforms were escorting a younger female out in shackles, several others, her family possibly, sobbing in the doorframe all the while. "She went wild & attacked her mother unit again last night," she explained, "The Doctor's tried several times to fix the problem, but nothing's worked. Thy're dismantling her later today." "That's awful..." Sam said, shivering slightly not at the thought of the horrible dismantling process, but of the man who performed it, the puppet master behind the scenes who gave life & took it away on a daily basis-A shadowy figure they knew only as "The Doctor." He was the sole survivor of the human race's extinction, a genius-he had created every android in the village, including Sam-but he was frighteningly insane & terribly dangerous. Despite the advanced technology he possessed, everything was kept in Victorian-style and a lot of the newer models had begun having problems. Faulty circuits, corrupt memory chips...It was the reason she steered clear from them. They could & had been known to lash out quite violently.

Waving to Shauna as she started down another street, Sam took a deep breath & pushed open the heavy wooden door to a dark, foreboding building, slipping inside as it slammed shut behind her. As the sound reverberated through the long, winding hallways, a man in a jet-black trenchcoat & top hat in the center of a large, circular room looked up from his work, smiling as he turned in her direction. "Hello, Sam," he said, setting down 2 tools & flipping up his eyeglass, "Ready to get started?" "Yes, Doctor." she said, trying to hide the shaky fear in her voice as she slipped on her lab coat & goggles. It unnerved her how friendly he was to her. She hadn't done anything to deserve it, she was no special exception. She had only excelled in "other areas," and the very thought gave her chills.

Sam strode into the dimly-lit room as the Doctor rolled out a small metal cart with the girl from earlier, Emily, bound tightly to the top by leather straps. "Don't...Don't do this...Please..." the young android pleaded, her voice weak & quavering, barely audible. "I'm sorry..." she replied, covering her ears & shutting her eyes tightly as a horrible scream accompanied the Doctor plunging a long, scalpel-like surgical tool into his new patient's chest. "Any last words?" she heard him say, slightly muffled. She didn't even need to look to know what was going on. The soul sever, the separation of the living essence from the android body, was about to begin. "Tell...Tell my family...I'm sorry..." the girl said in a whisper. A flash of bright blue light that even Sam's tightly closed eyes could not block out signified the death of Emily, and she opened her eyes to see a large, wispy shape floating around in the top of the room. She'd seen many souls separated from their bodies, but this girl's appeared to be the calmest one she'd ever seen.

"Grab the lantern, Sam!" the Doctor shouted, snapping her out of her trance. Rushing over to her bag at the other end of the room, Sam pulled out a small lantern-like device, holding it above her head as it began to glow bright red. Several long, white ropes of light shot out of the machine & wrapped themselves around different points on the soul's shapeless body, dragging it inside the small candleholder & locking the latch behind it. "Another successful soul sever." he said, taking the lantern from her & breathing a sigh of relief. "See what you can salvage from the body," he continued, walking off towards the storage area, "And if the memory chip is usable, wipe the data on it & bring it to me." Running a hand through her raven-black hair, Sam sighed sadly & picked up a few tools from a tray, ready to begin the awful process of dismantling a fellow android.

Waving goodbye to the Doctor as she walked out of the door, Sam rounded the bend of the curb & ducked inside a doorway, trying to calm herself over what she had just done. She'd dismantled someone. Another person just like her. It was no wonder her eyes were emotionless. Why did the Doctor have her tear apart the body tonight? There were too many questions & not enough answers. Hopefully, with sleep, she would be able to put her qualms to rest.

Several hours later, Sam woke with a start as a loud crash sounded from downstairs. Who would be here this late at night? Possibly the Doctor-he sometimes dropped in on people unannounced, especially the girls-but he wasn't known to be clumsy. Someone had broke something in order to get in. Grabbing a knife out of the nightstand, she proceeded downstairs cautiously & whipped a hand over her mouth, silencing a scream as she watched a large male silhouette pull a smaller female through the window. Hopping over the railing, Sam charged at the 2 figures with a wild scream, plunging the blade into the male's leg, expecting to find the smooth, skin-like covering of an android's exoskeleton...But was met only with tough muscle & flesh! "What the..." she didn't get to finish her sentence as the man cried out & swatted her backwards, slamming her into the pantry door. "Who are you?" she shrieked, diving over the kitchen table & grabbing a new weapon out of a drawer. "Why are you in my house?!" Rushing at the man with the knife, she raised the blade high, intent on finishing him... And was met with metal as the girl grabbed a pot off a ring on the wall & raised it to block the blow. Swatting away the knife with another swing, she planted her foot in Sam's chest & helped the male to his feet.

"Will you stop attacking for a second & listen to us?!" the girl hissed. Pulling herself to her feet, Sam said, "Sure. But you answer my questions first. If I don't like what you say, you're gone, got it?" Suddenly, loud shouting caught her attention, heading towards her house. "Are those the police? Who are you people?" she asked. "We'll have time for 20 Questions later!" the other girl said. "Help me get him upstairs!" Looping one of the man's arms around the back of her neck, the duo slowly but surely got him upstairs. "Go into the attic," Sam said, pulling down the fold-up ladder, "You'll be safe there."

Rushing back down the stairs to wait for the police, Sam began to notice a thin trickle of red liquid running down the wooden steps. It was blood. And nobody bled except... "Humans." she realized. "I've got 2 humans in my attic."

A loud knock on the front door drew Sam's attention back to the moment & she took a deep breath, smiling & opening the door. "Evening, officer," she said, trying to sound sleepy, "Is there some kind of trouble?" "Ma'am, would you mind explaining what happened to your window?" Her face went pale as she remembered the busted window in the kitchen. Dammit, why hadn't she fixed that when she had the chance? "There's some construction going on up the road," she lied, "And I guess some of the workers were having a contest to see who could throw a big block of wood the farthest. One took a bad throw, and it shattered my window. At least, that's what they told me. I've got a repairman coming over tomorrow to fix it."

"Have you seen these two people?" the policeman asked, raising a photo of the 2 humans she had in her attic. "I don't think so...No, I'm sorry. They don't look familiar." she said. "Are they in some kind of trouble?" "That's confidential, ma'am," he said, "Just know that they were spotted somewhere in this area recently & they're very dangerous. Have a good night." Waving & shutting the door as the officer strode off into the night, Sam sank to the floor & breathed a sigh of relief. So the Doctor had lied. There were other humans who had survived the extinction. And she had 2 of them in her attic.

Should she just come clean & turn them in? Shout to the officer to come back & arrest them? Even if she wanted to, she knew she wouldn't be able to. Her curiosity about this long-lost race was too great. She wouldn't turn them in. She would harbor them, help them, and maybe even learn a little bit about humans because of it.