"I do not believe you would lie to me," said the android as he passed his eyes around the room. I hadn't cleaned since I had realized I would be leaving Mars alone, and he was making a very thinly veiled point about my obvious depression. "However, I cannot stress enough that I am here to speak with you should you desire it. It is beneficial for the human mind to speak one's worries to another."

"Of course," I said quietly.

"Soup?" he asked.

"That would be good," I said as I stared at the tile. "Thank you, Abe."

With that, he turned and left the lab. I swallowed and turned to stare at the large gateway I'd constructed. The entire structure had been built. I could have left days ago. If I had taught Abe anything about engineering, he would have figured it out too. I sighed and sat down in my chair. It was foolish of me to care so much for an android.

But still, I did.

And I couldn't help that I did.

I was only human after all.

After dinner, I spent more time in the lab staring at the whiteboard, drowning in the hum of the fluorescent lights, and popping what pain pills I had left. I was about to have to make a difficult decision.

"Doctor," said Abe as he appeared at my side. "Is there... anything I can assist you with?"

"No," I said quietly after a brief pause. "I'll handle this. Don't you worry."

"I see," he responded. "Well... do you think you could take a look at something for me?"

I turned to him with a surprised expression. "Look at something?" I asked.

"Yes. I detect that I may be infected with malware." I chuckled softly and placed my hands on my hips. "Oh, really?"

"Yes."

"You know that's impossible right?" I smiled.

"Call it paranoia," he responded. "Would you check?"

I closed my eyes and thought of my daughter at a time when she was very young. I felt myself choke up a bit and contained it before it manifested.

"Of course, I'll check," I said, motioning for him to move over to the table. "I'll need to power you down, of course."

"Of course, Doctor."

He climbed up onto the table and turned over on his side. I twisted the knob on his energy compartment and listened to the whir of servos die down within his chassis. I knew there couldn't be malware within his system, but surely something else could have malfunctioned. I extracted his motherboard and complimentary chips before sitting down at my computer and opening his data files. A numb chill ran from my face down the length of my body when I noticed a folder that I hadn't created for him.

Favorites.

I moved the cursor up to the icon and opened it to find hundreds of still images taken by the camera in his right eye. They were images of me teaching him to hunt; showing him how to repair the shelter; teaching him to fish. Hundreds of... dare I call them memories, were saved in this folder. I scrolled quietly, a lump forming in my throat as I glimpsed quickly an entire lifetime of photos involving the two of us. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. It shouldn't have been possible the way that I programmed him for him to be able to select favorite memories in the manner that he had.

At the very end were two photos.

One was of the gateway I had constructed. The hatch where his fluxwave superconductor needed to be installed had been opened.

The second photo was a picture he'd taken of himself in the full-body mirror in my bedroom.

There was a smile on his silicone lips.

And he was waving goodbye.

I covered my mouth and felt the warm tears race across my knuckles. I felt my lips contort and my face shrivel up. I was a fool to think he wouldn't have noticed. He was always far more intelligent than I was ever prepared for him to be. What I gleaned from the files were words he had wanted to say, but only in a way that I would know for a fact that they were genuine, and not manufactured.

I love you.

And I'm going to miss you.

r/A15MinuteMythos