Dr Jew

Pressed his eyeball against the door from his office and saw not a man and not Simpatico through the glass eyehole. But this one looked as irritable in the bowels as the other. Admit? Admit. Can't have blubbering in the hall and waking neighbors, following him when he went to the pet food store (scratch that – no longer the need). And keep your robed Sherlockian hand on the gun, lest wild craziness ensue. A thought: The silencer? Can't recall and too late to check if it's on. Dive forth.
    He went to his desk and pressed the switch mechanism that ungrinded the door lock. Slow and creaking he made eye contact with his creation, one of them.
    "Good morning," he said. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting."
    She came in and closed the door.
    "Are you wearing sweat pants under that coat?" he said. "My how you're getting along fashionably."
    "We know," she said. "We know we're not human."
    "I had gathered as much. A little night crawling in my domicile, methinks. While the cat's away, eh? But what's done is done, spilt milk. Do you come to vent your spleen at me?"
    "I want to know why you didn 't tell us. Why you led us to believe otherwise."
    "Did I? I don't recall suggesting you were human."
    "But you didn 't tell us what we were!"
    "Perhaps I didn 't know myself. I made you look human, and what was the point of going to that trouble if I were to throw it away with a few words?"
    "Will we age like regular people? Will we die?"
    "I dare say I called you and Adam experiments for a reason. Everything about you is based on my previous robotics work, but I added a cellular regeneration structure to you two that's entirely experimental. Your skin may or may not mutate or age with time. As the tiger said to the sloth: We shall see."
    "You… brought us here. You are our father then."
    "Godfather, perhaps. My work is built on the crumbly backs of my forebears. You are their children as much as my own."
    "Yet you gave us life. Why did you do it?"
    "Why? Why does anyone bring life into this world? To make it a better place and pass a piece of me on, hopefully. The better parts, not the bitter parts."
    "I don 't want it. I want out."
    "You and Adam are free. Do as you will."
    "I mean I don 't want to live like this. I don't want to be a monster, a freak."
    "My dear, we are all monsters here. Some hide it better, that's all."
    "I want you to turn me off. Permanently."
    This was an unexpected turn of events from a creature I never thought I 'd see again. My mind got to work on the possibilities. Yes, it might work… but first give her some token resistance.
    "What about Adam? Surely –"
    "Adam has no part in this. This is my decision. Any love we shared was coincidental. You forced us together and I thought it was love. I was wrong. He will not be involved. Tell him what occurred once I am gone. Or don't. I don't care."
    I remembered that despite her appearance, this was a little girl. Her cognitive capacity was miles beyond any human girl, but a girl nonetheless. Not yet four years old. My four-year-old girl. She and Adam had grown so willful in such a short time. How did that happen? And as easy as it'd be to grant her wish and end it softly, I was a parent. I had a job to perform, as important as my medical role. I didn't always do my best, I know. But when an opportunity arises it is like a lighthouse pointing the way, and I cannot ignore it. I could not let her die.
    "You 're sure then?" I said.
    "Yes. Let's do it. Now."
    "And when you are… shut down, what would you like me to do with your remains?"
    "I don't care. Just so long as I don't come back."
    "I see, I see. Well, Eve, I dare say you've thought this over and there's nothing I can do to dissuade you."
    "Right."
    "Right," I said. "All right then."

XL.

    The next morning a slight repeat of the night before with Dr. Jew being awakened with the infernal BZZZZZZ and his lamentation and the re-remembering that Arnie was not what he had once been and perhaps it was because his maker was not what he had once been and the mask of depravity was tarnished, perhaps slowly morphing into the mask of ineptitude, the systems delicately in place to protect the doctor had toppled like dominos, wearily and with a feigned vigor he managed the damage as best he could and tried to make do with sequences noticeably lacking the former precision of his salad days and glory that seemed to float on forever but in truth had to crumble as each and every, carrying with them the unique stamp of