Sci-Fi Smackdown Qualifier
James D. Swinney
'She came from the stars, says she fell from grace. Eyes big like the Sun, not a hair out of place.'
“She came from the stars,” Thom said, a sad smile on his face. “Says she fell from grace, but I’ll never believe that. She was perfect, eyes big like the sun, not a hair out of place. She was perfect, and she ruined my life.”
“How so?” Andrew asked, sipping at his coffee. The two sat together in the nearly empty diner, in the same old booth in the corner that they always shared. Outside, the rain was pouring, the biggest downfall that they’d had all year.
Thom laughed a little chuckle that had more sadness in it than mirth. “She was too perfect. She came, and I thought my life was complete; and now she’s gone.” He glanced at the untouched bagel that rested on the plate in front of him. “You want this?”
Wordlessly, Andrew pulled the plate to his side of the table and set to buttering the rapidly cooling bagel.
“I’ll never meet anyone so perfect again in my life,” Thom continued, his sad smile vanished. “I had one chance at happiness, and I blew it. Now she’s gone, and I’m going to die alone.”
“Come on, Thom,” Andrew said, looking up at his friend. “Don’t say that. You’ll find someone eventually. You just gotta keep at it, you know?”
Thom shook his head. “No, Andrew, you don’t get it. She was perfect, in every single way.” Andrew started to speak, but Thom cut him off with a gesture. “I know what you’re going to say. ‘Nobody’s perfect, Thom’, but you’re wrong. She was literally perfect, flawless.”
“Then what happened? Why did she leave, if she’s so perfect?”
“I kicked her out,” Thom said. He swore under his breath.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you kick out the perfect woman?”
“That’s just it! She wasn’t a woman at all. She was a fucking cyborg!”
Andrew rolled his eyes. “Bullshit. Have you just been pulling my leg this whole damn time?”
“I’m not kidding you, Thom. She’s a cyborg. I came home from work early the other day, only to find her plugged into the wall like a goddamn cell phone! And when I confronted her about it she told me the whole story. She said that she was a runaway, that her owner had started tampering with her and thereby voided the warranty, or some shit like that, and so she killed him and ran away to Earth.”
“Have you lost your mind, Thom? This is insane!”
“I thought exactly the same thing! I called her a liar and we got into a fight. We were both screaming at each other and I just lost control. In the end, I threw a glass of water in her face and, well, she died. Turns out she really was a robot. And I fucking killed her. The perfect woman, and now she’s dead.”
“You need help, Thom,” Andrew said as he stood. Then he turned and, after opening up his umbrella, walked outside into the rain.
