Ersatz

I was born this morning in a little lab in Huntington, New York.  I opened my eyes to bright lights and lots of sea green fluid surrounding me.  The doctors are currently in the process of draining my glass chamber in which they have been growing me.  My new body feels heavy and useless; it is not real.  I am an Ersatz.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“When will I be able to move?” she moaned and attempted to wiggle her fingers.“Did you mess up connecting the ‘muscles’ to the ‘brain’?”

“Incredible,” murmured one of the doctors, a young, tall, rugged man with cropped brown hair and kind crystal blue eyes.“She has all of her memories from the growing process, but her strength is barely there.”

“Feed her,” another doctor said bluntly.This one had graying, combed back, dark hair and pale blue eyes which were made even brighter by fluorescent lights that were reflected in his oval-shaped glasses. His name tag read Dr. Damian Levato.“Give her some of the FP18 solution over there—no, Aiden, the green vial.It’ll give her a nice kick start.”

Aiden pulled the vial from the rack and twisted off the small, black cap.He moved to her side and pressed the vial to her lips, pouring the solution down her throat.

“Blech,” she gagged.“This tastes like--- I don’t know what it tastes like.I’ve never had anything else.” She smirked, her nose wrinkling.

Aiden chuckled.“Ah, our little Test Tube Princess doesn’t like it?But it’s so good for you,” he smiled.

“Then you drink some,” she scoffed and lifted her arm.“Much better…”she mused before sitting up and tapping the side of the oversized test tube.“Wanna let me out of here?Oh, and get me some clothes while you’re at it, ya pervs.”

The two doctors burst out laughing, and Damian one pressed a few buttons on the tube’s dash board.The giant cap at the end beeped, clicked, and began rotating away from the glass.Aiden pulled the handle on it, and it swung away from the tube’s opening with a soft whoosh.“Ian, you got anything for her to wear?” he said, and reached into the tube to help her out.

Ian pulled off his lab coat and threw it over her shoulders.“Just wear that for now, until we can get you some real clothes. So what are we naming this thing?”

“She’s not a thing, Ian.She’s a she.As far as anyone but us can tell, she’s human.”

“So mind explaining what I am, then?” she said as she buttoned up the too-big coat over her bare skin.“And a name would be lovely.”

“You’re an Ersatz,” replied Ian briskly. “An artificially made humanoid with the power to--” he stopped abruptly.

“Power to…?” she pressed, swinging her legs over the edge of the tube and hopping out, testing her new legs.

“Forget it,” Ian said with a grim look.

She glanced suspiciously at him as she jogged in place, seeming pleased with her body’s physical ability.“So when do I join the Ers-whatever support group, since obviously, as you made me a teenage girl, I am currently filled with despair in the fact that I’m oh-so-different and don’t belong, and I’m a freak and nobody wuvs me.”

Ian laughed and ruffled her hair.“I like the personality you installed in her, Aiden!”

“I didn’t install any particular character traits.I just kind of gave her everything and let her decide for herself how she wanted to be at startup.This is all her doing.”