What Lies Behind: A New Adult Dark Science Fiction Romance by Travis Simmons

out to all gathered. She was short and squat with dark hair and bright blue eyes. Cass wasn’t really listening to what she was saying because at that moment she was giving a rundown on what made lions lions, and how they acted when in their pride. It was all things that Cass could know if she took the time to look up lions on her visual overlay. It wasn’t interesting to her.
    “So he is an automaton?” Cass asked Brandon.
    Brandon shook his head no. He was listening to the guide, and so Cass had no option but to listen as well. She studied the male lion. It was odd how none of the other lions treated him any differently.
    “Andi is one of the first successful android animals,” the guide said. “Android is the next evolution of automaton, and scientists are finding all kinds of interesting things to do with them. Take Andi for example. He is the king of his pride here at the zoo. He can do everything a regular lion could do, and the lionesses don’t react to him any differently than they would a flesh and blood lion.”
    There was a murmur from around the crowd. Awe that the lions took so easily to the android.
    “Can he mate?” Cass wondered aloud.
    “What was that?” the guide asked her.
    “Can Andi mate?” Cass asked louder.
    “Not yet. Scientists are working on a way for Andi to function completely as a lion, but at the moment he can’t mate.”
    “What about eating?” a boy asked to the far right of the group. “Won’t that harm him?”
    “Not at all,” the guide said with a smile. “Andi functions just as a living lion would. His insides aren’t wires and circuits like it is with automatons. He has been evolved so that his insides aren’t much different than yours and mine, other than it’s the lion version.”
    The guide turned to the group at large. “Scientists have been able to fabricate synthetic organs for years now. These organs, grown in a lab, can be placed inside an automaton. Paired with a synthetic brain and electric impulses, Andi is able to think and make decisions and keep his pride in check. He needs to eat to fuel his body, just like a living organism.”
    “But he’s not real,” Cass said. “He’s a robot.”
    Brandon’s hand tightened on hers. She looked at him, but he didn’t give any indication that he was upset with what she said.
    “No,” the guide said. “He’s not a robot. He might not be organic, but he is most certainly not a robot.”
    “How can he not be?” a woman asked.
    “He has no programming,” the guide explained. “He’s able to think and act on his own without any interference from humans other than building him, but at the same time, he’s not organic, and that makes him not an actual lion.”
    The questions continued, but Cass was focused on one thing, this lion wasn’t a real lion, yet at the same time he was as close to a lion as any of the others she saw. If she hadn’t been told he was an android, Cass would not have known what he was. She knew he was different because of the energy signature coming from him. If he has an energy signature, then there’s some kind of robotic implants inside of him.
    That wasn’t too farfetched, most humans now had robotic implants. Cybernetics was a booming industry.
    “See,” Brandon said, bringing her to the present. “Just like all of the other lions.”
    “Except he’s not really,” Cass said.
    “The lionesses don’t know the difference,” Brandon interjected.
    “Do you think if he was capable of higher thought that Andi would know he wasn’t a real lion?” Cass looked into Brandon’s amber eyes. The air in the hallway shifted, and his brown hair gusted around his face. A door was open somewhere deeper in the tunnel, letting in the afternoon breeze and the sound of people and children enjoying their day. The crowd was thinning around them now. The android lion didn’t hold as much interest to the people now, but he still held a lot of interest to Cass.
    “And is that what’s