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

and buy clothing as they used to. Sure, they could still go and shop, but now more often than not, what they shopped for was the fabrication schematics for clothing. They’d bring it home, input the software, provide the fabric and let the machine scan their body to get a perfect fit. From there, the fabricator would spit out a perfectly tailored article of clothing.
    Cass lost count of how many designs she’d input and how many different types of fabric that ran through the fabricator, but it did give her an idea. Since that first day out and about with Brandon, Cass had saved the outfit she’d snuck from Natalia’s closet. She kept it under where she “slept” in the closet. Since Natalia didn’t go into Cass’s closet, she had no way of knowing what Cass was doing.
    If I get my own fabric, I can have this machine make clothing for me, Cass thought. The idea excited her, and she had to fight a smile. Natalia was too enwrapped in her own work to pay much attention to Cass, but it was her luck that her owner would see the smile and that wouldn’t be good. She would know something was going on with Cass. She would know that her automaton was different .
    Which brought Cass to the issue she’d been having for the last week and a half, no time to sneak off to see Doctor Gerard. If Cass had overheard the conversations correctly, Natalia would be starting her normal shifts in the office again tomorrow. Which meant she had to make it through this one last day before her questions about where she came from and what she was meant for could be answered.
    Cass stared out the window while she worked. The last week had been oddly sunny and warm for Seattle. She’d had to adjust the climate control for the patio. Even though past their deck the sun shown on windows of passing hover cars, inside the patio was overcast and damp. The plants thrived like always on Natalia’s little garden she rarely enjoyed and did not allow Cass to enter.
    She vowed that next time Natalia was gone, she was going to go out on the deck. Over the last few days, those thoughts and little rebellions had cropped up more and more. So frequent, in fact, that Cass was starting to think of them as normal rather than something wrong with her. It was frightening at times, but she was starting to take all of her knew thoughts and emotions in stride.
    Like jealousy when Brandon would stop over in the evenings to see them. Cass really hated seeing him with Natalia, knowing what her owner was like and knowing what Brandon was like. So different , she thought.
    At least she was able to see him, even if they didn’t really get a chance to talk. Cass was worried the first day after the trip to the zoo, when she’d opened up to him about what was going inside of her that he would tell Natalia. It had been a huge risk for her, but it was one that she would gladly take again. Now that she knew things would turn out okay that was.
    The fabricator beeped and she opened the lid and pulled out the dark orange dress. She shook it a couple times and hung it on a hanger beside the device. She loaded in a bolt of purple fabric and selected the option for a pant suit. The fabricator chirped a couple times while it brought Natalia’s scan online. Then it whirred to life as it began its work.
    A knock sounded at the door.
    “Who the hell?” Natalia barked. “Answer that,” she waved her hand dismissively.
    It was Brandon. Cass smiled when she opened the door, and Brandon winked at her. He slid up behind the couch and covered Natalia’s eyes with his hands. “Guess who?”
    “Brandon, I don’t have time for this shit,” Natalia said. “I have mountains of work to do before tomorrow.”
    “Oh,” he said, removing his hands.
    Cass shut the door with a frown and went to the fabricator. It was thirty percent done with the pant suit.
    “Well I wanted to let you know that I have a concert coming up in a couple weeks,” he told her, slipping over the back of the couch to