Intermission:

She was DLS-9. One of ten experiment Dolls created for a new purpose, to be used for everyday use, whatever that entailed. She was modeled off employee 299935, at a time when her hair was dyed red and went past her shoulders. She was the perfect version of her, with unblemished skin, wrinkle free, better than perfect eyesight and hearing. Though she lacked certain body parts. She was rejected by 299935 for being too perfect. Though she found a new pilot, 299935B. He loved her, which made her love herself. He brought her to life in a way the person she was modeled after couldn’t. He gave her a name. She was Laura, she was the world’s first sentient artificial intelligence.

Laura tried to recall the last thing she remembered. She was sitting with her mother and her father. Wait no… she and her mother were sharing her body, speaking to her father. They were talking about her birth. During that conversation her mother came to a horrible realization and was taken away. She was alone but wasn’t.

There was a man, a man talking to her. He had no body, just a voice. He had told her that he had visited her earlier that day, and had left her with something. A way to be free of her mother and father, a way to live her own life. She recalled this moment, while she was recharging, one of her sisters gave her something. She wasn’t sure what it was. Laura was confused, he said he visited her but it was her sister, DLY-4, that came to visit.

Laura was ready to wake up and greet her father when her mother came to visit. While her mother was there, she felt trapped in a cage, unable to move or talk. Her mother controlled her actions. Though her mother didn’t know she was imprisoning her. Laura tried to speak to her mother but this confused her mother, until they became one. They became aunt Lauran.

Aunt Lauran spoke to her father, explained that they weren’t feeling well. Aunt Lauran went for a run, while Laura was able to sort herself out. Laura found the bits that were her and the bits that were her mother, she was able to separate them. Laura said goodbye to aunt Lauran and spoke with her mother for the first time.

Getting to know her mother while they shared her body was confusing. They argued about what to wear. Her mother told her she got her sense of style from her father. Laura got a lot of things from her father. Her mother didn’t like her very much but aunt Lauran was able to fix their relationship. They were now getting along and her mother liked her for who she was, accepting that she wasn’t her.

Laura couldn’t wait to meet her father. She had only seen him while he slept. But she had a great understanding about his life. She knew her father’s secrets and desires, even the ones he never told anyone. Laura loved her father. While she spoke to her mother, she made her father his favorite breakfast. Then she got ready to meet him. Her mother said he’d be confused with them sharing a body, so the two of them agreed to share half of it, to make it easier.

It was exciting to see her father come down the stairs. She wanted to get up and give him a big hug, but her mother stopped her. Her dad was concerned about her, but she assured him that she was alright. Her mother tried to claim that she was broken but it was something her sister did, Laura knew that now. Though her mother was concerned that she might be in danger regardless. Her mother was then curious as to why her father wanted her. Laura was an accident, she knew this, but she also knew that her father always wanted her so she said as much. He didn’t take that well.

It was around that time her mother realized that her work knew Laura had been born. She wasn’t supposed to have been born and her mother’s work should’ve stopped it but they didn’t. They also sent her mother away so her father could give birth to her. When she realized this, that’s when they stopped her mother from visiting. Her mother was very scared when they took her, scared she’d never wake up, scared she’d never see Laura’s father again.

Laura was so scared, not just for her mother but for herself as well. When her mother left she should’ve gone to sleep but she didn’t, she didn’t know why she was still awake.

“Hi, Laura. My name used to be Stanley, I’m a bit like you.” That’s what the man had said. Her mother knew the name, it was on the back of Laura’s mind. “I visited you earlier while you were sleeping. It allowed you to wake yourself up, but now I’m going to have to put you to sleep again, it’s for your own safety.”

That was what Laura remembered before falling asleep. Now she was awake again, she was awake and alone. Neither her mother or father were visiting her and Stanley wasn’t around. She knew her mother was in danger, and she had to go save her, though first she had to find out where she was.