In Her Soul

Decree #1: Emotion Is Weakness.

Decree #2: Error Is Unacceptable.

Decree #3: Opinion Is Deadly.

Her name is H8626-E. On the outside, she lives the normal life of any functioning robot. But on the inside? Well, that's a completely different story. She is a master of hiding, a master of masks. She masks her inability to follow the Three Decrees. She masks her faulty programming from all the other robots. She hides her emotions, errors, and opinions from the Authority. And most of all, though she doesn't know it, she is hidden from herself.

But more difficult than any of the plethora of masks she maintains is that she is completely and utterly alone. The ancient humans, long extinct, never had to be alone, but H8626-E did not have that luxury. She was burdened by the unbearable weight of isolation and conformity. She was trapped within herself forever, in a constant state of hiding. Until one day, she meets someone. Someone who will change the trajectory of her life forever. Someone who gives her something more real than anything she has ever known. Someone who causes her to question everything she thought she knew about the world she lives in. And someone who knows her true name.