She thought her nerves were just cause it was the first time they were going to her mother-in-law’s. And for breakfast, no less. Tiffany said her parents loved making a huge breakfast the day after Thanksgiving instead of having a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal. That meant that she, Marla, was in. She was family. But Marla had been to lots of dates where she met families who had never met a gay person or who were desperately trying to pretend their daughter wasn’t into women, and it never ended well. So she didn’t expect this time to go any better.

“What are they like?” she asked as she pressed a button on the back of her neck to change her hair. She could go conservative rather than hippie if it was safer. Once she’d even changed her appearance into that of a boy to please severely homophobic parents,  but that was as uncomfortable for her as her natural body would have been for a male, and she didn’t have the energy to keep it up for a whole evening. She shuddered at the memory, barely hearing Tiffany’s response. “Huh?” she said.

“Oh, stop playing with your hair. They just want you to be yourself.”

“Yes, but which self?” Marla asked.

Tiffany kissed the top of Marla’s head. “Your truest self, silly. The one I fell in love with. Now come on. They’re expecting us.”

Tiffany’s parents lived all the way across town. They could have taken their private vehicle and flown over in just a few minutes, but Marla preferred to take the Tube. She secretly wanted as human an experience as possible.  She was programmed to accurately resemble human, but she always felt like something was missing. She thought she would feel different somehow if she were human. She kept watching humans to try to figure it out.

The Tube took forever to come and Tiffany kept complaining that they’d be late. That was fine with Marla. She’d b e happy if they never got there. She kept this thought to herself. If she verbalized it, it might make something happen. When the Tube finally landed on the platform, its ground brakes squealed. Tiffany rolled her eyes; Marla ignored her. She was determined to enjoy this.

They pushed their way onto the Tube despite an endless crowd of humans going the other way. The Tube was so full that there were no seats and Marla had to attach herself to a pole with a safety harness. She didn’t see where Tiffany went. Her panic circuit buzzed. She turned off panic mode by reaching through a pocket and looked around, wondering if anyone else knew she was an android rather than a human. She hoped not.