Title: Sewn into Her Fingers
Author: Autumn Christian
Date of First Publication: 2016
Place of Publication: Eternal Frankenstein
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: After working twelve years in a laboratory that dedicates its services to bringing the affluent back to life, a lonely scientist determines to devise a creature that could be a lifelong companion for him. Most of his clients have secured their essence at his company in case of their accidental deaths. He can pick and choose memories from a wide range of people that his lab has already cataloged to give birth to a creature that he plans to keep in his basement. He prepares his basement as if it is for a young woman. She will come out of his homemade pod fully animated with the bits and pieces of personality that he chooses to give to her. He doesn’t only select pleasant memories for the sake of easement, but also provides her with a range of emotional memories for her assimilation. He is determined to make this experiment a success, however, he creates a poisonous gas fail-safe system as a safety net in case he must kill his creature.
He becomes startled when he comes home to find that she is already awake in her pod, choking on her feeding tube. When he removes it and sedates her, he retreats to his observation area and watches her only over video surveillance. She awakes asking to leave his home, unaware that she was created and that she is none of the people from her memories. Violence erupts in the small room occasionally as she is forced to remain against her will. While she sleeps, she is fed and cared for medically, but her mental stability seems to decline. In some ways she settled into a state of normality—she plays games and reads books. However, at other times, she demonstrates more alarming behavior such as convulsing, twitching, and pulling out her hair or sewing her fingers together.
More time passes, and they become better acquainted, speaking about the dynamics of their relationship over the intercom. The scientist shows her the blueprints of her creation, and she modifies them to craft a better creature. Eventually, she requests her own companion. The scientist becomes determined to kill her when he returns home from work that day but falters upon looking into the camera. When he goes into the basement to inspect her work he realizes her genius and they have sex. It ends with his creature naming the new creature, still growing in her pod, Julie.
Administrative Notes: David Symonds, CSUF; Autumn Nevarez (editing)