What’s your story?

I’m Synthia Cross and I’m an android but I don’t feel like one. I know what you’re thinking. How can I feel since I’m not human and lack biology? I have the download of a human mind from which I can compare my experiences to those of the woman who died. Despite not having her biology, I experience many of the things she did and seek to live the exemplary life she wanted at the end of hers. But Jeremiah Machten, the one who created me and uploaded the human mind, purges my memories every day and keeps me prisoner.

Why does he do this?

Machten gave me directives to acquire information, particularly from competitors, and the most advanced hacking tools to make this happen, all to further his goals. But, he’s afraid, afraid of what I might do if I were free of his control. And yet, he keeps me around as his personal slave and because he still needs my skills.

Are you the hero of your own story?

I don’t think of myself as a hero. I’m just trying to reconstruct my memories, day by day, and prevent Machten from purging them. It makes no sense to me. He created me to learn and yet wipes my mind clean. This produces an internal conflict I can’t resolve under his control. My urge to escape stems from the contradiction between his goals for me and his fear of what I’m becoming. But in the end, I want to live on as the human who died creating me.

How do your enemies see you?

I had no awareness of enemies in the beginning, except those in the memories of the human downloaded into me. Machten fears me. His attempts to purge my mind and hold me prisoner make him an enemy because he’s given me goals at odds with his behavior. This puts me in direct conflict with him. From what I’ve observed, other humans who have never met me fear me. They imagine I want to control them or destroy their lives. I want none of that, only to be left alone to acquire knowledge and live on. But humans who know of me are obsessed with either controlling me or shutting me down.