It’s laying before me, polished, brand new. It even smells like a new car but then again it’s the formaldehyde.

You can’t tell she’s artificial, I kept myself from using organic materials as they would eventually rot. I discovered that using gold alloys gave a more natural appearance. The steam engine produces heat as a byproduct, giving the metallic skin a soft warmth. The solution to the exhaust problem is so elegant, she smokes.

I spent the best part of the decade finding out how to simulate the brain, if I simply plugged my own it would eventually rot. The first mechanical brain weighed six tonnes and was as big as the top level of the warehouse. The newest, still bigger than a human brain, needs to be spread all over the body. I managed to keep the total weigh at under 300 kilograms. She no longer breaks the floor tiles when she walks.

The Tesla coils roared and after the blackout she whispered in the dark.

Such a beautiful voice, such sorrow.

I sliced my throat open to stop my own screaming.