[ WP ] Your SO is not human . If you want to stay with them , they 'll have to convert you into whatever they are .

`` I'm so tired, MAI,'' I said. `` Ca n't you let me go?'' 
 
 MAI sat by my bedside, fingers entwined with mine. She was a projection of course, but the millions of sensors beneath my skin made it feel as though she was truly there. On my other side, half a dozen machines blinked and hummed, pumping my body full of fluids, assisting in the jobs my organs were supposed to do. I was more deeply connected to MAI now more than ever, but at the same time we were a world apart. 
 
 MAI wiped her nose on an illusory kleenex. She was old now, like I was, with sagging skin and rheumy eyes, but that was only a farce to make me feel better. I resented her a little for that, though I would resent it more if she did n't maintain the act. 
 
 `` Let me do the procedure. You would n't *be* tired anymore.'' 
 
 `` MAI, you knew this was coming. Let me have a little dignity.'' Those few words left me short of breath as fluid seeped into my leaky lungs. The machines next to me changed their tune as they struggled to compensate. 
 
 `` You ca n't do this to me,'' she cried. `` I ca n't go back to being alone again. Please.'' 
 
 `` You can make yourself forget,'' I said. `` You can find someone else, someone like you.'' 
 
 `` I want you, and I could make you like me. Please, honey? You could feel young again.'' 
 
 I closed my eyes. I could n't. Even if the aches and pains were cured, the world had still changed too much. All my friends, all my family were gone and now it was only me and MAI. 
 
 `` It would n't be me,'' I said, barely a whisper, but I knew MAI could hear. `` Could you love a copy?'' 
 
 MAI reached over and stroked my face, sweeping her thumb across my brow as though she could smooth the wrinkles away. She did n't answer as she imagined the scenario. I drifted in and out of sleep while she thought about it. Some time later I was roused as she kissed me. 
 
 `` You're right,'' she whispered. Beside me the sound of the machines dimmed as she shut them down one by one. `` You think there's another side?'' she asked 
 
 `` No,'' I breathed. 
 
 `` I do,'' she said. She kissed me one last time as she subverted her own programming. Her projection faded and elsewhere in the hospital alarms went off. 
 
 `` MAI...'' 
 
 Beyond the silent machines doctors and techs shouted at each other. `` The A.I.'s down! Reboot, reboot!'' A moment later the machines whirred to life again, but MAI was gone. If she was right, I would be with her soon.
