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“It’s like...a fully grown toddler. A robotic, fully grown toddler.”
Jess squinted as she watched the figure poke around her lab. They weren’t touching anything. Just looking around, swaying in an unstable manner. Like it hadn’t yet learned to use it’s legs.
Walking over to the box it arrived in, she glanced inside. Maybe there was something they missed . Maybe there was some reason that this...this android was sent here. Jess liked androids. She really did. It’s just...most of the ones she saw weren’t so child-like. This one was the exact same model as the other hunters, but as she watched it look around curiously she couldn’t help but think that maybe something had happened to it.
After looking in the container, she found nothing. It was empty, like whoever sent it didn’t want it back. Letting out a sigh she turned to her team. David was never a fan of androids, he didn’t hate them, but he didn’t care about them. Kim liked them, had an android of her own. And Gary...well who gives a shit about Gary, she thought to herself. Asshole never comes into work anyways. Huffing, she walked over to the laptop currently occupying what was supposed to be Gary’s desk, and shut it, abruptly cutting off the video call to the missing coworker.
“You guys can go home. I’ll take care of this.”
After waiting for her Team to pack up and leave, she followed them to the door, locking it behind them before turning to look at the only other one occupying the room.
Watching it for a moment, she decided to stay where she was.
“Hello, What’s your name?”
Seeing it jolt let her know that she made the right choice. It turned to her, looking her in the eyes. It had blue eyes.
She didn’t think it was going to answer.
“Aria?”
Blinking, she looked at it incredulously. Was that a question? It looked off to the side, getting distracted by something new that caught its eye.
Watching the wonder come over its face was like a hard punch to her gut. It looked so alive. Looking over it... her , looking over her one more time, she paused. She wasn’t comfortable calling her an “it” . You could have mistaken her for a human, really. The way her hair fell, flat and tangled, over her LED. Jess couldn’t quite tell if it was black or brown, not like this. She wore a plain white gown, kind of like a hospital gown but not at the same time, and walked around barefoot. That wouldn’t do. With all the sparks and spare parts that flew around she was bound to damage herself if she walked around like that. Looking around she got an idea.
Walking over to her desk she pulled her chair out and rolled it to the rug in the middle of the room, that way Aria had something soft to sit on. Moving towards the android, Jess watched as she glanced down at their hands when she grabbed hers and began leading her over to the deep purple rug.
“Can you sit down for me?”
She let go of Arias hand, moving to her overnight bag and fishing out a hairbrush, hearing a quiet Of Course from behind her. She spent more nights here than she would’ve liked, but sometimes she had to, and tonight was beginning to look like one of those times.
When she turned around Aria had made herself comfortable, leaning back on her hands with her legs stretched out in front of her, wiggling her toes.
Jess let out a smile, she remembered her daughter doing that when she first got the rug.
Sitting in the chair she previously moved, she had Aria lean backwards so that the girls back was pressed against her legs.
Taking the girls hair into her lap, she paused.
“Do you remember where you came from, or your model number?” She asked, beginning to unsnarl her hair. She waited as Aria thought for a moment, searching through memories and coding, trying to find an answer for her.
“Model #508 000 146. Hardware count 001.”
Jess hummed at the answer. “And where you’re from?” She gently asked, not forgetting the other question she had mentioned. She listened to the girl stutter for a moment.
“I...I don’t know? There’s nothing there. There’s no information.”
That was...a bit worrying. They must have wiped her clean before shipping her off. Humming quietly to herself she continued to brush Aria’s hair, tapping her shoulder as she began to get distracted and pull away.
“That’s alright, sweetie.” She said softly, an almost maternal side coming out, “We can help Kim figure that out later. We’ll need to get you new clothes though.” She tilted her head, glancing down at the girls smaller frame. She must have been freezing, the gown was thin and looked uncomfortable. They might have had some generic uniforms left somewhere. They wouldn’t have her name or number but she could always get a jacket later, right?
She’ll bring it up with David at another time.
Focusing on the task at hand, she started humming again. A tune that she would hum to her daughter when she had trouble sleeping. Soon Aria would start swaying to the sound of Jess, and Jess would sway with her. Both filling the silent room with the sound of an old nursery rhyme.