Work Text:
“Power on,” came the command.
He could feel his body come to life. His neck moved. His eyes opened. The world came into view, and he adjusted his gaze so the people in front of him remained in focus.
There were his familiar creators, staring at him in anxiety and worry, and in front of them was a new face, belonging to that of a taller human with bright eyes and soft features. He examined this human: male, in his late 20’s, displaying an expression known as curious .
He had to greet the new human.
“Hello.” He held out a hand. “I am Android B-1N. I am created to serve. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
The man in front of him didn’t shake his hand, but he did sigh. He detected relief in the man’s tone.
“So he has the same issues that R-037 did?” the man questioned.
Issues? the android thought to himself. He blinked, then his mind began to process if he had any known issues. Emotions strong , he found, coding unable to change.
He must have issues. He must be a failed prototype of an android. He had to apologize.
“I will do better,” he assured, and the man glanced over at him. Shock , the android read on his expression. “I shall fix my issues so I can learn to serve you better.”
One of his creators stepped forward, wringing her hands in front of her. Nervous , the android thought.
“We tried to fix Dongmin’s codes to get rid of the emotional capabilities of these androids. B-1N was our experiment, but it...I think we’ll have to start from scratch.” She pulled up something on a small tablet she held. The android wanted to see; he felt curiosity bloom in his chest. He wondered where it came from. Androids should not feel.
“How did you screw up so horribly?” the tall man asked. “You’re supposed to be creating war machines, not...emotional pieces of junk.”
B-1N wanted to apologize again, for this time he was called junk, but he recognized relief once more on the man’s face. Should he apologize for relief? Was that a viable emotion that deserved an apology? He was not sure.
He asked, “Should I apologize for my shortcomings?”
“He’s apologetic, too,” the man muttered, tapping a finger against his chin. “Tell me, why did Dongmin’s code remain?”
“It’s the entire design,” his female creator stated. “Dongmin’s prototype was created for emotional capabilities and relationships and familiarity. We thought if we took out the coding for emotions, then things would be fixed. Instead, it...this one is more curious than R-037 was. He desires to know more. R-037 followed orders and slowly became accustomed to the emotions Dongmin had placed within him. This one opened his eyes and instantly smiled. We’re trying to figure it out, but I think we’ll have to start from scratch.”
“So you will dispose of him?”
They had discussed such a thing in front of him before. Dispose , B-1N wondered, what does dispose mean? He searched his database, the knowledge that had been installed within his programming.
To rid of , he discovered.
They would rid of him.
He liked being awake, though. He did not want to be powered down any longer.
“I shall become better,” he promised. The man looked over at him. B-1N offered him a smile. “So you will not have to rid of me, I will become better. I am created to serve. I shall become what you wish.”
His creator rolled her eyes and shook her head. However, the man in front of him raised his eyebrows and, unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, he smiled briefly.
B-1N grinned.
He liked this man.
“I will serve you, sir,” he promised, but his female creator stepped forward, blocking the man from view.
“Quiet,” she ordered. “And stop smiling.”
B-1N let his lips fall back into their neutral position and he kept his mouth shut. However, he was bursting to the brim with things to say, with questions to ask. The man was an outsider, the first he had ever seen before. He seemed nice, too, unlike the creators that constantly poked and prodded him.
Still, he couldn’t speak. He was told not to. He followed orders. He was created to serve.
The man reached forward and poked his side. “Do you feel that?” he asked.
B-1N wasn’t sure if he was allowed to answer. He nodded his head, then briefly glanced at his creator, who stared back at him.
Displeased , B-1N detected.
“Do you feel pain?” the man asked, and with no warning, he pinched B-1N’s skin.
It was painful; the nerve receptors in B-1N’s body sent signals to his brain, and he said, without thinking, “Ow.”
“You left his nervous system in?” the man asked, spinning around to glare at his creator. She cowered. “You were trying to create a war machine, but you left in his nervous system?”
“I thought we had disabled it,” she murmured. “We tried to. We’ve done many tests on his ability to feel pain. We can’t figure out Dongmin’s coding, however. It’s...difficult. We thought if we added it in, it wouldn’t matter, but it’s...he feels, though we have tried disabling it.”
The man sighed, then faced B-1N again. “Have they hurt you?” he asked.
Was he allowed to speak? He wasn’t sure. Still, he had to answer a direct question, and so he nodded his head.
“How much?” the man asked again.
He had not been given permission to speak. He was unsure how to convey his level of pain without speaking.
As if realizing his dilemma, the man said, “You can speak. Tell me, how much have they hurt you?”
“A lot,” B-1N responded, trying to remain truthful. He had to answer this man’s questions correctly. He had to prove he was a good robot.
“What did they do?”
Before he could give a reply, his creator broke in. “The usual tests to determine levels of pain. Intense heat, abrasions, cuts. Nothing too drastic.” She grabbed one of B-1N’s arms. “He doesn’t bruise,” she said, “but he feels things, regardless. Like this.”
She dug her fingers into B-1N’s skin. He winced and pulled back, giving another small, “Ow,” as his brain recognized the harm being done to him.
The man sighed. He had sighed a lot since B-1N had met him. He wondered why he sighed. “This really doesn’t instill much faith within me that you guys will complete a war machine,” he said. “I mean, the androids you have completed are complex and emotional, which is a scientific feat, but if the reason you are funded now is to create weapons of war, then your skills are useless.”
“We apologize, sir,” B-1N’s creator murmured, bowing her head. “We’ll scrap this one and do better work.”
The man looked over at B-1N. B-1N wanted to smile back at him, but he knew he had been given orders not to smile. He simply returned the stare.
“Don’t scrap him yet,” the man ordered. “More studies on B-1N could be useful. Just work now on creating a new prototype for the government.” He took a step forward, now standing very close to B-1N, who didn’t turn away from his gaze.
“Smile,” the man told him. B-1N smiled.
“Frown,” the man told him. B-1N frowned.
“You’re very good,” the man told him. B-1N beamed, pleased that his service had been praised, and then the man patted his shoulder. “My name is Sanha. I think I’ll be seeing more of you. You’ll...you’ll likely be useful.”
His creator, once more, broke into the conversation. “Sir?” she asked. Confusion , B-1N detected, but he said nothing to her. He liked this man only. He wanted to serve this man only.
Sanha ignored what she said. “I’ll be back later,” he told her as he stepped away from the android. “We might use B-1N for something else, but I’ll double-check with my superiors. In the meantime, stop hurting him so much. I think he remembers.”
B-1N did remember. He remembered everything. He remembered that the Creator was mean to him and that Sanha was kind to him. He liked Sanha very much.
He would listen to Sanha. He would serve Sanha.