Work Text:
It was a brisk Autumn night in Vinyl City. The summer’s harsh heat had entirely left the coastal town, but the humidity hadn’t. Threats of winter ice paraded casually in the occasional night-time sprinkle and gust of leaf-severing wind. It was a piss-poor time to be out-and-about… But that’s not where Jae-beom was.
Jae-beom was sitting in his garage, in moderate darkness. The only source of light at that point in time was the light from his own monitor, the light from the open hallway door, and the light that came from the magnifying desk-lamp in front of his “face”.
Jae-beom had been working tirelessly on this little “project” of his since he had quit his job, and he had been working on it on-and-off before that. Both moves had been encouraged by his therapist, in fact. His previous job certainly paid enough to keep the bills squared away, kept electricity through his walls… But damn it was soul-crushing. There were many instances were he had wanted to throw his apron at his boss, but the bastard had him by the scruff. Couldn’t pay for therapy or his hobby if he quit… And any future employer would have him dead to rights to refuse hiring him… Being a veteran was respectable: so long as you kept the problems you had to yourself.
But Jae-beom was anything but a quitter. He kept moving, never surrendering… Yes. The man was ballsy and had nerves of steel to spare. Always had...
… It was just a little more literal now.
Jae-beom slowly withdrew his hands from the small little circuit-board as he scrutinized the soldering with his own metal hands. The man felt an internal sigh come on as he turned the piece of hardware over, careful not to turn it over and snap it in two on accident (like last time). He wasn’t entirely happy about that bit, but ah. What can you do?
As his monitor scanned the texture of the chip he compared it to his own. He couldn’t say he was a great electrician, but having your own circuitry had definitely boosted his own technical skills with the stuff… After-all; he’d be SOL if he couldn’t fix his own minor problems. It only made sense he could do this sort of thing. Cut corners where he could…
Now to see if it actually amounted to anything.
The cyborg pushed his lamp away from his face and turned out of his little office-nook inside the garage. He preferred to have his back to a wall at any given time (he was told that was normal), so it took him a moment to walk around the desk and to the opposing wall where a limp mannequin-like body of metal lay motionless there.
The thing was a sight, that was for sure. Would make any grown-man jump if you stared at it too long… But the kids were all for the electronic toys now-a-days. He figured it’d be better to keep this one looking as dingy as he could. A mock-up if you will. A proto-type… Just to see if he could do this on a smaller scale. He’d work on making it look pretty later.
Jae-beom grabbed the “skull” of the prototype and lulled its head forward. On the back of its head was an exposed circuitry panel and a series of chords keeping it charged. Jae slowly took the chip and inserted it into a little divot in the circuitry, pushing it in until he heard a set of springs making a clicking noise.
Finally Jae-beom rested the body mock-up back against the wall. It seemed perfectly lifeless and still, and almost made Jae-beom mad… He pushed way the irrational feelings for a second as he reminded himself-- this was a thing. It wasn’t a real person.
It’s a thing… Only a machine.
Jae finally let out a groan and pressed a series of buttons on the panel on his mock-up’s chest. He watched as the electrical and mechanical insides of the mock-up whirred with a bright light-
Then suddenly it gave way to darkness as everything in his house turned off. There came the sound of a fuse being turned from outside and faintly he could hear the electricity of the buildings surrounding him turned off as well.
Jae-beom let out an audible curse as the electricity turned back on after a moment. Whether or not he had caused a power-surge was anyone’s guess. It could have also been Vinyl city just… Being Vinyl city.
That’s when he heard it, the sound of the mock-up’s neck snapping-to.
Jae-beom turned his attention to the mock-up as wide, white eyes scanned the room and blinked… It was creepy, and it was strange it… Was also relieving.
“Designation; Captain Jae-beom,” the android on the ground addressed him. “The date is October tenth at two-hundred and thirty hours…” The mock-up’s head twitched erratically for a second and the voice changed- it changed to his. “A-tennntion!” the mock-up said, bringing his hands up into a salute… Just like Jae-beom had programmed him to. “Ready for briefing, Captain!”
Jae-beom leaned down to the android, perplexed and shocked beyond all words. It hadn’t been he had expected this to be a failure- it had been he didn’t expect for this to work as well as it had. A fair bit of his own processing had been copied and pasted into the droid- with a few modifications, obviously. Now what stared back up at him was as much himself as it was machines… With one large distinction.
It was a soldier looking on the battlefield for the first time. Ready for orders. Ready to serve.
“At ease,” he told the android as it blinked and did just that. The glowing white eyes of his little project followed him around the room, waiting patiently. After a moment of sitting inside the uncanny valley the “Captain” addressed the Android again. “Lieutenant!”
“Sir-yes-sir!”
“List name and purpose… And stand up for god’s sake!”
“Sir! Name VOID, sir! Purpose: make people happy, sir! Feild unspecified, sir!”
Jae-beom noticed how the android responded in the order that his instructions had come, because it was only after the Android had answered him did the android stand up, folding its metallic arms behind his back.
“Excute planner protocol, Lieutenant!”
After a moment of processing the Android replied back. “Sir, yes sir! Today’s date; October tenth at two-hundred and thirty-four hours. Next object on calendar: ‘recharge moron ’, at three-hundred hours.”
Oh… Good to see that chip worked.
Suddenly the captain saw the android blink again and begin to speak. “Sir. Permission to speak, sir?”
“Speak freely solider?”
For a moment the Android said nothing… It merely blinked at Jae-beom. “Sir- concerns for power surge at critical mass, sir. Please use back-up power, please, sir.”
Jae-beom would have blinked, too. Did… Did he program that? An android that could recognize potential power-problems in the future? Did it just… Worry about him?
“Dully noted, Lieutenant.”
“Sir.”
Jae-beom watched this strange being before him. Just moments ago it had given him an unnerving feeling, but now- now there was life behind those eyes. It may not have been a human life- but it was a life. Jae-beom had just made a person. All on his own.
It looked at him and called him ‘sir’ and sounded like he did- and it… Oh gosh. Was this his son? It was, wasn’t it?
Jae-beom approached the Android and watched as it stiffened it’s posture from him being near-by. “What is your name, solider?”
“Unidentified. Systems start on October tenth at-”
“October… tenth…” Jae-beom uttered to himself in utter disbelief. “Set timer for next year today at two-hundred and thirty hours.”
After a few seconds the bot chimed in again. “Timer set. Add description?”
Jae-beom felt his arms fold behind his back. “Happy First Birthday, 1010.”