Chapter Text
>You are not looking forward to a new soul-crushing day at your job
>The breakfast lovingly prepared by Lulu and Sammy brightens your morning, but it does little to alleviate the unpleasant anticipation
>As you drive to work, you wonder what unspeakable things you will be subjecting innocent robots - and yourself - to today
>But when you enter the Sterling building, something feels different
>Before you can get to your workplace, your superior meets you in the hallway and asks you to his office
>"Anon, there is no good way to put this..." he begins as the both of you sit down on chairs on the opposite sides of his desk
>"But we have to let you go. You've been doing well, but we are liquidating the entire stress-testing department. I'm sorry."
>The news leaves you speechless. What are you going to do now? How are you going to take care of your maidbots?
>The ensuing conversation doesn't go well or last long, and minutes later you are heading down to your workplace to collect your personal belongings
>As you enter the sickeningly familiar room, you are surprised to see a Nandroid sitting at your desk and inspecting some papers
>With the exception of wearing a hard hat and a pair of safety goggles, she looks just like any other Nandroid that has come through this room over the years
>"Good morning, sir!" she greets you enthusiastically
>"Uhhh... This has to be some kind of mistake. This entire department is being liquidated, you should probably leave" you tell her flatly
>"Oh no, sir! I assure you, there is no mistake: I have been assigned to this work station."
>This can't be right, you think
>"Do you realize what this department is?"
>"Yes, sir. General Stress-Testing."
>"And you've been assigned here... to do what?"
>"Perform stress-testing, sir."
>This somehow shocks you even more than the news of losing your job
>But a few seconds later everything becomes clear in your head
>You've spent years stress-testing robots who were meant to replace humans on various jobs, and are now yourself being replaced with a robot on your job
>It was only a matter of time, you suppose
>You briefly wonder how is a Nandroid going to handle stress-testing her fellow robots, but quickly reason that if you were able to learn to live with it, then so will she
>Without saying any more words to the little robot, you silently grab a cardboard box, gather your few belongings, and prepare to leave
>But something makes you linger in the doorway
>"What's your name?" you ask, stopping but not looking back
>"Handy, sir."
>You finally turn to look at her
>"Good luck to you, Handy. You are really going to need it here."
* * *
>When you first heard about the stress-testing department, you could not believe it
>How could the famed John Sterling allow something so horrible to exist in his company?
>You'd come to rationalize it as a myth, a twisted rumor spread by some of the meaner Nandroids to instill fear in their weaker classmates
>All doubts were cleared on your graduation day, however, when the lady handing out family assignments took you to the side and handed you a special folder
>You were not going to a loving family, you were going to what you now knew to be 100% real android hell on Earth
>And the fact that you were being sent there to work rather than to be tested yourself somehow made it feel worse
>What followed were several weeks of training that made you unlearn a lot of the things you've learned about the company, the world, and the robots' place in it
>At the end of your first day, you were asked to saw an older model janitor robot in half
>Even though you knew it didn't have consciousness like you did, the beeping noises it was making during its final moments haunted you that night
>You did not emerge from your docking chair feeling well rested the next morning
>And when your human instructors asked you how you were feeling, you admitted as much
>"The first day is always the toughest," one of them said. "You will get used to it, eventually, but it is not going to be easy."
>"Luckily for you, however, you are a robot," the other added, "so we have something that might help you with adjusting."
>The two then presented you with a special software update
>They jokingly called it the "careless update", because it just made you... care less about certain things
>From that point on, your training went much easier
>You learned everything there was to learn about about the various Sterling products' internal mechanisms and the various tools used to stress-test them
>On the final day of your training, you were forced to destroy a fellow Nandroid
>Some part of you was sickened by how easily you did it and how accustomed you've become to the horrors of it all
>But you did not dwell on it
>After all, you were a good robot, and good robots did not question their orders
