Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I'd like to thank sunrise over boston for beta-reading. Idk if you'll see this but thank you, you are very helpful and I appreciate your advice.
Synthetic Love
Prologue
Synthetic Biology is a relatively new area of biological research and technology. It combines various fields of science and engineering. At first, synthetic biology was considered as "the field of dreamers". There was nothing profitable to do with whatever knowledge obtained from the study for anything that was practical was not possible.
Then something wonderful happened...
One day Greg Morris took his family to the local bowling alley. Mrs. Morris prattled the whole time saying, "All of the books encourage family bonding in group activities. It's healthy and the children will be less likely to develop criminal behaviors."
Little Christie cooed and entertained herself with her own spit bubbles; and Daniel Morris, who could not have been more than five, grumbled about the baseball game he was going to miss. The home team was playing and he really wanted to go. After all, Dad had promised him! And daddies weren't supposed to go back on their promises. Perhaps if Mr. Morris had taken his son to the game, or if he hadn't have made that promise at all, Daniel's head might have been at the alley instead of the stadium. His hands might have had firmly grasped the ball instead of just lightly cradling it. The ball might have stayed in his grip instead of falling to the ground and his toes might have stayed in tact instead of crushing under the weight and breaking off into a liquid, fleshy goo. (insert high pitched scream)
The die hards of synthetic biology are truly grateful for Daniel Morris and his crippled foot; for the boy was the very first one to try out the product that really put their work on the map: artificial limbs.
Yes, if not Daniel someone else would have come along, but considering that the incident was a rather heart-wrenching one and considering that the kid was so cute, his story had to go national, the investors and creators of the first ever biosynthetic partial foot could not have asked for better publicity. It was a win/win situation; Daniel got his toes back and SynTech, the first biosynthetic company, was created.
The first thing people noticed about biosynthetic limbs was the price. Yes, they were rather expensive. Before they were covered by medical insurance, they used to cost an arm and a leg (yes, that pun was intended), but it was still cheaper (and better) to buy a biosynthetic limb than buy a bionic or cybertronic limb. Seriously, would you rather buy one biosynthetic limb that would last a lifetime (provided that you don't ruin it or that it wasn't a botched job) or would you rather buy a slightly less expensive limb that would require special cleaning/cleaning products, regular updates in both hard and software, and that could be and needed to be detached and reattached?
The most noticable (and most likeable) feature of biosynthetic limbs was the fleshy aspect of it. Unlike other prosthetics, biosynthetic limbs were so real and life-like, people didn't experience the usual amounts of grief and trauma that came with losing a limb!
When the industry was seen as lucrative, SynTech Inc. gained more investors. Pretty soon they were making organs as well; all it took was some chemistry, some robotic engineering, a smidgen of DNA and a quick ZAP of electricity to get a new limb or liver.
And it didn't stop there...
People were continuously trying to push the boundaries of what was possible with synthetic biology. The first fully synthetic organism made was a brown rat named Syntho Rat 1; it was quite realistic. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, a secretary walked in while the creation was being presented to investors. The commotion scared the rat and poor, frightened thing ran out to find shelter. Unfortunately the only thing it found was death in the form of five-inch-heels.
Next came the Syntho Cat and the Syntho Dog. They were a great success in development, in the lab, in testing and marketing research, but several lawsuits halted any further production. ("We already have a pet population problem, and now you want synthetic pets running about too?! And what about dog fights and cock fights? Wouldn't synthetic animals only encourage such activity?) SynTech and other (knock-off) companies were prohibited from making domesticated synthetic animals. However, they were very successful in one unexpected market: Primates. There were plenty of people buying chimpanzees and monkeys, mostly for entertainment use; and that was enough to keep hope for synthetic biology alive.
One boring day at a boring office, there was a terrible shriek coming from the Directing Manager's office. It didn't help that the door was off, preventing any help from getting in, but quick-thinking salesman, Julio Rivera used an emergency axe to break the door down, nevermind that he bloodied his hand breaking the glass to get it out. When he managed to get through to the other side of the now destroyed door, he was greeted with the most disturbing (and yet hilarious) sight of his boss wriggling and writhing in pain as a crudely put together synthetic, human-like thing sat crookedly on the floor between his legs.
In the police report the DM stated that all he wanted was to receive the same pleasure as the people on one website featuring syntho "people". "I should fucking sue! The damn thing's defective! It bit off my fucking dick!"
The company responsible for making the creature that the media christened, "Syntho Bobbitt" quickly killed their business. They destroyed any evidence of such a company existing and burned off any paper trails. Their final act of business was to sell their research to SynTech.
The people of SynTech were very grateful for this turn of events...
A few decades later, the first synthetic humanoid was created, patented, and licensed.
Some decades after that, humanoids were able to be programmed with a range of skills, allowing them to be purchased and used mostly in mining, hazardous maintenance, and a few in extreme medical practice.
It wasn't long before humanoids became were programmed to perform domestic work.
Shortly after, humanoids were made to look more like humans. Androids resembled men while gynoids were made to resemble women.
And of course, it wasn't long before they were made to perform more mature activities...
And why am I telling you all of this?
Well, if it weren't for the strong resemblance of androids and gynoids...
If it weren't for the creation of humanoids...
If it weren't for the Syntho Bobbitt incident...
If it weren't for the expansion in the field of synthetic animals...
If it weren't for the inspiration that came with the death of Sytho Rat 1...
If it weren't for the need of prosthetics and the desire to look human...
If SynTech wasn't created...
If little Daniel Morris hadn't have dropped that bowling ball...
If Greg Morris had only taken his son to a baseball game...
Then Arthur Kirkland would have never met the love of his life...
A/N: In case you didn't know, "Syntho Bobbitt" is a reference to Lorena Bobbit, the woman who cut off her husband's penis.
