Hello Hello. So this is my first FF... uhm, ever. Please be gentle, I know I have a lot to learn but this is really good practice for me to spread my wings and whatever other things I don't know.
Anywho, here you go and please review and whatever else you feel like doing. Nobody is forcing you to, but I'd love it if you did.
... love it.
Two hundred years ago the first robot companion was free to purchase for residential use. They had been initially developed as a luxury item for the extremely wealthy, but someone somewhere must have seen the potential in a robot to do menial tasks for the vast population of the middle class.
Fifty years after that breakthrough the use of precious metals became a touchy issue, as it seemed the big blue marble called Earth was being tapped dry. So how does one bypass the lack of metal to build a fully functional android?
Simple, you use organic materials.
It was called 'Project Envi-R'.
An environmentally friendly robot. What a laugh that was. It was a simple test really. They look a small child, an infant whose prostitute mother had died in labor and raised the boy in a sterile laboratory. From day one they taught the boy the ins and outs of being an efficient... well, I suppose the proper term would be slave.
That didn't work. Human nature trumped the psychological methods of all those smart scientists. So they invented the Harmony Chip.
They implanted the Harmony Chip into a fully grown person this time.
It worked, but their business partners weren't completely happy with the results. Nobody would want to buy a frumpy, yet obedient and intelligent 'computer'.
So they took aspects of their first plan, and installed the Harmony Chip. Children were raised in large, sterile "schools". The Harmony Chip erased any need or desire to learn on their own, or grow as people, and heightened their intelligence to match even the most advanced computers.
The children were operated on and polished from a very young age and every single one was gorgeous, perfect even... and the public were sold from day one.
There were problems, every once in a while. Defects. Those ones never lasted long, but sometimes defects were only shown after you made your purchase.
The Harmony Company would exchange all damaged product, no questions asked.
Yet once in a while the owner became too attached to their new gadget and refused to return it, or so they say.
"Happy birthday, Ludwig- make a wish!"
The blonde boy, now a eighteen year old man blew out all the candles while his parents clapped happily on either side of him. He was a fairly happy young man, and had been given most of the privileges in life that he could ask for. Sure, his parents were fairly strict. With both of them having army experience and having failed to tame his unruly older brother, he didn't blame them. They loved him with all their hearts, and Ludwig knew that.
He smiled, a sight rarely seen, as his brother ruffled his soft locks, and even when his parents snapped a quick photograph of the duo.
"C'mon Luddy, it's present time! The old man has been killing me with suspense the past few weeks!" Their birthday's were only about a week apart, and Gilbert had been forced to wait until Ludwig turned eighteen until they could open their gift.
And the suspense only heightened as their father wheeled a very large wrapped box into the dining room with the help of their mother.
It was a large package, and although Gilbert was a lot more vocal about it they were both very excited.
Tearing through the paper they were greeted with a giant box made of glass. Inside was a boy, eighteen at most, with smooth olive skin and reddish brown hair. His eyelashes were long, unnatural, and his whole body was shamelessly on display for the family. He was lean, muscled... yet rounded and smooth.
He was perfect.
"I can't believe it, our own Harmony Bot!" Gilbert screamed, looking for a seam or button to open the contained as Ludwig stared in shock.
Ludwig didn't know how to feel.
"Sweetie, what do you think?" His mother chirped, smiling at her son as her husband stepped forward and held her close.
"I..."
He could feel all eyes on him as he stared with his mouth gaping open and palms sweaty.
"... w-what is his name?"
His father laughed a deep throaty laugh.
"Feliciano Vargas."
He and Gilbert were in the basement now, their own converted man-cave of a sort. Their parents travelled often and the two liked having a space where they couldn't notice their absence.
They loved their parents, and they didn't like them being gone for long periods of time, but they appreciated that they were able to travel together. It was funny, even after thirty years of marriage they were still madly in love.
They were skimming the user manual and trying to figure out how to get the boy out of what they referred to as sleep mode, which seemed accurate given the situation. You could see the chest of the boy rising and falling, as if he was actually asleep.
Shit, he was actually asleep. Ludwig mentally slapped himself for thinking that. It was common with Harmony Bot owners, that they would very often forget that their 'robots' were actually fully functional human beings.
Although you could go out and buy nutrition packs that you could just have them feed themselves, which usually consisted of the humanoid using an IV for a short while when their master slept, a few individuals chose to feed them the same food they ate.
They were programmed to work out X amount of time based on the amount of calories they ate, as to avoid gaining weight.
"It's behind the ear."
"What?" Ludwig whispered, shaken out of his own thoughts by his brother.
Gilbert laughed, taking a cord out of the box and plugging it into the wall before showing his younger brother the small hole behind the robot's ear, which had been covered by his hair before that.
Taking a deep breath they plugged in the cord and after a few silent moments of waiting the young, naked man on the floor took a loud breath and opened his eyes.
They were hazel, with specks of green and what seemed like gold in them. The thing that made Ludwig uncomfortable was that they didn't look like the eyes of most Harmony Bots. Distant and fake. These eyes looked so human.
They looked like they could actually... see.
"Unit 1861, code name Feliciano Vargas- customer start-up commencing." The boy spoke in a soft, soothing voice. Somehow the robot had managed to instantly calm Ludwig's nerves. They were manufactured to do so, Ludwig knew that.
"Please, tell me your names."
Gilbert was the first to speak up.
"Yo, robot- call me King Awesome!"
Feliciano stared at Gilbert for a long moment and his lips slowly curved into a smile. "Humor noted, may I add that master is very funny. Please, tell me your names?"
"Ludwig."
Both the robot and his brother turned to look at him, both seeming somewhat surprised.
"Ludwig... Beilschmidt."
There was a long silence for the second time that night and Ludwig felt his heart racing a mile a minute as the robot seemed to process the information.
"Duly noted. That will make this man Gilbert Beilschmidt. I look forward to serving you as your domestic harmony bot."
