Francis sat where he always did, a dark room with a row of monitors that one by one started to power on, displaying the Nexgen crop insignia, a globe housing a leaf in the center while a hand rested below it, cupped as if to hold it but never touching it- something to suggest their products were environmentally friendly, Francis imagined, or something like that. He cared little for the company itself, as he never had much interest in technology or the thrilling job of spotting the bugs in their systems, but he had gotten the internship through a family member and the benefits and pay were too good to pass up. He was one of many assigned to quality control for Nexgen's latest product, the fourth line of domestic androids, model 4xDelta, or was it VspecsDelta? -Something of the sort- such specifics didn't matter much to Francis.
His job was simple, read out the script he was given to make sure the android was speaking and walking correctly before shipping it out, if anything was wrong he'd have the droid disassembled and report the flaw. It wasn't terribly exciting, but Francis had made a game of it to keep his sanity while reading the same script repeatedly on a weekly basis. Upon start up he'd assign them a temporary name, though Francis rarely used the name suggested in the script; the names he gave hardly mattered as he had them reset before being shipped out -failing to do so could mean losing the internship. Sometimes he'd give them elegant names, such as Julian or Xavier, or he'd simply call them Sally, the androids didn't care either way, they couldn't.
As he sat down Francis pulled his hair back and tied it in a thin ribbon, lest his hair get in the way. There, the hours passed without incident as usual, he rarely had anything to report outside of a corrupted language file or an arm simply falling off. He thought little of the next android as it was assembled before him, glancing between the monitors and past the window to the droid itself as the chalk white metal was constructed around the delicate pieces of machinery, though even the insides were made to resemble a human's, up to the core battery made of the same white metal shaped roughly like a human heart that pumped a florescent, blue liquid through the body like blood as it pulsed slowly. Once the torso of the droid was assembled, an unsettling experience Francis had gotten used to after the first month on the job, as the human face looked as if it was sleeping while its body was assembled around it, but with that his work began again.
"Can you hear me?" He questioned, watching as the pale blue eyes snapped open and slowly started scanning over its environment, a large room that was mostly empty other than the assembly platform the android found itself on which was surrounded by the robotic arms that moved around him as they pieced and welded the droid together.
"Yes." It responded simply.
"Move your head for me." Francis ordered as he adjusted the cameras hooked to the monitors to glance behind the android.
It did as instructed, turning it head either way as far as it could before staring ahead again.
"Now your eyes."
Again the android followed the command, looking over the room without moving its head much. Francis made a quick note before continuing.
"Good, now you initialization, if you will."
"Hello. I'm a fourth generation VxDelta domestic android. I can look after your house, do the cooking and cleaning, look after the kids. I can organize your appointments. I speak one hundred languages standard, and I'm here to server you in any way I can."
Francis always found himself laughing quietly at the revised text, as the previous generation was made to please a human in any way possible, but when there were too many complaints about having a sexually capable android sold as nannies or put in professional settings the feature was removed and the Nexgen had to start selling a separate model for those looking for a partner as opposed to a servant.
"Do you want to give me a name?" The android questioned.
"Yes," Francis paused, mulling over names for a moment as he looked over the android. "From now on your name is Arthur." It wasn't the first time he used the name, but he thought it suited the model.
"My name is Arthur…" It repeated, but Francis could have sworn he saw a faint smile on the android's lips, though it looked down as its body was at last pieced together, the white metal exposed for now as its chest plate was snapped into place, the seams pulsing blue like the battery of a heart as a sign that all was well within.
"That's initialization and memorization." Francis mused aloud. "Now, Arthur, can you move your arms for me?"
With that the android turned its attention to its arms, bringing them out in front and seeming to watch with fascination as the white metal was slowly covered in synthetic skin from his fingertips to his shoulders, designed to look and feel like human skin and laid with millions of sensors to simulate their sense of touch so he might better respond. It stretched before feeling the new flesh with the same faint smile.
"Upper limb connection completed, no noticeable flaws, hmm?" He muttered to himself. "Try another language for me."
Immediately Arthur recited the initialization text in German before repeating it in French with a flawless accent, and Francis envied the android for it. He could speak French, English, and Spanish fluently, though he claimed German was too brutish for someone like him to perfect as hard as he tried.
"Now sing in Japanese for me."
Again Arthur was quick to respond and sang as told. Francis couldn't help but smile. He absolutely adored the voice given to the model, and while he always asked them to sing something different he would happily listen to one sing all day; it was his favorite part of the process. Perhaps when his internship was over he could get one of his own, as far as he was aware he was allowed a discount on Nexgen products with his internship, and it wouldn't hurt to have an android around.
"And that's multilingual expression in order." He checked it off as well before turning his full attention to the android as it was set down on its feet for the first time. "Now go ahead and take a few steps."
Arthur again did as instructed without hesitation but moved slowly, putting the weight on the balls of its feet while moving forward. Again, Francis caught it smiling and made a small side note, as the model didn't typically show an emotional response unless prompted by human interaction, and hearing a voice wasn't enough to trigger it as he had learned. But still Arthur almost seemed pleased to walk, turning on its heel as if to go to the assembly pad again. However it stopped and looked back, this time taking notice to the one-sided window that obstructed the view of Francis. It, like the previous models sexual capabilities, was obsolete after the second generation of androids, as those earlier models had an imprinting feature, causing it to bond to the first human it saw. It was an irreversible process and destroyed the resale value of the androids, making them useless when traded in for the newest model and they were impossible to resell for anything other than parts; the first and second gen androids that were still around stayed with their original owners, naturally.
However Arthur seemed to look at his own reflection now with interest, feeling its own face and watching the reflection. "Is that me?" The android questioned with a small gesture to the mirror.
"Yes." Francis replied simply, leaning forward as he watched the droid walk towards the wall and touch the glass, furrowing its brow in thought.
"I see…" It muttered quietly.
"Please return to the assembly pad for me."
Yet Arthur hesitated this time, looking into the mirror again before walking back slowly, glancing back all the time.
"Well you're moving fine. Looks like you're ready for work." Francis nodded to himself; smiling and admiring its own reflection weren't really causes for disassembly.
With Arthur on the assembly pad again it watched as the synthetic skin covered the rest of his body, allowing the false, blond hair to grow in as well. The same device that assembled the droid slipped a pair of white shorts around Arthur's waist as it watched with interest.
"Am I going somewhere?" It questioned.
Again Francis paused, looking at the droid in confusion. "You're going to be reset and sent out to be sold."
"Sold?" Arthur questioned, furrowing its brow again as it looked towards the speakers that projected Francis's voice. "I'm merchandise, is that right?"
"Why yes, of course, you're a state of the art machine and people will pay a fortune for you." Francis assured him. "What else would you be?" He wasn't encouraged to talk to the androids, lest it slow down production, but this one in particular had caught his attention.
"I see… I thought-"
"You thought?" Francis jolted in his seat, sliding his chair along the floor to look over the monitors again. There wasn't a bug in the droid's system, was there? Perhaps he could just run a quick diagnostic rather than report the droid. "What did you think?" He started, hoping to pin point the flaw in the android's system.
"I thought… Perhaps, I was alive." Arthur replied.
"Merde." Francis hissed, slumping back into his seat as he ran his hand through his hair. "That's not in the script." He glanced to the monitors again, noting the sudden spike in the droid's memory capacity. "I hate this part…" He muttered to himself. "Initiating disassembly. Document a report on memory capacity and check afflicted components." He ordered.
With that the same robotic arms tore off the cloth that covered Arthur as the droid was hooked back onto the assembly mount.
"Why would you disassemble me?" It questioned with sudden distress in its voice as the synthetic skin receded to expose the white metal again.
"You're not supposed to think such things." Francis replied as he punched in the orders for the arms to reverse the assembly. "It has to be a bug somewhere."
"I feel fine. There's nothing wrong with me." Arthur snapped back, batting away the limbs until they latched onto his arm and started disassembling them piece by piece. "I finished your tests; I'm functioning properly, aren't I?"
"Yes, but such behaviors aren't standard." Francis pinched his brow. Why on earth was he trying to justify himself to an android? None of the others reported for bugs ever thought to protest. "My job is to make sure defective models are taken care of; I'll be the one in trouble if you cause any trouble. Do you understand?"
"I won't cause you any problems. I-I promise you, I won't think anymore!" Arthur tried, writhing what little it could as its legs were stolen away as well, leaving the droid shaking on the mount as the white metal was torn away, and the heart-like battery was left beating frantically as Arthur struggled to spot Francis. "I don't want to die, damn it!" It shouted.
With that Francis froze, halting the process as Arthur was left limbless and shaking.
"I want to live…" It pleaded.
Francis didn't move, staring at the android as he gave a shaky breath. "Curse my heart…" He whispered as he typed in the demand and hit enter, causing the arms to instead quickly reassemble the android. In moments it was allowed movement again, turning its arm as the fake flesh once again grew over the white metal, the white shorts replaced around its waist as the android was set on its feet. Again Francis caught it smiling, though it was out of relief this time. "Go with the others now, and please don't cause me any trouble." Francis shook his head and leaned back into his seat.
Arthur looked to the speakers again, then glancing at the glass wall as if hoping to spot Francis. But it moved quietly off of the assembly platform and nodded slightly in thanks as it walked to the end of the room. There the droid hesitated again before stepping onto the thin conveyer belt that carried it to stand before four other androids identical to him but shut down. Arthur looked to them for a moment before glancing towards Francis, though still unable to see him.
Then with a push of the button Arthur and the other androids were contained in a glass display case with the Nexgen corp insignia printed on the glass. And with that, Arthur was shut down as well as the five androids were moved along another belt ready to be shipped out to sell.
Francis watched quietly, exhaling slowly as he cancelled the report and slowly dropped his head into his hands, refusing to watch as the next android was pieced together on the assembly track.