Amelia sat down with Doug at a table in the cafeteria. Doug had a large pile of scrambled eggs on his plate. Amelia felt silly with just a few bagels and cream cheese. She almost felt like she should be competing with Doug. They sat down at a two-person table and Doug immediately began to shovel eggs into his mouth.

"Leave yourself time to breathe between mouthfuls, Doug," Amelia joked.

Doug smiled but just continued to eat his eggs.

"Have you been remembering to take your pills?" Amelia asked.

Doug nodded but he seemed to hesitate with the gesture. He continued to eat.

"Um, I forgot to thank you earlier for moving me back to my bed last night," Amelia said awkwardly.

Doug swallowed his food and said, "No problem. You didn't look comfortable slouching on the couch." She wasn't sure but Amelia thought she noticed Doug's cheeks turning a little pink.

"I had fun watching that movie with you," she continued. "That was just what I needed—a movie with a friend, I mean. Did you enjoy the movie?"

Doug nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I'm glad you enjoyed just sitting around with me. I hope we can do it again sometime."

"Me, too. You're a great friend, Doug."

Doug opened his mouth to say something but Arin suddenly showed up.

"Hey, Amelia," he said. "I was wondering if you wanted to check out the android we have ready."

"You already finished one?" Amelia asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Arin said. His eyes were quite wild today. "Mikey had designed an AI so we promised the first android body to him. Do you want to swing by my lab after lunch?"

"Sounds cool," Amelia said. "Yeah, I'll check it out. Will Wheatley be there?"

"Of course. I want him to get a taste of what he'll be getting when his body is ready."

"I bet he's pretty excited for that already."

Arin turned to Doug. "Do you want to come with?" It was obvious that he wouldn't be asking—or even talking to Doug at all—if Amelia wasn't sitting right there.

Doug shook his head. "I have some drawing that I want to get done." He said this to Amelia and didn't acknowledge that Arin had been speaking to him.

"Well, I'll see you then, Amelia" Arin said.

"Oh, wait!" Amelia said before Arin left. Then she said more quietly, "How's Missy doing?"

Arin grinned. "She's so sweet," he said, kneeling down next to her. "Last night, she cuddled up next to me in my bed. She's such a sweetie."

"That's adorable," Amelia said, smiling with him. "It's nice that she doesn't have to sleep out in the hot desert anymore. How far along does she look?"

Arin shrugged. "I have no idea. Do you think I could get the vet to look at her and keep a secret?"

"You have a vet here?" Doug asked. "I haven't even seen any animals here."

"The only animals we have here are farm animals for food," Amelia told him. She turned back to Arin and said, "I wouldn't trust Kellie to keep a secret. There might be someone here with experience in birthing puppies."

"It'll be too hard to find someone else," Arin said. "I might consider going to Kellie. Anyway, I need to get going. I'll see you around 2 'o clock?"

"Sure," Amelia said. "See you then."

Arin stood up again and headed back out of the cafeteria.

"You should have told him."

Amelia turned to Doug. "What?"

"You should have told him that you don't want to be in a relationship with him."

"Yeah, I know. I'll get to it."

Arin opened the door and let Amelia into his lab. Wheatley was hanging from the ceiling and Mikey was sitting in a chair by a lab table.

"So where's the android?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, where is this android?" Wheatley asked. "I want to see what these bodies look like."

"Stevie is bringing him down here," Arin said. "He wanted to do some simple, last-minute tests with Toby really quick."

"Toby?" Amelia repeated. She sat down next to Mikey.

"That's the AI's name," Mikey said. "You're really going to like him. I've been working so hard on him for years. He's probably my best completed project. I had to start out with a basic format of an android AI from a Black Mesa computer. Some of the code keeps getting corrupted and he might be a little buggy, but he works pretty well for the most part."

There was a knock on the door, and Arin opened it for Stevie and a young man. The young man had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was slim and handsome and gave everyone the most charming smile. He didn't have any kind of seductive air bout him, though. Amelia thought of a playful puppy when she saw his face. He looked comfortable in a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt.

"Hey guys," he said in a perfect tenor voice. "What's up?"

"Where's the bloody android?!" Wheatley exclaimed. "I'm getting very impatient now! I want to see this new kind of body!"

"Wheatley, this is the android," Mikey said, standing up and putting a proud hand on Toby's shoulder. "This is Toby. Toby, that sphere on the ceiling is Wheatley. He's another AI."

"Huh," Toby said. "I've never met another AI before. That's an interesting ball-like body you have. I wish I could have started out in something like that. I've been in a computer up until now." He noticed Amelia and the grin got wider. "Ooooh! Who's the cute girl?"

"This is Amelia," Arin said. "And you can't just call her cute before you meet her." He was overly jealous and Amelia felt embarrassed.

"It's a compliment!" Toby said, putting his hands up defensively. "I was just complimenting the nice lady. It's nice to meet you, Amelia." Toby took Amelia's hand in his and kissed hers lightly. Amelia blushed a little. She couldn't believe that he was a robot.

"Well done, guys," she said to the three men. "Toby, if I just saw you walking in the halls, I never would have suspected that you were an android."

"There's only one real way to tell," Mikey said. "Look into his eyes carefully."

Amelia looked into Toby's bright, dazzling eyes. His irises looked just like a human's and he even seemed to have tiny red veins in the sclerae. But when she looked into his pupils, she noticed that they didn't look like endless black pits like a normal man's. They just barely looked like small camera lenses.

"I see it," Amelia said. "You have little lenses in your eyes."

"Thank you," Toby said. "You have lovely eyes, too."

"Ugh!" Wheatley groaned. "I wish I had a body right now! Why couldn't I have this one?!"

"Toby was here first, Wheatley," Mikey explained.

"Well, if Wheatley really wants this body, he can have it," Toby said. "I can wait for the next one."

"No, Wheatley will just have to wait," Stevie said. "I'm sorry, Wheatley. Your body is almost done, if it makes you feel any better."

"Do you promise it will be done soon?" Wheatley asked. "I'm itching to have a human body. It looks like so much fun. I want to try eating food. What's it like to eat food, Toby?"

"It's amazing," Toby said with great sincerity. "Especially ice cream. It's so sweet and creamy. I haven't eaten much yet but I think ice cream might be my favorite food."

"It's still junk, though," Mikey said. "You need to be eating vegetables and protein."

"Yeah, yeah," Toby said. "I will. But ice cream is so awesome, Wheatley. Try it as soon as you can."

"I want a body now!" Wheatley whined.

"Stay patient, Wheatley," Amelia said. "You'll get one soon."

"Will you show me everything, Amelia?" Wheatley asked. "Show me food and running and picking things up with my hands."

"I can show you all of that stuff," Arin offered.

"Sorry, Arin, but I want Amelia to show me," Wheatley said.

"I guess that's alright."

"Hey, can we go for a walk?" Toby asked. "I want to see what this facility looks like."

"I wish I could go for a walk," Wheatley continued to whine.

"You can follow us on your rail," Amelia pointed out.

"Walking would be more fun." Wheatley pouted as they left the lab to show Toby around.