"He should be fully charged by tomorrow."

Dave and Rusty stared down at the table where Astro lay.

"Too bad we don't have any synthetic skin; it's not good for all those wires to be exposed and…Rusty?"

Rusty had gone to the other end of the room to sit down, and was now rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand.

"You ok?"

Rusty sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine…just tired."

But he didn't sound fine, something was up. Dave turned to finish powering down the extra monitors.

"Dave?"

"Yeah?"

Rusty hesitated for a moment. "Are you seriously going to keep that thing?"

"I guess so…I mean, unless someone wants him back."

"What if someone does?"

"Does what?"

"Want it back?"

Robots were sent to Zone Pink to be rid of and forgotten. Antique collectors had come and gone, so the idea of someone coming to get him was pretty far-fetched.

"Think about it. A robot that advanced and custom designed must have come from somewhere. I mean, who would invest all that only to have it lost in space?"

Dave looked down at Astro with a slight slump in his shoulders. And in that moment, Rusty put it all together.

"I don't believe it." Rusty said incredulously as he stood up. "You've gotten attached to it, haven't you?"

Dave started to get defensive. "No I'm not!"

"You're good at many things, but lying isn't one of them. I see that look on your face, the way you always talk about it-"

"He's not an it! He has a name you know!"

Rusty crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows.

"Ok, maybe I am a little bit." He said, turning away to hide and embarrassed blush. "So what?"

"It's only going to be that much harder when someone comes to get it."

"Him."

Rusty rolled his eyes. "Ok, when someone comes to get him."

"I guess…things have just been so boring around here…"

"Still, it's not healthy to get to fond of it."

"Would you rather I be like you instead? To be so detached that I can just fix things and send them on their way without a care?"

"Well, it would make things easier."

Dave stared him down coldly. "For someone who doesn't like androids you sure are acting like one. You're just as disconnected as they are, maybe even more."

"Dave…"

"I can't do that like you can, excuse me for being only human."

Rusty looked out the window to see the sun rising, a rare sight on the moon.

"We should get to sleep."

He then turned and left the room, sliding to door behind him. As he walked down the hallway, he wondered how anyone could care so much about some animatronic doll? He wasn't worried that he didn't care enough, but instead, that Dave cared too much.

And it scared him.