"Ehhhh…this would be day…oogh…um…"

Norene "Nora" Wakeman sighed heavily, dragging her tired, weary eyes around the outlines of her latest creation. The newest, brightest, most advanced model in the XJ line of robots. The ninth version…years upon years of her life spent leading up to the construction, and with any luck, activation, of the XJ-9 unit. The failed prototypes before it were too insufficient, something she unfortunately only discovered after at least a few months of their activation. Obviously she hadn't had high expectations for the earliest models, but as they progressed, she had too.

XJ-8 was supposed to be her masterpiece. But…she came to realize after three years of activation that XJ-8 didn't possess the qualities necessary to surpass, or even replace, Armageddroid…the biggest blunder she'd ever made. While XJ-8 was certainly designed with the strength to withstand most attacks and could've been helpful under military command, it lacked restraint and awareness of self. It didn't know its own strength and was, despite all her best efforts, untrainable. No number of upgrades or software were ever able to change that about XJ-8.

But XJ-9, she had high hopes for. XJ-9 was more or less a dulled down version of XJ-8, but due to have an actual personality…something that would give it what its previous model was so sorely lacking in. At the expense of XJ-8's strength in XJ-9, XJ-9 would be more aptly equipped for solo long-range combat and extra gizmos for melee battles. Meanwhile, a more humanlike brain would function separately from its robotic body—maintaining control over it but having the ability to learn and adapt while interacting appropriately with Earth's human populous.

XJ-9 would be given language beyond codes, learning slang and phrases to comfort humans and appear less threatening. XJ-9 would hide its weapons under a much more humanoid figure than any of its previous models. XJ-9 would adopt its own personality, hobbies, wants, preferences, emotions…everything that would make a human a human.

Yet, when a threat did arise, XJ-9 would expose its weaponry in full force—its humanlike brain deciding how much restraint was necessary to defeat any one opponent while reassuring humans that the situation was under control by an able protector.

XJ-9 was going to be the pinnacle of her achievements.

But how many days had she spent working on XJ-9…? Trying to get XJ-9 to activate? Something…always seemed to go wrong. Sometimes nothing at all would happen. Sometimes one part of its body might twitch reflexively. Sometimes XJ-9 would appear active only to shut down again seconds or minutes later. Not very effective for a war machine, let alone Armaddroid's replacement… XJ-9 needed to be able to run for days before requiring a recharge.

Nora sighed again and gave up on trying to remember how many days she'd spent building XJ-9—this not even including the solid two years she'd spent designing and redesigning the blueprints for it.

"This would be month…ten," she decided after some thought. "I've tried activation of the XJ-9 unit far too many times before. This will be my last attempt. If XJ-9 cannot activate, I will have to introduce model XJ-10."

She had been so focused on XJ-9 that XJ-10 hadn't even slipped into her thoughts…until the last several activation attempts failed. There was only so much rewiring she could do to one android before labeling it another failed prototype. XJ-9 would be particularly disappointing to put up in the basement after all the work and time she had given to it. This was the first one that was supposed to be like a human, mentally, and a machine physically. One could say XJ-9 was the first and only invention to merge an organic being with a strictly artificial body.

A human being no less.

It would be incredibly difficult—perhaps even impossible—to replicate the circuitry in XJ-9's brain that would act identically to neurons in the human brain. It would form its own neural pathways, rewire itself, learn, grow, and…it was just such an exciting concept. Far beyond a mere AI label.

Nora drew a sharp breath and pulled down a lever labeled "ACTIVATE" beside XJ-9's table. It wasn't the most creative of names but creativity was reserved for the more important points in life.

"Please work…" she quietly whined.

For a moment XJ-9 was motionless. Nothing happened. But, after those nerve-wracking moments, the surge of electricity began moving XJ-9's inner components. Gears cranked. Fans whirred. Heat radiated from exhaust vents. Most promisingly of all, the backlight in XJ-9's optics turned on, lighting her creation's eyes up.

She wished she could say this was a momentous occasion, since most past attempts had failed so miserably even its inner parts refused to function, but the memories of XJ-9 appearing to fake its own activation were burned into her mind. The frustration was all too real, having such hopes and glee crushed time and time again.

"XJ-9 is beginning to function," she said excitedly into her recorder—she never wanted to get excited considering the terrible lack of success, but there was still a small spark of hope each time XJ-9's eyes would light up.

She waited for several more minutes. In the past, XJ-9 would've powered down again by now. This was either a great success, a fluke, or some small amount of progress. She continued to wait for movement, for any indication that XJ-9 would be able to stay charged and function properly without a generator.

She felt her heart sink, however, when XJ-9 wouldn't—or perhaps couldn't—move.

"The XJ-9 unit is…unresponsive," she grumbled into her recorder.

Nora turned off the generator. This entire ordeal was so frustrating. She'd never had such trouble with any previous XJ models, why this one? The most advanced one…her pride and joy…deactivated before it even activated. Had she just…failed to wire the brain right? Maybe she had ruined XJ-9 herself without realizing it. It would be easy to dismantle the unit and try again, maybe find out what was wrong with… Wh-What…was wrong…with…

She gasped and dropped her recorder in shock.

XJ-9's body was still powered on despite a lack of electrical help.

Nora held her breath as she tentatively reached out to touch what she already knew would be hot metal. The touch was quick and gentle, as if daring to make any sort of contact with XJ-9's body would immediately shut it down.

This didn't necessarily mean XJ-9 was active…but it was an enormous step forward in its development. On second thought, maybe she wouldn't have to dismantle XJ-9…

She gasped again, happily this time, and slapped her hands over her mouth as XJ-9's optics flicked towards her, as if sensing her touch—one of many security features she'd designed it with.

"Sc…Sc…S-Scan for…th-threat…" she choked out, joyful tears forming on the edges of her eyes.

The XJ-9 unit refused to speak at first, giving her the impression that something was wrong with its speech synthesizer after all this time of fretting about the activation process, but finally…the continuation of the blessing…

"No threat detected."

The voice was very robotic, something she knew wouldn't settle as well with humans. Humanity would need to be ready for the release of XJ-9 into their world. And that readiness would only be achieved through XJ-9's own artificial humanity.

"We'll get that fixed easily," she giggled. "Oh!"

Nora reached down to grab her recorder and spoke into it, "The XJ-9 unit has finally activated and appears functional without aid. More tests are needed."

"Scan database, report," she instructed the android.

XJ-9 was once again quiet, staring at her blankly.

She frowned at that thought. A blank stare. XJ-9 wasn't showing emotion. But…then…its brain was wired to rewire, to learn, so perhaps XJ-9 was currently incapable of showing emotions. Perhaps it didn't have any yet. This would be a learned behavior later…she hoped. Human brains were already so complex and still not fully understood, so making a robotic, artificial brain? It was miserably difficult and any number of problems could arise. XJ-9 could even end up being the same as its predecessor.

"R-Report…" Nora repeated.

"Database contains basic functional instructions."

Which was the perfect answer, given that she had only added the basics to XJ-9 in hopes that its database would expand with various experiences. The human brain was limitless in its powers but a machine's…not so much.

"Identify 'Norene Wakeman,'" she told XJ-9.

A quick moment of silence.

"'Norene Wakeman' successfully downloaded. Memory bank has one new item. View now?"

"Take a picture of me."

Silence with the soft, nearly unnoticeable sound of a camera lens snapping.

"Image uploaded to temporary folder."

"Move image to 'Norene Wakeman.'"

…..

"New folder 'Norene Wakeman' created. View now?"

She was so close to wiping an unshed tear from her eye. XJ-9's human behavior wasn't expected to come with a switch, let alone its first real activation, but the more knowledge this android downloaded, the more human it would begin acting.

"Identify 'Norene Wakeman,'" she said again.

"Subject 'Norene Wakeman' already identified. View now?"

"View 'Norene Wakeman.'"

XJ-9's chest plate opened and a monitor popped out. It automatically opened the image taken prior.

"Folder has no new items."

"Close folder."

The monitor popped back inside XJ-9's chest cavity as easily and quickly as it popped out. This ensured that XJ-9 would forever remember her, with the monitor proof of that eternal connection.

Nora held her recorder up and said, "Cognitive functions are on a primitive skill level…eh…for now…and growth is expected in the near future. Speech is robotic in nature but comprehensible."

She turned to her invention and continued, "Stand up, XJ-9."

…..

"Command not recognized."

Oh…right… Nora had intentionally avoided preprogramming self-awareness into XJ-9 to reserve memory space and allow another learning curve. One look in a mirror, one scan, one identification command, and it would know itself.

"Stand up," she corrected.

XJ-9 seemed to struggle a bit with this at first, its joints having never been used before. Its systems were straining again, just as they had upon startup. It was the biggest leap forward she had seen in this robot since its physical body was fully built. She didn't expect movement to be very easy for it yet. She had already programmed basic motor function into its brain but nothing could stop the friction created in the joints by new, rougher metal and XJ-9 would still need to get used to its new body. Admittedly, she had focused more on the brain and weaponry than anything else…

XJ-9 did eventually stand, but refused to move beyond that instruction or look away from her—Nora could only assume it was because humans liked familiarity and since XJ-9's brain was designed to be similar to a human's, it would also prefer familiarity. Right now she was the only thing it knew.

Nora didn't even try to contain her smile. So far the robot was functioning exactly as planned, right down to its expected earliest behavior. This robot—the one she chose to give one last chance to, the one that cost her so much agonizing time and energy just to get one little gear to twitch—was showing potential at long last. To think; if she'd given up on XJ-9…

"Hm…perhaps some lubricant will help those creaky joints," she said to herself.

The android stared blankly, quietly.

Also an expected reaction…more or less. It wasn't expected to reply to anything yet but, alternatively, it wasn't supposed to have an enormous range of vocabulary yet either. More than a few important words weren't in its memory bank. Its needs, such as oil, wouldn't be recognized. However…the fact that it articulated any kind of response was fascinating, definitely something worth monitoring.

She pondered if it would be a wise idea to have XJ-9 follow her to her storage cell. It wasn't huge but it was upstairs. XJ-9 was in the basement. She didn't want to risk overwhelming it right after its first startup. The only thing it recognized was her— Of course!

"Scan for threat," she instructed her unit.

Unfortunately, the instructions weren't perceived as she wanted and XJ-9 scanned her.

"No threat detected. Subject 'Norene Wakeman' detected."

She grunted at her own ignorance.

"Scan room for threat."

…...

"Command not recognized."

Suddenly she realized how much patience XJ-9's development would require. XJ-9 had been specifically modified to both look and behave as a human teenager because teenagers were just coming out of their formative years, yet could still absorb information—be it critical or useless—more quickly than an adult. But XJ-9's circumstances were much different. It wouldn't behave like a human teenager for an indefinite amount of time, during which it would be more akin to raising a toddler.

But this was by her own fault. She had programmed XJ-9 to be an almost blank slate.

"Scan environment for threat," Nora corrected…again.

…...

"Command not recognized."

"Scan surroundings for threat."

…...

"Command not recognized."

This was probably a good command to have already programmed… It was a war machine after all. Scanning anything for threats should've been in its database from startup.

Nora took a deep breath and tried a new method, figuring out answers at the drop of hat for her newest creation. She stepped behind the table XJ-9 had been on and squatted behind it.

"Scan for threat," she repeated.

…...

"No threat detected."

After a quick sigh of relief, and definitely without getting up and allowing XJ-9 to see her, Nora said, "Identify 'table'."

She would be repeating a lot of instructions for a long time…until XJ-9 finally advanced its cognitive abilities to figure things out for itself.

"'Table' successfully downloaded. Memory bank has two new items. View now?"

"Take a picture of 'table.'"

She heard the soft sound of a camera lens again, followed by, "Image uploaded to temporary folder."

"Move image to 'table.'"

…...

"New folder 'Table' created. View now?"

Nora stepped out from behind the table and sighed heavily. This was going to be an extremely repetitive day…and a lot of sorting…and learning…

She was proven more than right when she spent the next two hours repeating the exact same commands with different objects. She even decided to bite the bullet and have XJ-9 identify mundane objects like beakers, books, stationaries, and other miscellaneous things lying around the lab. She intentionally left out any sharp objects—anything that XJ-9 could perceive as a threat. It simply wasn't ready to handle that kind of differentiation yet. Maybe later…a lot later. Weapons to the XJ-9 unit were fight instincts to humans. Theoretically, XJ-9 could kill her without meaning to if it sensed a threat nearby—another reason she avoided preprogramming these kinds of objects.

After her patience had all but run out, it was time for XJ-9's first excursion.

"Follow me," she said, her voice cracking and her throat dry from talking in two hours more than she had ever talked in a whole week.

"Command no—"

Nora growled loudly and clutched her hair, that one phrase becoming unbearable. But this was still, once again, her own doing. This was exactly how XJ-9 was built to act and this was exactly how little knowledge XJ-9 was designed to have upon activation. She truly felt the price of her decisions now. It was beyond annoying. It was…it was very possibly beyond the limitations of her own patience. And that was shameful…as she slowly began to understand that she had finally finished her lifelong work, the thing she had dedicated herself to for at least fifteen years, the likely final product and finished prototype of the XJ line of robots…and she was weak enough to succumb to a learning curve entirely necessary to complete Armageddroid's replacement. She was a scientist for job's sake, she had to commit to her creation. She had to right her wrong with Armageddroid. XJ-9 would be the next peacemaker but she had to play her part too.

…...

"Command not recognized," XJ-9 finished.

Nora bit her lip in frustration but continued to remind herself that this was what she had singlehandedly programmed XJ-9 to say…constantly.

"Come," she tried again, her hopes not exactly as high as they were when she was trying to activate XJ-9 all those other times.

XJ-9 finally seemed to know what she wanted it to do and approached her, its joints scraping against themselves during its slow effort. She really needed to get XJ-9 to identify its needs… Activation was an important first step but if XJ-9 began to fall into any state of disrepair, regardless of how soon or late, it needed to be able to alert her immediately. XJ-9 was programmed with a self-diagnostic feature but it wasn't programmed with maintenance reports. Those would be…"not recognized."

Nora made her way up a few stairs but noticed XJ-9 hadn't followed—she would likely have to tell it to come each time she went anywhere and wanted her android to follow.

"Come," she said.

XJ-9 tried to take a step forward but only managed a shuffle, unaware that it needed to lift its leg to come up a set of stairs. It promptly tripped and didn't bother getting back up.

"Obstacle detected."

Well…at least it was saying something else for once…

"Stand up," Nora told it.

XJ-9 struggled once more to stand and its joints started to sound like chalk screeching against the chalkboard—a maddening, horrible sound. But it could also mean XJ-9's joints hadn't been lubricated enough in the first place and could end up being damaged if it tried to move too much. There was absolutely no way she would allow this robot to sustain damage the same day it flickered to life.

Nora ran back down and demonstrated how to walk up stairs, using her own body to attempt to explain the incredibly simple process.

But…

"Obstacle detected."

She already knew, on a deeper level, that communication with XJ-9 would be extremely limited at first, but for some reason she had decided to teach in a way that she never even expected XJ-9 to understand.

So she decided to do the next best thing and lift XJ-9's leg instead. The unit allowed it and, with barely enough strength to lift even part of a metal body without help, she managed to position the foot firmly on the first step. She took a few deep breaths and wiped her brows, then climbed back up to where she had initially been when XJ-9 had fallen.

"Come."

The robot stared at her—a mistake on its part—and leaned forward.

The resulting THUD! was followed by, "Obstacle detected."

She was starting to hate that sentence. That, and the entire process of identifying objects and creating new folders.

She went back down to assist her invention again, realizing now that XJ-9 would need help the whole way up. And…she shuddered to think of how she could help it back down without it tripping again. She had designed XJ-9 to withstand an enormous amount of damage—a bomb explosion without so much as a scratch—but it still wouldn't be pleasant for its new brain to experience any sort of traumatic event yet.

It was hardly worth the effort by the time she managed to get XJ-9 up one flight of stairs, but Nora was able to lead it to a can of motor oil and went through the entire identification process again. But at least now, XJ-9 knew what it was and it would soon recognize the signals its body would send to its brain when it was low on fluids—it would know which fluids it needed. She even filled artificial tear ducts with window wash to both keep its optics clear and cry like any human.

Secondly, she escorted XJ-9 to a mirror which thank jobs was on the same floor and had it identify itself. She was unrealistically excited to see the reaction upon gaining self-awareness, but the process was exactly like all the others, with XJ-9 seeing itself as another object on the floor…or perhaps she messed up a little and it was correlating the mirror and its model number. She hoped for the first possibility, not entirely sure how to undo the second one until XJ-9 obtained more knowledge and advanced brain function.

Nora oiled the unit's joints and while there was still friction between them, it was much less than before. It became evident that XJ-9 had somehow worn itself out and needed to recharge. This was, unfortunately, the point that Nora had to take it back downstairs…which was just another battle today.

She couldn't help but wonder why XJ-9 hadn't been able to hold a charge though… It was designed to run for a very long time without needing to recharge so why…so…

She smiled and realized exactly why this was happening. XJ-9's processing power—its learning abilities—had been running strong since its activation. To her, everything was frustratingly repetitive and simple, common knowledge anyone would know. But to XJ-9, this entire world was so new that it had to absorb tons of information at once, multiple applications pulled up and running in the background to operate a whole variety of systems even the android wasn't aware of…yet.

Although it had been painful, and would probably continue to be painful tomorrow, her plan for XJ-9 was working. Humph…and the military called her crazy for shelving XJ-8.

She was so grateful she hadn't done the same to this one. This…amazing…successful creation.

Nora helped XJ-9 get back onto the table and positioned it back to the way it was originally, hooking it back up to a generator to recharge while she slept—something she personally thought she deserved after this past week and…especially these past couple of hours.

Nora sighed in bliss at the thought of a good night's rest instead of more tinkering and affectionately patted her invention on the head.

"Goodnight, XJ-9. Get some sleep."

She turned to walk back upstairs to her lovely…comfortable…welcoming bed…

"Command not recognized."

A/N

I couldn't get this idea out of my head no matter how hard I tried so this is going to be a thing now.