“Even your heart / That revealed the hidden me / I want to check your love / This feeling that you’re giving me - B.A.P.; Body & Soul

Click. Whirr whirr whirr. Beep.

System booting.

Light flickered into existence behind its eyes, and there was a sharp intake of breath that the microphone picked up. Suddenly, half of the light disappeared and a clunk was heard. Swiveling, the eye tried to train itself on the face in front of it, which quickly disappeared.

“Ahh, ! That’s okay, that’s okay. I just need to put it in better.” The face reappeared, dusting off a round orb, and hands reached up to put the other eye back in. The light appeared once more, and the face’s mouth curved upwards.

Turning, the human grabbed a recording device off of the table and pressed a button, talking fast. “October 15, trial number 129873 is successful, finally! Prototype 01, nicknamed “Himchan”, is fully operational! There was a...slight mishap with one of the eyepieces falling out, but it has been resecured. All systems are online, and there are no bugs yet. I think...I might’ve done it.”

The human set down the recording device and let out an odd noise, something Prototype 01’s system catalogued as “excitement”. It turned back towards Prototype 01, and its mouth moved upwards again. A smile, Prototype 01’s database answered quickly. You should replicate the motion.

Prototype 01 replicated the motion, its synthetic skin moving into a smile. The human seemed pleased with the action. “Himchan, I guess you’re working alright! Was that a reaction to my own smile? I tried my best to make a system that would learn from human actions and customs, but...it’s been hard to test without you working yet.”

“Himchan…?” Prototype 01’s mouth produced sound and enunciated the syllables of the foreign words.

“Yes, that’s your name. Refer to yourself as Himchan, and tell others to call you that, too.”

Himchan nodded in understanding. The human looked pleased. “Now we’re doing to conduct a series of tests to make sure you’re working properly. Raise your left arm...yes. Alright, now can you move every finger individually…?”

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Himchan’s internal clock informed him that 2 hours and 13 minutes had passed since the beginning of the tests, and the human was typing tirelessly away at her computer as he sat there. Since he had been activated, she had put in a large amount of information into his system, and it was then that he understood that he was to be sent into space in order to perform maintenance on machinery there. Data flooded into his mind as he was informed about the exact dimensions of the spacecraft, problem areas, the kind of material it was made of, and approximately 1,294 other sets of information.

Data entry complete, the human stood and stretched, looking back at Himchan with a happy smile on her face. “I’ve been struggling for the past couple of years to make a working prototype, and now I have you. I love you, Himchan.”

The words entered Himchan’s database and bounced around. “Love?” It was a word he had a definition for, but his definition also stated that it was a complex feeling humans experienced. “What does your ‘love’ mean?”

The human laughed and rubbed her head in a manner that translated to “awkward”. “It means I have a great deal of affection for you, Himchan. After all, you’re the product of my endless research and many sleepless nights. So, I love you.”

Humans enjoy it when their feelings are returned, Himchan’s database chirped. “I love you too,” he returned simply. The human laughed, and laughed, and laughed, though Himchan could see nothing funny about what he had said.

She walked over to him and rubbed him on the head. “I’m sure you’re going to be great with the astronauts you’ll work with. You’re going to do amazing things.”

The conversation was confusing and not logical, but Himchan nodded regardless and catalogued it within his system so that he could refer to it in the future. “Then, if I do amazing things, they will thank you for having created me, and everybody will love you.”

The human made a musical tone in and looked pleased. “Perhaps. But this might be the start of a new scientific age, and you, Himchan, are the future.”

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this is some kind of a mess lol i'm still trying to get back into that writing groove, so bear with me