LOADING: Test Run 002

The room was silent.

"Moonbyul?"

"Yes?"

"I love you," Solar pouted, crossing her arms as her favourite scientist examined her. Silence refilled the room, and only the slight humming of the advanced machinery in Solar's body could be heard. She huffed under her breath when she realised that Moonbyul was either ignoring her or simply too engrossed in checking boxes on her clipboard. Or maybe she said it too softly. Scraping up the tiny bits of her leftover courage, she poked the scientist's head and asked, "Moonbyul?"

"... Huh?" The girl looked up with raised eyebrows, mouth slightly open, making her look almost similar to a squirrel. It was simply adorable, and Solar's cheeks flared with tiny invisible bolts of electricity. It made her feel queasy.

"I love you," Solar confessed, but at a slighter louder volume than before.

Honestly, the way she had said it made Moonbyul feel a slight tingle. But of course Solar didn't know. She couldn't read minds. Not like Moonbyul was going to tell her anyway.

The scientist shrugged it off and checked the last box on the piece of paper before putting her clipboard down. "Don't you get sick of saying the same thing over and over again every time you come in my lab?" joked Moonbyul as she began plugging cables into the android, looking up to give her a toothy smile. "You like me, remember? Whatever you're feeling, it's programmed into you."

"Okay," the robot sighed dejectedly. "If you say so."

# # #

"Whee In? May I come in?"

Whee In turned away from her phone to see an the ash-blonde knocking at her door. "Sure," she gave Moonbyul a friendly grin, signalling her to come in. "Come, sit," the shorter of the two patted the seat next to her. "What's up?"

Moonbyul shook her head, opting to sit on the table instead, which earned her a glare from Whee In as she was carefully soldering several circuit boards and didn't want the table to shake. The blonde shot her an apologetic look, and got down from the table. "Is it just me, or does Solar say weird stuff to you too?" asked Moonbyul, as she began tracing the edges of the varnished wood table with her fingertips.

"Weird stuff? Like, weird questions? Because recently she asked me if I knew about any existing female robots like her," replied Whee In, all the while concentrating on the circuit board in front of her. She pursed her lips and studied it before putting down the circuit board, picking up her glass of banana milk instead. "I think she asks Hwasa weird questions too. Just yesterday, Hwasa told me Solar asked her if she was a guy," she cackled in response, taking a sip of her milk. "No idea why." added Whee In, shrugging and smiling to herself.

Moonbyul stood up and walked over to the mini-fridge at the other corner of the room, opening it and grabbing a carton of the banana milk. She swished it around, checking if it was empty. "Thanks," she grinned, holding the carton up and cocking a brow at Whee In, whom signaled for her to go ahead. Pouring herself a glass of milk, she added, "I haven't been telling you this, and I think Solar hasn't either, but whenever she steps into my lab for a test run or examination, the first thing she does is say 'I love you' to me," Moonbyul furrowed her eyebrows and retook her seat beside Whee In, turning to face the brunette. "Does she do that to you too? Or did you mess with her programming as a prank?"

The petite scientist paused for a moment, then replied, "No, I didn't, and Hwasa isn't the best programmer out there, so she couldn't have either. Remember I told you she asked me about female robots?" Moonbyul recalled Whee In's previous sentences from a moment ago, and nodded, setting down her drink.

"Why?"

"Well, when I told her that the other side of the robotics department was using our templates as an example to create a male robot just like her, with emotions and feelings and all, she completely ignored what I said. Not even a tad of interest. At all. She continued to interrogate me about the lovely female robots she had on her mind."

"You mean-"

"Yup."

"You mean we created a gay robot."

"Yup."

"By accident."

"Yup- well, actually, not really. I believe that she does have a certain conciousness inside of her that allows her to choose and decide on what she likes or dislikes. Just like how you dislike or like some people, it's just in you, you know?" Whee In explained, arranging the circuit boards according to importance.

"You don't believe it's just coding, or programmed into her? To feel?" Moonbyul asked, picking up a circuit board and examining it, which earned her the second dirty