“Project  S413, nicknamed Taemin by the creators; Doctor Kim Jonghyun and Kim Kibum. It’s an android; looking completely human in every way. Not only have Mr. Kim and Doctor Kim created a machine that can physically mimic human actions, expressions and appearance, but the machine is also equipped with synthetic flesh and nerves as well as the ability to learn and develop a personality. Doctor Kim has made incredible breakthroughs in the medical field through this project; he has developed synthetic hair and skin that can reknit and grow like genuine flesh. Burn patients and amputees may not have to live scarred and limbless thanks to his innovations,”

“Director, I have a question. Is it a true android if it has so many living parts? The skin and hair are synthetic, but still alive, right?”

“Yes, the synthetic flesh is alive. Because of this, the robot is required to consume energy in the form of proteins and vitamins much like a living creature. However, without such an energy source, it will not stop functioning. The flesh and hair may whither away, but the mechanics keep working. In this sense, it is more machine than man. The mechanics feed off of a battery that is capable of drawing solar power from microscopic photocells spaced out in the synthetic flesh.”

“So does it ever power off? Is it possible to turn off in emergency?”

“It goes into a sleep mode required to maintain the living parts of the bot, and Doctor Kim and Mr. Kim have built an emergency lock-up mechanism into the android. To avoid potential sabotage, the lock-up mechanism can only be activated by the creator’s voices,”

**********

“Is it awake?”

“Don’t call him an ‘it’, Kibum. We agreed to call him Taemin, remember?”

“I recall no such thing,”

Bright eyes flicker open and pupils contract as they are overwhelmed by white light.

“It blinked! It blinked!”

The android on the operating table wanted to shield his sensitive ears from the shrieking, but found himself unable to move. Human-esque lips opened, but the only sound that came out was a mechanical whirring.

“What’s wrong with his voice?” That was Kibum’s voice again.

The human robot felt a jolt in the back of his neck. Was feel the right word? Self-aware as he was, he was surprised that he could understand pain, let alone experience it. Taemin’s mouth stayed closed but a mixed whirr and whine buzzed from his throat.

“Taeminnie, can you sit up?” The shorter male was speaking now. The android could feel fingers run through his hair. Did most machines feel things like this? Taemin knew he was pre-programmed with knowledge of feelings, but it was a total surprise to be able to feel them. He must be more advanced than his creators originally intended.

He could hear his metal joints click into place as he sat up. Big eyes blinked in wonder as he was able to see the room around him. White, sterile; Blank except for the cords and wires still tethering his arms, chest and legs to a simple looking laptop.

“Look at me,” it was a gentle command from the blond man. Taemin recognized him from his synthetic memory.  Jonghyun was his name. “How many?” His forefinger, middle finger, and thumb were held in front of the android’s face.

“TH-“ The android paused. The sound his voice box made was very different from the tones of the humans. The whirr was still there; it sounded too fake and rather displeasing to his ears. He tried again. “Thr- thr- thr-“

“He sounds like a broken record,” Kibum’s sharp comment put a frown on the fleshy surface that Taemin could only think to call his face. This was a feeling too. It was hurt of an emotional kind. The android knew he was far more advanced than a disk that could so easily be rendered incompetent.

“He found his emotions,” Jonghyun sounded amused, though there was an undertone of praise.  “Tell me how many, never mind your voice or Key,”

“Three,” Taemin mimicked the position of the human’s hands. Key let out a satisfied hum as Jonghyun nodded with a smile.

“If it wasn’t for his voice, he’d pass as human,” The robot was starting to understand that all the sharp comments came from Kibum.

**********

The android quickly became used to feeling sluggish in the morning. It made sense; spending all night in the dark left his internal power drained. Taemin would drag himself out of the sterile hospital bed promptly at 7:00 before dragging himself over to the chair next to the window. He basked in the sun, letting his energy return to him before his creators would enter the room. The bot knew the feeling of coldness as he shivered; he had gotten into the habit of sleeping shirtless as it made his morning charges quicker and more efficient.

Taemin was still living in that white room he had first been activated in, though it looked a little more like a bedroom than empty space. Kibum, for all of his acts and bravado when calling the android ‘just a machine’, seemed to think him a little bit human in the sense that he needed decent living conditions. Despite all of Jonghyun’s care, he was a bit absent minded when it came to everyday life.

The android believed he had a pretty good grasp of feelings by now. He knew pain by the time he had hit his toe on his bed. But that was just mild pain; more of an irritation than anything else. Like the itches he sometimes felt at the back of his neck where hair would tickle his skin. Taemin knew that scratching would only damage his flesh, but it was hard to resist and found himself satisfying his itches unconsciously. Real pain was the time Jonghyun had tried to fix the android’s voice box without giving anesthesia. The scalpel had bitten into the helpless Taemin’s flesh as the poor bot was locked in place by his own pure will.

He cried for the first time that day; apparently he had been created with the capability to excrete sweat and tears. He already knew that his requirement to eat would result in the removal of waste; and he was breathing every moment. A petri dish heart pumped donated blood through his home grown veins and arteries. Everything that was required inside of Taemin to keep simply his outer appearance intact left his insides seemingly more human than machine. Of course, that was forgetting his alloy bone frame and computer brain. Kibum called him the “Synthetic Cyborg” rather than an android because of this.

Jonghyun was calling him to breakfast this morning. Taemin was a bit disappointed. The doctor was always kind but the meals he prepared for the nearly human robot were just bland. It was healthy, so he told the android. At least the sharp-tongued Kibum would let him eat eggs or sugary cereal.

“Good morning, Taeminnie~” The doctor nearly sang as he let himself into Taemin’s room, setting a tray of what looked like gray oatmeal and a glass of water onto the simple table. The robot flashed a smile of ivory teeth as he’d take his seat.

On the days Jonghyun came to the android, he would spend the time taken to eat by giving an oral presentation on the day’s schedule. Today was no exception.

“This afternoon Kibum should be back with new clothes for you and then we’ll have a few more personality and cognitive function tests..” Taemin listened with one ear, though his computer mind was already memorizing this all for him. New clothes from Kibum was a guaranteed pleasure; the robot’s current wardrobe consisted of several white t-shirts and shorts provided by the good Doctor Jonghyun.

“You’ve been awake for a month now, haven’t you? Well, tonight, you’ll have your first real world experience. Key and I are taking you out to live in our apartment for a while so you can get used to interacting with others—“

Taemin’s head popped up in interest at that. Out of this room? There was such a thing? Through the wifi running through his head, the android had been able to live outside of these walls through the experiences of others but never had he anticipated being allowed to create his own memories of the outside.

“Will there be animals?” His voice still buzzed and whirred in his throat, despite the best attempts to fix the problem.

Jonghyun smiled at his precious creation. “Of course, hasn’t Kibum talked about his stupid dogs often enough?”

Taemin bounced in his seat in excitement, not even bothering to flinch this time as the doctor clipped a wire into the base of his neck to check his status like every morning.

“Calm down,” he laughed at the android’s silly excited grin. “We have a busy day before we can move you in,”

“You mean I’m living with you two?” his voice buzzed happily as his eyes opened wider in blissful surprise.

Jonghyun put a finger to his lips. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you yet; only if you’re really good with the tests today,”

The voice box made several little clicks that could only be interpreted as excitement.