RP: Raise Your Weapon ( Horror_Show & Azecreth)

A young girl was lounging on the back porch on a swing enjoying the cool weather of the end of September. She had on headphones listening to her mp3 player. Trance music could be heard playing as she was lying back with her legs propped up. She was dressed comfortably in gray leggings, with a light pink tank pulled over a sports bra. She had her eyes closed as if she might be asleep but in fact wasn’t. This was sort of her way of mediating.

Her father said today he would be home early from work. Most of the time he worked long shifts at his job and a lot of the time did swing shifts. Her father was a scientist and mechanical engineer at a company called USR ( U.S. Robotics.) The company was one of the top leading in its market for making both computers and androids. Her father had started working there as a young man and had his worked his way up into a pretty good paying position. He was responsible for the diagnostics of the androids before they got processed to be shipped out to retailers all over the world. If one android had the slightest default, he would find it.

What she didn’t know is he was finally bringing an android home. Lexia wasn’t to fond of actual robots. She found them frightening and very weird and made her father promise to never bring his work home. He had tried to bring a robot home when she was a toddler and she was scared to death of it so he returned it. Lexia was also an only child and had unfortunately lost her mother at a young age due to a car crash the both of them were on. Her father hadn’t been in the car and luckily Lexia had survived but with minor complication.

Her father poked his head out the back door seeming very eager and excited. He was dressed in his usual slacks and dress pants with his hair a little all over the place. He saw his daughter was listening to music and went to gently wake her. She opened her eyes and sat up as he steadied the swing.

“Hey…Dad.” She mumbled seeming a little out of it. He smiled down at her brushing her hair back.

“Come on inside….the surprise I was talking about, baby its here. Come on.” He urged heading back inside leaving the door open. She made a weird face rolling her eyes and took off her headphones climbing off the swing. Being barefoot she followed him back inside.

Walking through the kitchen and down the hall she stopped dead in the living room as she saw a clear rectangular box in middle of the floor. What made her heart skip a beat is that she almost thought for a few seconds a real human being was asleep inside of it. Until she took a few steps closer to see the logo of her fathers company and her heart dropped even more. So many emotions were coursing through her. Her father was holding up his phone and typing an access code into a panel on the cube and it flashed green and slid open. She exhaled and eyed her father.

“Listen,” he saw Lexi’s fear and saw her backing away shaking her head, “Listen….I would never bring anything like that home unless there was an absolutely good reason. There is,” he explained holding up his hands with the most serious look on his face, “he’s one of a kind…. I was going to have to have him disassembled but I couldn’t do it. He’s different…. he’s special.” He said with careful words looking back to what looked like an older male in the box.

“What do you mean…. you always have to do that if something is wrong. So something is wrong with IT.” She said sounding pissed with big brown eyes. She then realized he was referring to the android as a “he” instead of “it.”

“I should have. I should have but…like I said, he actual…emotion’s, feelings. He said he thought he was…. alive.” Her father said seeming amazed as if he was talking about some spiritual moment. Lexi stood there motionless and sighed shaking her head.

“Just give him a chance….if once thing happens….he’s gone.” Her father said sternly and she looked back up at the android. He really just looked he was sleeping. As she got closer she saw he had remarkable life like features. He could have pulled off being a human.

“You need to turn him on. All you do is type in this activation code and he will turn on. You need to do it and stand here so you’re the first person he recognizes. Then you proceed to give him a name. You will imprint on him being his primary owner.” Her father said looking at his phone and Lexi looked horrified.

“What do you mean me! I don’t want to own him…you do it. There is no way…” but her father pulled her in front of the box. “DAD!” She demanded.

“I can’t do it myself….I told you he shouldn’t even here. I had to override manual protocol. He can’t be under my property. By you owning him….you are saving him.” He said and gave her his phone with the activation code typed. All she had to do was press it. She eyed her father and then back to the android. She took a breath and rolled her eyes sarcastically. Nothing happened at first and she was about to leave when he finally opened his eyes.

Standby mode. All programming was dormant, merely waiting the arrival of command codes that would set this machine, this most complex machine that was the brainchild of human ingenuity and creativity, to life. Physical surroundings were monitored as a matter of course, but interaction was denied by the programming that it had been implanted with, that defined it as a being and as a sentient consciousness. For example, it had to obey humans, it could not harm humans except in self defense, that sort of thing.

Then, the activation code came, a series of numbers and letters, numerical sequences that were read and confirmed, setting further programming into motion that brought the machine to life. Systems diagnostics were done quickly, confirming full functionality and a lack of damage of any kind. It...he, could tell that he was in the pod that all such robots came in, as evidenced by the flow of power, information, he received, as well as the environmental data from the network of sensors that were laced beneath the synthetic skin he wore as an outer layer.

At last eyes flickered open, quickly running through the color spectrum, as well as heat vision, night vision, and every other conceivable variation in a matter of seconds to confirm system functionality before he was able to focus on his surroundings. The software brought up a targeting reticule, but not for military use. It was to help isolate and identify faces, and it focused immediately on the girl standing in front of him. He stood rigidly still as questing eyes watched her, having reached the programming output that said that she was his owner, and waiting for her to name him, and begin his life at last.