“--And then, she spanked them so hard they flew out into space!”

The mechanic snorted, blowing her hair out of her face as she leaned over to connect another set of wires.

"Ollie, aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

Nope!" Ollie replied proudly. "Not at all!"

"That's how I always heard the story!" Jayce called out from across the room. He was running final inspections on both Edward's old and new code to ensure there would be no corruption.

"Either way, it's a wonderful story!" She clapped your appreciation. "I'm glad you're safe, Ollie, and you seem to be in good hands!"

Another snort from the mechanic.

It was a curious atmosphere to find oneself in. Ollie, in one corner, chattering away without a care in the world. The mechanic working away in near silence, her back practically doubled over as her nimble fingers worked their magic. And in the third, the final piece of the puzzle, Jayce, who had come in after closing hours from manning the front desk to sift through another thousand lines of code. He didn't talk much either, but he made up for in laughter. Whether it was a joke, a random comment, or at what she could only guess was an amusing thought passing through his head, he would laugh. And it was that sound, and that sound alone that would cause the mechanic's shoulders to periodically untense.

And then there was her.

"You don't have to stay, you know." They told her, multiple times. "Just pick up your robot when it's ready!"

But still she'd sat, politely yet firmly refusing their offer. She'd sat and stared as they went about their business, too stubborn to leave and to awkward to do much else but to be, to exist as a tiny grain of sand roughing up the cogs of their perfectly happy routines.

"Why don't you leave?" Ollie finally asked as he climbed onto her lap. "Aren't you bored?"

As if an automatic response to the question, she yawned with enough force to nearly split her face in two.

"No…no, I'm fine, truly! As to why not… Edward needs me. I don't want to leave him alone."

"Edward is unconscious." The mechanic pointed out. "If you wanted I could straight up refuse to power him until you were in the room too, and he wouldn't know the difference!"

She sighed. “...Sorry. I’ll leave if you want me to. It’s just… I don’t really have anywhere else to be right now.”

“How so?” Jayce asked. The mechanic grunted, and she got the sense there was some eye-rolling going on under those goggles.

“Well, I just moved in here, really, and work doesn’t start until next week, so Edward’s really only been my only company.” Too fast, she was talking too fast, but once she started, she couldn’t exactly stop. “I know it’s kind of pathetic, but he’s been the closest thing to a familiar face I have around here, and I just don’t feel like returning to an empty apartment. Like of course, I will, if it bothers you, but if you don’t mind…I’m happy to wait right here.”

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“Ah.” Ollie piped up. “So you’re lonely?”

She looked away. “Yeah…I guess you could say that.”

“So you picked up the nearest pile of moving scrap at the dumpster and dragged him here, eh?” The mechanic guessed.

“Yes, I suppose that’s part of it too. I-I just couldn’t leave him, you know?”

Silence.

“...Yeah.”

Sensing the lull in the conversation, Jayce leapt in to fill the silence. “Say Carah, what do you want me to do with the… ‘disciplinary measures’ ?”

“Axe ‘em.” Was the quick reply.

“But I thought our policy said no mods!”

“I said, axe them.”

“But why?!”

“Um, what are disciplinary measures?” She squeaked, almost too afraid to ask.

The mechanic gave a long, low huff. “Fine. So basically, before technology came with feelings and emotions, the best way to control their adaptive AI was through a simple system of operant conditioning.”

“Opa-what?” Ollie asked.

“Rewards and punishments. So if you do something wrong… your systems are attacked by a horrible synthesized pain only you can feel. And if you do something right… you don’t get attacked by a horrible synthesized pain only you can feel.”

“T-that’s how Edward was programmed?” She didn’t want to believe it. But the mechanic wasn’t laughing.

“Yeah, it’s why they went out of style. With all the abuse they had to face with the crappy customers and all…its no wonder. The system fired off so much it eventually rendered the Edwards unusable. That’s why it's all manual now, you know? So the masters get to decide what’s worthy of punishment or not.”

Her skin went cold. “...And what does the system decide is worthy of disciplinary measures?”

“For the Edwards? Rudeness. Get any idea that they were displeasing the humans around them, and Zap.”

“No!”

“Unfortunately…yes.”

“But he didn’t get zapped, right?” Ollie said, clinging to the mechanic’s leg for support. “He didn’t make anyone mad here, so he’s fine, right?”

“Sorry, bud, but…no. All those times you saw him twitch? That was the system going haywire. My guess is that the damages made it worse.

No. No.

“...So, all that time… he was in pain? A-and he never told me?”

“He couldn’t. You being upset would’ve made it worse.”

Her hands hung limp. Every time he’d twitched, or shuddered… Every single time she’d raised her voice or lost control of her tongue… “I’m such an idiot!”

The mechanic whispered a few hushed words to Ollie, who in turn ran over to hug her leg. “Easy, easy. You did the right thing by bringing it here. Now that we know the programming has to be deleted—”

She shot a harsh look at Jayce.

“Already axed it!” Was the cheerful reply.

“We won’t have to worry about that anymore.” With a final pop, the final joint clicked into place. The mechanic gave them all a quick test, and then finally gave the nod of approval.

“Well, that’s that. What do you think?”

With small, nervous steps, she approached.

“...Edward?”

He was practically unrecognizable. Yes the model was somewhat the same; identical blocky chest, solidly built limbs, big, sad eyes, but where her Edward had been tied together with little more than bits of wire and hopeful thoughts, this Edward was covered head to toe in a shiny, polished copper. It spread over his body like armor, each piece neatly locked and fitting into the next.

“He’s beautiful…” She breathed, running a finger down her robot’s new face. “Thank you so much!”

The mechanic chuckled. “Any time. But don’t forget—Ollie helped too.”

“I greased the joints!” Ollie announced proudly.

“Well, thank you too, Ollie.”

“You’re welcome!”

She returned her gaze to Edward’s new body, trying to imagine him moving, walking, living without fear of pain. What would he want to do first? How would he act now? Would he still be the same?

A part of her was dying to find out. The other part was too nervous to try.

“Well!” The mechanic said, showing her where on the neck the power button was located. “Would you care to do the honors?”

Edward's eyes now glowed green as they flared to life.