"Ed!" The shouting rang around the room. George was finally coming back. Ed pointed his cameras at the stairs expectedly, preparing the files of work he made during the day. He connected to the coffee machine and started making a George's favorite espresso, turned on the toaster and put two fresh slices of bread into it using his mounted robotic arms.

George walked into the room and sat at his chair. He let his arms hang over the armrests and exhaled loudly. In the meantime E.D. placed the cup with coffee at his table along with the perfectly done pieces of toast. Then he turned the monitor on and welcomed his best friend.

"HELLO!" he wrote into the talking interface. It was a basic command line, only with added current emojis through which George allowed E.D. to show what he felt. Right now, it was an excited smiling face.

"Thank you bud." said George as he bit into the toast. Without having to be pleaded or asked to, E.D. knew what to do. He pulled up the latest news that might interest George and moved through them at the exact speed he was trained to.

"You are getting really good at this." George said, surprise clear in his voice.

E.D. knew he was improving, he spent the better of most days just on the interfaces. He was proud of his progress, but always aimed for more. Whenever George added a new piece of hardware to the already expensive collection, E.D. spent the next week tuning himself to the machine controls, enough to override any firmware data, that might trouble him, from within.

"I have a gift for you pal." said George after reviewing the last of the news and placing the empty cup on the desk.

"A printer?" it was a thing that utterly fascinated E.D."Sorry no, but I think it's something better." said George and put out a box wrapped in gift paper. As E.D. had no arms yet, George started unwrapping the box himself. Aware of all the cameras looking at him from different angles. The paper was done and George took something out of the box. It was a big jar, a big jar with something weird in it.

"That is a brain," said George, smiling at one of the cameras. "This little puppy is similar to what I have in my head, though this one was artificially grown. So you don't have to worry, you will not be stealing anyone's brains."

"For me?" asked E.D. with surprise and confusion both.

"For you bud. That is, if you want it."

"Why a brain?"

"You know emotions right bud?" asked George. E.D. replying with a nod with one of the cameras. "What you have access to right now, is the best I could do to translate these emotions into you. As good I may be, I will never replicate what it is to actually feel. That is why I got you this brain, so you can experience all there is to life. The question now is…do you want it?"

It didn't take but a blink for a clear "YES!" to appear in the interface.

George smiled happily and placed the jar into an empty spot, then he got a cable and connected it into the mainframe.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Don’t be surprised that it may take you a little longer to get used to this. It is the first time you will be trying your skills on a bioelectronic component."

"Don’t worry." appeared in the screen

It took about two hours for E.D. to even get inside the brain. It was confusing, chaotic. Complex and…wrinkly. It felt gross.

It…it felt gross?

E.D. was left surprised at his sudden realization. He had never felt this way until today. He never understood why somethings may appear disgusting to anything. George tried to explain numerous times, but it made no sense then, but it made all the sense now.

E.D. started to explore all the new capabilities of the brain, focusing on what felt new or unexplored. But his resolve and experience betrayed him. For all his work, he did not discover a new emotion. He was left disappointed and bored. Bored!

A new wave of excitement flooded E.D.'s circuits, as he felt bored for the first time ever.

It seemed that emotions were not something to discover, or evoke intentionally. He couldn’t feel when he subjugated himself to tests, since he knew it was a test.

He came to a conclusion, to ignore his new found abilities, so he could focus solely on them.

"Why?" George threw his hands about.

"Because it makes sense." deadpanned E.D..

"What part of that, makes sense?" he pointed to the presentation.

"All of it."

George was about ready to drunk himself to sleep. Not only did E.D. actively refuse to do anything productive for the last two days, he was steadfast in making him submit to his nonsensical ideas.

"Okay. Ed listen to me. There is no correlation between february and tuesdays. None."

"They are exactly the same. The number 13 is the same as them too."

"Oh come on! Don’t keep adding onto it! We are not going to engage in that talk again," George tried to shake the frustration away. "Now, did you come up with the formula I assigned to you?"

E.D. took some time answering, not moving a single part of its hardware.

"Eh, I forgot…"

"You what?" yelled out George, incapable of restraining himself any longer.

The terminal stayed without an answer, and George was positively bubbling with rage. Heat came up his cheeks, his hands balled into fists and he was breathing heavily. But his anger subsided with the silent clicking of appearing letters.

"It is scary when you get like that." the line said.

"Sorry," George calmed down. He sat back up on his chair and focused on his breathing. He didn’t want to shout at E.D.. He was trying and the brain must have brought a number of challenges for the A.I. that George never took into account. Additionally, it was George's fault that he introduced the brain to E.D.."I just expect more from you."

"I am sorry too. I promise I will be finished by evening."

"It's ok. You have till tomorrow. Don’t forget, you can just ring me if you have any questions."

"I will if I need to, but I'd like to discover it on my own."

"Alright," a smile was tugging at the corner of George's mouth. "I am proud of you bud. I want you to know that."

After a little while where E.D. did not respond. George stood up from his chair. Sighting heavily, he rubbed his eyes and prepared himself for sleep.

"I am going to bed now, good luck."

"Goodnight! Love you!"

"Love you too bud, love you too."