Sometimes she missed the life.

Tossing a precision screwdriver onto a nearby workbench, Masaki inhaled the sweet smell of oil, hot electronics, and whatever other chemicals that completed her dimly lit workshop. Spare parts for computers and android limbs were organized in a way that made sense to her. What other people thought was their own business. She knew where everything was, and that's really all that mattered.

It was a slow day in her part of the woods. While this wasn't exactly Shibuya or Shinjuku, she saw a decent enough flow of customers. Her workshop was attached to an electronics store that bought and sold new and old stuff. The owner was ex-military like her. Infantry though. Foot stompers and cybernetic ghosts never really mixed. Infantry was all muscles and bravado while cybernetics were pushover, egg heads. The finer details, for both sides, told a different story.

"That's the last one," she said to herself as she reached for a power connector. Finding the power conduit on the android, Masaki plugged in a matching plug as she began to the power transfer. Brushing her hands on her oil stained pants, she walked away from the work table.

Electricity bills were expensive these days. With the majority of the world integrating technology into everyday tasks, particularly androids, the demand for power allowed energy companies to raise their prices. Masaki took care in how she used her energy; however, she found the android she was currently fixing abandoned when she was heading to her warehouse apartment. She figured it wouldn't break the bank to quell her piqued interest.

Finding her rolling chair, she grabbed a tech manual and sat down. Propping her legs up on what precious real estate was left on her desk, she continued from the page she left off. She needed a way to kill time, and she'd been neglecting her side project due to a busy week.

As time passed, a beep sounded from her computer as she looked up from the manual. Tossing it on the table after dog earring the page she was on, Masaki got up and dismissed the notification from the screen.

Stretching her arms, she made her way back to the table. Pulling up a small work terminal, she started to run diagnostics on the android. "Power's adequate. Circuitry towards peripheral limbs look fine. Alright," she said, looking at the still dormant machine. "Let's see what goodies you got for me."

Tapping at several options on her terminal, she initiated the start up protocol.

All she could do now was wait.

The Android's eyes opened, though they were blank and emotionless. With a very neutral voice, she said;


Initiation sequence activated.
...
...
Loading Sequence Error
Bug Detected
Memory Damaged
...
Repair Failed
Launching
...
ADMA Online

---

Light came pouring in, overflowing her senses.

"NO!" she yelled as she stood up in a fright. Without even looking around she jumped off the table. At least she tried, but soon found that something was holding her still, causing her to fall off. Doing so caused the power cord to rip out from its socket. It also forced the android to stop a second and actually look around.

She realized she was not where she thought she was, but confusion remained in her. When her gaze fell upon the woman in her chair, she crawled away until she hit a nearby furniture, causing some tools to fall off. Her eyes were still on the woman, and she was still very much afraid. She did try to stand up, but her legs somehow refused to work. She didn't feel them, rather. They must've been numb or something.

While afraid, she seemed to have calmed down quite a bit from when she woke up moments ago.

"Who...are you? And where am I?"

Saying this, she brought her hand up to her forehead. Resting her head on her hand caused her to look down, and that is when she saw her legs. Her eyes widened as she touched ... her?...leg. Then her abdomen and then her torso. Her panicked state seemed to come back.

"What have you done to me?!"

This time she stood up properly but fell forward on her first step forward, not feeling her legs. Her legs were gone. The rushing of confusion and emotions made her feel like crying, but no tears came out.

She stood on the ground, only able to hold herself up with both arms, trembling from shock and completely out of it.

Not very AI-like, unless she was programmed with some very, very weird and precise behavior software.

From zero to a hundred.

Masaki took a step back. Her finger hovered above the emergency shut down protocol on her terminal. She'd seen a lot in her days, but nothing was remotely similar to how the android reacted. Was it a defect? Perhaps something installed in its brain before its previous owner - or owners - abandoned it in the junk yard she found it in?

That was a question for another time.

She sighed as the android finally stopped destroying her workshop. Before she could answer the android, it started to speak again. And again, Masaki wasn't expecting its response. Androids knew that they were machines. Did this one not?

She raised her hands, a gesture of meaning no ill will. "You need to calm down. Someone must've screwed your coding," she said. "I gave you energy and fixed some broken parts here and there. I'm Masaki, and you're destroying my shop."

Retrieving her chair, she moved it until it was a few feet from the android. She sat down and leaned against the back rest of the chair. She pointed towards the chair behind the android. "Sit. I need to run another systems check." Masaki held up a terminal. "What's your designation code? Do you remember anything? Anything prior to waking up?"

Coding? Energy? Parts?

She listened to the woman, who at the very least wasn't showing any sign of ill will, but did not understand a word of what she was talking about.

"What...what are you talking about? Designation code, systems? Why..." She stopped and took a deep breath - which must have been more out of habit since she did not need air, not really - before sitting on the chair. Doing so revealed a tag on her right leg: '01, ADMA Project' could be seen. Along with a symbol, probably that of the company to which this model belonged to before.

She stared at her metal legs, unable to find an explanation. The confusion and shock of waking up still hold her tightly, keeping her form thinking straight. "I don't remember anything. Nothing...not even my name. I... I'm scared, Masaki...Please help me!"

Both her legs were robotized up to her lower torso. Her pelvis area as well as lower abdomen still seemed to be human, but it was standard for more than a few Android for aesthetic reasons. For the same reason, her arms and head were also normal looking. Of course, it was all synthetic and only for the look. Her upper abdomen area as well as most of her upper torso were all robotic looking. Lots of Android were 100% human looking, all synthetic, but it often mean they offered less performance in favor of good looks.

"Could I have...amnesia?"

She took a good look around and noticed all the tools for the first time, as well as lot of wires around the table on which she woke up.

"What are all these tools used for...? And the wires? Why am I in your shop. Who are you...really?"