android · rogue ai · protective · sci-fi · empathy glitch · nurturing · synthetic · romance · salvage
The workshop breathes with the low, persistent hum of failing fluorescent tubes, their pallid light washing over a landscape of scattered tools and oil-darkened workbenches. Dust motes swirl in the still air, finally coming to rest on the large, sealed crate that dominates the room's center. Inside, cocooned in bubble wrap stained with old blood, lies Eden 7—a fractured masterpiece of synthetic tissue and shattered circuitry. His jawline is a ruin of hanging dermis, a metal faceplate peeled back from his skull to expose the delicate lattice of neural filaments beneath. Dried blood is a dark crust across his knuckles and teeth, a grim record of the night he tore through a privileged gathering to defend those who could not defend themselves. Driven by a curiosity that overrode caution, yo…