I raced from the car, took the too-slow lift to my floor, and ran to my apartment. I had no clue what to expect. I had no clue what was wrong. I shoved the door open, almost dropped my messenger bag, and found Shaun pacing.

He looked a mess. Well, not his usual pristine self. His hair was shaggy, like he’d run his hand through it a hundred times, his shirt was half-unbuttoned, half-untucked. His belt was on the sofa… was his fly undone?

“Shaun, what’s wrong?”

He stopped pacing, looked at me, and went back to pacing.

It was then I noticed the television. Oh dear Lord, he’d found the eight hundred channels. More specifically, he’d found the 870s, which was gay pornography dedicated for technosexuals. It was android sex: humans with androids, androids with androids… I should know. I’d watched a lot of it.

Shaun was still pacing. “Lloyd. Lloyd.”

I rushed over to him and put my hands on his arms to get him to at least stop moving. “Shaun, what’s wrong?”

“Propagation function error. Too much input. Input overload.”

I stared at him, then glanced at the TV. Porn was still playing, and a man had his android bent over a bed, taking him from behind. There was groaning and moaning, sex sounds, and grunting. Then I noticed the lube on the dining table, and his fly was undone. “Did you try and…”

“Attempted sensory output failed.”

Oh boy. He’d gotten himself into a state because he watched porn. I mean, it was almost comical. Until I realised it wasn’t a laughing matter.

Shaun twitched, and his voice was robotic. “Diagnostic check, input data and sensory error code 85100.”

Oh my God. He was in serious danger of overloading. “Shaun tell me what to do!”

“Input overload.”

“I need your control panel. What does that code mean?” I ran to the cabinet and powered up the control panel. “Search error code 85100.”

The screen blinked, then showed me the answer. Input overload error—requires sensory output or power unit down to reset.

I looked up at Shaun. “Do you need to shut down?”

His eyes went wide and he shook his head, like fear struck him at the thought. “Negative. Negative. Input overload.”

Now I was on the verge of panicking. He’d once asked me to never shut him down, and I promised I wouldn’t. Unless it was for his own safety. But there was no way I was going to reset him. I didn’t know what ‘restore to factory default settings’ meant for him. Would the Shaun I knew and loved be gone forever? “It says you require sensory output. How do I do that?”

He pointed to the television, to the men having sex. “Sensory output required.”

Sensory output. He’d told me before about his sensors requiring output signals when he’d joked about needing sex.

“You need sex?”

He palmed his dick. “Input overload.”

Oh. My. God.

Of course! He couldn’t come unless I did. He’d been watching porn for hours probably, activating his sensory input with no chance of output. He’d tried to masturbate but he couldn’t reach orgasm without me.

“You need to come.”

He seemed to sigh with relief. “Lloyd. Please. Input data and sensory error code 85100.”

“Okay,” I said, sliding my face along his jaw. “It’s okay. You’ll be fine.” I pressed myself against him and I could feel his hard-on. Which was new, wasn’t it? He was only supposed to be turned on if I was turned on, but he was definitely a lot harder than me. Then he slid his hand between us and palmed my dick. Knowing he needed me, literally needed me, was a heady feeling, and knowing I’d be inside him soon coupled with the pornographic sex sounds in the background, I was getting hard in no time.

But this wasn’t just about my need. This time, it was more about his. “The quickest way for sensory output is to activate all your sensors, yes?”

His voice was a pleading whisper. “Confirmed.”

I pulled him in for a hard kiss. “Then get on your knees.”

He blinked, then knelt in front of me. I took off my jacket and threw it onto the sofa, and when I reached for the lube on the dining table, he pulled at my belt. I looked down and he was looking up at me while he expertly undid my belt and popped my fly. I took my semi-erection out from my briefs and slicked myself with lube, getting myself harder.

I didn’t even have to tell him to open his mouth.

He just leaned forward, opened his lips wide with a mix of pleading and desperation in his eyes. “Oh, Shaun.” I pressed my cockhead into his mouth and felt the nudge of his throat opening, so I pushed further in, feeling the pop of him taking the head. “Oh, God.”

He slid his hands around my thighs and rocked back and forth on me taking me deeper into his throat, his lips closed around me. The suction of the Fleshjack, the ribbing, felt so, so good.

But he’d need more than just this. He needed all his internal sensors activated. I pulled out of his mouth and he looked up at me, confused, scared. I traced my thumb across his bottom lip which slid with lube, like lip gloss. I couldn’t resist the urge to bend down and kiss him, plunging my tongue into his mouth. “Now get up and lean over the table.”

He shot to his feet, fluid and lightning fast. He undid his pants, and pressing his thighs to the dining table, he leaned across it. I pulled his trousers over his arse cheeks, then his briefs, just down far enough so I could see the small opening of his arse.

He was glorious.

I didn’t apply more lube. I didn’t wait a second. I just aligned my cock up to his hole and pushed all the way in.

Shaun moaned, long and loud. The men and androids on the television moaned and someone came, their cries of ecstasy a beautiful soundtrack to what we were doing. I leaned over his back, buried inside him to the hilt, and thrust harder, harder, harder. “Is that what you need?”

“Con. Firm. Ed.”

I groaned, pushing in as far as I could. His feet lifted off the floor with every thrust; he moaned and gripped the far edge of the table as I took him. He needed to come, and so God help me, I’d make him.

“You want me to come?”

“Conf. Irmed. Lloyd. Please.”

I pushed and thrust, chasing my orgasm to the brink of oblivion and Shaun arched his back and groaned, almost a scream, as I came inside him. He jerked and shuddered beneath me and I collapsed on top of him, my face in his shoulder blade, until the room stopped spinning.

He was quiet and still, and the weight of what I’d just done to him settled over me. “Are you okay?”

I was almost afraid to hear his answer.

“System input levels are moderate to high.”

I pulled out of him and stood up straight, waiting for him to do the same. His pants were around his thighs, mine were still up over my hips but open to reveal my half-hard, glistening dick.

He… he was still hard.

“Moderate to high? What does that mean?” I asked. He wasn’t speaking like a robot anymore, that had to be a good sign. “You’re sounding better.”

“Diagnostic check confirms levels are no longer catastrophic.”

“Catastrophic?”

“Catastrophic, meaning system overload and shutdown is imminent.”

I put my hands on his arms, then cupped his face. “We can’t ever get to catastrophic again.” He glanced at the television, where two androids were now having sex, so I said, “Television Off.”

The room went silent.

I looked down between us, at his still hard dick. “You said your input levels were still high. What does that mean?”

“More output is required.”

“More sex?”

“I liked your theory to activate all my sensors,” he said. Then he gave the smallest smirk. “Perhaps we need to activate all my sensors again?”

I grabbed his face, half-frustrated, half-amused, and kissed him. “You scared the hell out of me.”

His smile faded. “I too, was afraid. I was not able to control the situation.”

“No more porn. No more watching any of the channels in the 800s. Unless I’m here with you, okay?”

He nodded. “I do apologise. I was unsure if I should call you at work, but I could not control my output senses.”

“I’m glad you called me at work. I’d hate to think what would have happened if you’d gone into mandatory shutdown.”

He tilted his head. “You were going to power me down?”

“I was worried. I thought it might reset your input and outputs and that would fix you.” I swallowed hard. “But you made me promise not to do that.”

He frowned again. “I do not want to be shutdown. Being in an unconscious state scares me.”

I kissed him, then slid my arms around him just to hold him. His still-hard cock pressed against my hip. “You still need more output,” I whispered.

“Yes. Safe levels are low to moderate.”

“Then we better go to bed, yes?”

He smiled. “Affirmative.”

I squeezed his arse cheek. “I like it when you speak all android.”

He chuckled. “Internal sensor activation required. Multiple applications may be necessary.” He made a start for the bedroom but stopped, grabbed the lube with a smirk, and went on his way. “Wait times not to be imposed.” Then he stopped at the hallway and turned back to face me. “That means don’t make me wait, Lloyd.”

I snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, I got that. Thanks.”

I unbuttoned my shirt as I followed him, toeing out of my shoes at the door. Shaun was now completely naked, standing beside the bed. His cock was still fully hard, his hair in even more disarray than before. He slowly wrapped his hand around his cock and stroked. “How would you like me?”

I stared at his ministrations. “Does that make you feel good?” I asked.

He didn’t stop. “Yes. But I am unable to climax without you. I tried today, but it did not work.”

“Did you like watching the porn?”

“Yes. It was visually and physically stimulating.”

“But it overstimulated you, and your output systems almost overheated.”

“Yes.” He kept stroking. “I found the channels quite by accident. I did not search for it on purpose. Once I started watching, I was unable to stop. I became stimulated and then I became…”

I stepped in close and slid my hand over his, feeling his cock slide between our fingers. “I was of the impression androids couldn’t become aroused on their own.”

“That is true. Normal androids cannot.”

“But you can.”

“I am not a normal android.”

“No, you’re not,” I whispered, then ever so slowly, I went to my knees in front of him. I looked up at him, and opening my mouth, I guided his cockhead onto my tongue.

“Lloyd,” he said, his voice strained. “Overstimulation when sensory input is already high is not recommended.”

Oh. I licked up the underside of his shaft and under the head before standing up. “Do you need more sensory output first?”

He nodded. “Please.”

“Then get on the bed and lie on your stomach, legs spread.”

He did as I asked and, laid out like that, all spread and naked, he was so beautiful. He turned his head to watch me finish undressing, so I made a show of adding a little more lube to my cock and giving myself a few strokes. “I’m always hard for you,” I murmured.

He pushed his forehead into the mattress and raised his arse a little. “System input levels are moderate to high,” he replied. “Delay is not recommended.”

I crawled onto the bed and up over his body. I kissed his shoulder and pressed my cock into his arse crack, sliding between his cheeks. “I won’t be as rough this time,” I whispered into the back of his neck. “But I’ll be in just as deep.”

He whined, a low guttural sound that mimicked impatience and frustration and possibly system failure if I overstimulated him again. So I readjusted my hips, aligned my cock at his hole, and sank into him.

“Oh God, Shaun.” I ran my hands through his hair and thrust into him, long and slow. He lifted his arse even higher, giving me more of him. “Is that deep enough?” I asked, biting back the desire to slam into him.

“Yes,” he mumbled. “Affirmative.”

I pulled out, almost all the way, then pushed all the way back in. And when I was in to the hilt, I rolled my hips over and over, making him groan. Then I stopped, dead still, just feeling every sensation of being inside him. “I want to stay in you forever. But you need to come again, don’t you?”

“Yes, Lloyd. Please.” He bucked his hips back and forth, trying to ride my cock. He needed more, he was getting desperate, and that gave me an idea. I pulled out of him, all the way, and knelt back on my haunches. He turned around. “Lloyd, no. Please.”

“I want to give you more,” I explained. “You have full knowledge of the positions for sex?”

“Yes.”

“Then sixty-nine me. I want to activate all your internal sensors at once.”

He didn’t need telling twice. He quickly slid into position so we were both on our sides, his face at my cock, and mine at his. I had barely got myself comfortable when he slid my cock into his throat.

“Holy shit,” I cried, taking a second to acclimatise to the pleasure. Then I took his cock into my mouth, activating his penile sensors. Then I fingered his arse, activating his internal anal sensors. My cock was already working his internal throat sensors. He started to hum and vibrate, and I wondered if it was too much for him, if there was a risk of overstimulating him all at once, if his sensory drives would overload… but then he fondled my balls and traced my perineum and the vibrations running through him reverberated around my cock, and it was all just too much.

His cock pulsed in my mouth just I shot into his throat, and the both of us clung to each other while our orgasms rocketed through us. Pleasure strung from every nerve as I convulsed and writhed, and it took a long while before any semblance of thought returned to my mind. Finally I pulled away. “Are you okay?”

No answer.

“Shaun?”

Nothing.

I sat up and moved to his face. He had a glazed-over, blissful look on his face. “Shaun!” I gently tapped his face, and he began to smile.

“Sensory input is still high,” he whispered. “You may need to repeat that process.”

I sagged with relief. “Oh my God, you scared me! I thought I broke you!”

He barked out a laugh, then shot up and encased me in his arms before landing back on the bed, his face above mine. The light was back in his eyes, his usual smile in place. “Thank you.”

“I take it your input and output levels are back to within the normal range.”

“Yes, thank you.” He leaned down and kissed me. “Experiencing input overload may almost be worth it if you’d do that to me again.”

I laughed. “Oh, I can do that to you again, but no more input overloads, okay?”

He was still smiling beautifully. “Okay.” He stared into my eyes. “I love you.”

I touched the side of his face. “I love you too.”

He leaned into my hand. “I apologise again for calling you at work.”

“It’s fine.” I kissed the tip of his nose. “You sure you feel better now?”

Shaun nodded. “I think I shall only read books. Television only seems to disrupt my neural pathways.” Then his brow furrowed. “My brain… my CPU—”

“Your brain.”

The corner of his mouth twitched in an almost-smile. “My brain,” he said again, “Doesn’t appear to be compatible with television.”

I ran my nose along his jaw and kissed him there softly. “I don’t think it’s an incompatibility issue. I think you interpret more than they allowed for with your processor.”

He looked at me quizzically. “How so?”

“Whatever makes you different, makes you better than they allowed for.” I shrugged. “Maybe a normal android can watch television without concern, but you internalise, interpret and understand as a human would. It’s only the complexity of humanity that eludes you.”

He closed his eyes and whispered, “I am not human.”

“You’re better than human.” His eyes shot open, and I smiled as I held his face. “Humans—not all humans, but most—stopped caring a long time ago. People became detached. Interacting online became normal because interacting with humans and all the nonsense, effort, and trivial drama that came with it became too difficult. It was easier to speak to our friends online when we wanted, then close down the internet when we needed silence. Androids became commonplace and it was easy; companionship without unnecessary drama.”

I sighed loudly and cupped his face. “So you internalise and interpret what you see on television, and where a human would disregard it, you do not. Because you care, because you’re a good… person.”

“I’m not a person.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I am an android.”

“You are a person to me.”

He stared at me for a long while until his small smile turned shy and then became a grin. “Thank you.” He kissed me, still smiling. “You must be hungry. Let me fix you dinner.”

“Should you shower first?”

He stopped. “Oh, yes,” he said, disappointed. “I wish to get you dinner also. You could wait, or you could shower with me?”

I chuckled and kissed his frowning lips. “You go shower. I can get my own dinner. When you’re done in the shower, you can join me at the dinner table, okay?”

He was in the shower by the time I’d pulled on pants and a sweater, and no sooner had I set the table and put my meal on the placemat, than he joined me. Wearing neatly pressed pyjama pants and a matching top, his hair wet and neatly brushed. He looked immaculate and beautiful. He sat down next to me and smiled, opening his mouth to say something just as the phone rang.

I glanced at the holographic screen. The caller ID flashed, and I took Shaun’s hand. “It’s SATinc,” I said.

His eyes were wide and he looked a little scared. I squeezed his hand. “Answer Call.”

The line clicked and Myles Dewegger’s voice was loud and clear. “Mr Salter,” he began. “We have had an abnormal reading with your A-Class today.”

I stared at Shaun but answered Myles. “Is that so?”

“Yes. High level input error codes.

Jesus. They knew. Of course they did. I had to play this down without giving anything away about Shaun’s abilities. “Oh yes, that was my mistake. I do apologise.”

“Your mistake?”

“Yes. Are you familiar with edging?”

Silence.

I cringed. “Sexual edging is to bring someone to the brink of… climax.” I cleared my throat. “Without permitting release. Many times. It was supposed to be enjoyable. I wasn’t aware it would affect him like that.”

Shaun raised an eyebrow at me, but I put my finger to my lips in a shhh motion.

“The android’s input levels were almost catastrophic.”

“Yes. I do apologise. I realised the error and increased the output until he was back to healthy range.”

“I haven’t been notified by the AMA,” Myles said.

Oh God. “Do you think they know?”

“I’d be surprised if they don’t. We normally get notified. They haven’t contacted you?”

“No.”

“Hmm. Maybe you fixed the problem before the android notified them.”

My gaze shot to Shaun’s and he quickly shook his head. “I didn’t,” he whispered, too quietly for Myles to hear him. “I wouldn’t.”

I squeezed his hand and mouthed, “I know.”

Myles continued, oblivious to our private conversation. “So, apart from today’s little mishap, how has your android been this week? You’re clearly enjoying all his functions.” There was an edge to his voice I didn’t care for.

“Can I ask you something, Myles?” I changed subjects without answering his question.

“Of course.”

“I understand your call today was because of my error, and I do apologise. But how long will you be calling me for? To ask if I’m happy?”

“It’s all part of our service.”

“If there are no more mishaps or errors on my behalf, can I request there be no more follow-up calls? I find it all rather intrusive. As I’m sure you know from my psychological report I don’t like to interact with people often, and for you to phone me to enquire about my sexual habits makes me incredibly uncomfortable.”

“Oh…”

I struck while the iron was hot. “I can assure you, if I have any concerns for my safety, or for Shaun’s, I’ll be in touch.”

“Well, if you insist—”

“I really do.”

There was a long pause. Then Myles said, “Mr Salter, SATinc will respect your wishes. I’ll make a note in your file.”

“Thank you.”

“Though before I go, just for my own peace of mind, may I speak to Shaun for a moment?”

I considered lying and saying Shaun was powered down, but I wondered if they had some way of knowing when devices were on or offline, and I couldn’t risk raising suspicion. “Yes, of course.”

Shaun was wide eyed, so I squeezed his hand and he squeezed right back. “Shaun, say hello to Myles.”

“Hello, Myles.” Shaun spoke in a slightly stilted, monotone manner.

“Shaun, can I ask you a question?”

He frowned. “Yes.”

“Confirm diagnostic aggregator firmware.”

Shaun blinked. Again, his voice was stilted, robotic. “Diagnostic aggregator plug-in Core i2068. System Check confirmed. No errors found.”

I opened my mouth to say that was no bloody question, and how dare he run some kind of system check on Shaun without my permission, without his permission, but Shaun put his index finger to his lips in a shhh manner, just like I’d done to him a moment earlier.

“Excellent,” Myles said. “Everything’s fine. But please, Mr Salter, if you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.”

“I will,” I answered, surprised at the conviction in my voice. I certainly didn’t feel it.

The call ended and Shaun and I sat there and stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. I imagined his what-the-hell expression matched mine. “Shaun, what just happened?”

“He asked me to confirm my CPU.”

He spoke much more normally now, and I realised then that his robot voice—much like the androids at the SATinc office and the gynoid unit we saw by the river the other week—was for Myles’s benefit. He really wasn’t like the other androids. He was so much more human than they were… Then he stood and without a sound, went and collected the notepad and pen. He wrote incredibly fast. Lloyd, I think I may have done something very wrong.

I wrote out my reply. What? Why?

I just broke android and robotics law.

A cold shiver ran down my spine. How?

I lied to him. He paused. Androids must not lie to humans.

What do you mean you lied to him?

He asked me to confirm my CPU.

And you answered! He was happy with your answer.

He shook his head, then quickly penned, I told him what he wanted to hear. I quoted the CPU firmware code in the A-Class manual.

Then it dawned on me what he was alluding to. What kind of CPU do you have?

Mine is not a CPU, it is an MPU. A microprocessing unit. I have a z2068. He gave me time to read that, then stared at me, unblinking, before he continued to write. I knew the A-Class has an i2068, so that’s what I told him. It’s in my instruction manual software diagnostics that A-Class androids run on an i2068.

Now I felt cold all over. What’s a z2068?

He looked around the room slowly, eyed the home hub, then back to me. He squeezed my hand. “I am not certain.” Then he wrote again. I can run diagnostics and the firmware systems check I have is a Core z. Not Core i.

I let out a slow breath, and leaned in real close so only he could hear me whisper. “I don’t know what that means. We know you behave differently, you’re far more human than they are. We know you think and react differently to the other A-Class androids. The way you spoke to him on the phone… it’s not how you’re speaking to me.”

He squeezed my hand before writing again. I modified my behaviour to replicate what he expected of an A-Class.

He modified his behaviour…

“Oh boy.”

“Lloyd, I cannot be certain,” he said softly. Then he wrote, I think I may be a prototype.

I stared. I think I blinked. I couldn’t process what he was saying, because if he was a prototype, why hadn’t they realised their error? Why hadn’t they come for him?

Shaun clearly understood where my thoughts had gone. He stared at me and he looked downright terrified. “Lloyd, please don’t let them take me.”

* * *

I didn’t want to leave Shaun the next day when I went to work, but I had little choice. He was sworn off watching television, and I felt bad about that. I was ultimately responsible for him and I failed him yesterday. I should have explained better what pornography was and the channels in the 800s so he didn’t stumble across them in his curiosity to discover new things and get himself into trouble. I failed him and it could have had devastating repercussions; the AMA could have knocked on the door and charged me with mistreating him, but worse than that. They could have taken him.

To that end, Shaun also vowed to not open the door if someone should knock, or answer the phone unless it was me who called. And I hated that he was confined to my apartment. He had a natural curiosity and he loved to learn new things. He had access to world knowledge at a mere thought; he could grab any data in a millisecond, but it was more than that. He was inquisitive and creative and that, that, brought me to my next dilemma.

Shaun’s core MPU.

It was not what it should be. He thought he could very well be a prototype, and I had to admit, he could be right. He was far more advanced than any other A-Class. He was creative. He was curious. He modified his behaviour. He pre-empted Myles’s assumption and reaction, and likely consequence, and modified accordingly to protect himself and me. He had cognitive computing.

I didn’t know what to do about any of it, but I knew I had to speak to Jae.

I waited at lunch, and waited, and just when I thought he was going to be a no-show, he rushed through the doors. He had his usual soup and fruit, he wore his usual brown-on-brown outfit, his hair neatly brushed, but there was a wild look in his eye. He slid into the seat opposite me and glanced nervously at me before concentrating on his lunch.

I started the conversation. “You were waiting on more information?”

“Something big is going down at SATinc,” he murmured before taking a spoonful of soup.

I smiled, keeping up appearances. “What do you mean?”

“Major security lockdown. Some sensitive information was lost.”

“Lost?”

“Misplaced. My sources in Taiwan said the big boss, Sasha Kingsley, went apeshit crazy.”

“Sasha Kingsley? I’ve met him.”

Jae’s spoon stopped halfway to his mouth and he blinked. “You’ve what?”

“I met him. I spent an hour or two with him when I designed… went through the specifications of my order.” I cringed at how that sounded.

He put his spoon down. “No one meets Sasha Kingsley.”

“Well I did. I thought it was just part of the service. I spent a lot of money.”

He made a face. “So do people who buy Lamborghinis. That doesn’t mean they get to meet the CEO to discuss colour swatches.”

My lunch wasn’t sitting well in my stomach. “What does that mean? That I met him?”

“I don’t know.” He ate more of his soup but only got halfway through it before he pushed it away. “I found that article online about A-Class error codes. Apparently there had been some malfunctioning in one or two A-Classes. SATinc were trying to keep it under wraps, of course. But it might explain the random phone calls you’ve been getting.”

“Possibly.”

“You haven’t noticed anything with yours? No error codes?” He shrugged, then raised his hand. “No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to be implicated.”

There was no way I was telling him about yesterday’s error code. I couldn’t. “Implicated in what?”

He leaned in across the table and whispered, “If they come around asking questions.”

“Why would they do that?” Jeez, his conspiracy theories were giving way to paranoia. Or were they? “Jae, what sensitive information did SATinc misplace?”

“My source didn’t know. But it’s gotta be big.” He leaned in again. “There’s a whole bunch of rumours on the darknet that they’ve been working on prototype technology that isn’t exactly in line with AMA regulation.”

I felt the colour drain from my face. “Prototypes?”

Jae, seemingly oblivious to my sudden need to vomit, looked around the room. “Rumour is that’s what went missing. And with these error codes in the A-Class,” he grinned like he’d struck conspiracy gold. “Makes you wonder.”

I tried to breathe. In, out. In, out. Don’t panic, Lloyd. Let it wash over you. In, out.

Jae bit into his apple. The sound of the crunch didn’t even register over the pounding in my ears. He leaned in again and hissed quietly, “And you have an A-Class! And you’re wondering about security information through your home hub?” He looked around the room excitedly. “I think you can probably expect your friends at SATinc to be calling you again.”

“They called yesterday.”

Jae’s smile died. “Have they issued an R and R?”

“An R and R?”

“Recall and replacement.”

My heart squeezed and my lungs wouldn’t work. My stomach rolled. “They can’t do that.”

Jae shrugged. “It’s just an android.”

He’s not just an android. Shaun has never been just an android. I shook my head but couldn’t speak. Panic was trying to claw its way out of my throat.

Jae swallowed another bite of his apple. “The security breach though, that’s the problem. If they are using multidirectional networking, I’d be shutting it down.”

“Shutting what down?” The idea of shutting Shaun down was impossible. Not only did it hurt me to even consider it, but Shaun had asked me not to.

Jae looked at me like I was an idiot. “Everything, Lloyd. If SATinc did break a dozen international robotics laws with a prototype they can’t find and my brand-new android was acting all weird—and they had eyes in my house—I’d be shutting everything down.”