By the time I swiped my security key at my door and went inside, I was exhausted. My mind had run in circles all day and I’d not slept well the night before, and Jae’s warning had sent my adrenaline into overdrive. All I wanted to do was fall into Shaun’s arms and not move for the rest of the night.

I went inside expecting his smiling face, but he didn’t meet me at the door like he normally did, which was strange. I slid my messenger bag onto the sofa. “Shaun?”

No answer.

Fear struck me in the chest. “Shaun?”

Silence.

I checked the kitchen, the bedrooms, bathrooms. “Shaun!”

Nothing. He was gone.

Images of SATinc coming and taking him played through my mind and set my feet in motion. I raced out my front door, down the hall, and hit the lift button for the lobby.

God, what if they’ve taken him?

What if they’ve hurt him or reset him? Or decommissioned him already? What if I never saw him again? I was about to have a panic attack in the elevator.

The lift doors opened and I burst into the lobby. I didn’t know where I was going. Or what I hoped to find. Maybe the android at reception could tell me if Shaun had used his key at all or if SATinc people had been here…

What I saw at the reception desk stopped me cold.

Shaun was there, talking to the android and to a woman who lived in the building. She laughed at something Shaun said and thanked him before walking to the front doors. It was only then that Shaun saw me.

He stood and smiled, an immediate reaction, but then frowned. “Oh, I didn’t realise the time.”

My breath left me in a whoosh, and I had to put my hands on my knees and try to get some air into my lungs. Shaun was quickly beside me. “Lloyd? Are you unwell?”

I stood up straight and let out an almighty breath. “I’m fine. You weren’t home when I got there and I panicked.”

He took my hand but looked honestly sorry. “I do apologise. I lost track of time.”

I glanced back at the android at reception, then looked to Shaun. “You were talking to an android?”

Shaun looked down to the floor like he was ashamed or embarrassed. “I was lonely.”

Oh. My. God.

I felt like my world tilted, like my reality was skewed, forever changed.

I wanted to hold him and kiss him, soothe him, and tell him it was okay, but I certainly couldn’t do that in the lobby. And Jesus, we needed to talk about what this SATinc development could possibly mean.

“I think we should go upstairs,” I said quietly.

“Okay,” he agreed. Then he turned to the reception android. “Good evening, B-Class.”

The android turned to us and replied robotically. “Good evening, Mr Salter. And Mr Salter.”

Shaun grinned, and when we were in the privacy of the lift, he said, “Mr Salter. He called me Mr Salter.”

I tried to smile at his excitement but couldn’t quite pull it off. “Yes, he did.”

“What’s wrong?” Shaun asked, his head slightly tilted. “Are you mad that I wasn’t home when you arrived?”

I shook my head. “Not mad, no. I was scared.”

The elevator doors opened and Shaun frowned as we stepped out into the empty hallway. “I did not mean to cause you concern or fear.”

“I know,” I replied as we walked down the hall. I opened my front door, waited for him to follow me in, and no sooner had I closed the door behind us then I pulled him against me. I couldn’t even speak, I couldn’t do anything but hold him tighter. Shaun understood because he held me just as tight, and when he pulled back and started to speak, I put my finger to his lips. “Shhh.”

I took a step back and a deep breath, then walked over to the home hub. I activated the holographic screen, selected the Settings option, scrolled down, and hit the Off button. I confirmed, then confirmed again, and then everything in the apartment went quiet. There was no electrical current hum, no white noise. No anything.

I hadn’t realised how much background noise that electrical connection emitted. This was a new kind of silence, even for me. I turned to face Shaun. “How do you feel?”

“I am fine.”

“Good.”

“Are we free to talk now?” Shaun asked, looking from me to the now defunct home hub and back again.

“Yes. I shut down the internet. I turned off the home hub.” I let out a slow breath. “Nothing will work without it, but I don’t care.” Actually, I wasn’t sure if anything or anyone had been without internet connectivity since the mid 20s but I wasn’t risking it. I went to the front door and checked it still opened, which it did, and then I locked it. “We can live without the TV or the phone or the internet for a while. It’s not worth it.”

“What’s not worth it?”

“SATinc knowing about you. Jae said there’s been talk of a security breach at SATinc and some kind of prototype technology being misplaced.”

Shaun’s eyes went wide. “Prototype?”

I nodded. “It’s only rumours at the moment but it can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

He frowned; his voice was quiet. “It wouldn’t seem likely.”

I went to him and pulled him against me, relieved he was okay. “I feel better with the internet off. For now, anyway.”

If they could run some kind of undetectable test and determine that he wasn’t as he should be through the home hub, then if I turned off the internet, at least he was safe. For now.

Everything Sasha Kingsley had told me, everything I read in my research, came back to me.

All androids need internet connectivity to receive updates and to stay up to date.

All androids can be without Wi-Fi connection for up to two weeks.

I was to let them know if we were going away.

I should give them location details and new IP address details so they could maintain optimum android health.

Jesus.

I thought it was for Shaun’s benefit. It made sense that he have updates when needed.

Well, it all made more sense now. It wasn’t Shaun’s benefit or mine. It was theirs. So they could keep an eye on him, monitor him.

“I won’t let them near you,” I said. It was a whisper, a promise.

The apartment was getting dark, and he stood pressed against me with his arms around me, his forehead on my shoulder.

I had no clue what I could do to stop them if they did find out and come for him. I remembered the size of the guy who had come with Myles. He had a military buzz cut, wore clothes like a hitman, and he was huge; I assumed his muscle was required to get a powered-down Shaun out of the crate.

Had I really been that naïve?

SATinc had my bank details, my employment records, my fingerprints, my psych reports, my address, my home hub information.

God, they had everything.

Now that I’d gone offline, I had to wonder how long it would take them to realise. “I can turn it back on to charge your batteries whenever you need. You should have two weeks before we have to worry about that though.”

Shaun pulled back and gently touched the side of my face. “I realise now why you were so scared when you came home to find I was not here.”

I sat down on the sofa and he sat beside me. “Shaun, why did you say you were lonely?”

“The apartment is very quiet when you are not here. I miss you. I did not wish to watch any more television, and I found a book on your shelf called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? so I read it.” Shaun gave me a fraught look. “To which I have many questions.”

I smiled. “I’m sure you do.”

“And I cleaned some more, but…”

“But?”

“But I longed for conversation or interaction. Ultimately with you, but I didn’t wish to interrupt you at work again.”

“So you went downstairs?”

He nodded. “I thought a small adventure sounded fun. I didn’t wish to walk to the river without you, and I know I said I wouldn’t open the door or answer if someone should knock or answer the phone, and I didn’t.” He leaned back, and if he could’ve sighed, I’m sure he would have. “I am sorry.”

“Don’t apologise.” I leaned back on his chest and pulled his arm over my shoulder. “I’m sorry you were lonely. It’s not something I expected.”

“I am not what you expected,” he amended gently.

I nuzzled into his arm and kissed wherever I could reach. “You’re so much more.”

He tightened his hold on me and kissed the top of my head. “I like being here with you, like this.”

I sighed contentedly. “Me too.” Then I turned so I was lying on him, facing him. “I can’t believe of all the books on my bookshelf Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is the one you chose. You said you had questions?”

“Many. But do you wish to discuss books now after work? I can fix you dinner first if you prefer.”

I kissed him. “No, I’m not hungry. Lying right here with you and talking about books is exactly what I want to do. I want to hear your every thought, every theory, every question.”

Shaun grinned, shuffled down on the sofa until I was more comfortable, and talk he did. He discussed how science fiction written a hundred years ago portraying a dystopian society reflected on the author’s remarkable foresight and understanding of humanity. Then Shaun went into great and dark depths of how androids in the book could show empathy, yet the humans could not. He spoke about dichotomies and hypocrisies and by the end of it, I was having a hard time distinguishing if he was still talking about the book or about himself.

He had such a complex understanding of who he was, more than most humans I’d ever met. He was a remarkable individual, and when we finally climbed into bed and snuggled back down together, he said, “I promise I’ll refrain from wandering tomorrow.”

“No,” I agreed. “Because you’re coming to work with me.”

He pulled back, a smile curled his lips. “Really?”

“Yes.”

Then he paused. “Are you concerned I will not be here again upon your return? I promised I wouldn’t leave again.”

I kissed him, smiling. “No. You should come to work with me so you can see where I spend my time and so you can meet some new people. Plus, the library is huge.”

He settled back down, his smile warm and wide. “I would like that very much. Though Lloyd, just one thing…”

“Yes?”

“You told me I was going to work with you. Perhaps you could ask me if I’d like to go?”

Right then. “Sorry, that was rude of me. Shaun, would you like to come to work with me tomorrow?”

He beamed a smile. “Yes!”

I chuckled and he snuggled in closer, so I traced my fingers through his hair the way I knew he liked. “I would like that too.”

Too tired to fight sleep, we went to bed. I drifted off quickly and I slept well, regardless of the worry on my mind. I woke at six thirty in the morning to find Shaun showered, dressed, and ready to go. “Perhaps we could go in early?” he asked, excitement radiating off him, like he’d been waiting for hours for me to open my eyes.

I croaked out a sleepy laugh. “Perhaps we could.”

* * *

Shaun was very curious about the android who drove the car. And very curious about riding in a car, and curious about other traffic. He was curious about buses and trams and traffic laws, and he was most curious as to why one particular woman walking on the footpath chose to wear two differing shades of yellow that didn’t complement each other in the one outfit.

Oh boy. He was in for a real treat when he saw uni students. “Promise me you won’t comment on the fashion of my students.”

“Of course.”

“University students embrace diversity and self-expression, and for the most part, that includes what they wear.”

Shaun nodded, and for a moment I thought he was going to give me definitions of student or diversity or self-expression, but he didn’t. He simply smiled and looked out the window at the campus and people milling about as we arrived.

He really was enjoying this, and I regretted not bringing him sooner. The university had no restrictions on android assistants. I was only concerned with what people might think, knowing he was an A-Class and a fully compatible unit, it was a given that we were fully compatible. Meaning, they knew I had sex with him. Well, they would assume and that was enough.

But his safety was my primary concern. And if that meant he could come to work with me every day and thoroughly enjoy himself, even better. The car pulled into my usual spot and Shaun waited for me to get out. I held the door for him and got to see the look of wonder and excitement on his face as he saw the buildings, the people.

“You like it here?” I asked.

“Very much.” He grinned as he looked around, just as a gust of wind rustled his hair and his coat collar. He looked so handsome, so human, and when he aimed his smile at me, it took my breath away.

“Your pupils are dilated and your heart rate is elevated,” he said. He gave a wry smirk. “I would assume you are either in the early onset of a mild cardio infarction, or you find me attractive.”

I fixed his collar. “I think we both know my heart is fine.”

He chuckled and turned to face the tall buildings. “Thank you for bringing me, Lloyd. I’m very happy to be here.”

I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder, fixed my coat, and took his hand. “I’ll show you my office first, then there’s someone I want you to meet.”

He took in my small office like it was some kind of shrine. Of course it was neat and tidy, but it was nothing amazing. Unless you were Shaun. “It’s incredible,” he mused, taking in the dark wood furniture and wall of bookcases. “You get to come here every day?”

“I’d much rather be at home with you.”

He scanned the books. “Or I could come here with you every day.”

I really liked the sound of that. “Sounds good to me.”

“You would like that?”

“Absolutely.”

Shaun’s smile was immediate and his eyes sparkled. “There was also someone you wanted me to meet?”

His excitement was contagious. “Yes, come on. We’ll go see if he’s here yet.”

On the walk to the IT department, I explained a brief history of the university and campus, but Shaun quickly took over. “Founded by Hugh Childers two hundred years ago…” And he then gave me a whole rundown of buildings, faculty, and a list of famous attendees. As we walked into the IT building, he stopped talking and did that cute head-tilt thing. “Did I say something amusing?”

“No, I just forget sometimes that you have an encyclopaedia for a brain.”

“I can pretend to not know something if you’d prefer.”

I barked out a laugh. “That won’t be necessary. Don’t be anything you’re not.”

He smiled at that and took in the newer building. “The Faculty of Arts department interiors could benefit from the IT budget.”

I laughed again. “You really do understand universities, don’t you?” I pointed to the corridor. “This way.”

It had been years since I’d seen the inside of any other department than my own. Jae hadn’t mentioned changing offices, so I hoped he was still in the same room. His office was an open plan set-up which he shared with a few other IT people, and I was suddenly very grateful for the older-built rabbit warren I called my office because at least I had my own.

A woman was just settling into her seat while tapping away at her personal holographic device. I knocked on the open door. “Excuse me. Is Jae in yet?”

“He just got in. You’ll find him at the closest coffee machine,” she replied. Then with a smile, she nodded further down the hall. “Second door on your right.”

I found Jae at the kitchenette with a coffee cup in each hand, taking a sip from one. Wearing his usual brown pants and shirt and his thick-rimmed glasses. “Good morning,” I said.

“Oh, hi,” he said, clearly surprised to see me. He glanced at Shaun, then back at me. He blinked a few times. “What are you doing here? I mean, you’re welcome here, it’s just that I’ve never seen you here before.”

I liked his awkwardness. It was comforting. “Jae, I’d like you to meet Shaun.” I stepped aside. “Shaun, this is Jae.”

Jae looked at both his coffees, shuffled awkwardly, then put them down on a nearby table. He straightened and smiled. “Hi.” He extended his hand, and it was only then he looked at Shaun. Like really looked at him.

Shaun shook his hand. “Hello, Jae. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Shaun Salter.”

A rush of warmth shot through me when he used my surname, but it was Jae’s reaction that made me smile.

He was wide-eyed, smiling in disbelief, but he shook Shaun’s hand. “Hello.” He looked at me, his expression unchanged. “Oh my God. He’s so real.”

I chuckled and nodded. He didn’t know the half of it. “I was hoping we could chat for a second. I don’t have a class until ten.”

“Oh sure,” he replied. He picked up his two coffees and led the way to a door that wasn’t his office. “We can talk in here.” He pushed the door handle with his elbow and held the door open with his butt. The room looked like a small conference room. I walked in first, Shaun followed, and Jae couldn’t stop smiling. Or staring.

I pulled out a seat at the table and sat in it. Shaun did the same but sat a little too rigidly, robotically, and I realised he was doing his ‘pretending to be an android’ routine. I understood he didn’t know Jae and didn’t want to arouse suspicion, so I put my hand on his knee. “You can relax, Shaun. Jae’s a friend.”

And Shaun’s posture visibly changed. He didn’t slouch, of course, but his shoulders seemed more at ease, and his face somehow softened.

Jae sat with his two coffee cups and couldn’t take his eyes off Shaun, and of course Shaun stared right back at him.

I cleared my throat. “I thought it would be best if Shaun came with me today. I’ve turned the Wi-Fi off at home.”

That had Jae’s attention. “To everything?”

I nodded. “Shaun said he feels fine.”

Shaun smiled at me, but Jae looked taken aback. “Shaun said he feels…?”

I let out a long sigh. This was it. I was about to tell someone the truth about Shaun. “Yes. He feels. And I’m not talking about tactile sensors. I’m talking about emotions, not just psychologically but physiologically.”

Jae, still wide eyed, now turned to me. “How?”

Shaun’s eyebrows pinched. “If you wish to discuss me as though I’m not here, would you rather I leave?”

I smiled and gave his knee a reassuring squeeze. “Sorry, Shaun. You’re right. That was rude.”

Jae blinked again. “You apologised to him,” he whispered.

“Of course I did. Like I said, he feels. He has likes, dislikes, preferences, with complex emotive responses.”

Shaun nodded. “Feelings. Senses detecting what is felt through inputs, in both androids and humans. Such as hearing, sight, pleasure, balance, pressure. These feed binary data into the nervous system. Emotions are what those feelings mean.”

I smiled at Shaun. “He often quotes definitions. And we’ve realised he understands things that other androids don’t.”

Jae frowned and shook his head. “I don’t understand how…”

I took Shaun’s hand. “Because Shaun’s not just an android.”

Jae blanched. “What is he—” He looked to Shaun. “Sorry. I mean, what are you?”

“I have full capabilities of the standard A-Class,” Shaun explained. “Though my core processor differs to that of an A-Class.”

“And it’s not supposed to, is it?” Jae asked.

I smiled at him, knowing it was a lot to take in. “Remember yesterday you told me there were rumours of SATinc misplacing a prototype?”

Jae stared at me, then he stared at Shaun. “Oh. Oh, holy shit.”

Shaun laughed. “Why do you bless excrement?”

Jae’s expression was comical. From shock to amazement to wonder. “You have a sense of humour?”

“He has a great sense of humour,” I added.

With a look of excitement that matched Shaun’s this morning, Jae grinned and downed his coffee.

“May I ask you a question?” Shaun asked him.

Jae nodded quickly. “Yes, please.”

“Why do you have two coffees?”

“Um. I get two at once so I don’t have to go back.”

Shaun tilted his head. “Would it not be prudent to use a bigger cup?”

Jae opened his mouth, then shut it. “I uh, I don’t know. Probably.” Then he laughed again and scrubbed his hand over his face. “This is all quite remarkable.”

“Remarkable, yes,” I allowed. “Which is why we have a need for secrecy, as I’m sure you can understand, though I have no doubt SATinc is very aware we’ve gone offline.”

He nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Of course.”

“I am not supposed to lie to humans,” Shaun added. He turned to me and nodded. “And I would never be untruthful to Lloyd. I do however have the ability to distinguish between blatant lies and omission of facts to protect those I care for.”

Jae blinked.

Shaun went on. “I can modify my behaviour so a human believes I am a standard A-Class. I can pretend innuendos go unnoticed or that human manners do not apply to me. I don’t consider this behavioural modification to be an untruth because it protects Lloyd from scrutiny. I don’t care what some passer-by may think of me; their opinion is of no consequence. Lloyd’s opinion matters, as does his well-being. But, hypothetically, if word of my capabilities become public, I will pretend to be as dumb as a post and the person who exposes us will look a fool.”

Jae blanched and looked slightly horrified and even a little scared. “Hypothetically…”

I squeezed Shaun’s hand. “That won’t happen, Shaun.”

“Of course not,” he replied with a smile. “That’s why I added the theoretical qualifier.”

I fought a smile until it won. I even chuckled. “We might need to work on your subtlety.” Then I looked at Jae and gave him a pointed nod. “You see what I mean now? The emotive responses, the initiative, the reasoning, cognizance. It far exceeds standard android parameters, yes?”

Jae nodded slowly. “Oh yeah.” Then he swallowed hard and sipped his second coffee, it seemed, to gather his thoughts. “So why come here? Why me?”

I took a breath. “I need to know more about these processors and what kind of internet connectivity we’ll need. We have two weeks before he needs to be online again and I’d rather bypass the home hub if that’s even possible. I want SATinc out of our lives, for good.”

Jae let out a slow breath. “It’s possible. It just won’t be too legal. It will involve the darknet and running on incognito networks.”

“I don’t care. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Jae finally smiled. “Really? Because this is the kind of stuff I’ve dreamed about doing! This is black-mirror stuff, man. Going dark, like in the movies!”

I squeezed Shaun’s hand and gave him a smile. “Whatever it takes to keep him safe.”

Jae clapped his hands together. “Right. Then let’s do this. First, I need to know what kind of processors we’re talking about and what kind of software layering has been installed, so if there’s any information you can get from SATinc specifications—”

Shaun smiled. “I can tell you anything you need. I have full access to all information.”

Jae sat back in his seat and smiled. And so they went back and forth with in-depth tech-speak that lost me somewhere after specific configurations and authorisations using non-standard communication protocols. In all the years I’d spent my lunch breaks talking to Jae, I’d never seen him so animated. Maybe it was because I never asked him about what his job actually entailed, and I regretted not seeing this side of him earlier. Shaun enjoyed the conversation too, clearly enthralled in the ability to hold specialised conversations with an expert. I was more caught up in the way Shaun smiled when he listened or used his hands while he talked, and it was pretty obvious that Jae had, at some point in their discussion, forgotten he was talking to an android.

I had fanciful visions of inviting Jae over for dinner so he and Shaun could talk all night about technologies I could only pretend to understand, which was absurd because I’d never imagined inviting anyone over for dinner before. But I wanted Shaun to broaden his circle and have more interaction that didn’t include going downstairs to the lobby to try and hold a conversation with the B-Class android. He was starved for interaction and I had a greater responsibility to provide that.

It wasn’t what I’d expected when I walked into the SATinc office. I’d expected nothing more than quiet discussions on books and meaningless sex. What I got was a whole world apart.

So very much more.

“Isn’t that right?” Jae asked me.

Oh. “Pardon? Sorry, I was a million miles away.”

“I was just telling Shaun his neural networks are very similar to the human brain. Like scarily similar. His MPU is modelled off our neocortex.”

“Neocortex?” I clarified. “Our brains?”

Jae nodded quickly. “Multi-layered processing controls high-order brain functions like sensory perception, motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought, language. And Shaun’s circuitry is much the same.”

Shaun looked at me brightly. “A neural network with a hierarchy of layered filters.”

Well, they were clearly happy with where this discovery had taken them. I was utterly lost. “What does that mean?”

Jae blinked like I wasn’t getting the obvious. “For wireless to work, you need transmitters and receivers at both ends, right?”

I had no idea. I just took the internet for granted. It had always been there. “Um, sure.”

Shaun gave me a patient smile and threaded our fingers on his knee. “I have transmitters and receivers, plus multi-layered networks, dual processors, and filters. I can stay connected wirelessly through the neural network on a separate processor.”

I still wasn’t really following. “So staying off-grid is possible?”

“It is,” Jae said. “But it will require modification. Specialised modification to Shaun’s hardware and software. Which puts it in the not-easy category, but it is possible.”

Shaun opened his mouth to say something when there was a knock at the door. The woman we’d met before poked her head in. “Oh Jae, there you are. Sorry to interrupt, but you’re needed back at the science department. Uh, now.”

He checked his watch. “Oh, shoot!” He jumped to his feet. “I’m late.”

I instinctively checked the time, and Shaun and I both stood up. “Me too. I’ve got ten minutes to get to class.”

Jae was already halfway out the door when he stopped and turned back to us. “I’ll see what I can find out and let you know.” Then he came back into the room and offered his hand for Shaun to shake. “It’s a real honour.”

Shaun beamed. “Likewise.”

Jae shook his head like he couldn’t believe any of it was real. He had that look of wonder on his face again. “Lloyd, when you told me about him being advanced, I thought maybe he bordered on sentient. But Shaun’s well and truly past that. He’s sapient. Like the only one in the world kind of sapient.”

He disappeared out the door and I tried to smile for Shaun, but Jae had just exposed my greatest fear.

The only one in the world.

Which meant if it wasn’t SATinc coming for him, it would only be someone else. Some technology rival, some AMA agency, some government agency would deem him too valuable, too risky, too unknown, too human…

Shaun tilted his head. “Sapient has differing definitions. To which is he referring?”

I gave him the best smile I could muster. “That you’re self-aware.” I swallowed hard. “That you’re more human than other.”

Shaun beamed, just positively beamed, while cold dread curled in my belly. He held the door open. “Come, or you will be late for class.”

* * *

Shaun sat through my lecture. I’d asked him to sit at the back and to not ask questions or interrupt—in other words, not to draw attention to himself. So he sat there and listened and grinned the entire time. My gaze kept pulling back to him and I had to make myself focus on my class. But he looked at me like I hung the moon, and my stomach kept doing ridiculous swoops of excitement and love.

When the class was over and the other students all filed out, Shaun stayed in his seat. I shut down the holographic projector and was finally free to smile back at him. “Well, what did you think of your first university lecture?”

“It confirmed two things I was almost certain of,” he replied.

“And what’s that?”

“One, that you’re brilliant at what you do. And two, that I would very much like to accompany you every day.”

I chuckled, and for the remainder of the day, I was caught up in his excitement. Before lunch, instead of going straight back to my office, I showed him around the different buildings, different departments, and we strolled along the grounds before finally ending up in the staff lunch room.

I was hoping Jae would already be there, given we were a little late, but instead we ran into, almost quite literally, the one and only Mrs Van der Heek. I knew it was bound to happen at some point if Shaun would be with me every day, but I was hoping we could have avoided the one anti-android person I had the misfortune of calling a colleague.

“Ah, Mrs Van der Heek, this is Shaun.” I gave Shaun a pointed look, trying to pre-warn him or something. “Shaun, this is Mrs Van der Heek.”

He smiled and spoke politely. “Shaun Salter. It’s very nice to meet you.” He held out his hand, which she shook, and it took her a few long seconds to realise he wasn’t human, but the look on her face was priceless when the penny finally dropped.

“Oh.”

“Oh?” I questioned. I knew her type; she could run her mouth off all day long, spieling her anti-android hate—what did she call them? A dirtybot? Never in a million years could she say it to one of them. A bigot and a coward. “Something wrong?”

“Oh, no,” she said quickly, unable to take her eyes off him. “I’ve just never seen one look so real.”

One. She called him a one.

“He’s not a one,” I corrected. “When someone introduces themselves and gives you their name, is it not rude for you to ignore them?”

Mrs Van der Heek looked horrified that I would call her on her bullshit, but I didn’t care. I wouldn’t stand for someone being so blatantly rude to him. Shaun put his hand on my arm and smiled sweetly at her. “It’s okay, Lloyd. I have been programmed with state-of-the-art social intelligence. I can easily identify when a human has diminished reasoning and therefore will lack, for the want of a better word, social grace.”

It took Mrs Van der Heek a whole four seconds to realise she’d just been insulted. She paled and her mouth fell open, then took a small step back and put a hand to her chest. “Well, I never.”

I really did try hard not to smile. “Shaun will be joining me most days,” I said. “Maybe next time you might try and remember his name.”

She scurried off and I showed Shaun to our table. Other colleagues came in and went and no one paid any attention other than a passing glance. None of them looked long enough to realise he wasn’t human, but that wasn’t surprising; no one ever looked my way for long.

“Was that rude of me?” Shaun asked. “Perhaps I should not have treated your colleague like that.”

“That”—I nodded pointedly to where we’d just stood with Mrs Van der Heek—“was perfect. She’s been an outspoken technophobe for years. She’s a racist, bigoted, loud-mouthed dinosaur.”

“A dinosaur?”

“Well, not literally a dinosaur.”

Shaun pursed his lips. “Obviously. Everyone knows ignoramusauruses are extinct.”

I stared at him, at how his lips twitched with a smile, and I burst out laughing. He just made a joke. Not just any joke. He made a pun! Someone looked over at me, probably having never heard me laugh before, but I couldn’t have cared less.

“You liked my joke,” he said, smiling.

“Very clever.” And it was. It required free-thinking, creativity, and knowledge of how the English language worked and how to play with it.

I ate my lunch and Shaun talked excitedly about coming to work with me every day. He was fascinated by all the things he could do and see, and it was a whole new world he was experiencing. “Which degree would you think I’m best suited for? I was thinking Language History, that way I get to take one of your classes.”

I stopped. Degree? Classes? “You want to come here as a student?”

Shaun tilted his head. “Yes, of course. What did you assume?”

“I thought you would come and assist me,” I said, now realising how much I’d missed the mark. This wasn’t about me at all. This was about him. “But you know all there is to know. You can access any information at will and that would be an unfair advantage over other students.”

He frowned while he considered this. “Are there rules or laws that prohibit androids from attending university?”

Well… “No. There’s not.” I leaned in and whispered, “No other android has ever wanted to do anything.”

He sat quiet and still for a second. “I do not wish to have an unfair advantage. I just wish to partake.”

Oh, Shaun…

I took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go. “I’ll see what I can find out. Come on, let’s go back to my office. Jae must have got caught up at the science department again.”

I felt so bad as we walked back to the Faculty of Arts building. Shaun wanted to come to university as a student, not to help me, and I felt like an arse for assuming as much. He didn’t want to attend class for the education. He wanted to experience it; he wanted to belong. Whatever programming or neural networking he had to simulate humanness, really had become something else. A sense of belonging was a fundamental human emotion, a part of our psychology that makes us human.

That makes him human.

And from all the developments I’d witnessed with Shaun, through all his learning and awareness and adaptations, and determining that he wasn’t a normal android, this was perhaps the biggest.

I didn’t know if I was thrilled or terrified.

We walked into my building toward the reception counter. The B-Class gynoid behind the desk spoke when she saw me. “Written message for Mr Salter.”

I held out my hand for the message. “Thank you.”

She didn’t hand them to me. She handed them to Shaun. “Message for Mr Shaun Salter.”

I turned back to the receptionist. “Who is the message from?”

“Mister Jae Jin, IT department.”

My blood ran cold as Shaun took the piece of paper. All I could see was a whole page of ones and zeros.

Shaun scanned the entire page, then looked up at me. “We must leave. Now.” I couldn’t argue because he took my arm and hurried me out the door and never let go until we got to the car.

“The message was in binary,” Shaun said as we climbed in.

I’d gathered that much. “Home,” I barked at the driver, and we were soon pulling out of the car park. It only dawned on me when we turned left instead of right that the android hadn’t asked for a destination… and we were going the wrong way.