I walked into the staff break room just in time to hear Mrs Van Der Heek say, “I just don’t think it’s right. I get that androids are a part of everyday life. I have no problem with that. They do all the menial tasks that humans don’t, so I can appreciate their usefulness, but those synthetic androids…,” she said like the words tasted bad. She gave a visible shudder. “It’s not right.”

I froze. Did she know? How did she find out? No, there was no way she could know. Nobody knows…

“Professor Salter,” she said. “How do you feel about those Class-A synthetic dirtybots?”

Dirtybots. The word unleashed a bubble of anger through me but I hid it well. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s place to judge,” I said coolly. “If you don’t like them, don’t get one.”

She blinked, and a few other professors smirked. Old Mrs Van Der Heek was a dinosaur, in age and ethics. It was a shame her mouth wasn’t as closed as her worldviews.

“Well, I believe it goes against God,” she went on to say.

And her bigotry was Jurassic as well.

I placed my salad neatly in front of me and straightened my fork so it was perfectly in line, adjacent and parallel to all other lines. A lifelong habit. An OCD habit.

I ignored Mrs Van Der Heek as she soon started talking about the good old days before robotics. It was something she ranted about often, an argument we’d all heard from her before. The fact that she used Class-C and Class-B androids for driving and cleaning made her a hypocrite.

The world was, unfortunately, full of hypocrites.

“So, you’ve got some extra leave?” Jae asked me. Jae Jin was the faculty IT guy, and despite me not knowing him overly well, he was probably my only true friend at the university. We had a lot in common. He ate silently, breathed soundlessly, and always arranged his lunch in perfect order. He was neatly dressed at all times, though he had a penchant for wearing shades of brown. His thick jet-black framed glasses matched his hair, and he had traces of OCD, though I never asked him outright. We were just drawn to each other’s company.

Birds of a feather and all that.

“Yes, a week,” I explained.

“Travelling away?”

“No, family time,” I lied. It wasn’t that I was close to my family at all—I wasn’t—but this was personal time. I could hardly explain to him that I was taking the time to become acquainted with my synthetic android. I didn’t want Shaun to arrive and for me to leave him at home by himself. I’m sure many people did, but it didn’t feel right to me.

Jae grimaced sympathetically. He came from a large Korean family and his parents lived with him, and although he was true to his culture, I knew some days he appreciated solitude. “Maybe just a short day trip then,” he said. “The Great Ocean Drive is pretty this time of year.”

I chewed my mouthful of salad thoughtfully. Could I be so brazen as to take Shaun for a drive? It did seem a rather romantic notion and I wondered if Shaun would like it. I wondered about a lot of things Shaun might like. “That’s a good idea,” I allowed.

“Well, enjoy your time off.” He went on to sigh quietly and proclaim his thankfulness that mid-terms were over for another year. Classes weren’t due to wrap up for another few weeks yet, and I would no doubt spend the actual week-long break getting ready for the next semester so this week was solely for Shaun. It was recommended that all new custodians of A-Class Synths take time to help integrate their android. A whole week was probably ambitious, but my anticipation thought it best. It also gave me time to get used to sharing my space with another being.

Jae shot old Mrs Van Der Heek a hardened glare. “Does she ever know when to shut up?” he whispered to me.

I’d been too caught up thinking about Shaun and hadn’t heard what she’d said, but I liked that Jae and I were of the same opinion about her. I smiled. “Apparently not. Is she still going on about synthetics and God?”

He rolled his eyes and fixed his glasses. “If an android were allowed to replace her, I’d fund it myself.”

I chuckled, and for a brief moment, I considered telling him about my delivery tomorrow. But fear and privacy stopped me, and the fact it was an android and not a gynoid. I’d out myself in more ways than one. “You and me both. We could halve the cost.”

Jae smiled and neatly folded his lunch wrapper and set it on the table at a perfect ninety degrees from the edge. Yes, I liked him a lot.

“Well, have fun on your break,” he said.

Nervous butterflies swarmed my belly. “I’m sure I will, thank you.”

* * *

By the time my intercom sounded at nine fifteen the next morning, the butterflies in my belly felt more like stomping elephants. I buzzed the delivery team through and waited for the elevator to ping down the hall.

Breathe, Lloyd, I reminded myself.

My apartment was a spacious two-bedroom luxury unit on the top floor of the complex. Polished concrete floors, high ceilings, a bookcase as one entire wall, and floor-to-ceiling windows on the north-east facing wall. I liked the clean lines, minimalistic furniture. Well, I didn’t just like it. I needed it. Clutter and closed spaces made me anxious. My ex-boyfriend had found my apartment cold and clinical, but I found the whites and greys soothing, peaceful. Then again, he’d found a lot of things about me clinical…

The knock on my door startled me, even though I’d been expecting it. I opened it to find two men and a rather large crate. The first man smiled. He was wearing grey suit pants and a navy sweater. He showed me his ID. “Mr Salter, my name is Myles Dewegger. We have a special delivery.”

“Yes, yes, please come in,” I said, standing aside in invitation.

The second man wheeled through the crate. He was dressed all in black with a military style haircut, and he looked as though he belonged in a SWAT team. He was a rather large man, with bulging muscles and perfect skin, and I had to study him for a second. No, he was human.

“Nice place,” Myles said, looking around the large, open living room. “Are we all right to do this here?”

I closed the door and took a breath to steady myself. I wasn’t accustomed to having strange people in my house. “Yes, of course.” I followed him and stood next to the couch. “I thought Mr Kingsley might have attended the delivery. I assumed incorrectly, it seems.”

“Sasha’s a busy man,” Myles said with a smile. “Though if you’d prefer, I can call him and you can speak to him.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. I was now staring at the crate. Oh boy. It was well over six feet tall, three feet wide. Shaun was inside. He was right there. I swallowed hard.

Myles read me. “Let’s introduce you, shall we?”

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

Myles and his helper, whose name I didn’t know, undid the crate and removed the front panel. My heart almost stopped. Inside, Shaun stood, packaged-in perfectly so as not to be damaged in any way. He was dressed in a dinner suit. A charming navy piece with a light blue shirt underneath his blazer, top button undone. His black hair was exactly as I’d ordered; short sides, longer on top, professional. His skin was warm ivory with a subtle hint of blush on his cheeks; his lips were pink and a perfect cupid’s bow. His eyes were closed, his lashes long.

He took my breath away.

The big delivery guy stepped in and unstrapped Shaun, then lifted him out. Right, that explained the need for muscle. Then he quickly wheeled the crate back to the front door, making the room neat again, leaving Shaun standing perfectly still in my living room.

Myles glanced at me. “Everything look okay?”

I nodded and had to focus on speaking so I could make actual sound. “So far, yes.”

Myles smiled. “So first we need to configure him to your home hub,” he said, looking around.

I pointed to the small black unit on the cabinet behind the dining table. It was a small, black disc, much like an ice hockey puck. It was my central router and connected all aspects of my life to the internet. Every home had one. Connectivity was integral to living in the mid-twenty-first century. It connected everything from grocery orders to financial accounts, home security to social security details. Big Brother no longer just watched. Big Brother was in every aspect of our lives. Each home hub was voice activated and accessible only to nominated residents in each house.

“Home hub On,” I said, and the hologram panel appeared.

Myles took out a small hand-held screen I recognised from the SATinc office. It was a control panel. He tapped on both screens, I entered in a personal code, and Shaun was officially added to my Wi-Fi.

It was becoming so very real.

Myles seemed completely unfazed and oblivious to the fact that I was in the middle of a monumental life event. He went on a spiel of specifications and diagnostics, developmental robotics, neural networks, artificial consciousness, proprioceptive sensors, and spatial cognizance, but all I could do was stare at Shaun.

Breathe, Lloyd.

Myles stopped speaking when he realised I wasn’t paying attention, and his pause made me look at him instead. He continued, “I’ll activate him, then we’ll require him to study your face for a few seconds. He has facial recognition, so once he recognises you as his custodian, he’ll be able to identify you anywhere.”

“Okay.”

“So if you’re out in public and you become separated, he will be able to find you.”

For the strangest reason, I found that comforting.

“And your voice. He’ll recognise that anywhere.”

I smiled at Shaun, though he still had his eyes closed.

“Are you ready?” Myles asked.

I nodded.

Myles held the small black screen toward me. He entered in a code and spoke clear and loud. “Please re-enter in your Wi-Fi code,” he said, averting his eyes while I entered my security code for Shaun’s wireless access. Then Myles added something else, and watching Shaun, he said, “Activate.”

Shaun opened his eyes.

They were the exact shade of blue I’d asked for. But he just stared blankly.

Myles entered in more codes, then spoke to me. “Please stand in front of him until I tell you to move.”

I did as I was instructed. Shaun was approximately an inch shorter than me, and he was even better close up. Being this close to him sent a curl of anticipation through me.

I could hear Myles tapping on the screen and then Shaun’s eyes focused on me. He was scanning my face, and then he looked down to my feet and up my body. It set my blood on fire.

Then Myles handed me the small screen and said, “Please read this out loud to him.”

I let out a breath and looked Shaun right in the eye. “My name is Lloyd Salter. I am your custodian, and this is your home.”

Myles took the control again and clicked on the screen a few more times, and something in Shaun changed. I saw it, the very moment it happened.

He became aware.

His gaze fell on me. “Hello, Lloyd,” Shaun said. His voice was a deep baritone, with a tenor that curled in my belly.

“Hello Shaun,” I replied. My voice was barely a whisper.

And then, throwing my world completely off its axis, he smiled. Not a perfect smile, but slightly lopsided in a very human way. If a simple smile could complete my existence, it was done. He was stunningly perfect.

“It is very nice to meet you,” Shaun said.

“Likewise,” I replied. I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes, and I swore the corner of Shaun’s lip twitched in an almost smile.

“Is that normal?” I asked Myles. “He’s so… human.”

Myles grinned. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? How real they are?”

I nodded, staring back at Shaun. So very real.

“As I was saying before, he has the spatial awareness and object manipulation skills of a surgeon. He can lift heavy objects with ease, but he can also hold the finest, most delicate glass object with precision. He has social intelligence; he can recognise and interpret, process and simulate human affects and empathy. He is, without doubt, the most advanced A-Class synthetic android in the world.”

Shaun tilted his head a little while he studied me, and I stared right back at him. So remarkable.

“He’s been uploaded with extensive knowledge of all requested data,” Myles said, holding the screen out for me to see. I glanced at it but couldn’t take my eyes off Shaun for long. Myles continued anyway. “Literary histories, world current affairs, everything you asked for has been preloaded, but he can access any information you require. If it’s on the web, he can find it, and he can discuss, converse, debate whatever you want.”

Wow.

“Now, as for the personal companion aspect,” Myles went on. Personal companion aspect was synthetic speak for sex. “All lubricants must be silicone based, not oil based, though I’m sure you’re aware. He can self-clean but he might like it if you help him.” I looked at Myles and he winked. “Yes, he has likes and dislikes. Though he’s been pre-dispositioned to your psych evaluation so there are no conflicts. He enjoys conversation, attention, praise…, touch. Sex.”

My heart rate took off.

Breathe, Lloyd.

Shaun looked at me and his lip started to pull up on one side. I already knew that smirk would be devastating. I had to tell myself to swallow, and I pretended the curl of heat in my belly wasn’t desire.

“He likes sex?” I knew this already, but my brain was stuck on that damn smirk.

“Oh, yes.” Myles tapped away on the control panel. “Though I am legally obliged to tell you that if he’s subject to things he doesn’t like, like abuse, torture, non-consensual sex, sex with someone that is not you, regardless if he is powered on or off, he’s programmed to alert the AMA.”

I knew this also. The AMA, or Artificial Moral Agency, was the governing body of Roboethics. Androids of all classes were granted rights under the Geneva Convention, and if any harm were to come to an android, they were all programmed to alert the officials. “Yes, of course. I fully support the law.”

Myles looked up briefly, afforded me a smile that said of course you do. Then he gave me the rundown on Shaun’s ability to do housework and some cooking ability, though thermoplastic elastomer—what Shaun’s skin was made out of—didn’t react too well to extreme heat.

I knew that too.

Myles continued to give me a crash course in operation, explaining the full manual was in the control panel, but Shaun was now programmed to respond to my voice alone.

“Shaun, Power Down,” Myles said.

Shaun looked at him but didn’t power down. “You are not authorised,” Shaun replied.

Myles gave me a nod. “Your turn.”

I looked at Shaun. “Shaun, Power Down.”

Shaun’s hands went to his sides, his eyes closed, and his head bowed slightly.

Something inside me lurched, saddened even. It felt wrong to decide when he was and wasn’t awake, but before I could tell him to power up, Myles handed me the control panel.

“Sign here to say you’ve received your unit.”

I quickly read the screen and signed.

He signed underneath my signature and handed the control panel back to me. “Congratulations. You’re now the legal custodian of Shaun. If you have any questions, issues, or need anything at all, contact us at any time.”

“Uh, yes. Thank you. I will.”

He and the big muscled guy collected the crate, let themselves out, and I was left alone with my new Synthetic Human Android UNit.

Shaun.

I studied him for a second. He was completely still, powered down, and he looked peaceful. I reached out and almost touched his cheek, but it felt wrong to do so without his consent.

I took a step back, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Shaun, Power Up.”

He opened his eyes and lifted his head. When his gaze met mine, he smiled. “Hello, Lloyd.”

“Hello, Shaun.” I wasn’t sure what to say next. I looked around the room.

“Are you nervous?” Shaun asked. “Your heart rate is elevated and your pupils are dilated.”

“You can see that?”

“Of course. I am designed to be attuned to you.”

Oh boy. Breathe Lloyd. “Uh, yes. I’m a little nervous. I’ve been waiting for you for a while, and I’m very happy you’re here.”

Shaun smiled. “I am happy to be here.”

He was happy? Was he really happy, as in emotionally uplifted, or was it just a phrase?

I realised then I was still holding the control panel. I walked over to the cabinet and slid it on top. When I turned around, Shaun had turned and was watching me. “Would you like me to show you your new home?”

“Yes, please.”

“This is the main living area,” I said. Waving my hand at the sofas and the dining table. “Kitchen is through there.” The truth was, the kitchen was sleek and state of the art with views overlooking the Yarra River and Southbank, Melbourne, but would he appreciate that? I didn’t think so. “This way is the private quarters.” I slid back a recessed door to reveal a hall. I didn’t often close the door, but given I was expecting the delivery people, I didn’t want them seeing my personal space. Not that I had anything to hide. I just liked my privacy. I needed it. It was my sanctuary, my peace of mind from the chaos, mess, and noise of the outside world. I opened the first door. “This is your room.”

He moved fluidly, humanly. God, he looked so real. “Will I not be staying in your room with you?”

I blinked. “Oh, um. Well, uh… I just thought you might like your own space.”

“If you do not wish me to join you in your room, you only have to say.”

I studied him for a second. God, did he look sad or was that just my imagination?

I opened the door to the walk-in robe. “I bought you some clothes,” I said. “I thought you might like to choose what you wear each day.”

He looked at the clothes hanging, neat rows of sweaters, shirts, and pants. “You bought these for me?”

I hadn’t anticipated he would stand so close to me so he could see inside the closet. It made my heart rate take off. “Yes.”

He shot me a look. “Your heart rate is elevated.” Then he straightened, but he didn’t move back an inch. His voice was deep but quiet, soothing even. “You like me being close to you.”

Oh boy. I stepped away and ignored his statement. If he was going to voice my every reaction… “There’s an en suite bathroom also,” I said, opening the other door. “You can use anything in this house at any time. You don’t need to ask.”

Then I walked back to the hall and showed him the main bathroom. “This is the bathroom guests use,” I explained.

“Do we have guests often?”

We. He said we.

My heart galloped again, but he thankfully didn’t comment. I could only assume he picked up on my earlier discomfort. God, it was bad enough I was awkward with humans, but now I was awkward with androids as well.

“Uh, no. I haven’t had many guests in the past, and not for some time. I like my privacy, and I like things… a certain way.” That was probably putting my OCD mildly. “I prefer things in order and I enjoy quiet.”

I’d said that line a hundred times in my life. To work associates, friends, therapists, and my ex-boyfriend, and they all judged or responded as if I was broken and they could offer advice to fix me. But Shaun smiled at me. “I like those things too.”

My heart raced again, but this time it was from relief, gratitude, fondness even. His quiet, peaceful demeanour was so utterly perfect for me. I blinked a few times to clear my thoughts and showed him to my bedroom. I opened the door and almost reluctantly stepped inside. “This is my room.”

He walked in, taking in his surroundings. My room was quite large, with polished concrete floors, white walls, and white bedding, and charcoal grey artworks above the bed. Shaun did a slow 360, then stopped when he was facing me.

“Do you like it?” I asked, perplexed by his reaction. Did the white and grey bother one of his sensors? Or did he think it was cold and detached.

“It’s very peaceful,” he said.

It felt like the air was sucked out of the room, and I struggled to catch my breath, in a head-rush, remarkable kind of way. No one had understood that. Certainly not Ian. My ex had hated this room. I’d always said it made me calm, but he said he felt like he was in a museum, and that was not a compliment. But Shaun got it. Programmed to like what I liked or not, the relief I felt was unprecedented.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

Shaun studied me for a moment, tilting his head just so. Then, in two very humanlike steps, he stood in front of me. “Do you wish to have sex with me?” he asked.

I blinked in shock and dry swallowed. It took me a few attempts at speaking, but I finally managed to get my answer out.

“No.”