ANGELIC. | SOOBIN

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disclaimer : the following story is fictional. tags: robot lore, sci-fi, angst.

warnings: may contain mature content.

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"Babe", Angela calls her robot boyfriend, Syca. Her hands hovered over the disfigured arm, the once-sleek metal now twisted and lifeless. It was what they called it—dead. Dead like the circuitry in a machine that had failed too many times, beyond any hope of resurrection. They discarded those, didn't they? But she couldn't do that with Syca. He wasn't just a machine. Or maybe, just maybe, she was the one who was broken. She wasn't sure which needed fixing more—the arm or herself.

Syca turns, lightly tilting, he is a handsome robot, seated next to his oh-so talented robot engineer girlfriend resurrecting his arm. "Yes, babe", he replies, blinking his eyelids. His voice is very robot-like, his voice is composed of binary impulses auto tuned to sound like a human's voice. She had figured it out when she was working on him. Binary signals were impulses, those that go like beep-pause-beep in a repeated pattern and combining the highest amplitudes and tuning the amplitude gave Syca the voice she loved hearing through her work. 

Syca is more than just her boyfriend—he is her mental counselor since the age of 20; when he was made. He is her personal search engine, he is her code verifier, fact-checker, her event manager, task coordinator and things she needs help to do basic human activities that involved thinking. He works on present inputs, as in he listens to her and replies back on the stored information that he has received. He has no heart of his own. He doesn't show emotions yet, but in his binary world, it's just him and her. 

Angela hated humans. There was no one more despicable than humans on this planet. She absolutely despised them to the core. She had no friends, maybe a couple. But her work demanded interactions on a daily basis as a lead project engineering at a reputed national robotics laboratory. There she worked on building advanced robots for defense, astronomical exploration or for the journey to the center of the earth. It has crossed her mind a couple of times to turn herself into a cyborg to preserve her youth she fears turning into a complete robot rather than just as a cyborg, but feared it would take away her uniqueness and ambiguity as a human. There was a strange comfort in being vacillating, questioning everything and expressing subjective opinions. Syca was biased. He spoke according to her commands. 

"Nothing, I just wanted to hear your voice", she says as a smile lifts up her lips slowly.

"I'm here for you, babe", Syca assures.

Angela loved robots for a reason. They always listened to her and never spoke beyond her expectations. Not just that, she could tune how a robot would speak to her. Like Syca beside her—her perfect, predictable boyfriend.

Unlike humans who were unpredictable. They cried and whined all the time, and oh they complained all the time.

In her house, it was just him and her. The creator and the invention shared a bond that couldn't be described. 

After welding the circuit enough, she flips her protective glasses and dives into the comfort of her bed behind her. Syca  glances at her, his vision sensors scanning her. "I don't think I have the confidence to work on your arm", she begins in a dull tone, taking a break for a moment.

"I appreciate you working on my arm. I may encounter certain difficulties without the assistance of one arm, but I will still be able to help you with the rest of my body"

Angela loves the sound of it. She raises up, plunging forward to take his cheek in her hand and pulls him closer to match her lips on his. Syca closes his eyes, exactly how is programmed to when he senses intimate contact. She scoops his silicon lips into hers, his sensors tingling and making him activate generate certain intimate reactions such as grazing her back. After one small brief kiss with the man of metal , she plops down the bed next to him exhausted.

"I'm so tired, Syca", she sighs, glancing at him as she brings her hands up on her stomach to lay them.

"I understand. It is important to prioritize your health and rest.", he says, in a monotone. She blinks slowly. Her million dollar company built robots but it didn't guarantee one important thing. Happiness.

It had been years since she had smiled. Syca made her happy and counseled her but his monotonic voice had little to no impact on her and gave her temporary relief. Angela's journey with depression started when she was a 16 year old teen named Ana from Beijing, working on a simple robotic car for her project. It gave her comfort, she looked forward to it every time she assembled the components and learned how they came alive together. She graduated with distinction and got an offer for assisting , building and designing military  grade robots. She was exceptional at her job. She became known for building robots that were almost human , which was a breakthrough and evoked concerns about a possible invasion, but Ana continued to find peace and joy in building robots.

But over the years, Angela's ability to grasp had diminished, her senses deteriorated and she could no longer do things on her own.

Due to long term exposure of Iridium, a radioactive element used in robot parts, Angela was put into a critical ICU and was declared brain dead. But the scientists grabbed the opportunity to implement an artificial brain system to revive her life, a valuable asset and thus, once Ana Liu, became Angela.

As soon as she was given a new life, she needed assistance, an aid to survive and that's when Syca came into picture.

The real problem stemmed from Angela still being a human. Her human side was vacillating while her robot side was biased and between the two , she was stuck figuring out the purpose of her existence , chasing a hypothetical feeling called Happiness.

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authors note :