Aaliyah, a strange but aspiring student at SFIT, has a bit of an obsession with the human mind and how it works. She wants to build an android that is completely, from personality to speaking patterns, an artificial human.
It works, but not in the way she wants.
--
"I believe it could be like our cell phones!"The hijab-clad girl explained excitedly, prosthetic arms waving about.
"We think we don't really need it, but once it's made we know we do! I mean, it could be used for several miscellaneous situations! They could be guides, for the disabled! Nurses and doctors, for contagious patients! If you would allow me to try working on it, I can simply promise you that--"
"Aaliyah."
She paused from her rambling, looking at her teacher. Her professor, she meant. He sighed, long and tired.
"Do you know what your problem is, Aaliyah?"
"Um... I'm Muslim?"She laughed nervously, trying to joke, and make up for whatever she did wrong. The grumpy old man sighed long and hard again.
"You're too ambitious. You don't consider the consequences. It hasn't hurt you yet, but with a project like this, it will."
"But, sir, I have to try!! I--"
"If you continue with this project, I will have to suspend you."
She blinked. She sighed. She nodded.
"Now, get back to class."Her senior dismissed her. She turned, robotically, to the door, and maneuvered toward it, stiffly.
"Thank you for your time, Professor."She sighed quietly, and she left.
But she didn't go to classes. Most students didn't. She wouldn't be punished. She went back to her dorm. As she entered the room, she didn't acknowledge anything in it; She was set on grabbing her toolbox. Her smartphone sat on her bed, with several missed calls and messages from her family. If she had cared, she would have scoffed. They could complain to and about her on a later day. She was busy.
Carefully, she unwrapped her hijab and lay it on her bed, to keep from getting overheated. Alone in her room, the moonlight falling on her back, she worked on a robot. Her hair tied up, she made minor adjustments to it, and then started to screw a head onto it. The robot was suspiciously human looking.
Aaliyah smiled, a humorless smirk, wiping sweat from her brow, as the robot started to beep and hum, coming to life.
Though stuck with an unchanging face, it spoke.
"Vessel-type One reporting for duty. What shall I do for you."It spoke. Aaliyah's smirk grew.
"Professor Hamada's right. I don't consider the consequences."
