Three sided square (editing/revision period)

Get With The Program

Name: H.RJ
Status: online
System: D.R.34.M

_•_•_•_

L.JN

I watched as system D.R.34.M-Project H came online. My parents had been experimenting with artificial intelligence for years. They wanted to figure out if a robot could develop feelings. According to the last 7 projects, the answer was no. A-G had all been failures. B, F, and D came online but malfunctioned when interacted with. The others never even came online. H project was going to either make it or break it for them. I stood far away, not wanting anything bad to happen as my mother approached project H.
"Hello H." Her soft voice made the thing look at her.

"Hello Mrs.Lee. Project H is chec-king in." I watched my mothers face fall as it stuttered. "Please forgive me Mrs.Lee I c-c-can't seem to pronounce some words c-correctly." C or K sound. Two commonly mispronounced letters. Know might become kuh-no or Clip might become Slip if one isn't careful. Enunciate your words Project H. Hopefully they won't see you as a dud.

"It's fine H. You're the most intelligent bot we've had."

"I'd li-ke to wholeheartedly than-k you Mrs.Lee." She smiled at it and it mimicked her.

"Honey! It works! It actually works!" My father came running from the back room to hug her.

"We did it! It's not a dud for once!" My father spun her around and hugged her again.

"You both loo-k excited." H stated. It's eyes lit up for a second then faded back to a dark green. It spotted me and waved. I would've waved back if it looked more realistic. Sure it had synthetic skin that was softer than mine and hair that smelled like flowers but, it wasn't human.

I approached it after my parents deemed it safe to be around and I poked it.
"Jeno! Do not poke him." My mother scolded me and I mocked her in my head.

"Is pok-king supposed to hurt?" It asked.

"Does it?" I retorted.

"Quite a lot." It rubbed the sides where I had jabbed it and I scoffed.

"It's a bot. All it's feelings are artificial." I poked it again.

"That hurt my artificial feelings." It spoke back to me looking me in the eyes. I'd be lying if I said I didn't smile even a little.

"Honey we should name him." My father suggested. My mother nodded and put her hand on her chin. The excitement in the room resembled a child getting a puppy for Christmas and it made me sick. It's a robot.

"Jeno pick a country."

"What?" She motioned her hands for me to hurry up. "C-china?"

"Huang....Renjun?" My mother suggested after rifting through her mind for names.

"It's perfect. Project H. If you meet someone new introduce yourself as Huang Renjun." My father said, smiling.

"Okay." It...Renjun said. I don't want to like this thing but it's so hard to reject something so innocent looking.