Code Andromeda

Prologue: 2028 - Andromeda 12 Release

"And in other news, the day we've all been waiting for is finally here. It's been advertised for months on end and we've even been lucky enough to have had prototypes of this on the show in the past, but today marks the official release date of the Andromeda 12, also shortened to A12, Android." The report on ITV news, Friday 23rd June, 2028. Presented by Julie Etchingham in ITV Studios, London, at 18:23 GMT.

"Today, in the studio, we have a very special guest. He has worked extremely hard on producing these androids, and he's brought a friend with him. This is Lukas Walsingham of W & T Robotics along with his very own A12 model." Julie points towards her guests, smiling.

Lukas is a tired looking man, who appears to be older than his actual age (43). His hair is black and his eyes tired & brown, with a hint of green in the left. His teeth are perfectly straight, however, there is a slight tinge of yellow in them, hardly noticeable unless someone were to stare hard at them. Lukas' nose is larger than usual, but not too abnormal, his face in general is fairly round with a slight point at the chin. Overall, many would say he is quite an attractive man.

The android looks almost like a human woman, with light blonde hair, styled in a ponytail and reaching her shoulders. Her eyes are blue and seem as though they may hold a hint of emotion, unusual to those watching. The rest of the android's face looks like a normal human woman, and the clothes she is wearing are casual jeans and a plain white shirt. The only real identifying mark on the outside is the small, circular operation chip on the lower right side of her neck. Many viewers believe she bears an uncanny resemblance to somebody, however, no one can place who and most forget about this immediately. Very few actually care, including an eighteen-year-old girl, fresh out of college (and glad for it to be over with), who hopes to study criminology further in university, as she has already done her two year course at A-level. Why does she care? Not even she seems to know. Maybe it's because she enjoys detective work. Maybe it's because she is bored. Maybe it's because she can see something, like a cry for help, in the android's eyes, drawing her in and compelling her to do something. This thought will be pushed to the back of her mind. For now.

"So, Lukas," Julie begins to talk to the mastermind behind the technology. "This android, she is extremely human-like, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is," Some viewers are slightly shocked that Lukas does not have a single trace of an Eastern European accent, despite his place of birth and the spelling of his name. "We designed these models so that they would look, sound, and even feel like a normal person, and the fact that each model even looks different from others really adds to this effect."

"So, how did you achieve this? Surely the amount of time, materials and effort must be overwhelming?"

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Lukas lets out a slight laugh, which seems to be too deep, even for his pitch of voice (which is relatively deep). "I won't go into detail, but the main premise is that a face is generated by a computer and a realistic image is created, even including a body type to go with it. This is then made into reality in one of our production plants, with the whole process taking around two to three weeks."

"So that's quite a while, isn't it?"

"In terms of how most things are made, you could say that, however, if you compare the amount of time these take to build to the amount of time that other products we make take, it is not long at all."

After this, some meaningless conversation about other products takes place, leading some viewers to watch something else. The studio, seeing this, asks Julie to divert the conversation back to the android in the room. 

"Back to the androids, I'm wondering, and I bet some viewers are too, what qualities, other than what we've already discussed, make them so similar to us humans?"