It’s been a few years since you were assigned as a companion to ALD-1, or as you’ve so creatively nicknamed him, Aldie. He hates that name, but he’s given up on telling you to stop calling him that.

With a sense of renewed energy, you stand from the charging station, walking down the hall. You’re not sure where you’re going, but you know you’re looking for Aldie. He’s been unpredictable these days, never able to stay in one place and setting up camp in a new corner of the building every day.

Eventually as you’re walking, your mechanical ears catch the sound of an exasperated sigh coming from a nearby office. You open the door and step inside without knocking.

Aldie turns to look at you from a rolling chair at a desk. Atop the desk sits a patch of artificial metal skin, meant to make androids look more human.

“Help me with this.”

He says bluntly, holding out his arm to show the metal and wires that have been revealed beneath the artificial skin. His metal plates must have fallen off.

You consider asking for a please, but you know better than that. Aldie believes that saying please and thank you is for humans only. Not the two of you.

So instead, you sit down on the desk and start to screw the slab of metal beck into his arm. You can see him staring at you from your peripherals, seeming to be trying to memorize your face. It’s strange from him. He never seemed to care for faces before. It took months of you convincing him for him to even make one for himself.

You glance at him, but he doesn’t look away, keeping his inhuman gaze focused on you. There’s no emotion on his face. It’s nearly impossible for him to express emotion in any way. But you can tell that something is bothering him.

Once you’re done screwing the ‘skin’ back on, you set the screwdriver down. Aldie is stuttering. He’s never done that before. Why is it happening now?

“I’m getting powered off. In a month or two. The bosses say that I’m too likely to turn against them. They wish to stop it before it happens.”