Chapter 1

You were a bright student and everyone knew it. Most of the time you were keeping the brain of your to yourself and worked alone on projects that were meant to be group projects, but the teachers always let you. They knew the second you handed in your first assignment in high school that you would become a great gift to the world of technology one day. You didn't know what you wanted to do. So you just went with whatever the teachers and your parents told you. Your mother was talking about space programs while your father talked about the future of androids. You didn't have much of an opinion on any of it but ended up on one of the finest universities for robot science.

You did what you were told and handed in the most amazing projects until one day you stood with the description of your final project that would force you into thinking for yourself for once. You had to figure out what you wanted to write about and later create; it just needed to be relevant for your education. That's when you knew that you wouldn't be a part of it. You had seen some of the androids that were created in some scientist image and how close they were related to real humans. But as soon they showed any kind of malfunction, they were trashed like they were a piece of garbage. You knew that everything and everyone should have a second chance; therefore you gave yourself a second chance. You dropped out of the university that was ready to send you to either NASA or Cyperlife. Two corrupted companies that didn't think about anything but money. You didn't want your skills to be used for anything they could come up with. Your parents were furious and disowned you. Your mom was even crying because of the waste of space you were saying you were ungrateful for everything they did for you.

Was it ungrateful because you wanted to think for yourself for once? You didn't feel the need to be the next Bill Gates, Elijah Kamski or Jeff Bezos. You liked what you were doing and the fact that you were good at it, but you hated that you were forced. That was not a good motivation. So you moved to the State of Michigan which was one of the most tecnological advance states in the US. It was exactly the place that you parents wanted you to go, they wanted you to go to CyperLife, but it was on your grounds and not theirs.

You got yourself a shitty office job and bought a little house in the suburban of the city. It was one of those few places that still had a little backyard to it with a single tree that was barely alive. You didn't have much money to decorate your house at first but when the paychecks started to come you bought parts to different machines that people threw away out on the streets for the garbage man to collect later.

One of your colleagues, James, was very interested in your work and you invited him over sometimes. With times you had made the small basement into your own little mechanical lab where you fixed stuff for others. It started with James that camp over with one of his screens that didn't react to his voice anymore and wouldn't turn on. The TV was an older model but still one made by a company under CyperLife, so you knew exactly how to handle it.

"You are pretty good with those things, you know. I haven't been her for more than half an hour." James said and sipped the beer he had helped himself to as soon he got inside your little home. James was an ok friend to have. He wasn't very tall or wide, but still kind of masculine to look at. He had some piercing blue eyes and always dressed nicely even though it wasn't the most important positions the two of you had in the company.

"Thanks but this is a very old model. Even you should be able to fix this one." You said with a smirk and he rolled his eyes.

"If I was as talented as you I wouldn't be stuck in a job like mine. I would totally go to cyperLife and get a real paycheck. One of those that give you a really nice apartment in the middle of the city with a nice view to a part or something. And I would totally build myself a hot android chick that would do everything for me." He said dreamingly as you secured the back cover with a small screw.

"You know, you could properly afford a decent android if you started to save up some money instead of going out every weekend."

"And you could use a little fun every weekend, miss smarty-pants. You lock yourself up in your basement every weekend and fix shit for people for free."

"But I like it. This is my way to relax. I can't relax in a club with a pulsing bass in my head." You explained and crossed your arms.

"If you really want to stay down here in the dark, you should start taking a few bucks for it now and then. Maybe you could buy yourself an android too." You? Owning an android? You couldn't imagine.

"You want me to start taking money for repairing peoples stuff?" You raised an eyebrow at him. You could see his facial expression change as he realized what he said.

"I mean... other people could pay you. Not me. Your friend. But people!" He quickly said and you snorted at him.

"Yeah thanks for the tip, friend." You but extra pressure on the work friend as you picked up his TV and handed it to him.

"But seriously. I can recommend you to people I know and met. It could be a great business." He reassured you.

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And it did. James started to send people to you with minor computer problems that needed to be fixed. You started to take trips to the junkyards to find bits and pieces you could reuse and save some money there. That way you didn't support CyperLife directly by buying their products but simply reusing products that other threw away.

One day you woke up to a knock on your door. You put on a bathrobe and opened the door. Outside stood a family; a mom, dad and a little son with the biggest and brightest eyes you had ever seen.

"Hello?" You asked politely but a little confused.

"Hello are you y/n? We have heard that you repair androids cheap?" The man said and reached out his hand for you.

"I do? I mean, yeah I guess I do." You said a little shocked. The man went back to their car and picked up a female android from the backseat. She was a WE900 and her LED was not on as he carried her to you front door.

"Come in." You said to them and you guided them all down in the basement to place the android on your working table that barely fit the woman.

"I'll be right back. I need to put on some clothes. You can wait here or in the living room." You told them and left to your bedroom. As soon you closed the door you called James. It took a long time for him to take the phone. It wasn't early in the morning, but it was early on a Saturday.

"y/n?" He asked groggy. You could hear on his voice that he was sleeping when you called. Clearly sobering up from a night out last night.

"James what the fuck did you tell people? That I can fix androids? Do you know that is illegal?" You hissed at him. You jumped around your room trying to get in a pair of jeans with one hand as you used the other to hold your phone.

"Did you know that a lot of people can't afford that CyperLife repair their androids? I didn't know they were so expensive to have! But there is seriously a marked for it. A marked!" He said as excited you could be while sleepy and slightly drunk.

"I haven't repaired an android since university! And if I get busted in this I'm taking you with me to jail!" You finally worked the jeans over your butt so you could concentrate being angry at him.

"I have heard that women like bad boys. Maybe I should give it a chance?" He mumled and laughed at himself.

"You are an idiot. I kind of have to do this now. There is a sweet family in my basement right now that brought their maid android in to a fix. If this ends badly, I don't know what I'm going to do to you." You said and hang up as you could just hear James laughing in the other end. You went back to the basement and got a description on what happened to the poor android woman. Their boy had tripped it over and something was loose inside its head near the LED. You opened up to the back of the head and the little boy looked the other way. It was kind of sweet of him that he cared for the androids wellbeing. You found the loose end and plugged the things back together. As soon you closed the android up the LED started blinking a bright yellow until she opened her eyes and it turned blue.

"Will the memory be intact?" The mother asked as she was hugging her son. He was close to sobbing for the android.

"There is no sign of any damage to the memory cards. It was only a disconnection. It's a simple thing when you know what to look for." You said as the android sat up on the table.

"Sarah!" The little boy yelled and he ran from his mother's arms and over to the android and placed his arms arounds its legs. The android woman smiled down at the little boy and picked him up.

"Thank you so much. Our boy is so obsessed with it. It broke us to know that we couldn't afford to repair it. You truly are an amazing person for doing this." The mother said and wrapped her hand around yours. You could feel papers between her hands being shifted over in yours. As she let your hand go you kept it closed until the family was out of your house again. You looked to see that she had given you 200 dollars in cash. How expensive was it really to get an android repaired at CyperLife if you doing it cheap were worth 200 dollars?

You realized that this could be your call. You loved to see the smile on the little boys face when his android nanny was brought back to life. Maybe you were supposed to repair android. But instead of doing it for CyperLife, maybe it was you purpose to do it against them?

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You started to visit the junkyard regularly at night and the amount of useful stuff was drying out. It was like you had taken everything that was worth anything. You had to visit other junkyards further away from your house. You heard from one of your costumers that there would be one further into the city but it was a disturbing place. Many rich people that threw away their expensive androids and brought a new instead of repairing them lived in a neighborhood close by. It would be a good place to try out. You put on your headlight and found the huge over the shoulder bag that you had come to use for electronic parts instead on gym clothes. You jumped the gate as you had done many times before. There was no alarm going off as not many cared about junk getting stolen. You landed on the muddy ground with a splash and looked around.

It was indeed creepy being here in the dark and in the rain. Random blue, yellow and red light were flashing throughout the place. You kind of know what they were but you hoped that it wouldn't be as bad as it seemed. As you came to the first pile of junk you gasped and put your hand over your mouth to muffle the sound of surprise. This was not just junk like you were used to. No bits and pieces. In front of you were mountains upon mountains of androids. Most of them were almost intact but Thirium was dripping out of holes here and there. The fact that it was dark around you made it impossible to see the different between thorium and real blood. It only made the whole scene that more horrifying to witness. How could people do this?

You had seen and met androids in your daily life and at work. They seemed so human, so alive. Owning one of these was like owning another human being. You could never imagine yourself owning one of them. It felt wrong. You liked the people you were helping out after work. The families that bought an android and cared for them like they are a member of the family. Why wasn't this not blown up in the news? As you moved further into the junkyard you felt robotic eyes stare at you from all angles. If you could just help all of them you would. But where would they go?

You turned around when you heard a crashing sound come from behind you. You were afraid that it would be a guard or another authority but there were no one around. The crashing sound sounded again and you knew that someone was moving around somewhere near you. Your heart was racing as you took off your headlight and used it as a flashlight to make it easier for you to light into small corners without sticking your face in there. You could hear the sound louder and louder as you neared a huge sinkhole looking mass grave of androids. LED's were blinking everywhere but only a few feet down you saw one android struggling in particular. This one seemed more alive than the others. It was crawling to the top and stopped as soon your light hit it.

"Do you need any help?" You called out for it. You didn't know what else to do or say. You couldn't just leave it like this. It didn't answer you as it continued to crawl closer to you and the top of the hole. As it came close enough, you reached out your hand for it to grasp. It looked at your hand for a moment. It's LED blinking between red and yellow in a dangerously fast manner. In the end it took your hand and you pulled it over the edge. You fell backwards as it let go of your hand as soon it was on steady ground. You got up and tried to dry off some of the mud but it didn't help much.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" You asked the android and pointed your light at it again. Now you could see it was a male android. A male with tan skin and piercing blue eyes. You didn't know his serial number so it must be pretty new. What was a new model doing in a junkyard like this?

"What?" He whispered as he finally stood up in front of you.

"Are you able to scan yourself and see if you need anything? I have some spare parts in my bag. I don't know your model, but some of them might fit." You explained and lifted up in your bag which made the spare parts rattle, so he knew you meant what you said.

"Why are you here? Why are you helping me?" He asked. His LED turned red and you backed up a little. You didn't know why this android were there but now that you thought about it, he could be dangerous and was disposed because if it.

"My name is y/n and I repair androids in my free time. I can help you if you let me?" You explained. The android looked you skeptical for a moment. You tried to smile the best you could without showing any fear. Why were you even doing this? There was something seriously wrong with this android. It shouldn't act like this. It shouldn't be able to even look skeptical. It was built to follow orders.

"I'm Marcus." He finally said and as to confirm your theory about the malfunction of the android, he picked up a sharp stone from the ground and pierced it into he's head until the LED came out. You gasped in shock. Not only because of the action but because Marcus now looked 100% human. No one would be able to tell that he was an android and the thought scared you a little... but it was also exciting in a way.

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I am in the middle of CampNaNoWriMo, so this will be posted and edited until its not. Hope i don't fuck it up too much and i hope you enjoy :)