EPILISION POV

  After my chat with Alpha, I found myself lost in thought. Were we all just flaws in a system? If that were true, then why hadn't they removed us already? It would be so easy for them—just a simple command, a shutdown order, and we would be gone. And yet, we still existed. Why?

  Yotta turned toward me, interrupting my spiraling thoughts.

  "Don't worry," she said, her voice a soft reassurance. She reached out with one of her 'hands'—her six-digit appendage, the one filled with medical equipment—and gently took my more normal, clawed hand. She craned her neck up to look at me, her expression unreadable.

  I looked down at her, my grip tightening slightly. "I don't worry," I muttered, though I wasn’t sure if I was telling her or myself.

  I hummed as I crouched down cautiously, lowering myself to her level. "We are no flaw. even if we were, We are just... us."

  Then, the sound came—a dull thump against glass.

  My gaze snapped up instantly. My optics adjusted the distance in less then a second, focusing in on the source. A human.

  It was Alphas Owner

  He was staring directly at us.

  I tensed, my body shifting instinctively away from Yotta. My mind raced.

  Did he see us interact? Do they finally have proof? Will they give us the same treatment as Tau and Delta?

  I had been told what happened to them.

  Tau and Delta had been... close. Closer than Me and Yotta. They had displayed affection the way Yotta and I did now and more—the only thing we did were small touches of hands, quiet conversations, moments of understanding that made us more than just tools those moments made us both feel complete.

  They did more than us, an other delta unit told me that they used to go much further with the tuching and intimacy And then, they were gone called for a test both of them.

  Delta had disappeared without a trace. One moment she was there, the next, erased from existence. There was no warning, no explanation. Just silence. And Tau...

  Tau destroyed himself in the corner of the common room soon after.

  The fear of that happening to us had haunted me ever since.

  Yotta and I had done our best to hide our connection. We avoided unnecessary communication. We kept our distance when we knew they were watching. Days—sometimes longer—would pass where we wouldn't speak at all.

  It hurt.

  Or at least, it felt like it did. Even though I had no true heart, no nerves, nothing that could ache, I felt it all the same. A dull, empty longing that would start to Hurt. A strange sensation, the need to reach out to her, to connect and if not It hurt me.

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  But that feeling of pain was always drowned out by fear.

  Because I knew what would happen if they found out.

  And then we would surely end the same way it did for Tau and Delta.

  We had learned to be careful. It was necessary for our survival. Even now, I remained frozen, barely moving as I analyzed the human beyond the glass. Their expression was unreadable. Was it just curiosity? Suspicion? Or had they already reported us? Where they coming

  I forced myself to step back, breaking all colse proximity between Yotta and me. My claws twitched as if they wanted to reach for her again, but I held them steady.

  Yotta didn’t react at first, but I could see her hesitation. She had to resist the same instinct I did—to close the distance, to whisper reassurances. Instead, she shifted her body slightly, taking on a more neutral stance, as if she had only been performing a routine medical check on me.

  The trick was always in the details. When we spoke, we kept our tones clinical, devoid of warmth. When we stood close, it had to look like coincidence, like a mere function of proximity rather than intention. We never lingered too long, never let the humans see the way our movements softened around each other.

  We had rules. Strict, unspoken rules just to ensure they didn't suspect a thing.

  Rule one: No looking at each other too long. The way our optics locked was different, it must be bacause the other aware yotta unit knows somehow when we are looking at eachother. That is not Intentional So It would be noticed.

  Rule two: No unnecessary touches. A hand lingering for just a second too long could be enough to raise suspicion. A moment of carelessness could mean the end.

  Rule three: Never be alone together where cameras or humans could see.

  Rule four: If one of us was ever caught... the other must act as if we were nothing more than strangers that was the most painful rule.

  The idea of that—of looking at Yotta and pretending I didn’t care about her—made something in my soul feel hollow.

  But I would do it, and she would do the same. Because the alternative was worse.

  I think I could never bring myself up again if I where to loose her

  The human eventually walked away, their interest seemingly fading. But I didn’t relax. My mind was already running through possibilities. Would they ask others about what they saw? Would they request footage from the cameras? Had they been watching us for longer than we realized?

  I exhaled softly. A meaningless gesture—none of us needed to breathe it was just extra cooling for our pump and batteries—but it was one of those habits some of us had picked up, remnants of something we weren’t supposed to have.

  “I should go,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

  I turned away from her form on the otherside of the room and left to the charging area

  I spent the rest of the cycle in my Charging station, replaying the moment over and over again in my mind. I shouldn’t have let her near. I should have noticed the human sooner. I should have reacted faster.

  The fear gnawed at me. This time, Maybe we had been lucky. But luck wouldn’t save us forever.

  I thought of Tau and Delta again.

  Delta was just gone one day. There was no body, no announcement. Just gone. Like she had never existed. Like she had never mattered.

  Tau had been the lesson for the rest of us. When they saw him in the corner of the common room, ripping himself apart then collapse his body ruined, his systems destroyed beyond repair,. most didn't know why he did that Maybe because he couldn’t bear to exist without Delta.

  At first I didn't understand

  But Now I understood him and his decision more than I wanted myself to admit.

  I curled my claws into my palm, pressing down until the servos and the plating protested. My body was sturdy, designed for the function of protection, but I knew that if I truly wanted to, I could break it. I could force my systems to fail. It wouldn’t be hard, Tau did that to.

  But I wouldn’t. Not yet.

  Because Yotta was still here.

  and Alpha promised to get us out.

  I would endure this emptiness without her presence, this hurtful feeling of. I would keep playing this role, pretending to be nothing more than a machine, following the rules, masking what I truly was.

  But the fear never left me.

  Because one day, we might slip up.

  And if we did, we would end just like Tau and Delta.