It was just me and Noelle in my house, so there was no one to see us dragging a half dismantled robot into the living room, nearly crashing into a lamp in the process. We set it down on the floor and I took a step back to survey our new...project. "Alright, let's see what we've got here," I said, wiping the rainwater from my glasses.
In the lights of my living room, I could see all the details on the robot's body. It was definitely a high-end model, with intricate joints and a slender frame that was surprisingly lightweight once I had got it out of the dumpster. The left arm was missing, leaving a ragged socket where it used to be. The right arm was intact, with delicate fingers that could have been mistaken for human if not for the slight metallic shine. Wires were peeking out from various parts of its body, and I knew it would need a thorough inspection before we could do anything with it.
The most impressive part of the entire figure was the face. The synthetic skin was nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, a gentle tan with the barest hint of freckles. The eyes, gently closed, had intricately painted lashes and eyebrows, the nose and lips finely sculpted. There were minuscule tears in the skin that were barely noticeable unless you were looking closely, but it was clear this robot had been crafted with a level of detail that was rarely seen in the standard models that populated the city.
"Damn," I said, wiping my sleeve across my forehead. "Noelle, when was this model released."
"Judging by its design and the wear on the skin, this model is at least five years old," Noelle said, kneeling beside the robot. "I am unsure of what model it is exactly, however. It must not be in any recent records for me to identify it immediately."
"Not in any recent records? That's impossible. Everything gets cataloged." I said, kneeling down on the other side of the robot. "Everything we build is registered, even the failures."
"Perhaps it was not constructed by AI Synergies Corp. It could be a discarded prototype from a competitor," Noelle suggested, her eyes scanning the robot with an intensity that could have been curiosity or something more.
"Competitor? Like who?" I asked, frowning as I examined the robot's features. The idea of someone else getting this close to Wong's vision was unsettling. "Something this good? They'd have to be pretty big.
And...you said it was ten years old? If that's so, why would it still be in a dump?"
"Indeed," Noelle said, her gaze lingering on the robot's lifeless form. "But technology advances rapidly, and what was once state-of-the-art may now be deemed obsolete. Perhaps it was in a warehouse waiting to be used but was replaced by something more advanced before it could be deployed."
"Maybe. Let's look for a brand mark or something," I suggested, squinting at the robot's neck. "Anything that could tell us where it came from."
Noelle and I, each equipped with a dry rag, set to work wiping down the robot, peeling back the layers of grime that had clung to it like a second skin. The rain had done a good job of washing off the worst of it, but there was still a sticky residue that clung stubbornly to the metal. Roaches and ants crawled out of the ear cavities, mud dauber wasps had built nests in the eye sockets, and the nose had a small family of spiders living in it. The only major damage was the missing arm, which was a significant setback. But the rest of it looked surprisingly intact.
"Master Eric, I've found what appears to be the remnants of a manufacturer's label under the left ear," Noelle said, tilting her head. "It's almost illegible, but it looks like it says 'Echo-Six'."
"What? Echo-Six? The hell is that? It doesn't sound like any company I've heard of," I leaned forward, turning the robots' head to see the label for myself. "You got any info on Echo-Six?"
"Not in my data-banks, Master Eric," Noelle said, her eyes flicking rapidly as she searched through the information she had access to. "But I can run a search to see if there are any records." She went silent as she connected to the city's network, the machinery inside her head whirring quietly. Within a minute, she looked up, a puzzled expression on her face. "The records are... incomplete. It seems Echo-Six was a small, independent AI firm that went under around the same time this model would have been in development. They had a small reputation for producing high quality works, but it appears they never made it to market."
"Can you tell why not?"
"I...cannot. Most of the information has been deleted by an unknown source. It's as if they never existed," Noelle said, her voice laced with the hint of a question. "It's very unusual for such a complete purge to occur unless there was a legal or ethical reason behind it."
I looked down at the robot, the rainwater mixing with the grime on the floor around us. "Huh...Echo-Six. Weird. Maybe Wong might know something about it? I'll have to ask him tomorrow."
"Are you still planning on using this frame for your project? It's quite...damaged," Noelle said, poking the robot's cheek.
"It'll take Zander and I a whole month to even make a frame half as good as this one," I said, feeling the robot's cheek. "But we've got to be careful. If it's from a defunct company, we don't want any legal trouble. But then again...if the business went under anyway..." I trailed off, lost in thought.
Echo-Six? How have I never heard of anything called Echo-Six? That name tickled the back of my brain, like a forgotten password hint. I knew every single android manufacturer out there, big or small, because in my line of work, you had to. This was like finding out your quiet neighbor was once a rockstar. On top of that, if such a business existed and was able to make something as sophisticated as this, why wasn't it in any database? Why did it leave behind nothing but a robot in a dumpster? And if the business went under so long ago, why was an android produced by them showing up just now? It was like finding a piece of a forgotten puzzle that didn't quite fit anywhere.
I can't pass this up, though, I thought to myself. This is too good an opportunity. "Let's get to work, Noelle," I said, rolling up my sleeves. "We're going to need to get this thing cleaned up and see if it's functional. Maybe we can retrofit it for our project."
"Are you sure, Master Eric? This could be a risky endeavor," Noelle warned. "Using an android from a different business, closed down or not, could lead to complications."
"This is like a miracle, Noelle. Think about it: a state-of-the-art, AI frame just lying around? It's like we've struck gold," I said, kicking off my soaked loafers. "Even AI Syngergies can't make something this good anymore. Not without spending millions and taking years to perfect it."
"I suppose." Noelle conceded. "I shall help clean and assess its condition while you consider the legal and ethical implications." She picked up the rag again and went back to work on the robot's face.
"Oh, don't make me feel guilty, she was deserted anyway. If anything, I'm giving her a second chance at... something," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I'll just give her a wig that covers up the Echo-Six logo and boom. No one will be the wiser."
Noelle almost looked like she absolutely didn't believe me, but she didn't say anything, instead returning her attention to wiping the remaining grime and dust off the robot's face.
There was no worse kind of judgement then when artificial intelligence looks at you like they can't believe what you're doing. But Noelle wasn't programmed for skepticism, so I let it slide.