Cut her arm bad during practice

Alex's morning was chaos incarnate. The PA system was on the fritz, phone lines were down, and the internet was "being slow" around the east side of the school. Around 11, he'd finally begun to put out the technical fires, when his personal cell rang.

It was Cody. He'd given her his number after accidentally becoming her guardian, for emergencies only.

"Alex," she said, her voice trembling, "I need you."

Cody explained, tersely, what happened, and Alex's heart stopped. This was an emergency.

Without hesitation, Alex grabbed his jacket and tool bag from his office and rushed to the gym.

He arrived to find Cody huddled in the back corner of the girl's locker room, dressed in her volleyball gear - athletic shorts, jersey, high socks, and pads. Her was face pale, her eyes red-rimmed on the edge of tears. She cradled her arm like it was broken.

"I didn't know what to do," said Cody.

Alex set down his bag on a bench and approached. "Let me see."

Hesitantly, Cody gave up her arm for inspection.

A large gash ran down the outside of her arm. A cut like this would usually need some serious stitches, but Cody was an Emulated. Simulated blood - and not enough of it by far to be convincing - mixed with oily blue lubricant. And through the tear, a hint of black was visible.

Cody's internal frame wasn't organic, of course. The deception of humanity was only skin deep. Beneath it, she was a composite skeleton with sheathed synthetic muscle fiber, just like any other android.

"What am I going to tell my parents?" asked Cody. "Emergency repairs cost a fortune and money's been tight since Mom and Dad got me Emulated. And if I show up to an EmRobotics enter like this, what if it comes up who my guardian is...?"

"I'm not robotics expert, but I'll see what I can do," said Alex, his voice firm despite his uncertainty. He took a deep breath, his mind switching to problem-solving mode. "Come with me. We need to do this in my office. Keep your arm covered up."

He led the way back to the tech closet - er, office - putting himself between Cody and anyone they ran across in the halls on the walk there.

He was in too deep. Alex was Cody's guardian now, by accident or not. If people started asking questions about her, it wouldn't be long till his own involvement came up. The cover-up might hold up to an investigation, but there were too many unknowns. What about Cody's parents? What if Principal Dawson threw him under the bus?

Stress built in Alex's stomach. This is what he deserved for doing everyone favors al the time. He really needed to rewrite the high school's tech policy...

Reaching his office, Alex ushered Cody in and locked the door behind her. He guided the imperiled girl to sit in the fancy faux leather chair in the middle of the room, pulled up a stool, unpacked his tools on the workbench, and assessed the damage. The cut wasn't all that bad on Cody, it was a straight gash without tears a few inches long. The real issue was that the cut was deep enough to expose her artificial skeleton.

A little searching on the net led Alex to a DIY android repair forum where he found problems like Cody's were common and, thankfully, relatively easy to fix.

"I think I can patch this up temporarily," he murmured, focusing intently on Cody's arm as he turned it this was and that, "but you'll need proper repairs eventually. When's your next service checkup?"

"I don't know," said Cody. "A few months from now?"

Alex sighed. The patch would have to last till then. He retrieved a compact soldering iron, conductive adhesive, and heat-resistant electrical tape from his kit. Then he came at Cody. "Can you turn off your arm... sensors?"

Cody shook her head. God, this girl really didn't have a handle on the fact she was an Emulated, did she.

"Only way we can do this without hurting is if you go into maintenance mode," warned Alex.

Cody tensed, determined. "I can handle pain."

"Then hold still. This won't actually damage you, even if it feels like it is."

Cody looked away with a scowl as Alex got to work.

Sitting beside Cody, Alex found himself struggling not to be distracted. He'd always viewed the students as clients. As kids. Never people. And certainly he'd never let himself notice any of the older students as the young men and women they were becoming.

Yet, here he was, so close to the school's star volleyball ace he could smell her sweat, holding her toned arm in his rough hands. Cody was young woman in her in her physical prime. Yes, she was an Emulated, she was Emulating a young up-and-coming Olympic-aged athlete.

Alex didn't believe Cody had Olympic ambitions, but any time he glanced away from the cut, he found himself inches away from her chest, looking at her neck, her tightly shut eyes and drawn lips, with short dark hair that made him wonder if she felt as real as she looked.

It wasn't the time for it, but it got Alex hot under the collar. For the rest of the task, he had to contend with a not unpleasant, but terribly inconvenient hard-on.

Alex sucked in a breath and **** himself to concentrate.

He began by cleaning the wound with paper towels, then soldering the few wires severed beneath the skin. He taped these further with the electrical tape, protecting Cody's circuitry from further exposure. Lastly, he applied adhesive and pressed the sides of Cody's imitation skin together around the cut.

Once the makeshift repairs were complete (Cody didn't fidget too much, or notice Alex fidgeting too much), he stepped back and surveyed his work.

The patch was crude, but functional. The seal looked clean, didn't leak anything, and prevented debris from getting in. More importantly, it'd prevent Cody' secrets from getting out.

Cody tentatively felt her arm, relief washing over her features. "Thank god."

Alex demurred, but Cody pulled him into a spontaneous hug.

There was no way she could have known, but during her embrace, her hip inadvertently brushed against Alex's groin. The sensation sent a surge of warmth through his body and set his heart fluttering in his chest like he hadn't felt in years.

Alex, stunned, tried to mask what happened. "Keep that wrapped in sports tape," he said, sounding more strained than he intended. "Anyone who looks too close at that cut will know it's not real. Synthetic skin mends small rifts but that one won't heal on its own."

Cody pulled away and clapped her hand over the sealed cut, beaming with gratitude. "Sure thing, Al. Promise. You're a life saver - really, I owe you."

She gave him another thanks. Then she practically skipped from the office, spirits lifted.

Alone again, Alex sank into his vacated chair and let out a sigh, leaning as far back as the chair allowed. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing. The warmth flooding his body slowly subsided.

--

The weeks that followed were a blur of routine work and restless nights. Cody seemed to be everywhere Alex went - in the hallways, on the volleyball court, in his thoughts. He couldn't shake the image of the beautiful, innocently boyish girl **** in his office. The way she'd looked at him. The way he'd instantly responded at her slightest touch.

One evening, Alex sat at his computer after a long day helping students. On screen though, he scrolled through of pictures of one student in particular.

Official photos of Cody from volleyball events, games, and activities, in a figure-hugging uniform that made Alex salivate over her toned legs and curving hips. Candid images he'd scraped from Cody's and her friends' social media, using a VPN and a burner account. Pictures showing the girl radiant, full of life, lounging on couches, cheering at track meets, giddy at school dances.

Scrolling through the images, each one hit Alex as a reminder of what he'd missed out on in his youth. Adventure. Carefree romance. The reckless abandon of possibility. Whatever happened to Olivia Thompson, the girl he'd crushed all through high school, but never had the guts to ask out? Cody reminded Alex of her, in a way.

He **** himself to shut his computer down and head home for the night.

--

The next morning, Alex chided himself for his reckless behavior as he came into work. What was he doing, stalking Cody's pictures on the net? She wasn't some robot, some object to be ogled. She was a young woman who deserved his compassion, and respect.

Turning on his work station machine, Alex was again confronted by pictures of the cute, innocent Cody. He took a steadying breath and one by one, slowly began closing the photos and deleting them.

Why was he letting himself get so flustered by all this? It was unprofessional, inappropriate. But the feelings were there, undeniable - he found himself drawn to Cody in a way he couldn't ignore. This was just supposed to be favor to Mr. Dawson, to the school, to Cody herself. But the fact Alex was now her guardian... he couldn't get the strange connection out of his head.

When Alex was Cody's age, he'd been focused on school. He'd had responsibilities. Career aspirations. Demanding parents he wanted nothing more than to get away from. No surprise, then, that he'd been cautious. That he'd missed so much when he was so young.

This whole debacle with Cody was a painful reminder of a life Alex had never lived.

Alex clung to professionalism, but it was slipping. If he wasn't careful...

A knock at the door jarred Alex from his reverie. "Come in," he said, **** deleting the rest of the pictures in a panic.

Cody slipped inside Alex's office, closing the door behind her with a worried expression. Alex went warm at the sight of her. Oh god. This was going to be a long day.

"How can I help you today, Miss Williams?" he asked, clasping his hands atop his desk. He noticed her injured arm was wrapped in sports tape, as he'd advised.

Cody cocked her head. "Miss Williams? What am I, your mom?"

Too formal. Alex tried to loosen up. "Sorry. Cody. I didn't sleep well last night."

Cody came to the desk, holding the elbow of her injured arm as if to keep it still. "Well this probably isn't going to help much," she said. "There's still something wrong with my arm."

Alex felt cold. "What is it?"

She experimentally flexed her fingers and curled her forearm. "Sometimes it's... like my arm's lagging. I don't feel things right and sometimes my fingers get twitchy," she explained, sounding frustrated.

Tiredly, Alex rubbed his face. "I thought this might happen."

"You know what's going on?"

"Some wiring was torn when I fixed your arm," said Alex. "I repaired most of everything, I think, but... I think what you're describing needs a local sensory reset to fix."

Cody gave him a blank look.

"Your system's not registering the repairs in your arm," explained Alex. "It won't work right until you turn it off and on again.'

"So? Let's do it," said Cody, pulling up a seat.

"Repair functions like that only unlock when an android is in maintenance mode," he said. "You'll have to wait till your next service checkup."

Cody looked horrified. "That's not going to work. I need my arm for volleyball. We have some of our most important games coming up!"

"I'm sorry, but -"

"Can't you fix it? Just put me into maintenance mode, or whatever, and reset my arm. I'm good, I've got a free period."

Technically, what Cody was requesting was illegal. From what Alex had read, maintenance mode granted access to a bot's base hardware operating system - one wrong move could cause serious damage. Access like that required licensed technicians and specialist equipment. It certainly wasn't something you'd do in a high school IT office.

But, seeing Cody's desperation, emotions overrode logic. Alex found himself nodding.

He shouldn't have looked at those photos. He shouldn't have let himself think of Cody as anything more than another kid. He knew this would happen. And now he was here.

Alex massaged his eyes. "... I've been doing a lot of reading, lately. You usually can't put an Emulated into maintenance mode outside an EmRobotics service center. But, there are some workarounds. Especially for older models like yours."

The truth was, Alex hadn't been reading up about Emulateds out of natural curiosity, or even out of concern for Cody. His fascination with her had been consuming him in unhealthy ways. At least he had a chance to do some good with it, here.

Cody perked up. "Okay. What do we need to do?"

Alex sighed. "You'll need to bring your service tablet, first. And don't download any updates." He sounded more confident than he felt.

"Sure. How about I bring it in tomorrow?"

Alex assented. Cody left then, and he sat back, mind racing.

Agreeing to perform illegal maintenance on an Emulated student...? Forget losing his job, Alex could go to jail. How had he slipped so far, so quickly? Just the other week his biggest worry had been kids spilling milk on their computers. How he longed for those times again. He should have known Cody would jinx him, just as she always had.

He should have told Dawson to go to hell. He should have walked away when he had the chance.

--

The next day, after school, Cody returned with her EmRobotics service tablet.

Alex examined it. The tablet was covered in dust and had a dead battery. Had Cody ever so much as looked at the thing?

"Don't you have practice?" asked Alex.

Cody shrugged. "Taking a break. Can't play worth a damn with a bum arm anyway."

Made sense enough. Fumblingly, Alex set up his ad-hoc equipment and had Cody sit in the big chair again.

He drew the blinds and set up a small light emitter he'd rigged to a stand for the procedure. He placed the light stand on the desk in front of Cody.

"What's this for?" Cody asked, curious.

"According to the internet, if I flash a specific sequence of lights in your eyes, while you say a command phrase, your system will switch into maintenance mode."

"Is that safe?"

"It's a back door for EMTs to assess injuries to Emulateds," explained Alex. "So. Safe enough for someone without an extensive background in robotics."

"Gotcha."

"Are you ready?"

To Alex's ears, his voice betrayed his own nervousness, but if Cody noticed, she didn't show it. She simply nodded.

"Okay, Cody. When I tell you, say 'I consent to being placed into maintenance mode.' You ready?"

She nodded, letting out a nervous breath.

Alex activated the light emitter, and a series of flashes began beaming into into Cody's eyes.

"Now," he instructed.

She swallowed hard, struggling not to blink. "I consent to... being placed into maintenance mode." Cody hesitated, squinting into the light. "Was that -"

Cody's eyes suddenly went wide. Her pupils dilated and contracted rhythmically, in time to the pattern of the light emitter. Her every muscle in her body relaxed all at once and she sagged into the chair.

Alex half stood up, stunned, before he realized what was happening.

Her eyes remained open, but the life had bled out from them. She stared sightlessly ahead, expression blank. Her eyes seemed glassy, like those of a doll, and she laid more than sat in the chair, her body entirely limp.

It worked. Cody was in maintenance mode.