Yu overheats before her emotion core does

As you both re-enter the party, too-loud music and the shouted mingling of a dozen conversations envelop you once again.

The atmosphere is lively, and your friends seem to have taken their own paths around the room. You spot Indigo and Sully chatting with friends from football and cheer squad near the drinks, while Jane is engaged in a heated game of Sprite pong with the artsy theater kids, stealing the show in the process. Pearl is nowhere to be seen.

Despite the earlier hiccup of programming Yu in robot mode to strip and pose for you, you're determined to see this project through to the end, for Yu’s sake.

With strong encouragement from yourself, Yutong reluctantly moves to the center of the great room, where most of the party goers mingle and move to the music in front of an amateur DJ (Kevin, the guy's nice but is horrible at getting himself out of trouble).

Yu begins having second thoughts when you drag her to the middle of the makeshift dance floor. “Do we make an announcement, or…?”

“No. You've got to hop straight into it or you'll think yourself to ****,” you say, feeing a mix of nerves and excitement on her behalf. “I mean, you’ve got a good routine, but not that good. Surprise is half the fun.”

Yu makes a face. “I’m not sure anymore, Chase. I know what we practiced, but now what we're out here, this whole idea seems kinda slapdash.”

You turn to her and place your hands reassuringly on her shoulders. Her slender, delicate shoulders... “Trust me," you say, looking into your petite friend's big, worried eyes, "you’ll see once you start. Initialize.”

Yu’s widen in surprise at her trigger, but it's already been spoken. You feel her stiffen under you hands. She stands at attention, her face neutral, ready to execute any instructions you provide.

“Beep boop. Awaiting user request.”

“Yutong, your task is to do the robot and tear up the dance floor for all these people here,” you say. “Do you understand?”

“Affirmative. Calculating optimal approach. Engaging dance protocols.”Yutong squares her shoulders, turns away from you, and marches rigidly step by step to the center of the floor.

Only a couple graduates notice her at first, but they immediately smile when they see how she's walking. Oh yeah, you already know this is going to be a hit.

Slowly and to the beat, Yu begins to switch from static position to static position, once every couple seconds or so.

Having already seen the progression of the perfomance from here, you know you have nothing more to worry about. You hurry off to grab your friends so they can watch. “Yutong is dancing,” is all you have to say. Sully, Indy, and Jane drop everything and come running, their friends coming along with them.

By the time you get everyone together (sans Pearl. Seriously, where is she? She can’t have gone far, you told her she’s not leaving the party), Yutong’s in the middle of her routine. She pops and locks, twists and steps, freezes, shudders, and lurches with bursts of coordinated motion synchronized to the beat.

The DJ takes note and quickly swaps tracks to a bootleg copy of Darude's Sandstorm to accentuate Yu’s performance. The dance floor clears, and everyone turns into Yu’s audience, a ring of energized partygoers forming around her.

Yu has nothing on her mind other than performing for the crowd, and it shows with her increasingly audacious moves. A few spectators try mimicking her, but even seasoned dancers like Indy struggle to mimi Yu’s pure focus and conviction.

Indigo is amazed. “No fucking way - is that really Yu?” She double takes, but it's clearly Yu dancing front of you. It could be n one else. “How long has she been keeping this a secret?”

“Don’t worry, she’s just pretending,” you say.

Indy gives you a confused look, and you smile enigmatically in return, enjoying your little secret.

Beside you, Jane bursts into laughter, clapping her hands. "No way! Yutong, you're killing it!"

“Dance, Yu, dance!” hollers Sully, through cupped hands, backing up his cousin.

Unlike a real robot, Yu’s ability to improvise and improve leads to her dancing steadily improving the longer she goes, drawing a mix of cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Your smile grows. As you suspected, Yu’s embracing the moment and drinking in the unexpected attention despite her initial reservations.

With phones coming out to record Yutong, who’s now covered in sweat and from exertion rather than nervousness, you’re sure this will be one high school memory none of you will ever forget. Mission accomplished.

At the onset of the fourth song, Yutong shows no sign of slowing down.

Indy looks worried. “God. Watching her’s making me feel tired."

Jane's brow furrows. "Is she okay?”

“Course she is,” you say.

But you realize you’re lying. You don’t actually know the answer to Jane’s question. Yu was getting tired out back during practice, and she's been going way longer than you rehearsed. Based on your earlier tests, good and bad, Yu will follow whatever task she's given.

Enough’s enough. Time to shut this down.

You step into the dance floor to end the routine. Yutong’s eyes are wide, glassy, and her hair is wild and mussed with sweat. Her hands stab out like precision knives in a whirlwind, and she twists her feet left and right in full synchronization.

“Terminate,” you say loudly, over the din.

Her trigger hit her like scissors cutting a puppet’s strings. Yutong collapses.

“Shit,” you say, darting in and catching Yu. You barely manage to get her under the shoulders before she hits the floor.

There’s a gasp from the crowd.

You smile and wave like it’s all part of the show. You even playing up how limp Yu is in your hands by bouncing her up and down a couple times (you're only used to doing physical comedy with Sully, Yu barely weighs anything in comparison).

The crowd's energy turns from confusion to tentative laughter, to full on cheers.

You deftly drag Yutong out of the limelight and dump her on a couch pushed against the side of the room, out of the way. She flops down like a sack of potatoes, her chest rising and falling heavily as she gasps for air - her shirt is absolutely drenched through with sweat.

You crouch over her and pat her hot cheeks, worried. “Hey. Yu. You okay? Hello?”

After a minute, Yutong’s eyes regain focus. Her breathing comes slightly down. “Couldn’t… stop… dancing…”

You rub a hand down your face, fear, anger, and confusion swirling within you. “What about third law, huh? You’re supposed to preserve yourself.”

“Second law… supersedes… third law,” Yutong wheezes.

“Then what about the first law? You should’ve have let yourself come to harm. You’re human.”

“Not when I’m… in robot mode….”

Yu told you the three laws were full of holes. Again, you were too quick to dismiss her objections.

But why is tonight so different, suddenly? Being off-the-cuff usually serves you well. Why’s it causing problems now?

Of course you already know the answer. The metal card feels heavy in your pocket. And now you've hurt Yutong again, twice in one night.

Jane jogs over with a bottle of water, unscrewing it herself when she sees Yu’s state. “Hell, Yu. I know they say leave nothing on the floor, but damn. Here, drink this.”

She unceremoniously yanks you out of the way, and shoves the bottle into Yu’s clammy hands.

Yu gulps down the proffered water in seconds. She seems to feel a little better after drinking, and Jane relaxes.

Jane smiles hesitantly. "I thought you were going to explode for a second."

“Me too,” says Yutong, lying dazed on the couch.

“I didn’t know you could move like that!”

“Me neither,” Yu agrees.

Yu's recovery steadily continues. Sully and Indy come over to congratulate Yutong on her dance when she’s much recovered - they don't realize how bad it was. But Yu's talking now, and smiling, and then she's even sitting up.

Kicking yourself for what happened to Yutong, bitterly, you get up and take leave of your friends. “I’m going to look for Pearl,” you grumbled.

Sully gives you a nod, Indy takes your seat on the couch.

“She said something about the bathroom,” Yu calls out to you, as you’re waking away.

Considering what you did to her, you’re surprised Yutong is even willing to talk to you. Then you remember you claimed her help. Of course she’d render her assistance in any way she could.

And with one word from you, she'd offer a whole lot more than that.

Hiding your conflicted inner feelings, you wave and smile, and head back upstairs in search of your brooding friend.

After what happened with Yu, you have to make sure Pearl's okay. And it'll do you good to get away from the noise, as well all the thoughts of what you've done and could do to Yutong. You need to clear your head before you have another lapse.

Thankfully, you remind yourself with a snort, Pearl can’t have gone far.