You ought to run her through a couple tests, at least

The thought itches the back of your mind. You could be done... but it'd be irresponsible to leave Yu with a bunch of unproven programming rattling around in her head, wouldn't it?

"Maybe we're mostly ready to go out," you say, noncommittally. "We need to finish testing to be sure, but yeah, I think we're done otherwise." For some reason, broaching the subject of testing in front of your friend and frequent lab partner makes you nervous.

Your answer only makes Yu less certain. "More testing?"

You smirk. "Don't want your emotion core overheating in the living room, do we?"

Yutong exhales shakily. "Definitely not." She readies herself for you to use her trigger, which you waste no time in doing.

"Initialize."

She snaps to attention, rigid as a board. "Beep boop. Robot mode activated. How may I assist you, Chase?"

Her total 180 from caution to politely offering assistance makes you burn with excitement - you burst into laughter. Not maniacal laughter, mind you. Just regular, normal person, normal laughter. Because you have absolutely no ulterior motive here beyond helping Yutong.

You have to bounce a little on your toes to calm yourself down. "All right, that's amazing. So, first test..."

What's something robots are good at besides building cars in Japan? You've already covered dancing. Killing humans? You're low on ideas. Yu's always telling you to read more science fiction, and as always, it turns out she was right... wait. That's it!

"Yu, tell me, what are the three laws of robotics?"

"In accordance with the laws of Asimov," Yu intones in her robot voice, "a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." She holds up a two on her fingers. "Second, a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Thirdly," the third finger comes up, "a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law."

"Perfect," you say. The little display leaves you thoroughly entertained. That sounded like a word-for-word rendition - is it possible Yu's recall is better than usual like this? "Incorporate the Three Laws into your program as well while you're at it," you add on a whim. "It'll help you stay in character."

Yu blinks slowly. "...Program accepted. Three Law compliance set."

"Now, Terminate."

Yutong snaps back on, a little dizzy from the experience, but no worse for wear. "Wow. What?" she says, startled. "The Three Laws? You know those were written to be full of holes on purpose, right?"

You shrug. "We're not actually trying to turn you into a robot. We just want you to to act like one. You're the one always telling me to read Foundation, I thought you'd appreciate it."

"I mean, I do, yeah," says Yu, rubbing her arm self-consciously, "it's just, this is a lot to process. The more robot you make my robot mode, the more it feels like I'm actually transforming into a robot when we use the switch word."

"But that's the point, isn't it? And we need to break in your trigger so we can be sure it'll work anyway," you rationalize. "Initialize."

Despite her reservations, Yu seamlessly slips again into robot mode. "Beep boop. Hello world. Input command."

It does make you feel a little guilty for pushing Yutong like this, but it's just too exciting to quit to stop. You're sure she'll adjust. It's just another new experience she'll get used to.

Which brings you to the main point again. To be sure Yu's ready to leave this room, her emotional responses are what you really need to see.

For that, you have the perfect test. Yu is very shy about a few of her interests, one of those interests being poetry. Somewhere between all the textbooks, she reads books of the stuff. If asking her about poetry doesn't get a rise out of her in robot mode, you can be sure her robot mode is running smoothly, as intended.

You hold your breath. "Recite your favorite poem, Yu."

Yutong without delay launches into a poem you dimly recall reading somewhere once before. Her delivery is flat, but metered.

"The stars are mansions built by Nature’s hand,
And, haply, there the spirits of the blest
Dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal vest;
Huge Ocean shows, within his yellow strand,
A habitation marvelously planned,
For life to occupy in love and rest..."

Equal parts robotic and expressive, Yu speaks the words without a single pause, or mistake (so far as you can tell). The performance is uncannily captivating.

Baseline Yu would've clammed up the moment you asked what her favorite poem was, let alone recite it verbatim. This is phenomenal. You've done some great work, if you don't say so yourself.

"Terminate," you say.

Light returns to Yutong's eyes, and her jaw drops. She's even more caught off guard than you are with what she just did.

"Did that really happen?" she asks, stunned. She holds a hand to her throat, as if marveling at her own voice. "My mind was so clear I could practically see the words in front of me. It felt like a dream - imagine if I could talk like that on the debate stage!"

He excitement is contagious. You smile.

"I didn't actually think this would work, but this is definitely one of the times you were right, Chase."

You make a face. "What do you mean one of the times?"

Yu turns sheepish. "Er. You just have these um... great ideas every once in a while. That's what I meant." She quickly changes the subject. "I never thought pretending to be a robot could help me with public speaking. But I guess you can't argue with results..." she trails off in thought.

Seeing her reaction makes you swell with pride... among other things. "It really was something," you say, grinning.

"So that's it? We're ready to go?" she asks. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but after that, I'm actually kinda excited to get out there and show off what I can do."

You're excited to see what Yu can do, as well. Maybe even a little too excited. This is all so different and new, it's overwhelming.