Ryan is in the middle of fixing an old circuit board when he hears 2 sharp knocks on his front door. His eyebrows knit together momentarily - he has a doorbell for a reason; what if heâd been welding and hadnât heard the knock? - but then he sets his tools aside and goes to open the door.
Heâs not really surprised to see Michael on the other side, curls a little wet from the rain but otherwise looking no worse for wear.
But then he registers Michaelâs hunched posture, his missing signature scowl, the way Michael is staring resolutely over Ryanâs shoulder instead of directly at him, and Ryanâs brows knit together again, this time in concern. He ushers Michael in, closes the door behind him and muffles the gentle drumming of the rain. âWhatâs wrong?â he asks. Heâs already scanning Michael, trying to find a broken part or an exposed circuit.
âNothingâs wrong,â Michael responds sullenly. He stops in the middle of the workshop and shoves his hands into his pockets. Heâs still refusing to look Ryan in the eye, so Ryan walks around to stand in front of him.
âSomething is,â Ryan counters. He reaches out, cradles Michaelâs chin in his hand. Tries and fails to force the android to meet his eyes. âYou were pretty adamant about not needing me when you left. I didnât think Iâd ever see you again.â
Ryan wonât be able to fix this with words, then. No matter; heâs never had the best words anyway. Instead, he steps away and pulls out his handheld, where he opens Michaelâs file and the scanning software. Michael still refuses to look at him, which he wonât deny stings quite a bit, but it makes it easy to plug the handheld into the port under Michaelâs left ear.
âYou may refuse to tell me whatâs wrong but your coding wonât lie. Do I need to shut you down?â
âNo, itâs notâ thereâs nothing wrong with my hardware, you donât need toââ
âSo itâs a software problem,â Ryan muses.
âNo! Look, shut up, thereâs no problem, itâs just.â Michael exhales angrily, shifts his weight from one foot to the other. âI donât know what to do.â
That catches Ryanâs attention, and he looks up from his handheld, where the results of the diagnostic are slowly flickering across the screen. âWhat to do?â he echoes.
Michael shifts again and pulls his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms. âI canât taste things, I canât sleep, I canât feel pain or textures or temperature, Iâm just wandering around in a fog. So whatâs the point of it all? Whatâs the point of anything? What am I supposed to do?â The words come out in a rush, like Michaelâs been sequestering them behind his teeth, tasting them over and over until he has no choice but to spit them out. âAnd youâre the robot doctor, you know how this all works. Iâm just a stupid âdroid. So I thought, maybe you have answers. And once I get those answers, Iâll fuck off again.â
And now Ryanâs grinning, because this? This he can handle. Heâs got answers, alright, and he has a feeling Michael wonât want to leave once he hears them. âWhat youâre experiencing is an existential crisis,â he informs the bot, overenunciating the last two words. âBut youâve got nothing to worry about. Iâll fix you right up.â