"May I present, SQA16," Ken almost bursted out the coffee from his mouth the moment Josh introduced him his latest invention.
Two months ago, the scientist called him to show this latest invention he's saying. When Ken got in, it's just the two of them at his office. And now, he can't process it properly.
"Putangina, Josh," he cursed. "Di ko alam na kaya mo talagang bumuhay ng patay."
Josh chuckled. "Gago! That's a robot."
"Eh?!" Ken asked in disbelief and stood up. He walked closer to check the robot and touched its skin, its hair. He almost jumped when its eyes opened.
It looks exactly like a human!
"Hello, nice to meet you," the AI smiled at him and his eyes grew wider.
"You even got his voice?!"
"Yep," Josh said proudly. "His moles, attitude, habits, all of it."
"How?"
"This is the invention I've been working on for years now, Ken," he walked towards a metal luggage and opened it. Ken saw something bright and Josh took it. It's a heart shaped glowing thing and he stared at it in awe. Josh smiled, being proud of it.
"This is its main core. Battery niya kumbaga. It can only last for hours and can be charged whenever the robot will rest or sleep—just like a human. My AI looks and acts like a human, after three long years of working on it. Bawal lang syang mabasa nang matagal or else it will start malfunctioning," he explained further.
"I also put Stell's memories from photos and videos. I put them all inside its chip. From Stell's childhood up to his last memory before the plane crashed."
"At san mo naman to gagamitin?"
"For Paulo," he looked at Ken and it made him stop. "Di ko na kaya, dre, eh," a tear escaped from his eye. "Alam kong nahihirapan siya pero nahihirapan din tayo," Ken took it as a cue to hug the older and he cried harder. "Ayaw kong pati si Paulo mawala satin."
"Shh, I get you," Josh smiled at him.
"Thank you—"
"But I guess this is a wrong idea."
"What? Bakit?"
Ken just stared at him seriously.
"We all know na kay Stell lang sya nakikinig. Kay Stell lang sya susunod. He's his life!"
"Yes and he's gone! Wala na siya, Josh. Wala tayong magagawa. Don't feed him with a lie," he sighed frustratedly. "Look, I'll be out of the country for a month. May project ako ron. Please take care of Paulo."
"That's why I made this; to help him!"
"I already said no to this idea, Josh. This will just make it worse," he's about to leave him but he looked back first. "Trust me."
But Josh didn't listen. A week had passed and Ken flew off to Singapore while Paulo had gone worse. When Josh came in to their house, Paulo almost hurt himself, holding a blade. He cried a lot in front of him, trying to wake him up but it's no use. Paulo's just staring at nothing and kept mum.
That pushed Josh to the edge. He activated SQA16.
"SQA16, please help him," he begged at the innocent robot in front of him. He programmed him to be a nursing AI, at first. He encoded different basic abilities of a nurse and a responsible human being.
He introduced it to Paulo, but reality got Paulo first. He got angry at the AI and pushed it away.
But Josh didn't give up. He picked Paulo from their house and he once again got emotional seeing his situation. The moment they got into his office, he placed him in a hospital bed and has to put different apparatuses just to put water and nutrients in his system.
