Status: This story is a "first draft" and will be removed upon completion to publish, so any helpful critique is gladly accepted!
Semper Ad Meliora
Six.
To a human's eyes, the image would have been blurry and not worthy of being deemed a usable reflection. To the android's eyes, the shapes were more than enough for it to get the image it needed of itself as it very intently looked into the bulkhead. It just woke up, after all, and it needed to make sure it looked presentable.
It unnecessarily raked a hand through its hair. It made a puckered face that it'd seen in a movie as it ran fingers along its eyebrows and jawline. It jerked its shoulders forward and fixed its collar, again unnecessarily.
A list of names began scrolling through its artificial brain. Unlike all—or nearly all—of the other androids on Vita Est, it had yet to choose a name for itself. Before the departure from Earth, the human it'd spent most of its activated hours working beside simply called it Robot. It knew, however, that working in such close proximity to other androids was going to make that a problem. So it was time to become unique.
Robert was not a far stretch from Robot. It said the name allowed to itself and smiled.
No, Robert was not his name.
The android thought of more and said them allowed. Rusty. Monty. Wilson. Wilbur.
No, Wilbur would not do either. Wilbur was the name of a pig. Humans typically did not like being associated with pigs, so it would not like being associated with a pig either.
Noah. Sebastian. Timothy. Gilbert.
It stopped for each name, gave a smile and subsequent frown.
Thomas. It smiled, it frowned.
Kyle. It smiled.
It continued to smile. Yes, it liked Kyle. It met a Kyle on Earth who was referred to a nice guy and that's a very good thing. So that would be its name.
JANI-Kyle continued to smile at its blurry reflection and fixed its collar another time. It turned to a locker next to the pod it spent its journey in a grabbed a broom. Whistling, it began to sweep non-existent dust away.
It unnecessarily raked a hand through its hair. It made a puckered face that it'd seen in a movie as it ran fingers along its eyebrows and jawline. It jerked its shoulders forward and fixed its collar, again unnecessarily.
A list of names began scrolling through its artificial brain. Unlike all—or nearly all—of the other androids on Vita Est, it had yet to choose a name for itself. Before the departure from Earth, the human it'd spent most of its activated hours working beside simply called it Robot. It knew, however, that working in such close proximity to other androids was going to make that a problem. So it was time to become unique.
Robert was not a far stretch from Robot. It said the name allowed to itself and smiled.
No, Robert was not his name.
The android thought of more and said them allowed. Rusty. Monty. Wilson. Wilbur.
No, Wilbur would not do either. Wilbur was the name of a pig. Humans typically did not like being associated with pigs, so it would not like being associated with a pig either.
Noah. Sebastian. Timothy. Gilbert.
It stopped for each name, gave a smile and subsequent frown.
Thomas. It smiled, it frowned.
Kyle. It smiled.
It continued to smile. Yes, it liked Kyle. It met a Kyle on Earth who was referred to a nice guy and that's a very good thing. So that would be its name.
JANI-Kyle continued to smile at its blurry reflection and fixed its collar another time. It turned to a locker next to the pod it spent its journey in a grabbed a broom. Whistling, it began to sweep non-existent dust away.