The android’s eyes opened, and they glowed a bright blue light. He sat upright, and by the time he turned his face toward them, his eyes had stopped emitting light, revealing dark brown irises. He smiled at them, and Geordi felt a hint of pride at how natural the facial movements were.

"Good afternoon, Amy and Geordi," the android said in a husky tone.

It was not so odd that he already knew their names because Geordi had programmed him to answer only to them.

Geordi nudged Amy's shoulder with the back of her hand.

"I took his voicebank from a sex doll," Geordi said. "It's kind of nice, isn't it?"

"A sex doll? Really?" Amy could not have sounded any less amused.

"You're just lucky I couldn't make him anatomically correct. The parts were there for that, too, but I just couldn't bring myself to, you know, use them. Of course, being a lesbian, I also didn't like the idea of staring at a naked man all day."

Amy snorted. “Yeah, that would have been weird and gross.”

An awkward silence fell over the three of them, and the android continued to look at them with a smile on his face. If neither of them addressed him, he would sit there like that all day, and he would just be a fancy paperweight.

"So, did you come up with a name for him yet?" Geordi asked. "It'll make things a lot easier."

Amy shrugged her shoulders.

"I have one in mind, but you'll make fun of me for it."

"Oh, no, I knew from the beginning you were probably going to name him Data or something."

"That would have been right on theme, but there's something that I think will be funnier."

"What?" Geordi was prepared to roll her eyes.

"Hal."

Geordi stared at her until she realized where the name had come from, and then she actually laughed.

"Of course, a murderous computer."

"Oh, yeah, I made you watch that with me."

Geordi motioned toward Hal.

"Tell him to do something now."

Amy hesitated, but she cleared her throat and looked at the android.

"Hal," she said, "are you okay with that name?"

"Of course, whatever you want to call me, Miss Amy," Hal said.

“Ah, could you stand up, please?”

“And watch your head!” Geordi added. “You’re too tall for this room.”

Giving an affirmation, Hal stood from the table, but he touched the ceiling with his upper back. He towered over the two girls as he waited for his next command.

“Now I feel kind of bad,” Amy said. “He really doesn’t fit in this room.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s a robot, and a sturdy one at that.”

“Pick up Geordi.”

“What—No!” Geordi exclaimed, taking a few steps back, and while Hal did take a step toward them, he paused at Geordi’s protestations.

“He’s supposed to be able to pick me up, right? Why not test it out?”

“Yeah, he’s supposed to pick *you* up, not me!”

Amy failed to suppress a grin on her face as she turned to Geordi.

“You do want to make sure your own creation works properly, don’t you? It would be a shame if he went to pick me up, and he fell over, wouldn’t it?”

Geordi put her fists on her hips and glared at Amy.

“I don’t want to be picked up.”

“I mean, you’re taller than me, so I think you’d be a better test subject.”

Geordi’s glare unphased Amy. The grin on her face only widened, and Geordi sighed, dropping her hands to her sides.

“This is payback for something I don’t remember, isn’t it?”

Amy only shrugged her shoulders, continuing to grin.

Geordi told Hal to pick her up, and the android gave an affirmation before he scooped her into his arms. Her face went hot as he cradled her against his chest, and she knew she had to be beet-red. Because he could not straighten his back all the way, his face was close to hers. Amy cackled at her, and Geordi commanded Hal to set her back onto her feet.

“Well, he works,” Geordi said, scowling at Amy.

“You should have seen your face,” Amy said in between giggles. “You looked so horrified.”

Geordi sat on Amy’s bed as she waited for Amy to stop laughing at her. Once she did, Amy turned to Geordi, still grinning.

“All right, I’m sorry, Geordi,” she said, “but thank you for indulging me.”

Geordi just shrugged her shoulders.

“Hal will start developing his personality after a few weeks, right?” Amy asked. “That’s how it worked for the one Dad got us a few years ago if I remember correctly.”

“Yes, he’ll develop a personality and a routine as he learns what we need from him.”

“Hopefully he’ll be more fun than Tali was.”

Geordi remembered something that she had talked about with Scotty a few days ago.

“Oh, that reminds me of something,” she said as she ran to the other side of the room. “Sit in a chair, Hal.”

Geordi found a box tucked into a shelf behind the table, and she pulled out a wireless video game controller and a chunky VR headset. There were multiple sets of cables inside the box, and she had to dig deeper into it to find the final thing she needed: an external drive. It was a small device no bigger than the top part of her pinky. She ran to Hal, who had done what she had commanded, and she told him to hold the VR headset and the controller.

“What is all that for?” Amy asked.

“If it works, I’ll show you.”

Geordi plugged the external drive into a port in the back of his neck. She connected her tablet to another port, and she initiated the program on the external drive. Once it was running, Hal slumped forward in the chair, and Geordi scrambled to grab the controller and headset before they were sandwiched between his chest and legs.

“What did you do to him?” Amy asked.

“I’ve never done this before,” Geordi said, grimacing, “so I didn’t know that would happen.”

Geordi used the tablet to help her synchronize the headset and controller to the external device on Hal’s neck, and then she disconnected her tablet from Hal. She put the headset over her face, blocking all light from the room, and then she made sure she held the controller in her hand correctly. She hit the button that Scotty had told her to press to make it work, and suddenly an image flickered inside the headset. She was staring at Hal’s feet.

On his own, Hal sat upright, and he stood. Geordi saw herself standing just a centimeter away from him, and then she was seeing the back of the room. There was a sudden bang as Hal’s head struck the ceiling, and Geordi slumped forward to match the posture he would have to take to fit in the room, muttering an apology.

“Whoa,” Amy exclaimed. “Are you controlling him with that stuff?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Scotty said it was developed a while back, but there wasn’t much practical use for it, outside of exploration of dangerous areas.”

“That makes sense, I suppose.”

Geordi pressed the right trigger button and turned an analog stick to make him step to the side, and then she had him walk to Amy’s side. She looked at Amy’s bewildered expression, and she controlled Hal’s hand to make him ruffle up Amy’s brown hair. The older girl swatted at him, but he was too strong to push away.

“Sorry, that’s payback,” Geordi said, giggling.

Geordi made Hal drop his hand to his side, and then she paused the program. She lifted the headset as she turned to Amy.

“Do you want to try it?” she asked.

“No, not at the moment,” Amy said, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to fix it. “Will he just go back to normal after this?”

“He should.”

Geordi pulled the headset back over her eyes, and she closed the program. Hal sat on the floor, slumping forward until his head touched the floor. She pulled out the external drive, and after a few seconds, Hal sat upright, and he looked at the two girls in turn. There was a smile on his face almost as if he was unaware of what had happened to him.

“Do you remember who we are and who you are?” Geordi asked.

“Of course,” Hal said in his husky tone, “you are Geordi and Amy, and I am Hal.”

Amy sagged in her wheelchair in relief, and Geordi had to admit to feeling the same way.

“Scotty taught you how to do that?” Amy asked.

“He gave me the stuff, and yeah, he taught me how to use it.”

“That boy’s full of random knowledge like that, isn’t he?”

“It is kind of useless, though.”

“I’m sure we can figure out how to have fun with it someday.”

Amy shrugged. She maneuvered around Hal, and she went to the coolers full of food.

“Anyway, I’m hungry,” Amy continued. “Hal, shall I teach you how to cook?”

“I already know how to cook, Miss Amy,” Hal said as he climbed to his feet.

“Then, you can teach *me* how to cook.”

Geordi watched Hal follow Amy to the coolers. She had been planning to build him for months, ever since the accident that had destroyed Amy’s back and taken away the use of her legs. Without his skin, he was not as pretty as she had planned for him to be, but she was grateful that Amy had accepted him. She had been so stubborn about learning to do everything on her own that Geordi had been nervous she would get angry.

“What do you want to eat, Geordi?” Amy asked, jarring Geordi out of her thoughts.

Geordi stood from the table, and she went to the coolers to help her decide.