Aural capabilities reestablished.

Voice systems online.

Nervous system online.

Locomotive capabilities restored.

Visual capabilities now operational.

The voice that was not mine faded along with the blackness, and my eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden perception of light above me. It seemed to have hardly been more than a second after I turned off my power switch. But I supposed that was to be expected; my internal clock was deactivated along with everything else.

Heedless of what my surroundings were like, I sat up and immediately flexed my fingers. So far my limbs seemed to be properly responding. I punched a fist into my left hand, testing my artificial nerves. The sensation of pain was proof enough that my primary functions were completely operational. Then I snapped my fingers next to each of my ears, and was pleased to note that my hearing had returned to normal. Lastly, I gave a high-pitched whistle. Nothing seemed to be off with my voice, either.

Ceasing my tests, I observed the area around me and realized with a start that I was no longer lying on the dirt ground. Instead, I was on top of a table that had been covered with a thick blanket. Rather than having the open blue sky above me, my environment consisted of a relatively small dining room/kitchen. My early analysis stated that I was inside the Walkers' trailer, which could only mean one thing…

"Hey Zane, you feeling better, buddy?"

A familiar voice pulled out of my thoughts, and I looked behind me to see Jay grinning with a mixture of exhaustion and cheeriness. There was a sheen of sweat on his face, suggesting that he had been working for quite a while. Out of curiosity I checked what time it was using my now-operational internal clock, and was a little surprised to see it had been 3.9 hours since I shut down. Was it that difficult to rewire my audio?

"Yes," I responded affirmatively. "My hearing has returned; thank you." My eyes traveled around once more to take in the scenery, before hesitantly asking, "Did you… tell them?"

My brother heaved a tired sigh, and sat down upon a plastic chair. "Yeah, I was having some trouble, and it was getting late. My dad's pretty good with wiring, so I asked him for some help. They actually took the whole 'your friend's a nindroid' thing really well. Wanted to poke around in you, as a matter of fact, but I shooed them off. I remembered that you didn't like having people mess around with your insides, and so I figured you would've refused yourself if you'd been awake. While I trust my parents with a lot of stuff, messing around with my friend just 'cause he's made of metal doesn't really seem like a good idea. Besides, they don't really focus on the whole 'artificial intelligence' thing in their normal work, so they didn't have any excuse to go through your body in my opinion. They're more along the lines of your average mechanic who make things that don't think."

I smiled happily, despite Jay's long-winded rambling. Not only was my hearing back, but the Walkers accepted who I was, and my brother had respected my privacy. It was wonderfully good news in the face of what my fears had been.

"Oh, look at you!" Slightly startled at the sudden voice, I looked over to see Mrs. Walker by the doorway. "Ed, come here, he's awake!"

Jay's mother came over to where I was still sitting upon the table, looking at me with fascination. "My… You know I never would've guessed that you were a robot. Oh, you look just like a human! You know, I'd love to meet what genius built such an amazing young man like you."

Averting my eyes, I neutrally responded, "My father has passed on." While her words were somewhat flattering, Edna was still singling out the fact I was an android, which disappointed me a little. I had hoped that she would treat me no differently than before. It did not help that she brought up such an upsetting subject.

Looking flustered, the aging woman said, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry… Well, I'm sure he's in a better place."

"Well, look at that!" Mr. Walker exclaimed, interrupting the distressing moment. "Finally woke up, eh? How're you feelin'?"

"I am feeling better now, thank you," I replied, although my thanks was for an additional unspoken reason. Having just been powered on, my mind was particularly vulnerable to stressful topics, and I was afraid I would have been unable to keep my composure had the conversation about my father continued.

Looking thoughtful, Edna began, "You know, this reminds me of the time that Jay—"

"Okay!" interrupted my brother of lightning, all traces of his former exhaustion now gone. "Well, thanks for your help, Mom and Dad, but we really should get going. Don't wanna worry the others, heh, right Zane?"

"Technically, we said that we may stay until—"

"Right, so we'd better start heading out now!"

Jay gave each of his parents a quick hug, and looked to me expectantly. Sensing that he wanted to avoid staying at the junkyard longer than needed, I cooperatively slipped off of the table. The moment my feet touched the floor, though, my knees buckled beneath my weight, and I was forced to grasp the back of a chair to stay steady.

"Oh gosh," said Ed, rushing to my side. "Oh golly, are you okay, son?"

I nodded, before more carefully testing my ability to stand. "I merely need some time for my processors to adjust after having been powered down for four hours. You could say that I am a little weak after being in what is equivalent to a coma." Still shaky, I was forced to wait for my sense of balance to return to normal before going any further.

"A coma?" repeated Jay in surprise. "So you don't completely shut down for regular sleep?"

I managed to take a step without feeling as I was going to fall down, and then smiled wryly at my brother. "If I did, I wouldn't wake up until somebody manually activated my power switch."

"Oh yeah… I guess that does make sense."

Soon, my legs stopped trembling and I was able to take a couple more steps without assistance. Now confident in my ability to walk, I announced, "I am ready to head back to the Bounty."

"Are you sure, dear?" asked Mrs. Walker worriedly. "If you need some time to recover, we'd be happy to let you stay for as long as you want."

"I will be fine," I replied patiently. "Besides, it is my night to cook dinner. I shall need all the time I can have in order to prepare a decent meal."

Jay scoffed, "What do you mean 'decent?' I bet you could make mud newt taste delicious."