Adam Alexander was just like any other man. Just over six feet tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was a music teacher at the local high school, and a beat boxer on the side. He had a plethora of friends, and was generally a well-liked guy. Underneath his ordinary exterior, Adam was thoroughly extraordinary. Where his heart should have been, there was a motor. Where his lungs would have been, there was a computer mechanism. He was a product of Professor Theo Schmidt, an unknown scientist who worked solely out of his own basement. The Professor had built 50 of these robots, all indistinguishable from humans. They all had their own personalities, their own jobs, and their own lives. To the Professor, it was an experiment. It was a test to see if robots could function, live, and be successful in the human world. To the robots, it was much more. Once a week, all of the robots gathered back with the Professor to talk about their reception into the world. If anyone ever became even slightly suspicious of them being robots, he planned to shut down the experiment immediately.

"Okay, everyone," Theo began tentatively. It had been nearly six months since this began, and he still felt silly speaking to robots as if they were another human. "Does anyone have anything they'd like to say?" Blank eyes stared back at him. They may look and act like humans, but their eyes held no emotion. Standing in front of the sea of glass eyes was a grim reminder of the immensely strong, soulless creatures he had created. Their eyes were the only way a robot could be separated from a human. "Slow week, huh? Well, I guess if no one has any news, you are all free to go." All the robots in the room stood at the exact same time, turning toward the door. "Remember the rules!" The Professor called after them. "Fit in and act natural!" He closed the door and locked it, barricading himself back into his lab.

"Hey, Adam! Wait up!" Timothy, one of the older robots, was running along the sidewalk, trying to catch up to Adam.

"What's up, Tim?" Adam acknowledged his presence, but kept walking, his hands in his pockets. He didn't like hanging out with the other robots too much.

"I'm thinking about quitting my job, man." At that, Adam stopped and stared at Timothy incredulously.

"What do you mean, you're quitting your job? The Professor placed us in our jobs for specific reasons. You know it's one of the rules that we stay where we are."

Timothy was nodding the whole time, but wasn't listening to a word Adam was saying. "I know, I know. But there's an opening as a veterinarian's assistant. That'd have to be funner than working in fast food, right? You know how boring it is."

Adam wasn't sure whether he was more appalled at the fact that Tim was quitting his job, or the fact that he had used the word "funner", which wasn't really a word at all. He shook his head disapprovingly at him, and kept walking.

By the next week, Adam had forgotten all about Tim's insane idea, and had settled back into his daily routine. He had just gotten home from work one night when he turned on the news to watch while he rested from a long day of teaching. He gasped when he recognized Tim's picture flashing across the screen. He turned up the volume to hear what the news anchor was saying.

"Today at the Nashville Animal Clinic, the new veterinary technician, a man by the name of Timothy Regoli, was bitten by a temperamental dog. Panic struck the small clinic when it was realized that underneath this man's skin was nothing but metal and gears. He was, indeed, a robot. The android is being held for questioning at the police station. Please be aware that we do not know how many more of these robots exist."

Adam clicked the TV off. He thought about calling the Professor, but it was too late by then; he would have fled the city, or even the country, by then. He rose from his chair to look out the window. Outside, people were suspiciously eyeing everyone they met. Some people had even begun fighting. He took as deep of a breath as his mechanical lungs would let him, and stepped outside. No sooner had he stepped out the door, than a man grabbed his arm almost violently.

"Listen. You shouldn't be out here." The man said lowly and quietly. "There are robots everywhere! We've already killed three. Who knows how many more there are?" With that the man was off, and Adam watched him run around the corner, going to fight in a battle that shouldn't be happening.

A million things were going through Adam's mind. Would they manage to kill all the robots? Would they learn how to recognize them by their eyes? Would they ever be safe again? Would he even survive the day? Yes, he had dreams of being a ruler just as any other robot would, but he never planned to act on that desire. He escaped from his own mind when he heard a loud shout from around the corner where the man had run to just a few minutes earlier. Stepping around the corner, he was shocked by the sight he was met with. Everywhere he looked, he saw robots punching and hitting the humans. He saw humans decapitating and destroying robots. Computer parts were flying everywhere around him. In the distance, he heard someone scream, "How can we tell who's human and who's not?" Adam gasped audibly when he heard someone scream back, "The eyes!"

He knew what he had to do. The Professor had programmed him to protect himself first; not others. His goal in life was to be successful himself. Picking up a baseball bat that had been dropped by one of the fallen, he joined the fight. He began to battle with every last bit of strength that he had, and by the end of the day, a good portion of the human's success in the battle had come from Alex the robot himself.

Adam had been built from spare parts in a basement lab of a forgotten scientist. He had been programmed to fit in with human population, and to protect himself and survive in the event of an uprising. He had done just that. By choosing to fight on the humans' side during the battle, he had insured his own survival. He knew that he was the only robot left standing, but no one else knew that, and no one ever would. Someday, he would find the Professor, and they would start over with a new population in a new area. Until that day came, he would just have to follow the rules: fit in and act natural.