The night finally arrived, and Christian, who hadn't allowed himself any rest, spent the hours making light preparations for the task awaiting him tomorrow — creating Iris. His hands eventually stilled, and he let out a quiet breath, deciding it was enough for today.
"Okay, you can rest for now. We'll continue tomorrow," he said, his tone calm as he addressed Beta.
He knew well that she was an android and that rest wasn't something her kind required.
If he were a man purely chasing efficiency, he could have had her working through the night without pause, forcing progress to advance at an unbroken pace.
But that was never his goal. What he wanted for them wasn't mechanical perfection alone — it was something far rarer.
He wanted them to grow, to develop emotions, to become more than machines bound by cold programming.
And for that, even something as small as instilling the habit of rest mattered. Habits were anchors, after all, bridges from imitation to genuine feeling.
