The conference room was still humming with quiet tension. NEAR v2's skeletal blueprint rotated slowly above the roundtable—a clean metallic frame, industrial yet sleek, designed for precision and autonomy.
Nyra broke the silence, stepping forward. "Okay, Raen, I get it—you want to build only one NEAR unit. But if it's supposed to create the rest, don't we need more prototypes? Ten, at least, to demonstrate scalability?"
She walked to the holo-panel and with a wave of her hand, brought up another interface:
Global TechCon Expo – 30 Days Remaining
The room brightened as images of past expos scrolled through: dazzling tech unveilings, massive holographic banners, deals sealed with applause.
Nyra turned toward Raen. "This is the biggest tech event in the country, maybe the world. What if we let NEAR present itself at TechCon?"
Korin blinked. "Present... itself?"
Nyra nodded. "It walks on stage, introduces itself to the world. We blur the line—let the audience wonder: is it autonomous, pre-programmed, or actually thinking? Then I step in, explain what it is and what it can do. We tell them: this machine built itself. And it can build anything."
All eyes turned to Raen.
He didn't say anything at first. His brow furrowed, gaze focused on the skeletal render of NEAR floating in front of them.
Then he exhaled sharply. "No. Not like that."
Nyra frowned. "Why not?"
Raen stood, walking toward the model. "We're not making a humanoid bot right now. We don't have synthetic skin, AI mimicry, or the optics to make something that can pass off as a person. We're working with metal. Pure skeletal alloy, servo joints, exposed circuits. This thing's a builder, not a charmer."
The room quieted again.
"So," Raen continued, tapping the image of NEAR's exposed frame, "we don't pretend it's a person. We shock them with truth."
Nyra raised an eyebrow. "Then how do we present it?"
Raen glanced at her. "We flip the script. Let it walk out—raw, unpolished, mechanical. No illusion. The audience sees something alien, intimidating maybe, but real. And right before they start whispering about whether it's a tech demo or unfinished junk—"
Nyra caught on, her eyes widening.
Raen grinned. "—It speaks. Calmly. Clearly. It tells them what it is. What it was made to do. No flair. No tricks. Just truth."
"And that's when I come in," Nyra finished, smiling slowly. "And I tell them what they just saw: a skeletal machine that assembled its own arms, legs, neural core... and soon, others like it."
Raen nodded. "No disguises. Just capability."
Korin whistled low. "Creepy metal skeleton walks out, stuns the crowd by talking like a human, and turns out it's the prototype that builds every other robot? Yeah. That'll go viral in a second."
Lira added, "Even better than pretending to be human. It's something new—undeniable function over form."
Nyra looked back at Raen, more fired up than ever. "Alright. Let's do it. One builder unit. One perfect performance."
Raen smirked. "Then let's get to work."