Zom-B said:
Two things about this bug me, even if I can sort of rationalize one.
First, a modest android? I guess if she accidentally achieved sentience, I could see that, but really, a brand new intelligence with no experience of shame, modesty or any other emotions surrounding nudity shouldn't really cover it's breasts and genitals, which aren't "real" anyway. I can let that one go.
The other is... why would the android have tear ducts? Was it designed to cry? If so, then why is the designer so shocked that it shows emotions like fear? If you expect something to cry, then you'd have those emotions preprogrammed, right?
It's a nice little vignette, but storywise it's manipulative.
If I understand the idea of an android correctly, a perfectly made android is supposed to be, by all surface inspection, indistinguishable from a human being. This includes behavior. However, if the behavior is sufficiently limited such to prevent certain occurrences (like sentience and self-awareness), one could get into the "Uncanny Valley" problem.
As for the modesty, Kara is apparently pre-programmed with a significant base of knowledge; she's not starting from an infantile blank slate, would be my guess. Seeing as how she developed an apparent self-awareness she was not supposed to have (at least, as far as the off-screen technician understood), it doesn't seem that far-fetched to me that she would also have some modesty.
If I recall correctly, the shock wasn't so much that she had emotions, it was that she demonstrated independent thought and a sense of self. From what I can guess, emotions are allowed to occur, at particular preprogrammed instances, but having actual independent thought and a sense of being an individual living entity, those are things that were not supposed to occur from the pre-programming; however, they did, and, thus, the technician's shock at the occurrence.
Of course, you could just put this all down as just the ridiculous ramblings and over-analysis of yet another Internet nerd. (I still think it would make a fantastic game and story, if it can be kept mature and not deviate into the priapic juvenile territory.)