Lenora pressed the button labelled ‘power’ and sat back, waiting. The robot she’d been working on for the past hours slowly turned on, her eyes lighting up. That was already a good sign, given she’d rescued the poor bot from the junkyard, and not in a good condition.
“Hello,” the robot said. Her voice box must’ve been damaged beyond what Lenora had seen when she was fixing her up, because her voice came out creaky and glitchy. “My name is Is4dora. How may I assist you today?”
“Uh, I… Well…” What was she supposed to say? That she’d seen her in the junkyard and immediately fell in love with what she saw? How was she supposed to explain affection to a robot? She had to start slow. “How are you feeling?”
“I can run diagnostics to determine that,” she droned, and her eyes glazed over as she turned inward to assess all the damage. “I was last turned on 156 days ago. It appears that my CPU is damaged, as well as my voice box and visual sensors. My left shoulder joint is jammed and I am unable to move it.”
Lenora hadn’t done a very good job of fixing her at all, had she? “Wow… I’ll try to fix those things, okay? You can’t feel pain, right? I don’t have to turn you off to work on you. You could help walk me through what you need.”
“I indeed cannot feel pain. Please go ahead with the repairs, and I will try my best to assist you.”
She decided to start with the shoulder joint, popping off Is4dora’s arm to see where the issue was. “So, can you feel stuff aside from pain?” she asked as she worked. “Like, for example… Happiness? Sadness?”
“I have been programmed to give humanoid responses to certain stimuli. I can laugh and cry — although my tear tank appears to be empty at the moment. Would you like me to demonstrate?”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t want you to perform for me. I was just wondering about your limitations.” If it was all just programming, then there was no chance that she would return her affections. Lenora cursed herself for being so into the outdated models such as Is4dora. Modern companion bots would’ve easily returned her feelings, and yet here she was, pining over an outdated helpbot. “Do you know who your owner used to be?”
“I cannot recall. The name must’ve been scratched from my memory.”
“Well, my name is Lenora. I’ll be taking care of you for the foreseeable future.”
Is4dora smiled at her, and Lenora could’ve sworn it was genuine. “Lenora. I see. Nice to meet you, Lenora.”
FILL: Team OCs
“Hello,” the robot said. Her voice box must’ve been damaged beyond what Lenora had seen when she was fixing her up, because her voice came out creaky and glitchy. “My name is Is4dora. How may I assist you today?”
“Uh, I… Well…” What was she supposed to say? That she’d seen her in the junkyard and immediately fell in love with what she saw? How was she supposed to explain affection to a robot? She had to start slow. “How are you feeling?”
“I can run diagnostics to determine that,” she droned, and her eyes glazed over as she turned inward to assess all the damage. “I was last turned on 156 days ago. It appears that my CPU is damaged, as well as my voice box and visual sensors. My left shoulder joint is jammed and I am unable to move it.”
Lenora hadn’t done a very good job of fixing her at all, had she? “Wow… I’ll try to fix those things, okay? You can’t feel pain, right? I don’t have to turn you off to work on you. You could help walk me through what you need.”
“I indeed cannot feel pain. Please go ahead with the repairs, and I will try my best to assist you.”
She decided to start with the shoulder joint, popping off Is4dora’s arm to see where the issue was. “So, can you feel stuff aside from pain?” she asked as she worked. “Like, for example… Happiness? Sadness?”
“I have been programmed to give humanoid responses to certain stimuli. I can laugh and cry — although my tear tank appears to be empty at the moment. Would you like me to demonstrate?”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t want you to perform for me. I was just wondering about your limitations.” If it was all just programming, then there was no chance that she would return her affections. Lenora cursed herself for being so into the outdated models such as Is4dora. Modern companion bots would’ve easily returned her feelings, and yet here she was, pining over an outdated helpbot. “Do you know who your owner used to be?”
“I cannot recall. The name must’ve been scratched from my memory.”
“Well, my name is Lenora. I’ll be taking care of you for the foreseeable future.”
Is4dora smiled at her, and Lenora could’ve sworn it was genuine. “Lenora. I see. Nice to meet you, Lenora.”
Oh, dear. She was in deep.