Q185

So why was he seemingly so...?

"You are just a robot- aren’t you?"

Alice knelt down in the garden, spading some small plants. Q185 was several feet away, mixing in some fertilizer with a shovel. He stopped momentarily and looked at Alice.

Q185 stood as he was- a tall, thin metal composite of man. Too straight, too solid, and too emotionless. He was almost entirely silver, though faded and worn. On occasion the motors within him would buzz and whirl- normal for an android. He was the total synthetic man. Oil for blood. Wires for nerves. Computer chips for brain synapses.

But Allie cocked her head at him. Suddenly, for the first time, she saw it- him- differently. There was a man standing nobly. A being of such great integrity that no work, no effort, not the slightest deterrent could shake his spirit. Something within her had changed too.

"I am a robot, Allie, but not simply. Like you, I think and I act. I strive for something more. Because of your father’s skilled hands and great mind, I can feel in a way. I want happiness like any man. And, like any man, I act in the only manner that will allow me that happiness."

Quick went back to his shoveling. Then, he looked back at Alice again, asking:

"You’re just a human- aren’t you?"

Robert Gouche sat in the darkness, sulking and staring at a coat post at the other end of the room, muttering to it while turning a gold coin over in his fingertips.

"Think you can avoid me?" he asked the coat post. "Mr. High-and-Mighty Gregor Downs. Our little industrious town is not good enough for you? But when you need us- when you need me!- when your precious converter goes down, then, here you are!" Gouche sneered bitterly. "I was glad to see you walk in, yes. Hell, why do you think I gave it to you on credit? Yes, now you know how much you need us. You can't live out in the middle of nowhere doing whatever you like. Now it's time to pay!" Gouche clenched his fists and slammed them down into the piles of gold coins layered on the desk. "And that devil's tin man! What is that? A mockery? Do you prefer the companionship of that toaster over your fellow man? It is not right," he told the room, rising and walking around it. "He should have an indefatigable servant while the rest of us toil in our labors?" He paced back and forth, becoming increasingly agitated. "It's not right!"

Mary was in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables from the garden. Gregor came in the side door. He was dressed in overalls and covered in grease.

"No, no- stop right there!" cautioned Mary.

Gregor smiled mischievously.

"And if I do not, Mrs. Downs?"

He reached out to her with his blackened hands.

"Gregor!"

He grabbed her and kissed her on the mouth.

"Oh, Gregor, look at me now."

"Still a flower."

Mary gave a lovingly disapproving look. She wiped her face off with a rag. A window above the sink overlooked the front yard. She leaned closer to it and saw Alice playing with Cue. She was skipping in a circle around the sitting android, sprinkling him with rose petals.

"Have you noticed Alice has been spending a lot of time with Cue lately?"

Gregor nodded.