She looked at the robot for a moment, pushing one of its little legs back and forth with her thumb to make sure the joint was operating smoothly. She kept her eyes moving in parallel more these days, taking on that human habit.

Then she looked back up, expressionless, and ran her finger along her face, letting the wrinkles crease deep. "Shouldn't care," she said flatly. "No time."

When you're used to having an immortal best friend, when you were expecting to transition to the world of AI someday, your long-range plans got a little distorted. What was the point of having a friend for a year or so, when they would only turn away, or get repodded, or die? And when you knew you would die soon, anyway?