[Vignette 2/2011] What Is This Thing You Call... (Dragonfly)

[Dr Archeville]

'What Is This Thing You Call...Love?'

Place: Dragonfly's Warehouse Lair

At Mara’s mental command the oversized garage doorway to her warehouse slid to the side, opening just in time for her and her motorcycle to slip in before sliding closed again behind her, returning her home to its disguise as just another semi-abandoned building in an area full of active and abandoned storage. With her helmet on she looked all business, serious as ever as she shut her beloved bike down....until the door actually latched shut behind her, at which point she pulled off her helmet and practically floated off the bike.

An unusually cheerful smile on her face and a hum in her throat, the young woman gave a happy greeting to Puppy, the spherical, robotic pet twisting its camera uncertainly, rolling backward a bit to make sure that this elated, emoting person really was its owner. She only laughed (something that did not put its simple robotic mind at ease), reaching down to pick it up and spin it around for a moment. “Fantastic date, Puppy,” she explained, setting him back down. “Very nice.”

It whirred and clicked at her, trailing after her as she made her way to the kitchen. “Know you can’t actually understand me,” she admitted, glancing apologetically down at the plastic-shelled creation. “Haven’t developed your AI that far. Sorry. Busy. Partly with dates!” She smiled again, grabbing a bottle of soda from the bottom of her fridge and shutting the door. “Yes, with Ellie. Yes, I know you didn’t ask that. Helps me focus sometimes to talk to myself. Probably a byproduct of multi-threaded thought processes. Sound crazy, might be crazy, live alone with a robot named after a young dog.” Puppy made another whirring sound, looking up at her. “Yes, that’s you. But don’t care. No one to listen to me be...weird. Except you, and if you start judging me...would have to rewrite your brain.”

It obviously didn’t understand that, and she shook her head, smiling. “Joke. Happy, Puppy! Relatively unusual. Trying to savor it. Don’t even have a headache. Yes, unusual, isn’t it?” Mara reached down again, carefully picking her pet up and setting it down on the counter, where she could lean over and look at it at eye level. “Almost frightening. To me, too. She just...unknown effect. Fairly glad I don’t have the dedicated biology grounding to know the mechanics. It’s...her, and her personality, and intelligence, and the way she looks, and moves, and....”

She bit her lip, soda forgotten next to her as she folded her arms on the counter to support her chin. “...it...think I love her, Puppy,” she admitted, quietly. “Not...mmh. Feelings are complicated. Would say that you’re lucky not to have them, but...don’t know if that’s true. Can’t...measure it, Puppy. No empirical test for love. But can differentiate it from lust -“ She paused mid-sentence, tilting her head. “...there is that too. Pants...but not completely. Even just think of her, bring her face up in my head, and get...happy. And scared. And...elated, and sick, and....”

Mara looked into her pet’s single large camera eye, furrowing her brow. “Think I’d just happy being around her. Dating her, kissing, cuddling, talking is...so much better. Don’t even have words for the effect. Does that make me crazy, Puppy? Not the...bad crazy, but....” She trailed off, frowning at the blank stare that was meeting her gaze. “....don’t understand a word I say other than ‘Puppy’, do you. Mmh. Thank you anyway. Want an upgrade?”

It whirred and clicked, a bit blankly, though its camera focused a bit when it heard its name. “Yes, then. Come on, Puppy. I got you some new RAM yesterday, we can install that while I tell you about my date.”