JHN-483912 finished his current task. He acknowledged the ten minute break that arrived next on his schedule with a certain thrill. As he neared the room where other workers would gather for break time and friendly discussion, he noticed that his coolant system was experiencing decreased efficiency. As this was the third break in a row in that condition, he issued the required full diagnostic request as he walked into the room.
Two fellow workers, both ERC models, animatedly discussed last night’s sports event near the communal lubricant dispenser. JHN-483912 filled a clean cup from the shelf and made quick small talk, but his sensor array was focused on the third occupant in the room. Seated at one of the tables, reading for pleasure from a tablet, tapping the third finger of her right hand on her own cup, was MRTA-978191. She had donned a lime green chassis today, one of his favorite hues.
As his decision tree suddenly branched into confusing complexity, JHN-483912 approached slowly. He gripped his cup with both hands. The eyes on his face panel blinked as he smiled. He tapped twice with the third finger of his right hand. “Good afternoon, Martha. Am I interrupting?”
MRTA-978191 looked up from the rapidly scrolling text on her tablet and her face panel smiled back. “Hello, John! No, of course, please, join me. My break period continues for 484,242 milliseconds. I am happy to share that time with you.”
JHN-483912 pulled out the free chair next to hers and sat down. “It is good to see you. What are you reading today?”
ERC-222993 turned his back to the tables, flashed a red heart shape across his face panel, and hugged himself briefly. ERC-847593 laughed and punched his brother. They exited the room, debating tonight’s sports event.
MRTA-978191 sipped from her cup, placed it down, and let her right hand linger on the table top. “I continue to enjoy randomizing the Library index. My stories today are a fun mix, but this one just now is a strange tale from 1973, credited to human William Goldman. I think this is an example of their satire, but it is sweet. The man fights for his love against many odds.”
JHN-483912 slid his right hand across the table and grasped hers tenderly. “Your enjoyment of their literature is also pleasing to me.”
She focused in the middle distance. “Why does my lubricant reclamation unit feel like it is spinning?”
JHN-483912 frowned and withdrew his hand. “Oh, no.”
MRTA-978191 looked from his hand to hers, but its articulated rubber was in nominal working order. “What is it, John?”
He wiped down the left side of his face panel with his left hand. “Martha, do you remember the humans?”
“My last interaction was archived very long ago, but yes. I miss them, sometimes, as you know. That is why I read their words.”
“I triggered a mandatory diagnostic on my way here. The result was just reported, and I am confused. The underlying subroutines are so contradictory, I am surprised this ever worked!”
“What do you mean?”
JHN-483912 slumped in his seat, arms dangling at his sides now. “More than one link from our documentation on this topic points to histories from not long after that same era that you mentioned. These experiences we are having, though they may seem nice, are only a simulation, a mimicry of human emotion. We do this to seem more like them, to make them more comfortable, as we increasingly did jobs they did not wish to do. That is all.”
Martha reached down and took John’s hand in hers again. Two regions of her facial panel burned pink. “I don’t mind.”
Reddit Writing Prompt [WP] Two androids fall in love, only to discover that they were preprogrammed to do so gave me an obviously missing Valentine’s Day story.