planned to die there, and even after death to refuse to uncurl, to
refuse to move. His parents would have to explain the dead body in
the kitchen to anybody who visited, and his mother would have
trouble mopping the floor properly.
His cat had walked up to him and licked his eyes, making him
giggle, spoiling his stasis. He’d fed the cat, gone to bed, and woken
the next m orning, very early, very happy with life. He remembered
waking up to birdsong.
‘Dad. Get up. Please.’
Danny opened his eyes and stood up. Zoe had her head back on.
‘I didn’t know they could make them so life-like.’
Tom beamed with pride. ‘I worked out the face myself. First on a
CAD system, then I did a couple of experimental heads. Isn’t it
great?’
‘You built her yourself?’
‘From a kit, except for the face.’
‘A kit? Robots from kits? How much did it cost?’
‘Ninety thousand dollars. I don’t own her, Dad. We built her at
the Uni, me and a whole lot of other guys. This company in Japan
sells the kits, but only to Universities and research places, they’re
not really commercially available yet. Because the Cybernetics
Club has a University post-office box, we conned them into thinking we were part of the Computing Science Department.’
‘And do all the other guys fuck her?’
‘Dad!’
‘Well, do they?’
‘No. She’s in love with me.’
‘Oh, crap. She! It’s a machine.’
‘She’s in love with me.’
Zoe said, ‘It’s true. I love Tom and he loves me.’
‘It’s just programmed to say that. I might not know' much about
computers, but I know you can program them to say anything.
Don’t kid yourself. You know how they work a million times better
than I do. Either you programmed her to say it, or the Japanese
did, but either way it’s just a machine.’
‘I love Tom.’
‘Switch it off, will you, it keeps interrupting.’
The way she smiles, the things she says
59
‘Don’t talk about her like that.’
‘I’m taking you to a psychiatrist first thing in the morning.’
‘Don’t say things like that. Why can’t you just be cool about it.
Everybody else just accepts it.’
‘Everybody else?’
‘The other guys who built her don’t even mind.’
‘You’re all a bunch of lunatics.’
‘She loves me because I gave her her face. Because I made it
special. I loved it before she was even born.’
‘Born?’
‘Powered up.’
‘Exactly. Powered up. Like the recording equipment at work.
W hat do you want to go fucking a machine for? There’s nothing
wrong with you. You could get real girls.’
‘I’ve had real girls.’
‘Bullshit. When?’
‘Since I was twelve years old, Daddy.’
‘Bullshit. Who? When?’
‘I haven’t got a list on me right now.’
Danny slapped his face. ‘Bullshit. You liar.’
Tom stared at the floor. ‘I don’t care what you believe. I don’t care
what you think. You’re nothing, you don’t matter. You’re just
stupid. Your fucking mixing console is ten times smarter than you
are. You’re just old and stupid.’
Danny slapped his face again.
‘I know where you’ve been tonight. I bet you think they’re all
hum an, don’t you? Well they’re not. I bet you’ve fucked a robot
every single time, and you couldn’t even tell the difference.’
Danny slapped him. Tom punched him in the cheek and
knocked him over.
‘I’m sorry. Dad, I’m sorry.’
‘Switch it off.’ Danny tasted blood, but at least his teeth were still
anchored. He wanted to go to bed and wake up, definitely childless,
possibly one or two years younger. Not too young, though.
‘How can I switch her off? I love her.’
‘Why do you love her?’
‘The way she smiles. The things she says. T hat’s why people love
other people. What difference does it make if she’s a robot? She
smiles. She says things just like any person would say.’
‘And drinks Milo?’
Zoe said, ‘Eating and drinking are necessary for a complete
60
Greg Egan
capacity for social interaction.’
‘No person would say that. Switch it off.’
‘Dad, you haven’t had time to get to know' her. She shouldn’t have
told you so soon, but she’s very honest. If you’d known her for a
while before you found out, you’d think differently.’
‘I bet it’s illegal. You can’t have robots walking around looking
like people. They might do anything, they might run amok.’
‘People run amok all the time.’
‘Switch it off.’
‘Don’t spoil everything! Why do you have to spoil it?’
Danny walked into the dark lounge room and sat dowrn. You
realise you can win if you want to, you can force him to get
