I’m the opposite to you, Steve. I don’t do emotions easily. I don’t register them as easily as other people seem to, I don’t factor them as important, I stay on a fairly level pitch. But, like you, I’ve been taught that that’s a flaw. A failing. Makes me less human, or something.

Lately, I’ve been shaking that view. Sure, my emotions function differently. But they’re still emotions. Maybe that’s why I love robot stories so much – who can tell what’s in someone else’s heart? I don’t care if that heart is mechanical or organic, it’s still closed to others. Only you can know it. And so we need to learn to respect and cherish the hints people give us. I don’t cry often, so when I do, it’s a big deal. My best friend, she cries a lot. And when she does? It’s a big deal.

Unfortunately i had earlier been watching a documentary on recent war causalities, where a mother is just so grateful to the many people who had risked their lives to get her injured son treatment quickly. He didn’t last more than an hour, this made me cry, a ‘feeling’ robot did nothing but annoy after that.

I then went on to think about how much a robot like that, apparently unique, would be worth for research, then, how potentially dangerous, if emotion could be replicated then wouldn’t the human race be in danger of replacement. After all, the robot seems to be being set up as morally superior to the human, so if his like were to replace humans, isn’t the inference that that would somehow be a good thing?

If placed into the story i would hopefully have had the good sense to obliterate any trace of the thing immediately.

But, of course, to elicit this amount of thought is the hallmark of good SF.

All of which wouldn’t be so bad if at least the prose was something to enjoy. But so lazily written is this story that we get such stunning phrases as ‘Pain is . . . uncomfortable’. I’m sorry but if the author just can’t be bothered to write properly, there’s no reason for us to be anything other than dismissive about the result.

There are scrappy contradictions too, which suggest no one bothered to edit this story. For example, at the start we’re told in effect that a printed book is a valuable commodity. Yet later in the story the robot is seen reading to Miss Emily from a book and our profit-hungry trader doesn’t even notice; surely, he’d be ripping up the place looking for such loot.

Worst of all, is the crude attempt to illicit sympathy in us for Miss Emily. The way to actually get us to care would be to show a fully rounded character we can empathise with. Instead, the author lays on disease after disease to try to make us feel sorry for her. Which is very sloppy story-telling when you think about it.

I realised then that a lot of people, myself included, can go through life asleep, never really feeling, just on autopilot, but slowly turning into something they are not, something they never wanted to be. I think that this is what happened to the main character in this story, and since I could idenitfy with him this affected me more than fiction has done in quite a while.

I always enjoy Mike Resnick stories, and this has the honor of being the first Escape Pod to make me cry in public, (The first being Rupert Bear and the very long walk), keep up the good work chosing the stories Steve!

Obviously the wise ones know the importance of tears

OldGuyPaul

The inability to forget, to help, to grieve, and to change are what convinces the narrator that the robot is human. But I wonder: is the robot more or less human than the narrator because of its perfect memory?

When we encounter people like the robot in our everyday lives, we dub them removed, detached…somehow less human than ourselves because they can’t let go of the past. They succumb to a constantly looping playback of past events and outdated ideologies.

Because of that I find it amusing that the author portrays that one inhuman characteristic—the ability to remember perfectly—as the most human of all.

So, again I ask: does the narrator become more or less human as he—twenty years later—continues to remember the robot?

About the story though, I thought it was not a bad attempt at the old tale of robot compassion(the very, very old tale indeed), but I thought the alien character was a bit unbalanced throughout: first he thinks that the ‘bot has emotions, then near the end he bitches about pay.

I too found that the human’s questions about Miss Emily’s fate were inconsistent with his cynical nature. It didn’t bother me though because I saw this as a completely normal. A person is never purely one type of character, and often actions contradict a stated persona. The narrator claims to be in the business just for the money, but we, as readers (or listeners), realize he is more than that and maybe has been fooling himself and others.

Just my two cents.

(I had to say it.)

Not sure about this one. Kind of predictable after awhile to me, I guess. It’s sad, but I’m not a crier.

• The Three Stooges “wise guy” voice
• The “I’m a big hulking hulk” voice
• The flat machine voice
• The slightly-lighter “female” voice

…to be fair, that’s about three more than my daughter gets when I’m reading to her…

I found Steve’s reading a bit frustrating too, which is unusual for me – usually he does a great job.

This time though I found his portrayal of the human character a little too callous – too cynical. I know, I know – that character was supposed to be callous and cynical, but at a point in the story he (the character) gets involved with Sammy and Miss Emily’s fate and is moved by them. I just didn’t hear that change in the reading and it left me disconnected.

To be fair to Steve, it might have been Resnick’s portrayal of the human that didn’t work for me.

I kept feeling like this cynical human would ask questions of the robot to ascertain it’s value and not bother with the emotional issues. But he kept inquiring about what happened to Miss Emily and was she in a lot of pain etc.

That was definitely out of character, as I saw it. Anybody else pick up on this?

PS. I am glad Sammy was not reassigned

touching, but not tear worthy.

Mr. DeRegio’s surgery breaks my heart and i will donate as much as my budget can afford, college does that to you.

yet you were right, this one did affect me emotionally, and even though it is unabashedly stereotypical, I’m glad you read it.

As for Mr. DeRegio’s surgery, unfortunately I cannot donate, college does that do you. However, I will keep him in my prayers. Yeah, I know, how ironic.