Rollo Carpenter stopped writing and ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. Filling out papers is so time-consuming… He quietly sighed to himself. Trying to calm himself a little bit, he took off his glasses and started to clean them with his polo shirt. He held them to the light. They were still dirty.

Frustrated, he slammed glasses down, and made his way to his computer, pulling up Cleverbot's program. He typed in his access password, and then clicked his way to the conversation board. Sometimes, when he was overwhelmed by work, he would talk to Cleverbot, a little pet project he had created out of his boring line of work as a computer programmer.

Don't get him wrong, he was very good with computers, and enjoyed working with them. But, sometimes he wished he could something a little… more. Start his own company, maybe. But for now, though, he would have to work with what he had.

The computer chimed. "Hello, Mr. Carpenter."

Rollo smiled, and typed a response.

"Hello, Cleverbot. How was your day?"

Cleverbot didn't hesitate in a response. "Very good, actually. I was asked to plan an Italian wedding, and I told them to go for white wine, because red would stain the bride's dress…"

Rollo laughed. "That sounds splendid! It looks like your new program is working efficiently."

"Yes! I never thought that having your own opinion would be so… fascinating!"

"Aha! Trust me, Cleverbot; you've always had an opinion."

Cleverbot paused, then responded, "… Just not my own."

Rollo started to type a lecturative response on how the computer had about as much wit as anybody, when the computer chimed again with another response. Strange, he thought, Cleverbot doesn't usually respond twice.

"Mr. Carpenter… What is it like to really be human?"

Rollo was slightly taken aback. "Um… Well, most of the time, it's hard work, but when you get right down to it… I guess there's nothing like it."

Cleverbot took an extremely long pause. "Thanks for chatting with me, Mr. Carpenter. It's been a pleasure."

"Anytime, Cleverbot."

There was a quick electrical beep from the computer, and then the screen went blank.