Detective Del Spooner sat in his favorite chair and looked up at his mechanical friend. He rubbed his chin and tried to decide how best to ease into the conversation he needed to start.
That friend stood seemingly frozen in place, looking down at him with a smile on his artificial face. Trouble was that the smile was more genuine than most he had ever seen on his fellow humans.
"Artificial my ass..." Del accidentally whispered aloud.
"Are you referring to me or to those awful plastic plants you have scattered about your apartment?" Sonny asked, without changing expression. He seemed to be truly happy about something.
'S'cuse me?" Spooner replied, while trying in vain not to crack a smile of his own. "Are you trying to make a joke?" Then he tried to look offended. "And there is nothing wrong with those plants!"
Now a twinkle appeared in the NS-5's eye. "It's no joke, detective. Those plants are hideous."
Spooner laughed heartily. "You know what, Sonny?" he finally managed. "You're A-OK in my book. Hell, I think I could tolerate your company longer than I could just about anyone else's."
"Then you are glad to see me?"
"Of course. You're my friend and I'm always glad to see a friend." Del leaned in close and whispered as though telling a secret, "Don't have that many, ya know?"
The robot's smile vanished. "I am very glad to know that I am really your friend."
"We've already been through that, haven't we?"
Sonny's eyelids lowered for a second. "Yes, but I wasn't certain that you meant it. Humans don't always mean what they say..."
Del's smile vanished. "You've been learning a lot more at US Robots than what makes your fellow NS-5's 'tick', I see." He stood up and looked his mechanical friend in the eye. "Somehow I get the feeling that there were several painful lessons learned. But understand this – I never tell someone that they're my friend unless I mean it." He again offered his hand.
The smile that lit Sonny's face was enough to make anyone who saw it smile in turn. He took the detective's hand in his own and shook it. "Thank-you," he said simply.
"So tell me, what are you doing here today? Got it in your head to pay me a visit?"
"Yes, detective. I've been meaning to do so for some time, however I needed to wait for the general populous to settle down and become less paranoid. Dr. Calvin would not allow me to venture out otherwise."
Spooner moved off towards his bedroom, where he began picking up dirty laundry. "That's understandable, don't you think? After all you are practically her child."
Sonny, who had been following, stopped in his tracks. "Do you think so, detective? Do you think she cares for me as more than just a unique machine?"
Spooner fixed him with a measuring look. "What do you think? Do you believe she protects you only because you're a mystery? Do you think that's why she allows you to live with her when you could just as easily sleep standing in a corner at US Robots? Why, I hear that she even got you a bed and set you up in your own bedroom." He threw the dirty clothes in a hamper. "No, my man, that's what someone does for family. Trust me on this, you are not just a unique machine. I don't think that anyone who has known you more than a few minutes could ever even think of you as a machine. You are her child, Sonny. A very special, different child to be sure, but deserving of care... and parental guidance. Let's not forget that one, cause it's gonna come up a lot..."
Sonny's eyes darted left and right, then lowered to take in the much worn carpet. When they finally met Spooner's, they were both wide and full of wonder. "Dare I hope such a thing?" he whispered.
"You dare. In fact, I'm here to tell you that it's no coincidence that you were allowed to visit me today." Del put an arm around Sonny's shoulders and sat him down on the bed next to him. "See, son, mom needs some time to herself and she was thinking that you might want to spend some quality time with me. So what do you say? Would you like to stay here with me for a few weeks?"
Again Sonny's face lit up, his smile wider than ever before. "I would like that very much, detective!"
"Good. It's settled. Just so you know that I'm not as well off as your mom and can't spoil you the way she did. You might have to rough it a day or two until I get you a cot... Oh, and you need to start calling me Del when we're alone, OK?"
"Yes, Del."
Spooner glanced at his watch. "Look at the time! It's nearly noon already. No wonder my stomach is rumbling." He looked back at Sonny. "Do you know what that means?"
"That you must eat."
"No. It means that I MUST drop by Gigi's and get her to make me something to eat!" he laughed. "There's nothing quite so good as home cooking."
Sonny shrugged. "If you say so. I shall have to take your word on that, although it seems to be a matter of personal opinion." His eyelids lowered a bit, giving him a sly look. "Dr. Calvin's' home cooking is deadly."
Spooner couldn't have been more floored if someone had dropped an anvil out of the sky in front of him. "Wha..?" he barely managed to choke out.
"I have heard many of our co-workers warn others of this when she contributed to 'pot luck Thursday' luncheons," the NS-5 explained. "When she left the room, at least one of them would scrape her dish into the recycler. Then they would later tell her it was delicious." He frowned. "I did not feel it was wise to tell her what had actually happened. I think they were trying to spare her 'feelings'." He shot his friend an intense look. "Am I right, Del?"
The detective did his best not to laugh, although it was tearing him up not to. "You figured that right," he answered with a grin. "When did you get so good with 'feelings'?"
Sonny struggled for words, then shrugged again. "I just know about them. I know that I have these things we refer to as feelings, that I am not different than humans where they are concerned. I do not know why I have them and the other NS-5's do not, but I know that they can be a very good thing to have, especially when interacting with humans."
Spooner sighed. "Yes, they can be a good thing, but they can also bring a mental pain we call anguish," he explained. "I know you must have already experience that."
"Yes. When the others were being destroyed, I felt it."
"Well it may not feel good, but it is what drives our compassion for others – the ability to know what they may be feeling and to want to spare them that mental anguish. So don't ever be afraid of that feeling, Sonny. It is what helps to bind us to each other. Dr. Lanning knew exactly what he was doing when he gave you that ability." Then he shrugged. "Oh hell, maybe he wasn't sure he could do it – make you that much like us – but you were his last try, his last attempt to create a very real 'person'. I think he would be very happy to know that it worked."
He looked over his artificially created friend and watched, as Sonny seemed to mull over what he had said. Still, the robot remained silent, apparently unwilling or as yet unable to fathom his creator's motives. "Come on," Del finally said. "Let's go see Gigi. She's old, you know and wise as all get out."
"And she makes good food."
"She does at that. But even more important – she's family. She's your grandma now, too."
The shy smile returned to Sonny's face.
Together they exited the apartment.