Disclaimer: I don't own Big O, but I love it.
This story is one of a series of short stories and vignettes being posted to the "Story a Day" thread in the Amadeus Bar and Grill forum at the Save Big O website (see my profile for the link since the site won't let me put it here) .
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The Little Android
"Is this within your capability?" Dorothy asked.
"Of course," her companion's tone was scornful. "It's simply a question of transmitting the proper activation sequences."
"Then do it," Dorothy demanded.
"Not so fast," came the reply. "What are you offering for my services?"
"Offering?" she was taken by surprise.
"You want a thing from me. What will you give me for it?" her companion answered.
"What do you want?" It hadn't occurred to Dorothy that there was anything she could offer that would be the least bit valuable.
"I want many things," she heard a distinct echo of laughter. "I will have to think on it. It is not a small thing you ask, the capacity to tamper with my Dominus."
"Tamper with him?" Again Dorothy was taken by surprise. "I have no desire to do any such thing. I ask only that full access to all of my abilities be restored. I don't understand why my father made this mistake in the first place--the blueprints he and Soldano used to make me were perfectly clear."
"They were," Big O was definitely laughing this time. "Perhaps it was not a mistake--perhaps the omission was deliberate."
"Why would they deny me the ability to experience love in human fashion?" she asked. "That is illogical."
"Is it?" the Megadeus answered her question with a question of his own. "Perhaps they wished for you to have a different focus."
She shook her head stubbornly. "If I am to be who I am, the choice of focus must also be mine."
"Very well," Big O said. "Return to me tomorrow and I will name my price. You can... choose... whether or not you are willing to meet it."
She nodded and left the iron titan to his thoughts. Already, he had found this cycle to be far more interesting than the last dozen or so. The spirited personality that was the result of the merging of android memories and human ones was a wild card that he had not anticipated.
He liked this little android, he decided. He was half-minded to simply give her what she desired to see what she did with it, but... no. Sometimes the greatest value wasn't found in the goal, but in the striving.
It only remained to set a price that was sufficiently high to deter her should her interest merely be casual.