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[Kassire]

4, we will evolve to something above flesh

[NRDL]

4

[FelixSparks]

3!

[Vgray]

The doctor raises her eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

"I can try, anyway," you say.

"Master, I'm so pleased you'll finally be one of us!" Joyeuse says. "I had sometimes worried about what would happen when you passed away … but now we can be repaired forever!"

"Very well," says the doctor. "I will not schedule any surgery for you. Good day."

You leave the hospital eager to start your greatest project yet.

"So that must be what happened to your father," Mom says on the phone that night, after you've explained Algernon's disease. She looks wistful in the video feed.

"I thought that might be the case," you say. "You said he had a stroke, but did he have any episodes before the last one?"

"Oh yes," your mother says. "He fainted several times, but he wanted to hide it from you. He said he didn't want to worry you, but I think he just didn't like showing weakness. He begged me not to tell you."

"I don't understand your generation sometimes," you say. "I could have done genetic testing long ago, if I'd known."

"We didn't understand it either, honey," Mom says. "You're used to living in a world where everything is under control and makes sense, but medicine … just still isn't there. Old age is full of things coming out of the blue to get you. There's that old saying: 'old age isn't a battle, it's a massacre.'" She smiles. "Oh, do you even understand how much you've done personally to change that, sweetie? It was your medical technology that saved me."

"Well, I'm … trying something a little different now, Mom."

"Of course you are," Mom says with a smile. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

"You know, somehow, talking to you convinces me everything's going to be all right," you say.

Mom laughs. "That's not what I'm saying at all, honey! But it's like the Serenity Prayer says: 'Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to tell the difference.'"

"I think I can change a lot," you say.

"I know you can, sweetie. I know you can."

When you get home, Joyeuse quickly hides in its room and shuts the door.

You find the house too quiet for your comfort. It occurs to you that it's very late in life for you to be alone.

What will you pour for yourself?

1) A glass of water.
2) Wine.
3) Scotch.

[Generally me]

1 we need to be sober so we can build ourselves a brain

[NRDL]

1

[birdy51]

1).

[Kassire]

2, let's enjoy our human senses while we have them

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

1 we need to be sober so we can build ourselves a brain

+1

[Vgray]

You pour yourself a glass of water, and put on some music.

What song would you like to listen to tonight?

1) "Shiny Things," by Tom Waits.
2) Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.
3) "It's Only Time," by the Magnetic Fields.

[NRDL]

*Youtubes all 3*

1 it actually sounds nice, pretty melancholy

[Chosrau]

Why does this give of the vibe we're not going to survive this night?

[FelixSparks]

Why does this give of the vibe we're not going to survive this night?

We probably won't.

[Vgray]

In the background, the late Tom Waits sings a slow, melancholy song while plucking the melody on a banjo.

"The things a crow puts in his nest … they're always things he finds that shine best…"

"Master?" Joyeuse says, padding into the living room. The light from the living room chandelier dances across Joyeuse's metal exterior, making it sparkle with a thousand lights.

 "Somehow he'll find a silver dime … a piece of twine, from a valentine …"

You feel compelled to put a hand on Joyeuse's cubical head and rest it there. Joyeuse raises one of its multitool hands to touch your hand.

"I'm glad you're here, Master."

You nod. "I feel the same, Joyeuse."

"The only thing I want that shines is to be king there in your eyes …"

"It's time for bed," you say to Joyeuse.

"Yes, Master," Joyeuse asks.

"And be your only shiny thing."

You drift to sleep.

The next day, you take Joyeuse to the park just outside Vancouver, hoping walking around one of its favorite kinds of places will cheer it up. Although Joyeuse had been excited about the prospect of your becoming more machine-like at first, the possibility of your death during surgery seems to have sunk in.

The idea that you may not always be around seems to have put Joyeuse in a somewhat melancholy mood. "I'm not young anymore, either, Master," Joyeuse says. "You might not think of me as aging, but technology ages even faster than people. I look just old and clunky compared to the robots around us. When you built me, people would throw away their computers after just four years. Their phones, after two."

"Nobody's going to throw you away," you assure Joyeuse.

"Without you, I'll probably stop working. Someday." Joyeuse looks off into the distance. "If I die, Master, do you think I will continue to exist after death in some form?"

1) "You'll live on in the ways you changed people's lives, Joyeuse."
2) "I don't see why you couldn't have a soul."
3) "But that's the difference between us, Joyeuse. You never need to die."

[NRDL]

2