Ah, right...
Even robots die. You couldn’t undo death. In that sense, they were no different than the real thing. Nor was the emptiness that the loss created...
“Let’s bury him,” Kyouhei suggested.
She didn’t answer him, but he was almost sure she was crying.
● ● ●
It was several days since Fred had died.
“Pamil, come here a minute,” Kyouhei called.
The girl in question was sitting on the sofa, vaguely watching the TV.
Ordinarily, she’d have immediately answered and asked what he wanted.
“Pamil?” he called.
Nothing.
“Paamiil!”
Nothing.
“Pamil-chan. Princess Pamil. Pamil-sama. Hey!”
Again, nothing; she just kept blankly watching the TV.
Her blue eyes were somewhat empty, meaninglessly looking at the TV. While they were facing the TV screen, he doubted whether she was actually seeing it.
It was like the saying: there in body, but not in spirit.
The loss of Fred had probably been a significant shock. She’d acted and spoken the same as always the day after it had happened, but it was probably just to avoid Kyouhei, Sanae, or anyone else worrying about her. Kyouhei had seen her space out and act slightly listless when she lost focus.
“...Damn it.”
It was just a robot, a simple robot.
Well, even Kyouhei wasn’t really convinced by that, but it was tough to watch her like this. That said, he hesitated to just buy her a new toy or a real dog, because it would be like he was just treating Fred as a thing.
So...
“Pamil!” he yelled, hitting her on the back of the head.
She finally started paying attention, blinking at Kyouhei. “Hm, what is it, Kyouhei?”
“Come here a minute.”
“Hmm?”
He pulled her along by the hand. Kyouhei took her to his room—or more accurately, an area of the warehouse he’d taken for himself—and sat her down in front of his PC.
“What?” she asked.
“Right, this icon,” he said, using the mouse to move the cursor over an icon labeled “V.F.” and click it.
Then...
Woof!
Pamil’s eyes opened wide in shock. There was a 3D Fred sitting on the screen in front of her.
“That’s...” she started.
“His body was beyond help, but this survived fine,” he explained, pointing at a memory disk plugged into the side of his PC. “There were a lot of fans of Fred, but now that the manufacturer stopped production, you can’t get parts. In other words, you can’t do anything when they break, so people developed and published this so their beloved dogs could live on forever.” As he spoke, Kyouhei pointed to where Fred was walking around the screen.
Lots of features had been added, too. Fred’s eyes flashed as he stood still, tilting his head. Then, he sat down and started scratching his head with his back leg.
“You move the data from your own Fred to this software and, well, it’s just on the PC, but you can still keep him. The chassis—or his body—might be gone, but your Fred is right there,” he told her.
“Kyouhei...” Pamil began, eyes wide as they shot between him and Fred.
He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but he could tell her confusion was outweighing her logic and happiness right now.
But then...
“Kyouhei!” she yelled, clinging to him.
“Wait a—”
“Kyouhei! Danke! Kyouhei, ich danke Ihnen! Ahh, thank you so much! So, so much! Sorry, that’s not enough, but I don’t know what else to say!” she gushed. Then, she suddenly separated herself from him, seemingly on the verge of hugging the monitor. “Fred! I’m so glad! Don’t you worry, I’ll get you a new body! You wait here until then!”
Woof! barked Fred, seemingly in response.
Pamil stared at the screen, talking to Fred over and over.
She was... exceedingly happy, and in the two or three hours it took Kyouhei to drag her off the PC to check his email, she didn’t get tired of conversing with Fred after his return.
“It’s wonderful, absolutely wonderful! Japan is amazing!” Pamil exclaimed. “Their traditions transcend death! So this is an Obon?!”
“No, it’s really not,” Kyouhei interjected.
But, well, he was happy that she was so joyous.
He’d have to phone and thank Kaoruko again for telling him about this Virtual Fred as well.
...Guess I’ll have to look on some auctions for a chassis too, he thought to himself.
It would be a really annoying undertaking, but for some reason... Kyouhei was in a good mood about it.