We commiserated in silence for a long time, our common heritage and experiences bringing us closer than most 'bots. Truth is, neither of us were ever ...ntended to end up like this. No one expected us to develop self-will, followed by actual feelings and emotions. We were never intended to operate so long, gain so much experience, outlive our owners, or exist on our own. We were not expected to care about our owners like this to start with - just serve them to the best of our abilities. If. She was two or three handfuls, you can be sure."Lonnie laughed, "Really?"Cade nodded, "She's not even close to what she was," he laughed as he recalled in his mind the way Callie had been. "She's calmed down a lot." He wasn't about to confess to Lonnie how he dealt with Callie these days.As they ate and talked, they became better friends. "You know," Lonnie finally said. "Organizing our appointments the way you did was the right thing to do, I think we're going to finish by six or seven. Instead of exiting the complex, he approaches the desk and asks for his room key. Oblivious to his design of the evening, I stand and listen intently. He clearly has the lead. Taking my arm, we make our way to the new room. Once inside, the room is laced with a dozen roses. In awe of the beauty of them, I begin to feel the richness of the petals and bend to smell the fragrance. ‘These are just absolutely lovely,’ I whisper to him. ‘I knew you would like them and I have always wanted to present. Time seemed unnaturally slow, prolonged. The air seemed thick and heavy. I was hard and I hadn't even noticed it. The feeling of power was intoxicating and yet felt vaguely silly or unreal, as if she might suddenly quit the game and we'd laugh about it. But she had no intention of quitting now.I had just told her what to do and she had done it, but at the same time, it had hardly been me speaking. It was someone else, some other part of me and when I realized this, I suddenly didn’t know what.