A smile on Roy’s face grew from wry to manure masticating knowing the robot had moved on from the prospect of its ‘Judging’ game to a search for the audible abnormality. “You sure are making a lot of noise,” Roy decided to punctuate as flatly as possible, at the same time fussing for a better aesthetic with several flowers the robot’s presence had caused him to haphazardly place earlier. Roy knew the robot would appreciate the comment and seeming, nonchalant attitude in this circumstance about as much as the intentional dangling of a statically charged, flesh covered digit over its naked and defenseless chipset while the owner of the offending, jointed protrusion repeatedly proclaimed: “I’m not touching you!”

“Yes… I am, Roy,” the robot said, advancing throu...

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