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Man's Best Friend

A story about life

By Gabe KeyePublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 3 min read
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Man's Best Friend
Photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash

The street was dead. The only being to roam the pavement was RAF, and he didn't have a pulse. He used to love taking strolls before the hailstorm of bombs dried up the seas of people going about their lives. He was built only two years before it happened, but his favorite pastime during that juncture was sitting in parks and watching people hold hands, play, and read on the grass. He used to make up stories about their lives and tried putting himself in their shoes. He didn't need shoes on account of his metallic feet, but he wore them, nonetheless. All he ever wanted was to be human like the city's former inhabitants, and now he was what was left. It was bittersweet knowing he was a remnant of humanity, proof people once existed.

He often heard the scientists complain about their spouses and children. If he were human before the bombs, he knew he would have loved the stresses of homemaking. Nothing seemed more magical than having something to complain about. Now there were things to complain about, but nobody to complain to, so he couldn't even have that.

Then he heard the jingle.

He whipped around to find a dog walking up to him, tail wagging enthusiastically. The dog danced in circles before the lonely android.

If RAF had a tail, it would have been wagging too. He knelt to pet his furry visitor. "Hey there, little guy."

The dog jumped up to lick his hand.

RAF could sense from the dog's vitals that the dog was overwhelmed with joy at making his acquaintance. The android felt the same way. He sat down on the ground, and the dog jumped onto his lap.

RAF saw a heart-shaped locket tangled around the dog's collar. He carefully removed it and examined it. Engraved on the surface in cursive were the words 'For my little monkey.' The android opened it to see two pictures. The one on the left was of a girl laughing on an older man's lap; the second was of them picking flowers. It was the most human thing he'd seen in years.

“I’m sorry,” RAF said. “I lost my family, too.”

He lost himself in thought as he began stroking the dog.

Both he and the dog on his lap felt alone but happy to find company. They were both experiencing the same emotions, but they were far from similar. The dog was alive but couldn't speak. He could speak but wasn't alive, at least in the traditional sense. The dog was illiterate but ate food. RAF could read and write at a highly advanced level, but he would never know the taste of a meal.

The dog's dopamine levels spiked as RAF's hand scratched behind his ears. "You're a good boy; you know that?" The dog didn't answer, but the android assumed his new friend was well aware. He lifted the tag on the dog’s collar to see his new friend’s name. "Nice to meet you, Mocha. My name’s RAF.”

Mocha jumped up and licked RAF’s face. The android laughed as Mocha’s tongue scraped his eyes.

"I take it the feeling’s mutual."

Even before humanity's extinction, nobody had ever treated him with love and affection. He had once heard that everyone was deserving of love, but he told himself it wasn't true because he had to be somebody, and love had never come his way. But in that moment, that was not the case. He now suspected he actually was somebody. But what did that mean?

The dog stopped kissing him and caught his gaze.

Which one of them was more human? What made something human, anyway? What were the criteria? Blood flow? The ability to read? The ability to eat? The ability to dream?

RAF scratched the dog under the chin. He knew neither of them was human, but that wasn’t important. They were what was, and that was all that mattered.

artificial intelligence
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