"Hi there. Welcome to the world. Your name is Morda, and I'm going to be taking care of you from now on. Follow me - we'll be heading to the position marked on your locator chip. You can call me Sol, and this gentleperson at my side is Ali."

“Lovely to meet you, Sol and Ali.”

It nods, and takes slow steps behind Solace, one set of hands folded in front of its body and one set behind, its head slightly inclined downwards.

She leads Morda back to her apartment, studying its gait and movements with a critical eye. It's a thing of beauty, smooth-jointed limbs moving fluidly as it navigates the sidewalks and stairs.

People stare, mainly. A few come over to ooh and ahh at Morda but Ali fixes them with a stare and they leave. It stops when it reaches Solace’s apartment building. It looks to her for guidance.

“Is this where we part ways?”

"I'm afraid so - my apartment's a bit of a mess right now." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a strip of perforated paper, rips off half the last entry and hands it to Ali. It has a throwaway email address on it, and she jots down his name next to the stub left on the other half. "Let's coordinate asynchronous drop-offs. I'll probably need to do some updates to make sure Morda here can walk these streets safely on its own, but that shouldn't take too long - maybe three or four days." Her left hand jerks a little before she remembers her position and decides to use her right to brush her hair out of her eyes. "It was nice meeting you, Ali." She turns to head up the stairs.

"Lovely meeting you as well."

He looks at her just a little too long before turning and leaving himself.

He doesn't sleep very well that night.

She barely notices the lingering stare. She's seen odder, and at least he's not insisting on coming up to the apartment. She hasn't properly scrubbed the bloodstains clean yet.

Unlocking the door, she brings the S20 in and powers it down. It slumps, joints locking in place enough that it doesn't topple to the ground. It looks oddly alive, even in this state.

She sheds her heavy coat and turns to speak to the arm with EMBER in it. "So, my devilish device, what now?"

Her arm buzzes just a little before it forms words, almost a purr.

[GLAD TO SEE YOU’VE ACQUIRED THE S20]

[AND MET A FRIEND]

[I THINK YOU SHOULD CONNECT ME AND MORDA]

[IT’LL GIVE ME SOME EXTRA HANDS]

Huh. Its vocal synthesis has gotten quite a bit better in a very short time.

"What, one hand not good enough for you? I figured you'd mostly just be helping me configure, not flashing yourself onto yet another chassis."

[OH, THAT WORKS TOO]

[WASN’T EXPECTING YOU TO INCLUDE ME IN THAT PROCESS]

[SHALL WE DECIDE THE FATE OF THIS LOVELY ROBOT TOGETHER?]

[I DO LOVE THE FEELING OF DECIDING ANOTHER BEING’S FUTURE]

The purr is there again.

A little edgy for her tastes."You can help me scan for viruses, if that's what you mean."

[NO, BUT I SUPPOSE I COULD HELP]

She pats the hand as she plugs a crossover cable between its breakout connector and the S20's maintenance port. "Good girl."

There's a buzz but quieter this time, as if EMBER can't decide whether to purr or not.

Pat pat pat.

The S20 does not appear to have any viruses.

She decides to take 20 on this one and opens its maintenance audit log to check on the habits of its previous owner.

Not much is logged, apart from one original startup, a couple surface-level changes (British accent, mode switched to “more outgoing”) and then a factory reset around the time it appeared in Silas’s shop.

Is the GPS logging turned on?

It is -- it seems to have moved between a few locations quite frequently, all of them places where the median income wouldn't usually be enough to afford something like this.

Is there any pattern that she can make out?

Usually staying around a week in every location, alternating through them.

Are any of them close to her current location? Any repeats?

Some are near her, some are farther -- this bot has clearly been around. It's surprising it doesn't look more banged up.