It was her fate to be recycled. She only understood that, being part of the estate of her deceased mistress, it had been decided to have her sold off for reconditioning. She didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she did realize that after thirteen years of activation, and a nearly unwavering routine of service, everything was going to change. The Recycler’s name was Humbolt, who arrived at the house with his assistant Percival. Both were dressed in black suits, matching their blank painted service vehicle. This wasn’t typical of the profession, but an odd caprice of Humbolt, who liked to refer to these trips as ‘bringing out the dead’. Percival didn’t think much of the joke, but knew the value of an apprenticeship in this sort of tech industry, and so he quietly played along. The house was to be sold as well, and with so much of the furniture already moved out, the interior felt very dark and empty. It struck Percival as a rather sad and lonely image then when they found her. Seated on a plain wooden chair in the middle of the bare living room, her head was bowed, a single black power cord running from some part of her back to an outlet in the wall. “You see this,” Humbolt said gruffly, holding out the crumpled yellow work-order sheet in front of her. “Yes,” she replied, raising her head. She was dressed in the manner of an old English maid, with a long black dress and white apron. She had the fair complexion of a European, but had been given long slick black hair that appeared very Asian. “You’ve been given over for reconditioning,” Humbolt informed her, “You will come along with us.” Percival came around behind her, unhooking the power cord from it’s socket at the base of her neck. Moving aside some of her thick hair, he read off the stamped serial number. “Hmm, a 213,” he remarked. “I was expecting something more ancient from what we’d been told.” “Yes, well, still hardly state of the art,” Humbolt shrugged, studying her. “At least it’ll be an easier job though. I quite like the face.” “She is pretty,” Percival agreed, helping the machine to her feet. At first glance, she did seem very human. But, in accordance with the Artificial Persons Act, did possess one distinctly non-human feature. Circular metal panels, lined with a single groove in the middle, were mounted on either side of her head, just above and behind the ears. “My name is Lynn,” she introduced herself to them both, her voice inflected with a slight English accent, though her overall pattern of speech was characteristically deliberate. “Only for now it is,” Humbolt told her. “Come on, follow us into the van.”
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