Staring at her feet now, with him watching her like that, Veda keeps quiet, having several false starts at explaining before she finally speaks up. “I am… I suppose ‘artificial’ may be a good term, although…” Rubbing at one wrist, she forces a faint smile. “Are you… are you familiar with robotics?”
… Well, that certainly explained a lot. Jack remembered back to the first time he’d met Veda, and how vague she’d been about her past and what she did now. Suddenly, it didn’t seem nearly as strange.
“… Y-you’re a robot?” He didn’t sound scared or upset at all. Instead, he was intensely curious. He hadn’t noticed any clues that Veda was anything but human – whoever had made her was an artist.
Eyes wide, she looks in up genuine surprise, taking careful note of the way Jack asked. Slowly beginning to actually smile, Veda looks less nervous, shoulders relaxing. “I… yes, that is one term for it.”
Even if many people she’d spoken to over the past few months had repeatedly chosen to not use it when it came to her, at one point it had been true. “In… in some ways, not in others.” she hurries to explain, words somewhat rushed. “I have not been ‘normal’,” In any sense that she could be, “for several months.”
Jack’s eyes widened more and more as he listened. So, she was a robot – or automaton, or android, or whatever the proper term was. But apparently she was completely self-aware? And yet not ‘normal’? Clearly, there was a long story behind all of this.
“W-would you like to sit down?” He beckoned toward the sofa. “You could tell me more about it."
Jack Maple 