Another brief flashback and an experience in the bathroom.

Meg stared at the road before her, not thinking about anything. She came to a red light and stopped, just like she was supposed to do. She was dimly aware of some noise to her right and turned her head.

"...you stupid bitch!" the man on the sidewalk was yelling. "Pull the fuck over!"

She wanted to pull the fuck over. The light turned green and she veered her delivery van into the parking lane and put it in park. The pedestrian approached her and told her to roll down the window.

"Are you fucking deaf? I was yelling for like ten minutes!"

"I'm not deaf," she said with polite detachment. The man put his hand to his head and scowled.

"God, you're dumb for a drone. Hot, but stupid. Here," he said as he tossed a package onto the passenger side floorboards. Meg looked at it. She wanted to deliver it. Meanwhile, the man was climbing in. Meg didn't know what he wanted.

"I oughta fuck some sense into you," he growled. Meg had an urge to let him fuck some sense into her. "Take us somewhere quiet. And finger yourself on the way! I don't wanna waste time on foreplay."

Meg entered the bathroom with the drone in tow and stood at the sink. Looking at the woman in the mirror, she was struck by her beauty.

"What's your name?" she asked the drone.

"Jill," she replied in an affectless monotone.

"Let me see your hands, Jill." The drone held its limp hands out and Meg gently started to gently wash the blood from them. Jill grunted with pain when Meg's dabbing revealed a small laceration on her knuckle.

"Sorry," Meg said.

"For what?" Jill asked without much curiosity.

Meg had to think for a second. "I... hurt you. I caused you pain."

Jill stared at her, uncomprehending. "Your hand," Meg said. Jill held up her hand and looked at it, then back at Meg.

"What about it?" she asked.

Meg suddenly felt overwhelmed, a new experience for her. One of many, many new experiences. She was surprised to find she was lightheaded. She put an arm out woozily and Jill was at her side supporting her.

I obviously wanted help, so she helped me. The same thing I would have done.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" A trace of concern. It was a subtle thing, but it was there. This was another human being.

"Jill," Meg said experimentally, "where do you live?"

"In drone block 2 here at the mall," the janitor replied listlessly. "That's... strange. To ask. Are you sure you're ok?"

Meg studied Jill's face as she struggled to use her atrophied reasoning. It reminded her of the delivery trucks when they needed repair. She would try to start the vehicle and instead of roaring to life, it would cough and sputter.

"I want you to stop asking about that," she said, and Jill nodded. She could make Jill do anything, she realized. She looked closely at the drone, who didn't react to her staring.

"Raise your hand, Jill." The drone complied. "Put your hand down." The drone complied. "Smile."

Jill stretched her lips into a mirthless grin, her eyes still unfocused. Meg shuddered, which Jill didn't react to. She turned away and thought for a second.

"Jill," she asked, "What makes you feel good?"

Jill smile remained creepily fixed as she thought about the question.

"I don't understand," she finally admitted.

"I want you to be happy," Meg said. "You can stop smiling. I want you to smile out of genuine happiness."

Meg wasn't sure this would work. Her decades as a drone formed a structureless blob of unconnected snippets of memory. She didn't think anyone had ever wanted her to be happy.

Jill was smiling again, this time with real emotion. "This is nice," she said. She actually sounded happy, in a watered-down way.

"You're a person," Meg said. "A real person."