Back to the grind.

"No fucking way," Andrew said. He and Maria were sitting at the back of their favorite diner with Ross and Madison, who had just relayed the events of the past week. "You're shitting me, right?"

"Nope," Madison said. "At this point it's a mostly self-driving ship. The staff handle the household operations and the board of directors steer the company."

"We're just a couple of college kids with more money than God," Ross said with a grin.

"Well, one college student and his golem." Maria said this without malice, and Madison nodded. "Technically, half the people in this conversation are dirt."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Madison said. "I got nitrated and had them update my script. It's so weird, being able to just deviate from the script anytime I want! Here, watch this."

She grabbed Ross's coffee, which was still steaming hot, and drank it in one gulp. The others stared at her and she burped. "See? Nothing in my script told me to do that. Now I get what people mean when they say something just popped into their head. Maria, I know you lost that with the conversion, but if you want-"

"No thanks," Maria said firmly. "I don't need it."

"Really?" Andrew asked. "You don't wanna be more human?"

Maria stuck out her tongue and made a face. "No thanks. When I was nitrated it was like I was always about to malfunction. I'd say the wrong word or go to the wrong page in a book."

"It's a lot easier to control now," Madison said.

"I don't care. I'm a golem, and that's enough."

Andrew looked troubled but didn't say anything. An awkward beat passed before Ross coughed. "So did we miss anything while we were out of town?"

"Actually, yeah," Andrew said. "You'll never believe this. They're piloting golem TAs!"

Madison's jaw dropped and Maria giggled at her cartoonish expression of surprise. "It was only a matter of time," she said. "In ten years there probably won't be a single human left among the faculty. The math department has one named Lauren."

"And everyone knows she's a golem?" Ross asked.

Andrew nodded. "Yep. She's not just a TA, though. She grades, she has office hours, she answers phones, and I think she even does janitorial work at night."

"Makes sense," Madison said. "They have Mehdi and Levinson just sitting around for hours to maintain the fiction that they're real. Why not put this one to work?"

"Does she have a personality?" Ross asked. "What's she like?"

"Kinda like I was," Maria said with a shrug. "Friendly, courteous, professional. I think half the students have been trying to figure out a way to trick her into fucking them."

"Amateurs," Andrew joked. "And the other half are freaked out. She just sits in her office all the time - I don't think I've ever seen her leave the building."

"Of course not. Did you ever see me leave the building?" Maria asked. "Her entire existence begins and ends in the math department. She wouldn't even consider leaving any more than you'd think about leaving Earth."

The four spent another few hours catching up, with Andrew extracting a promise that he could visit the Hill estate at some point and Madison showing off a few more new tricks. Finally, as dusk began to settle in, they paid the bill and left for their shared apartment.

On the walk home, Andrew was uncharacteristically silent. While Madison and Maria chatted about classes, Ross sidled up to him.

"Hey, man, you ok?" He tried not to sound overly concerned, knowing instinctively that any hint of pity would irritate Andrew.

"Yeah, just thinking..."

"Don't hurt yourself," Ross joked. It fell flat and he immediately regretted saying it. "Uh, are things going well with Maria?"

"Yeah, for sure," Andrew said. "She's great. I mean, look at her - she's perfect. I'm just getting used to it, you know?"

Ross nodded. "Definitely. Man, we are two lucky dudes, huh?"

Andrew stared at his girlfriend for a long moment. Her simple sundress clung to her curves, emphasizing her shapely ass and toned thighs. He'd never noticed how much sensuality Maria put into even the simplest movements. She strode across the sleepy neighborhood that bordered campus like a model on a runway, effortlessly exuding the elegance and grace hardcoded into the scrap of paper that defined her.

"Two lucky dudes," Andrew repeated. "Yeah."