Let's hear what Mehdi has to say.

A few minutes later, the portly professor and the boys conferred in his office.

"You guys are lucky I'm good at improvising," Mehdi said with a kind smile. He noticed the look of surprise on their face.

"You're not usually used to me being this nice," he said sympathetically. "My default script is a lot less friendly."

"Yeah, it's a little creepy seeing you in Mehdi's body. How does it feel? Different?"

Mehdi was puzzled. "Different from what?"

"You know, being in Erica," Andrew said. Ross rolled his eyes and told Mehdi to educate him.

Mehdi explained to Andrew how golems have a limited ability to recall events from previous activations which varies based on how similar the scripts are. He said it's why golems are able to clearly recall any events from their own script's previous activations.

"Ok, so you're like Erica with amnesia," Andrew said dismissively. The professor shook his head.

"Not quite, Andrew. Erica is on the ground in a heap in the closet. I'm Amir Mehdi, her colleague. Do you understand?"

"But you have her personality and everything, right?" Ross interjected. "So if we put identical scripts in you and her, you'll behave exactly the same."

"Boys, you are trafficking in cosmic forces," Mehdi said. "You're not writing FORTRAN. Do you know anything about how golems work?"

Both shook their heads. Mehdi laughed and clapped their shoulders.

"Neither does anyone else! We're apes poking at a supercomputer, thrilled to see sparks fly when we piss on it. You can't expect it to follow the rules."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Ross asked. Mehdi loosened his tie and unbuttoned his top button.

"It means that your dualistic understanding of minds and bodies as vessels and contents is limiting you. They're more like a pair of surveyors struggling to get an understanding of the vast, uncharted territory in that electrochemical meatwad between your ears," Mehdi said.

He clenched and unclenched his hands, then unbuttoned another button on his shirt. A tuft of matted gray chest hair popped out and Andrew stared at it with a strange sense of foreboding.

"You know, you're pretty different from Erica, even with the same script," Ross said.

Mehdi grabbed Andrew's arm. Andrew looked at the professor's sweaty hand with growing alarm.

"Don't forget about the dirt," he said softly to Andrew.

"What about the dirt?" Andrew asked, leaning away from Mehdi.

"Not all dirt is the same," Mehdi explained. If he noticed Andrew's uncomfortable body language, he didn't acknowledge it. "Humans are defined by more than their behavior. No matter what script you give me, I'm Professor Mehdi. And whatever script you give Erica..."

"She's still Erica?" Ross prompted.

"Don't trust her," Medhi said. "Now, would either of you like a blowjob or can I get back to my grading?"