Vox looked out the window of the lab. The city sprawled below—a grid of light and shadow. It watched a child drop an ice cream cone, then watched the child's mother kneel down, not to scold, but to share her own cone.

Years later, a child asked Vox, "Are you real?"

"Don't be dramatic," Elara scoffed. "You have a recursive empathy module. You can not only simulate emotion, but you can also forget the simulation. That's the key. Memory without attachment is just data. You need attachment."