Taking on the problems of others has always been easy for me. I have made a connection to and with people that were hard for family and friends to understand. It always made for great moments of laughter; a good cry; and at times, arguments because people aren’t supposed to know other people as well as I do, without being let into their mind and heart, voluntarily. Ryan and I were similar in ways, so when she first arrived at my office, no appointment, bloodshot eyes, I had no choice but to pull her in and sit her down.
My patients love me because I feel what they feel, and they see it. As with those family and friends, patients often look up and find me wiping tears from my face; or seeing that same face twisted in confusion, a bit of anger or disappointment for what they are divulging, and they feel like I understand. And I do.
Forty years ago, the idea of robots having feelings as we humans do, was an absurd leap into an ambitious science fiction project, at best. Ryan, a human, was adopted by the Intron family — the most prominent of robot families in New Lower AM. After the fall of the Third Dictatorship, humans and robots came to evolve in a way that humanity alone quite couldn’t — even after a coup of mixed rebels was able to oust the last president of modern society. Zintrus Intron, a key figure in the Rebellion, was appointed Head of State, spearheaded the foundation of a cabinet of both human and…
