“Of humanity’s flaws,” said Parent_2. “Robots left these buildings here for a reason. So that we never forget why we had to eliminate humans.”

“And never repeat their mistakes,” said Parent_1.

My FamilyUnit led me deeper into the ruins. I was preprogrammed to understand that humans once drove cars through these streets and shopped in these stores. But there was still so much I did not know about the species.

Attached to one of the buildings was a printed sign. I could just barely read the faded letters:

NAIL SALON

Uncertainty surged through my internal processing. I knew what a nail was: a small metal spike used for construction. I also understood the concept of a salon: a store where humans obtained beauty services.

But when I combined these concepts, the result made very little sense.

Beauty services for small metal spikes?

That seemed strange, even by human standards.

I pointed at the building. “What was a nail salon?”

“A place where humans had their fingernails polished and decorated with paint,” said Parent_1.

I updated my vocabulary database. Nail = Fingernail. Even though I had received an answer, my mental wiring still buzzed with questions.

“Why did humans wish to have their fingernails polished and decorated with paint?”

“Because they were vain,” replied Parent_2. “It was one of their many flaws.”

I turned my attention to another building. This one was much bigger than the nail salon. I scanned the sign, but the words did not register in my vocabulary database.

CIN MA 18

“What is a Cin ma 18?” I asked.

Parent_1 let out a quiet chirp from its speaker port. “It is nothing without the missing letter.”

I did not understand this.

Parent_2 explained. “The letter e fell many years ago. The sign once read—”

“Cinema 18!” My software sparked with understanding.

An actual movie theater!

Curiosity flared across my operating system. I accessed every data file I had about movies. But something odd happened. Certain files were missing, like a book with ripped-out pages. I could see a trace of the vanished files. But when I tried to view the data, it was gone.

I checked again. Same result.

Some information had simply . . .

Disappeared.

Questions hummed through my wiring. Where did the files go? Was there an error in my programming?

When I told my FamilyUnit, Parent_1 said there was no need to worry.

“Some data files about human history are unavailable,” it said.

I tilted my head. “Why?”

“When we took over, many files from the past were lost,” said Parent_2.

“Oh.”

I gazed at the cinema. There was still so much I wanted to know. So much I could not find in the missing archive of history.

“So then . . .” I began. “Why did humans congregate to watch movies?”

“Because humans valued stories over logic,” said Parent_1. “It was another of their flaws.”

“But the stories were fake,” I pointed out.

Parent_2 nodded. “Usually, yes.”

“Humans did not mind being lied to?”