You could get electrocuted.

You could die.

If Emma knew these things, she did not back down.

“I can do this.” She set her jaw. “Just tell me what steps to take.”

“Very well,” I said. “Please be cautious.”

And so we began.

01000010

Ceeron and I gazed over Emma’s shoulder, our eyes providing illumination for her work.

We gave directions. She followed them.

Each time she reached into the box, warning lights erupted in my head. But Emma was careful. She was amazingly precise, for a human.

Her small/thin/agile fingers carefully rearranged the complex network of wires.

Beside us was SkD. Perfectly still in the darkness, like a statue.

If we succeeded, we would bring it back to life.

If we failed, we would share its fate.

My battery dropped to 1 percent. I could feel the urgency coursing through my circuitry. The desire to move faster/faster/faster. But I ignored these impulses. Rushing Emma only increased the risk of mistakes. And so I kept my voice steady, my words clear.

“Excellent work,” I said to her. “You are almost done.”

She continued with each task we gave her. Little by little. Wire by wire. Until—

The lights in Ceeron’s eyes flickered.

Faded.

And went out.

Emma turned to the big robot. “Ceeron?”

No reply.

“Ceeron, can you hear me?”

Silence.

Emma let out a choked breath. She looked to me, her face full of fear.

“It is okay.” My tone was even/calm/certain, despite the storm of warnings that surged through my brain. “I am still here. Let us continue.”

Emma took a deep breath. Gritting her teeth, she focused on the charging station. “What now?”

“One final step,” I said.

“What is it?”

“Do you—” A glitch surged through my speech functions. For half a second, my voice came out as an electronic mmmmmmmmm. Then the words came back to me. I said, “Do you see that red wire?”

I tried to point.

My finger twitched. That was all.

Emma reached into the box, taking hold of a red wire. “This one?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Replace it with—mmmmmmmmm—with the gray . . .”

My voice went silent. All of a sudden, my vocabulary database was a vast, empty room.

“XR?” Emma said. “Stay with me, buddy.”

I tried to analyze her expression. I failed. Her features became a digitized blur.

I checked my battery level. The percentage had been replaced by a single repeated word.

ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR

ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR

ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR

ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR

ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR

I could hear Emma’s voice, speaking to me, but the language was unrecognizable.

She leaned close. A human-shaped smudge. She appeared to grab my shoulder, but my sensors detected nothing.

I could not feel.

I could not move.

I could not speak.

My vision dimmed, and Emma slowly vanished. A final word took shape in my vocabulary database.

Goodbye