Ceeron: I believe that is the point.

Me: What is?

Ceeron: All of it. The incorrect grammar. The shoe with a mind. The fact that it is made out of wood.

Me: Oh.

Ceeron: Do you get it now?

Me: No.

At this point, SkD made a comment. Images appeared on its screen.

Ceeron: Exactly. The joke is humorous because it made humans think.

Me: It made them think about what?

Ceeron: About the strangeness of the world. About the strangeness of their own consciousness in an exceedingly complex and infinite universe.

Emma popped her head out of Ceeron’s backpack.

Emma: You guys should seriously think about starting a comedy group.

01001010

Ceeron pushed through a wall of branches. I stared at the view on the other side.

A highway.

Six lanes, stretching as far as I could see. Vehicles everywhere. All stuck in the exact same spot they had inhabited for decades. A thirty-year-old traffic jam.

We wove a path between abandoned cars/trucks/vans until we reached a section where every lane was buried beneath a landslide. Rocks/Mud/Plants. They had tumbled down from the steep cliffs above, crushing anything/everything in their path.

There was no way through the disaster zone. We had to go around.

I carefully stepped off the pavement. My feet squished into muddy earth. I adjusted my movement settings and continued.

Squelch! Squelch! Sq—

My muddy footsteps came to a sudden halt when I heard a new sound. Something was moving through the brush. Quickly. Crashing through leaves/branches/bushes.

The others stopped, too. The four of us remained perfectly still. Listening. I analyzed the sounds. I reached a conclusion.

Something else was out there.

Something alive.

And it was headed our way.

The unknown LifeForm seemed to be running in our direction, heedless, without any concern for the natural obstacles in its path.

I brought my body into a defensive posture. Knees: Slightly bent. Arms: In front of my chest. Hands: Curled into fists.

The sounds grew louder.

The unknown LifeForm got closer.

And closer.

And closer.

A curtain of leaves burst open and the unknown creature made itself known.

I updated my input drives: It was a deer.

The deer froze. Clearly, it was not expecting to come across three robots and a human girl.

The deer’s white tail flicked. It was smaller than average. Young. Its antlers just beginning to form. They were covered in a tiny layer of pale fuzz.

The deer stared at us with big black eyes. Unblinking. As if we were an equation it could not work out.

Behind me, Emma released her held breath. “Whoa.”

Her small feet squished softly through the mud. She appeared at my side.

“Is it a deer?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” I replied at a low volume.

“It’s so beautiful.”

“It is an impressive creature.”

“Do you think it’ll let me pet it?”

“The probability is low.”

She tried anyway.