Coded ambition

Fragment 3: Hospital, Part 4

"Good afternoon, Lysander", L-35 welcomed the unusual visitor to their home. "Was the drive pleasant?"

"Yes, thank you", the guest replied.

While Lysander was putting off his shoes, the robot offered him house slippers. The man took them gladly, happy that politeness was one of the model L-35's core features. Lyss had as much information as a human being realistically could about the operating of this model.

One thing he found rather strange was the fact that the Arsted family had never given L-35 a proper name as other households he knew personally.

Although Lysander was one of the main programmers of these androids, he did not have one himself. It seemed to him that the current android model was constantly just one feature away from being the perfect one he wanted to have. So he kept putting off the acquisition into the future.

"Good afternoon, Lysander", Natalie greeted him politely as she came downstairs, to receive her visitor.

Lysander looked at her. His sister-in-law was wearing a beige lace blouse over elegant black pleated trousers and looked very well groomed. A pleasant person to meet with. His mood improved after his bad day at work.

The woman before him was wearing a rather polite, slightly reserved smile. "Thank you for coming and checking on L-35", she said and bowed her head slightly in gratitude.

Lyss smiled calmly at her. "You're welcome. Please relax now. You don't have to be so polite and stiff."

"As you wish." Natalie tried to do so but failed immediately. She made a gesture that he may follow her into the dining room where the table was already set. "L-35, please leave us alone for a while."

The robot nodded and disappeared into another room. It was a common thing for him to do since the incident.

Lysander took a short look at L-35's reaction, then gladly followed.

"Do you want tea?", Natalie asked. "I can offer black tea if you'd like."

"I'd love to", Lyss answered and took a look around the room to which he was led. In the middle of the dark rosewood table, a selection of pralinés had already been prepared.

"What a great host you are, Nat," Lysander remarked after inspecting them more closely. "Even now, you have thought of my favorite marzipan pralinés."

He took a seat, admiring the offerings.

"I have a good memory", Natalie declared as if it were only natural to know such trivial details about her guests to impress them.

Lysander watched as she heated water and poured it from the kettle into two cups.

"Let me guess, L-35 is banned from everything?"

Natalie served the tea and selected the seat right across Lysander.

"He is." She sighed and stared at a dot deep in her tea-cup. "At least from social tasks and kitchen work. To be honest, I really started to hate him when Mark fell and he was not reacting in the slightest." She looked at her shaking hand, focused on the feeling of hatred she had back then. "I was ready to disassemble him when we got home after the surgeon informed us that Mark would most likely live normally." Her hand clenched into a fist as to symbolize the desired destruction.

Lysander, who could see androids as a more technical and practical topic and not as a human equivalent, grinned at the vision of Nat tearing apart the android, wondering which part was for what afterwards. It was not so dramatic as it was entertaining to think about. He himself took robots apart very often at his job but rarely had seen anybody else do so.