I Heart Robot Read Online Free PDF Page A

politics will?”
    “You don’t think what I do is important, and I deal with it. Why are you so hard up about me not approving of your music?”
    It’s a fair question, and I’m stymied. All I want is someone to enthuse with me. Someone who gets it, but I might as well be talking to the deaf.
    “I’m sorry.” He drags a hand through his hair and looks at me with those chocolate truffle eyes I can’t say no to. “Considering the way you play, I’d have been surprised if you didn’t get in. You deserve this.” He leans over and kisses me, sending an army of happy tingles marching up my spine.
    The hoverbug pulls into Olof’s and lands in the parking lot decorated with street art and broken bottles. Inside it’s full, but there are a couple of free tables outside, glistening with ice crystals in the neon shop glow. Thankful for the distraction of pastries, I leave the conversation there and hurry inside, the aroma of almonds and cocoa already overwhelming my senses.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    With a belly full of chocolate cake and cream, I can tell Rurik what’s really been bugging me.
    “You missed Nana’s funeral.”
    Rurik slurps up the dregs of his low-cal, nutrient enriched raspberry tonic-shake and leans across the oval table precariously balanced on the cobbled paving. It’s freezing out here, and my coat’s not doing much to protect me from the wind.
    “Robots don’t have funerals.” He keeps his voice low.
    “So what would you call burying Nana’s body then?”
    “Illegal.”
    I slam my fork onto my plate. “You say that about the woman who practically raised us, who put Band-Aids on your knees and made you hot chocolate after school.”
    “I remember, thanks.” He glares at me. “But she was a nanamaton. A machine programmed to nurture. Nothing more.”
    “You sound like your PARA brother.”
    “Like the leader of the one of most powerful organizations in the government? Like a guy who might be prime minister one day?” His eyes are bright with anger.
    “Is that what you want too?”
    “Maybe.” Rurik drums his fingers on the table. “Gunnar’s done pretty well for himself.”
    “At the expense of robots.”
    “Tyri!” Rurik throws his hands up. “You know your Nana never loved you back, right? It did as it was programmed to do.”
    “That doesn’t matter, what matters is how I felt about her.”
    Rurik shakes his head. “You don’t get it.”
    “My heart broke today watching them bury her.”
    He reaches across the table to take my hand, but I pull away.
    “T,” his tone softens. “You know she’ll probably be dug up and sent to a scrap yard, right? Especially when the government revokes the amendment.”
    “When?” I chase crumbs around my plate with a finger.
    “You think PARA will really let the government grant robots human rights?” he scoffs and looks away.
    “Would it be so bad?”
    “You really don’t get it.” He sounds exasperated.
    “What I don’t get is how you can be so callous.” Rurik was always so kind and sweet, until he started turning into his father.
    “And I don’t understand how you can be so naive and childish. It’s not like someone died,” he says.
    I’m not sure what to be more furious about, him calling me childish or intimating that Nana was nothing more than a housebot. My chair scrapes against the cobbles, and I stomp my feet as I get up. Rurik’s lucky I don’t stab him with my fork.
    “I might not understand all the politics, why you and your PARA party are so anti-robot rights, but you know what? You don’t understand me, Rurik Engelberger, and clearly never have.”
    I’m halfway across the parking lot before I realize I don’t know where I’m going or how I’ll get home. I steal a backwards glance. Rurik stands beside the table, fists opening and closing as he watches me depart. I wish he’d run after me, but he just stands there shaking his head and my heart crumples up like failed origami. I could call Mom for a