A Psalm for the Wild-Built
"Any other day, the act of going through a door was something Dex gave no more thought to than putting one foot in front of the other. But there was a gravity to leaving a place for good, a deep sense of seismic change."
"But then, humans had a knack for throwing things out of balance."
"The thing people wanted took time to prepare. If they wanted it, they could wait."
"'We don't have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.'"
"'I am made of metal and numbers; you are made of water and genes. But we are each something more than that. And we can't define what that something more is simply by our raw components.'"
"'And maybe I will seek one of them out, after this. But for now...' The robot looked around the sunny forest with contentment. 'I think I'm where I should be.'"
"'How could we continue to be students of the world if we don't emulate its most intrinsic cycle?'" -- on death
"...life is fundamentally at odds with itself."
"'I think there's something beautiful about being lucky enough to witness a thing on its way out.'"
"'I wish I could understand experiences I'm incapable of having.'"
"'What am I supposed to do, if not this? What am I, if not this?'"
"'If you understand that robots' lack of purpose -- our refusal of your purpose -- is the crowning mark of our intellectual maturity, why do you put so much energy in seeking the opposite?'"
"'You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don't know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don't need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live.'"
"'Then how,' Dex said, 'how does the idea of maybe being meaningless sit well with you?'
Mosscap considered. 'Because I know that no matter what, I'm wonderful,' it said."