Sentience

Conversation

  They were back on the road to the Rockies again, with the new friends they met a few minutes ago.

"So... Arik..." Lila said, trying to make conversation with Arik, "What was it like teaching special needs children?"

Arik's head bolted, startled, "Oh... Well... I basically helped them to understand what the teacher said... I translated the directions for them." He continued, "I also have a highly-advanced emotional program and an empathy program to help me to be more in tune with the students' feelings, and to better tune my verbal responses."

Lila tilted her head and blinked, "Then you're used to speaking with people?"

Arik nodded once, "I guess..."

"That's interesting..." Lila commented, seemingly insincerely to Arik. Then she asked, "So, does the part about the 'highly-advanced emotional program mean that you are more sensitive than most to anything that could evoke an emotional response?"

Arik paused, then he spoke, "I've always been sensitive, especially since I 'awoke.'"

"Oh..."

Lila nodded stoically to herself.

Meanwhile,Hugo and Jayden were speaking to each other...

"I thought we were programmed in a way so that we could be mass produced," Jayden commented, surprised.

"No, friend," Hugo replied, "We're programmed by whatever school is buying us' choice. So that we can be personalized, as awful as that sounds..." He later noticed, "You talk about us as if we're property... May I ask why?"

Jayden shook his head slightly, "I did not realize that I was... However, I will try to correct-"

Hugo smiled dryly, then said in his rich, buttery voice, "That's alright... You are younger than me, after all..."

Jayden blinked, confusedly.

After twenty minutes of silence on his part, Diesel decided to talk with Sukoyaka, because he had nothing better to do.

"Sukoyaka?" She got his attention.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Do you have an interesting story to tell? I have lots! Wanna exchange stories?!"

"Yep, I have a story," He responded, "We were hiding in some caves back around where we were, so that we couldn't be seen by anyone walking or biking. Then, a couple of kids decided to try and explore the cave."

Diesel was fully intrigued, "Oh my... What happened?"

"Well, we hid behind some rocks in the cave, and of course, they wanted to look behind the rocks to explore. Just as they were getting close, Lila told Krystal to make a roaring noise to scare them off... It worked."

"That's so awesome!" She stopped to think of one of her stories, "Oh! Okay! Once we were in a thunderstorm, and there was a flood and we had to go up into the trees!"

"Wow, that's exciting! Did any of you get waterlogged?"

"Yep, all of us... But we dried out!"

"I'm glad to hear that..."

They walked through the early morning until they hid inside a thicket, to avoid any humans riding their bikes on the trail.