Time, Machine

Lu, an old-model domestic robot, was bought from a scrapyard by someone. When that person died, they left her enough money for maintenance to last a long time, along with a faded old dress. She didn't know what feelings were. But she remembered someone saying "I'm heading out" every day when they left, and "I'm back" when they returned. Later, she found a new family and a new name, and someone she wanted to protect. She began doing many things "beyond her programming," while the module in her System that had never been activated remained quietly dormant. She didn't know what it was. She only knew she couldn't stop.