Write more on the augmented dog and the woman who was paired with it. Specifically, I’d love to know why the woman needed the dog and how the dog was groomed for her in the first place.
Rael arrived at their residence at the same time as their Cogniscent Rights caseworker.
“You’re here for—?” prompted a Melil whose name tag declared zir to be Officer Raak.
“Broken crockery printer,” said Rael. “Julie called.”
Raak made some notes. “Could you tell if it was prompted?”
“No. Sorry.”
Nanny answered the door. Now that he was listening for it, he could hear the rote phrases. “Welcome-come-in. We-are-glad-to-see-you.”
Nanny was more adapted for bipedal motion than, say, Boy. And smarter. She was one of the infamous grey areas that earned Rael his reputation.
The house was a standard living space. Public quarters in the middle, private quarters to the right, and the mandatory garden that was part of the station’s air-recycling system to the left.
Julie sprang away from her painting at the sight of him and grabbed his hand. “The printer is this way. I tried to make a new plate and it just smoked and smelled really bad.”
Rael let her lead him to the private zone, where kitchen, bathroom and sleep nooks butted up against each other in an orderly crowd. “You and Nanny make an interesting pair,” he said, beginning careful disassembly by making certain the machine was both powered down and disconnected. “How long have you two known each other?”
Julie grinned. This was a favourite subject. “I got her when I was five,” she said in her now-typical chain monotone. “She was a very smart puppy and me and Trainer Fil got her and me working together.”
Officer Raak supplied extra information. “Julie was born with a rare allergy to the immunoflu strains. One in five million has it. Of those, one in fifty thousand has the mutation that requires tailored gene cleaning to treat it. And of those, one in five hundred million does not show up on standard gene scans. Julie was developmentally reduced some years before her problem was detected.”
“I’m all fixed now,” said Julie. “Nobody has to wear masks anymore.”
Aha. A junior Fhitt had clogged the cooling fan and… yes. Its webs had caused a short circuit. “And Nanny?”
“Nanny is a super smart dog,” Julie supplied. “She’s good to me and good for me. And that’s special.”
“Nanny is… the best solution to a bad problem,” said Raak, making notes again. Very possibly touching minds with both human and dog to monitor their mutual mental stability. Melil telepathy couldn’t touch him much further than a basic emotional scan. His brain was far too different. “Human companions generally need to be older than their charges, and mortality complicates matters. Julie tested low on her ability to accept changes in her social environment.”
Julie, watching Rael extract the Fhitt and its death-throe webs, muttered, “Ur, yuck.”
Rael used his mini-vac to clean out the pest droppings and sundry fluff that had found their way inside the machine.
“Stellar Trade Incorporated, the company who employs Julie’s parents, took responsibility and ordered a fully functioning companion from…” Raak checked her files, “A B'Nari gene-tailor specializing in augmented pets.”
“So you could say Nanny was made for Julie,” said Rael as he checked the effected circuits.
“If you wanted to be crass about it,” sniffed Raak. “Longer-lived species aren’t as… relatable as an augmented pet. This was all about what Julie needed. Dogs already have a loyalty to their companions. Saint Bernards in particular have the necessary body mass to make this degree of augmentation less of a problem.”
“And the mortality issue?”
“Nanny has a retirement package pre-paid for when she out-lives Julie.”
Some eighty-so years down the line, if Rael had his maths right. He reconnected and re-activated the crockery printer, running the last program as a test.
Julie applauded, jumping with enthusiasm. “Hey Nanny. Look Nanny. It’s fixed. He fixed it.”
Nanny, busy cooking a proportioned and proper meal, craned her neck to see and wagged her tail. “Good job!”
Julie left him and Raak together with a, “I have to go back to work now. I’m an artist.”
“Ten minutes to wash-up time,” said Nanny.
Raak raised a sly eyebrow. “I trust this meets your exacting criteria?”
Rael, self-confessed and self-appointed cogniscent rights activist, nodded with a smile. “They have a place to belong. They work well together. Neither is in debt to the other. My curiosity is sated and my worry is waning.”
“And I check up on them every week,” Raak handed him zir card. “If you wish, we can arrange a meeting?”
Rael took it with a polite bow. “I will not be meddling.”
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