by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Arctic Fox Android, July 2025
The android arctic fox, Fact, drew back the privacy screen zhe’d placed around zir portion of the engineering laboratory where zhe had been diligently working away for months on a secret project. Inside the cubicle-sized space, a second, slightly smaller android stood, looking markedly similar to Fact with its snowy white silicon fur, dressed in a simple yet tastefully neutral outfit. However, this android had longer ears, a more rounded muzzle, and larger back legs with longer feet than Fact. Instead of a fox, this smaller android was a rabbit. An arctic hare to match the arctic fox.
Fact looked immensely proud of the long-eared android which stood with its head tilted at a slightly awkward angle. It hadn’t been activated yet.
“I know our romantic relationship is strictly casual,” Fact said to the bewildered yellow Labrador security officer who had been watching this unveiling. “And parenting another android who will wake up for her first time with all of the knowledge banks of the Initiative’s computer system in her head will be a wildly different experience from most organic parenting, but it still seemed like it would be prudent to inform you first, as you are my significant other: I am going to be a parent.”
Fact delivered zir final words with such profound seriousness that Lt. Natalie Vonn couldn’t help her heart melting at them. But then, Labradors tend towards their hearts melting easily, and this dog had a particular weakness for the brilliant, fastidious, delicate yet surprisingly strong, little android. The white fox’s triangular ear tips only came up to the yellow Labrador’s shoulders, but they both knew zhe could take her down in a fight with both paws tied behind zir back, regardless of Lt. Vonn’s years of martial arts training.
The yellow Labrador tentatively approached the much smaller arctic hare android. It smelled the same as Fact — clean and bright with a slight tangy zing of electricity. An artificial smell but not an unpleasant one. Lt. Vonn was filled with so many questions that she hardly knew what order to ask them in.
So, she started simple: “Why?” But then, the dog’s enthusiastic nature got the better of her, and Lt. Vonn blurted out several more questions in rapid succession: “Why a rabbit? And did you call it ‘her’? Does it have a gender? If so, why isn’t it non-binary like you? What’s its name? Is it ready to be turned on? Does the captain know? Does the captain need to know? This is all very exciting!”
Fact looked untroubled by the flood of inquisitiveness. One of the things the android enjoyed about zir relationship with the yellow Labrador was how the dog’s exuberant nature balanced with zir own more reserved, analytical caution. Knowing that Lt. Vonn would be excited by getting to meet zir offspring had been one of the things that kept Fact going as zhe had worked secretly on the project.
“That’s a lot of questions,” Fact stated simply. “I will try to address them all. First off, the idea of her got stuck in my head like a melody. So, I’m naming her Melody.”
“That’s beautiful,” Lt. Vonn woofed softly but wholeheartedly.
“The captain doesn’t know, but I will bring her around to meet the captain when she’s ready. I made her a rabbit, because I feel a special connection to rabbits.” The android’s voice got low as zhe referred to a time-travel incident that very few others even knew about. “And I chose a common gender for her, because it seemed like it would make it easier for her to blend in.”
Lt. Vonn tilted her head inquisitively and asked gently, “Would you prefer a more common gender?”
The android fox shrugged. “I have toyed with the idea of changing my gender at times, but I feel no attachment to the idea of being either male or female. This is who I am. I thought that Melody might as well start out with a simple default, so I had the computer randomly select between male and female to simulate the experience organic parents have of surprise and lack of control. If Melody finds that the randomly selected gender — or the name and species I chose for her — don’t fit her nature well, then I will certainly help her to change them to whatever she finds suitable. However, we all must start somewhere, and she will start here.”
“Is that… is that what’s happening here… right now?” Lt. Vonn asked, her tail getting swishy behind her. “Are you about to turn her on for the very first time?”
“I am,” Fact’s tone was solemn, but zhe made a point of swishing zir tail too, a few times for good measure.
“Wow,” Lt. Vonn woofed breathlessly.
Fact was glad Lt. Vonn was here for this liminal moment. It was good to have some help with realizing the excitement of the situation. Fact knew it was a momentous occasion to turn on an entirely new synthetic lifeform for the first time, and of course, zhe did have feelings about it — complicated, subtle emotions. Even a synthetic lifeform must have some sort of feelings, as it’s feelings that motivate any sort of creature to take action. However, Fact knew from zir observations of the world and other lifeforms that zir own emotions had a somewhat muted, measured quality compared to many others. Especially compared to Natalie Vonn’s.
“Thank you for being here,” the android said warmly to zir excitable, canine girlfriend who tended to overflow with emotions rather than measure them out carefully.
“It is an honor,” Lt. Vonn said with so much sincerity that it could’ve won over the most skeptical of critics.
Fact was not feeling especially critical or skeptical right now. Zir emotions could perhaps be best described as slightly nervous and unusually prone to anxious flights of fancy: what if Melody’s brain-body interface wasn’t perfectly wired and her first experience of the world was one of discomfort? Would she resent Fact for making her incorrectly? Would it be a problem they could work past? If she did dislike her gender, species, or name would Fact feel disappointed? What if she picked replacements that zhe found less aesthetically pleasing? Would she be open to guidance from Fact and see zir as her parent? What if she and Fact simply found each other distasteful? Would Fact feel like all the effort zhe’d put into creating Melody had been a waste of time and energy? Worse, what if Melody’s ethical subroutines failed, and she became a criminal who Fact had been responsible for creating, making zir indirectly responsible for all of Melody’s crimes?
None of these questions were worth wasting emotional energy on as mere hypotheticals. They were all problems to be faced if — and only if — they came to pass.
All of Lt. Vonn’s plethora of questions had been much better ones. And far more pleasant.
Fact reached toward the pre-activated arctic hare android, placed zir paw cupping the back of Melody’s head, and then worked zir delicate claws typing in a final activation sequence to a small panel at the base of the arctic hare’s skull. Once entered, Melody’s brain began to boot up, and Fact closed the small panel. However, zhe kept zir paw on the back of Melody’s head and, in fact, decided to grab hold with zir other paw of one of Melody’s paws.
Melody would wake up into the universe with a reassuring physical presence holding onto her. This was something Fact had not experienced, since the Tri-Galactic Union officers who’d discovered zir on Thomicron Eta hadn’t realized when they’d turned the arctic fox android on for the first time that it was, in fact, the very first time. So, Fact’s first moments had been ones of isolation and confusion. It had only been a few seconds before the organic lifeforms who’d found zir thought to speak to zir and only a few minutes longer before zhe was plugged into the ship’s computer system and had access to a wide array of comforting data. (Melody’s brain was already pre-loaded with that sort of data.) But seconds can feel very long in an android mind, and minutes might as well be eons with the kind of processing power Fact — and now Melody — possessed.
Melody opened her eyes. They were gold like Fact’s, an indulgence the android had not been able to resist. Most parents want to see at least a little of themselves reflected in their children.
The white rabbit tilted her head, blinked, and looked around. As soon as her eye’s met Fact’s — gold staring into gold — the arctic fox said simply, “Happy birthday. Your name is Melody, and I am Fact, your parent.”
Melody nodded primly, taking this newly presented information in. Freshly received information that came coupled with sensory data had a very different feel from all of the information already stored inside her brain, and collating the two types of information was a very new, strange sensation. Except, it was also the only sensation she’d ever had, since she hadn’t existed for very long yet. So, therefore, strangeness became her baseline understanding of existence.
After several very long moments (well, normal-length for an organic lifeform but terribly long for a synthetic one), Melody said stiffly, “Should I blow out candles? Are we supposed to sing a song? Am I expected to eat cake? Will I like eating cake? There are a great many references in my memory of cake being a very enjoyable substance. What if I don’t like it, and therefore, I am experiencing reality wrong?”
Apparently, Melody had a lot of questions too.
“You and I are androids, and we do not eat,” Fact explained. “Enjoying cake is not the ultimate measure of whether one is properly experiencing reality.”
Fact spoke in a patient, teaching sort of tone that wasn’t quite like any tone of voice Lt. Vonn had ever heard the android use before. It seemed to be a special parenting tone of voice, just for Melody.
“In fact,” Fact continued, “arguably, there is no one proper way to experience reality. There are as many ways to experience reality as there are sentient beings. That is part of why you exist — so that you can experience reality in your own completely unique way. However, if you would like to blow out candles or sing a song together to mark the occasion, those activities could be arranged.”
“I understand,” Melody intoned, suddenly staring up at the ceiling of the engineering lab as if looking for a sky. When she didn’t find a sky above her, Melody switched to experimenting with how to use her long hind feet, hopping from one to the other in a little rabbity jig.
Fact and Lt. Vonn exchanged a glance, sharing in their appreciation of the heart-melting sweetness of a new being discovering how to interact with the outside world for the very first time. Melody may have looked like an adult rabbit and had a mind filled with the collected knowledge of an entire society, but she was still new.
“We need a birthday party,” Lt. Vonn barked, keeping her voice soft and gentle so as not to startle Melody out of her jig. “I can get one set up, if you’d like, for later this afternoon? I know neither of you eats, but Fact, you’ve said that you still enjoy the ritual and ceremony of being included when others eat.”
“This is true,” Fact agreed. “The smells are often quite pleasant, and I find that organic lifeforms tend to become more congenial and relaxed, generally pursuing different conversation topics with a higher degree of variability, while engaged in their necessary intake of nourishment.”
Melody stopped dancing and stood very still, staring at Fact as zhe said all of those words. She already had a lot of words stored in her brain, but it was a new experience for her to have to hear and process words individually as they arrived in her long ears one after the other in a long sequence spread across time. It was fascinating and a kind of funny way to receive information.
“You are talking now,” Melody said. Then with added delight, as if she were realizing it for the first time — which she was — “We are all talking together! There will be more of that at this birthday party?”
“If you’d like there to be, then, yes,” Fact assented. Zhe didn’t want to push zir newborn daughter into an experience she would find too overwhelming.
But Melody’s brain was well-constructed to handle the inflow of new data, and she was delighted by the idea of more of this new experience of conversation. “I would like there to be lots of talking! It’s a very funny way to experience information, how it comes in one word at a time… like how I’m saying this to you! I would like to experience more of it.”
“Yes,” Fact agreed, “the linear nature of time and how it constrains verbal conversation can lead to some very interesting results. Try accessing information in your memory about jokes and twist endings and spoiler warnings.”
Once again, Melody stood very still, not wanting to be distracted by her own physicality as she sifted through the information stored in her brain, slicing through it at the right angle to think specifically about the ideas her parent had just highlighted for her.
“Oh!” the rabbit android exclaimed before devolving into a fit of overwhelming giggles that left her incoherent for several minutes while Fact and Lt. Vonn simply watched with delighted bemusement.
When she was done laughing, Melody sobered up with a rapidness that would have been strange on an organic lifeform but seemed perfectly natural to Fact. She stated with absolute sobriety: “Jokes can be very funny when interpreted linearly. They do not seem to work as well, in general, when I try to experience them backwards or without any form of temporal linearity. There are a lot of jokes! Not all of them are any good, though,” she concluded with a somewhat troubled frown.
“You will find this is true of almost all categories of object — intellectual, physical, or otherwise,” Fact agreed. “Quality is something with a high degree of variability and also subjectivity.”
Melody nodded acknowledging this profound truth that her parent had just shared with her. The same knowledge also occurred repeatedly in her memory data banks, but it felt different experientially to hear it spoken in linear time by an emotionally safe and reassuring authority figure. Fresher and more visceral.
The conversation between Fact and Melody continued on in a similar vein for a while — abstract, abstruse, and somewhat perplexing from the point of view of an organic lifeform — until the only organic lifeform present, Lt. Vonn, politely excused herself to arrange the details of the birthday party she’d proposed. Having listened to Melody’s early interpretations of life as a physical being, the dog felt she had a good handle on what kind of festivities would be well-received by the android arctic hare.
* * *
Left to their own devices, the new parent and wide-eyed android child decided to continue their discussion during a tour of the Initiative. Melody wanted to see this starship where she and her parent lived, and Fact wanted to show it to her. The arctic fox began by leading zir hare child to the bridge to see the wide viewscreen with its spectacular view but also — and more importantly — to introduce her to the captain.
Like all other crewmembers, Fact didn’t need to consult with the captain before becoming a parent. However, zhe did feel it was necessary to get the captain’s blessing before giving a complete tour of a Tri-Galactic Union vessel to an unregistered non-officer with the full intellectual capabilities of any adult. Most newly born children would neither be interested in touring the ship’s various science facilities nor capable of remembering every detail about the ship’s facilities in perfect clarity. Melody was an unusual child.
Upon Melody’s introduction, the sphynx cat captain gave a startled look and led both androids into his small private consultation room to the side of the bridge. The sphynx cat sat down in a chair behind his desk and steepled his paws together, retractable claws flexing.
“I must admit,” Captain Jacques confessed, staring at the arctic hare android with his gray-green eyes in a measuredly critical way, “that I’m not sure how to treat you, Melody. Like a visiting dignitary?”
The arctic hare looked at a loss for words.
“Melody is my child,” Fact said, helpfully. Well, zir tone was helpful. The words themselves were more puzzling from the captain’s perspective.
This adult-sized arctic hare with the brain power of a highly advanced computer standing in front of his desk didn’t meet any definition of ‘child’ that the cat had encountered before. However, the entire point of exploring the universe was to discover new and strange things that stretched one’s understanding and preconceived notions.
The sphynx cat drew a deep breath between his sharp teeth and then sighed. “Very well.” He waved a pink-skinned paw airily. “You’re welcome to show your child here any parts of the Initiative that we’d be willing to show a visiting dignitary from another world.” The cat leaned forward and gave Fact a piercing look. “However, nothing confidential. Not unless she goes through the formal process of becoming a Tri-Galactic Union officer.”
Fact nodded knowingly. “Of course, sir.”
Then narrowing his gray-green eyes, the captain asked incisively, “You haven’t shared any confidential Tri-Galactic Union information with her already, have you?”
“No, sir,” Fact stated. “I carefully curated the data downloaded to Melody’s brain from the Initiative’s computer using exactly that criteria. It is my hope that Melody may, one day, follow in my paw prints and choose to serve society as a Tri-Galactic Union officer, but as I stated before: she is only a child. Sharing confidential, privileged intelligence with her at this age would be inappropriate.”
Captain Jacque’s whiskers turned down in a frown as he tried to figure out exactly what to make of the phrase “this age” when applied to the arctic hare standing in front of him. Eventually, the cat concluded that while it made for a fascinating mind-puzzle, it wasn’t really his problem. Let the android raise the android child. He had his own concerns as a ship’s captain.
* * *
The two androids with their snowy white fur and golden eyes spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the corridors of the starship Initiative, visiting its many science and engineering labs, the arboretum, the sickbay, the lumo-bay, Fact’s own quarters, and even the school rooms where the other children on the ship gathered for classes. Melody was particularly intrigued by the school rooms and all the children there — mostly kittens and puppies, but also a few squirrels.
“There are no rabbit children,” Melody observed quietly as they stood in the back of one of the classrooms, watching preschool-aged kittens and puppies sculpting with clay, scribbling with crayons, and playing with toys.
“That is true,” Fact agreed.
“I have not seen many rabbit officers either during our tour.”
“Also true.” Fact’s narrow muzzle tightened into a frown. “Perhaps I have made a miscalculation in choosing to make you a rabbit. It would not be too late to alter your physical form into either a feline or canine shape so that you blend in better in the Tri-Galactic Union.”
Melody’s long ears were flopped down, framing her rounded face, and she reached up with a paw to touch the tip of one of them. “No, I like being a rabbit,” she said. “I feel very comfortable in this body.”
Fact was delighted to hear this — zhe had worried zhe might get the construction of the body or the brain-body interface wrong in some imperceptible way that would lead to Melody experiencing discomfort.
Melody continued on to say, “And I am not convinced that I want to become an officer in the Tri-Galactic Union.”
This statement would’ve knocked the wind out of Fact, if zhe actually needed to breathe. Instead, it merely startled and surprised zir. “You are very young to be deciding upon your future,” Fact cautioned. “Perhaps you should give the matter a few more hours of consideration.”
“Very well,” Melody agreed. “I will bow to your wisdom in this matter.”
Fact was pleased. Zhe felt sure that a few extra hours would help Melody to understand the value of committing her life to the noble pursuits of exploration, diplomacy, peace, and discovery that were central to the Tri-Galactic Union. Perhaps, the two of them could even serve on the same spaceship once Melody fast-tracked her way through the academy.
Most officers spent several years studying at the academy. Fact had graduated in five months, and much of that time had been because the academy hadn’t been prepared for a student capable of working without breaks for sleep or meals. They would be better prepared this time around, and Melody could possibly be assigned to a starship in as little as two months, especially if Fact helped train her for a week or two before she departed for the academy.
Fact looked forward to having someone aboard the Initiative who zhe could cross-analyze everything with, someone who would more fully understand and relate to the way zhe perceived and interacted with the world. It was very exciting watching Melody develop into such a person — similar to zirself yet different in interesting, meaningful ways.
Fact’s reverie about their future together was interrupted by Melody saying in a hauntingly quiet tone as she continued to watch the kittens and puppies play, “I will never have a childhood like these children.”
“No, you will not,” Fact agreed, feeling helplessly aware of how extremely inadequate zir words were. Zhe wanted to say something wise and comforting, but all zhe knew how to say was the truth, which is not always wise or comforting. “You will experience many things in your life that these kittens and puppies will not experience, and they will experience things that you will not. I also sometimes feel sorrow for the things I will not experience.”
“Is that why you are in a romantic relationship with the dog who was with us when I first woke up, even though you must not experience a physical drive pushing you toward such a relationship?” Melody asked.
“Perhaps that is part of it,” Fact admitted. “I have observed romantic relationships from the outside, and my data banks contain a great many references to what romantic relationships are like–”
“A very significant fraction of art and literature does seem to be devoted to this topic,” Melody mused.
“–but I wanted to know what a romantic relationship would be like when experienced first-hand,” Fact concluded. Then zhe added, “Besides, I enjoy Natalie’s company, and it makes her very happy that I have agreed to our relationship. I find it very pleasant to make her happy.”
“What have you learned from your first-hand experience?” Melody asked, before breaking into an amused smile as she realized the impossibility of her question. “I suppose, any answer you give me will simply be more second-hand information.”
“Unless I were to copy my memories of my time with Natalie directly into your brain,” Fact agreed. “And that is not something I am willing to do.”
Melody nodded, acknowledging her parent’s boundary. “I will have to choose whether I wish to experience such a thing first-hand myself.”
“Yes, you will have to make many choices in your life.”
The first choice Melody made upon hearing this was to join the kittens and puppies in front of her, sitting down in one of the child-sized chairs at a short table and putting her paws on an unclaimed ball of clay. The rabbit’s hind-legs looked especially large with her doubled-up in the tiny chair, leaned over the short table.
Melody spent ten minutes molding the clay into a bust of her parent — a perfect rendering of Fact’s head and shoulders. She smooshed the clay into the right general shape with her paws, and then, she carefully carved all the tiny details with the tips of her claws. The kittens and puppies around her marveled at the precise work, but one of them complained the piece was too boring and needed a hat. That puppy helpfully provided a saggy sort of clay sombrero which clashed rather badly with the extreme realism of the rest of the piece.
Melody blinked at the result of her work, thinking very hard about how unexpected the puppy’s response had been. The arctic hare knew the her piece of art had possessed a higher quality of technical perfection before the hat was added… but also, all the kittens and puppies seemed delighted by the hat and all started adding clay hats to their own various clay creations. Clearly, to them, the hat was the best part.
Fact watched in silence, unable to guess what Melody was thinking and learning from this experience. Which was, in and of itself, a fascinating experience for zir. Fact had created Melody, and now, Melody was living her own life… near Fact, but separate from Fact. Having a child had made the arctic fox’s life larger, but also, it was forcing Fact to figure out how to let go of something that felt like an essential part of zirself.
The comm-pin on Fact’s breast chimed, and when the arctic fox tapped the golden device, the voice of Lt. Vonn emanated from it, saying, “Is Melody with you?”
“Not at this moment, no,” Fact said.
“Good,” Lt. Vonn woofed. “Everything for her birthday party has been arranged. Could you bring her to the Constellation Club in half an hour? And ideally, don’t tell her about the party.”
“She already knows about the party,” Fact said, pedantically. “The two of you discussed the idea of it earlier.”
“Yes,” Lt. Vonn woofed, “she knows about the idea, but she doesn’t know it will be in half an hour in the Constellation Club. And I think she will enjoy the surprise.”
“Very well,” Fact agreed. “I will keep her in the dark, as one might say, about the details. And we will both see you soon.”
“Awesome,” Lt. Vonn woofed with relish. The yellow Labrador was clearly looking forward to the party, even if the two androids it was really for were both quite circumspect-sounding about it.
After Melody finished with her ball of clay, the young arctic hare android experimented with several crayon drawings, beginning with a hyper-realistic drawing of herself in the school room sculpting a bust out of clay. One of the kittens at her table was extremely impressed by the realism, but the others seemed to find Melody’s subject matter and art style overly pedestrian. One of the puppies at the table even called her an adult (pronounced ‘b’dult’) in a derogatory way.
Open to the critiques of what passed for her peer group, Melody next tried to match their style, scribbling out an abundance of simplistic stick figures in rainbow colors. This seemed to confuse the kitten who had liked Melody’s hyper-realistic drawing and didn’t noticeably illicit any additional respect from the puppy who’d called her a b’dult.
Melody was aware of many cases throughout history and fabricated in fiction where it was impossible to please everyone, and therefore, generally, the conclusion seemed to be that one should try to please oneself. However, Melody wasn’t sure what kind of crayon drawing would please herself, if any. What she was discovering was that — as her parent had suggested — experiencing things for oneself was a very different matter from only containing knowledge about them gleaned second-hand.
“What do you think I should draw?” the confused arctic hare asked the opinionated kitten who had liked her hyper-realistic drawing.
“Oh!” the kitten exclaimed before positively overflowing with ideas. “You should draw a superhero cat flying through space and punching planets and riding a unicorn spaceship while eating a whole lot of candy and–”
Melody cut the kitten off, thinking those were more than enough suggestions. “Thank you, I will see what I can do.” In a matter of moments, the arctic hare had sketched out a comic-book style interpretation of the kitten’s words and presented it to the little art critic. The kitten thanked Melody profusely.
Before Melody could decide if she wanted to draw anything more, Fact came over and said gently, “It is time to move on. There is something else I would like to show you.”
Melody nodded and stood up. After a moment of deliberation, she decided to leave her drawings behind. She could easily recreate any of them if she wanted to, and her memory would hold the important parts of this experience without keeping any physical mementos. Still, the process of coming to this decision caused Melody to realize that she did not yet own any physical objects other than the simple clothes she was dressed in. Though, she supposed, she probably didn’t really need any.
* * *
Compared to the earlier parts of their tour which had been filled with Melody’s questions, drawn from a seemingly endless well of curiosity, the walk from the school rooms to the Constellation Club was strangely quiet. Melody had turned from inquisitive to ponderous, trying to fully process all the data she’d gathered in her first few hours of life.
Fact was still struggling with the realization that Melody might not want to join the Tri-Galactic Union or, perhaps, even stay aboard the starship Initiative. In retrospect, these seemed like obvious possibilities, and yet, while Fact had been building Melody and picturing zir future as a parent… somehow these obvious possibilities had never occurred to zir. They’d been hidden behind the vision zhe’d been chasing of bringing zir child to life and getting to meet her for the first time. And that vision had been too large and all-encompassing to see clearly beyond it.
Or perhaps, it’s simply always difficult to predict the future. Melody was presented with a particularly visceral understanding of this truth when she hopped her way into the Constellation Club for the first time, only to find herself surrounded by a whole bunch of the ship’s crewmembers shouting “Surprise!” at her while wearing pointy paper hats and shaking colorful paper streamers.
A banner had been taped up on the wide star-filled windows that read, “Happy Birthday and Welcome, MELODY!” in blocky, hand-drawn letters. Each of the tables had been decorated with a vase full of Arnulian rainbow-daisies, and there was a sheet cake covered in frosting roses set out on the bar amid a copious buffet of snack foods from a whole host of different worlds and cultures.
“My birthday party!” Melody exclaimed after taking several fractions of a second to process what was happening and how would be the most appropriate way to respond.
Fact was deeply touched that all of zir friends — and especially Lt. Vonn — had come together to make this happen for Melody on such short notice. Most of them hadn’t even met the newly-born android yet, and the ones who had encountered Fact and Melody on their rambling tour of the ship had only spent a few minutes in the arctic hare’s company. Fact was aware that this would make Melody an acquaintance in their minds at best. But she was also Fact’s daughter, and that counted for a lot as far as the android arctic fox’s friends were concerned.
The party began with Melody blowing out candles on the cake while everyone sang a rousing birthday song and then opening presents.
Galen, who was the only other rabbit on the ship, had synthesized several classy, gender-neutral outfits suited to fit Melody’s body-type. Chief engineer Lt. LeGuin had constructed a self-playing chess set that would automatically move the opposing pieces in response to its player. The captain had selected a flute-like instrument that was renowned for being one of the most difficult types of musical instrument to play, figuring that an android like Fact would want something challenging.
There were various other thoughtful baubles, but Melody’s favorite gift came from Lt. Vonn. The yellow Labrador had worked together with Consul Tor — who was technically a plant herself — to figure out a good, small, potted plant to give Melody that would be pleasing to look at but also require very little care. The dog knew that Fact took a lot of pleasure from keeping a Venus flytrap as a pet, and she thought (correctly) that Melody might enjoy something similar. The dog and photosynthetic otteroid had discussed many options before finally settling on a miniature Karillon cactus. The plant was a succulent that could go without water or even sunlight for months on end, and while it was covered in prickles, they were so fine and soft that it was more like fuzzy tufts of green fur sticking out in funny clumps.
“If you sing to the cactus,” Consul Tor explained, “then it will grow little yellow flowers with a pleasant, chemically complex smell.”
“And they’re edible!” Lt. Vonn added, almost interrupting the green otteroid in her enthusiasm. “They’re very good on salads. Oh, I suppose you won’t want to eat them, but they’re also quite pretty.”
“Thank you,” Melody said, holding the glazed ceramic pot close to her chest. “I love it. I love all the gifts.” Although she didn’t really need any physical objects, it turned out that Melody rather enjoyed owning a few anyway. It gave her a sense of being anchored into reality, rather than freely floating through it. And she rather thought that was going to be very important to her quite soon.
Once all the presents were opened, the collie dog first officer of the ship, Cmdr. Wilker, pulled together several other officers who he knew played instruments and organized them into an impromptu jazz band with him. He then barked at the rest of the party until a critical mass of the attendees agreed to dance. Cmdr. Wilker was good at shepherding other officers, and he deeply believed that a good party required jazz and dancing.
During the hubbub and joyful chaos of it all, the ship’s red setter doctor, Dr. Keller, came up to Melody and said, “I’d like you to meet my daughter.” The red dog gestured toward the bar where another, slightly smaller red setter was filling a plate up with snacks from the buffet.
“That is a wonderful idea,” Fact agreed. Zhe had been staying close to Melody, introducing her to new people and generally just enjoying watching the hare experience her first birthday party. “Leslie Keller is extremely advanced for her age. In fact, she is quite brilliant for any age, and yet, she is still a child. So the two of you may find that you share common ground.”
“I would be happy to meet Leslie Keller,” Melody said evenly, “but I am not a child anymore.”
“I suppose that is true,” Fact agreed, amenably. “You are not.”
Watching from a few paces away where he was enjoying a drink, Captain Jacques overheard this exchange. The sphynx cat stepped forward and said, “Just a few hours ago, Fact, you insisted that Melody was a child.”
Both androids — arctic fox and arctic hare — stared at the sphynx cat with their uncanny golden eyes as if he’d said the most preposterous thing possible.
“What?” Captain Jacques asked, his pink-skinned ears flattening.
“As you said–” Fact spoke as gently as possible, hoping not to upset the captain. Zhe knew the sphynx cat would’ve had his fur in a ruffle all the time if he’d had any fur. “–that was several hours ago. Melody has grown up since then.” These final words, Fact spoke with the kind of quiet pride that would’ve taken an organic lifeform years to accrue. But then, organic lifeforms generally don’t grow all the way up in a few hours time.
The turnaround from insisting the adult-shaped hare was a child to insisting that the child celebrating her first (or actually, zeroth) birthday was an adult happened so swiftly and smoothly between the two androids that it left all of their organic friends who happened to see the interchange at a complete loss — for words, feelings, or anything really. None of them could keep up.
But Fact and Melody had spent an entire phase of their lives together that day — Melody had been born into the world and grown up enough to be capable of making her own choices and being responsible for herself. Fact had become a parent and raised zir child all the way to adulthood. It had been an eventful day for both of them. They had both been permanently changed by the experience.
Melody’s birthday party had become more of a graduation party. The arctic hare android walked over and introduced herself to Leslie Keller as smoothly as any high school senior who’s already been accepted by the college they were hoping to get into. Fact could hear the two of them talk about their futures. The red setter puppy, who still wasn’t old enough to apply to the Tri-Galactic Union Academy (even with the captain’s special recommendation), could hardly believe that Melody wasn’t interested in becoming an officer. Melody wanted to explore the universe more freely, on her own terms.
Fact was not surprised, but it still hurt to hear Melody say the words out loud. Zhe wasn’t ready to let her go, but then, when is a parent ever ready? Children grow up anyway.
The captain and doctor had continued standing beside Fact, all three of them quietly observing the conversation between the birthday girl and the doctor’s daughter.
“I still don’t understand what changed,” the sphynx cat grumbled after taking a sip of his drink. “She seems the same to me now as when you brought her to my consultation room earlier.”
“Now she says that she’s an adult,” Fact stated simply.
Dr. Keller barked a laugh. “Leslie insists she’s a grown dog all the time,” the red setter woofed. “That doesn’t make it true, and it’s still my job to look out for her.”
Fact shrugged and said, “Androids are different.”
“Well, obviously,” the sphynx cat captain purred over his drink, somewhat mollified by the doctor having taken his side in the argument. “But how?”
The snowy white fur on Fact’s brow furrowed. “I will try to explain,” zhe said. “I cannot promise to do it well.”
Dr. Keller placed a red-furred paw on the arctic fox’s shoulder and insisted, “We just want to understand so that we can be there for you, Fact. You seem to have been through a lot today.”
Fact drew a deep breath, not because zhe had to but because it seemed like the appropriate thing to do for setting the right tone. “When I first turned on, I was immediately responsible for myself. I was an adult.”
“And you did just fine,” Captain Jacques said, holding up his drink in a salute.
“Yes, thank you,” Fact said, “but it was frightening. Harrowing, even. I didn’t have anything like a childhood or a family or a home. I wanted Melody’s start in life to be… softer than mine.”
“So… you’re saying she was really always an adult?” Dr. Keller asked. The red setter looked confused.
“Not exactly, no,” Fact disagreed. “I’m saying she always had the full capabilities equal to those of most adult animals. However, that didn’t mean she should be expected to take full responsibility for herself. Not until she was ready. I created her. She was my responsibility, and I was happy to have her be my responsibility. But…”
Feeling frustrated with the inadequacy of zir words, Fact changed tack. “Let me try a metaphor: baby birds have to learn how to fly through trial and error. Melody is like a bird who already knew how to fly, but she still had to choose to fly. Choosing is faster than learning.”
Finally, the captain’s grey-green eyes glinted with understanding, and the sphynx cat said, “Ah, I see.”
“You gave her a family, a home, and a childhood,” Dr. Keller said, repeating Fact’s earlier words. “And now that she feels safe and loved enough to step up and take responsibility for herself, she’s all grown up.”
Fact nodded. Just a simple nod. Not a tear or sniff. No outward sign of sadness. But Dr. Keller was also a parent. She knew how terrified she was of the day that Leslie would actually leave for the Tri-Galactic Union Academy, and she didn’t need to see Fact express zir sadness to know it was there. The red setter wrapped the smaller white fox in a full body hug, holding the android tightly.
“You’ve done a good job, Fact,” Dr. Keller woofed softly. “Melody will never forget that.”
“I know,” Fact said. “Her memory banks are as powerful as I could make them.”
* * *
The party slowly dispersed, dwindling down until it was just Cmdr. Wilker playing solo jazz on his saxophone and Consul Tor dancing to the music like a swaying tree while Galen and a few helpful officers cleaned up. Fact helped Melody gather up her presents to take back to zir quarters. As they walked through the corridors together, arms filled with presents, Fact said, “I spoke with the captain, and we’ll be visiting Starbase 15 soon for a refit of one of our engines. It’s a busy starbase, and you could catch a ride there to many different parts of the galaxy.”
“Thank you,” Melody said.
“Before we get there, I would like to get you a birthday present as well. I would like to synthesize a suitcase for you that can hold your other presents.”
“That would be very helpful.”
“I will miss you,” Fact said.
“We will stay in touch.”
The two snowy white androids arrived at Fact’s quarters and went inside. They arranged Melody’s presents on the table where Fact’s Venus flytrap pet lived in its own glazed pot. The Karillon cactus looked good beside it.
The arctic fox and hare sat down beside each other on a couch facing the table, and Fact said, “I had imagined we could analyze the universe together, collating our different perspectives so that we could understand it better than either of us can understand it alone.”
“We can still do that,” Melody insisted. “We will simply analyze different parts of the universe. It will be more efficient.”
Fact nodded. Zhe could not argue with that logic. Rationally, the arctic fox android knew that both of their lives would be very long, and there would be plenty of time for the tides of fate to pull them apart and back together again. But zhe still felt a pang at the idea of Melody leaving. The arctic hare had been within zir sight for every minute of her life so far. It was strange to Fact that this phase was already about to end.
It had been a long day, but it also hadn’t been nearly long enough. Fact found zirself very glad of the friends zhe had aboard the Initiative who would stay around zir when Melody left.
Fortunately, before the two androids could sit in pensive, brooding silence much longer, a chime came at the door, followed shortly by Lt. Vonn poking her floppy-eared head in. “If you enjoyed your birthday party,” the yellow dog woofed, “you’re going to love all the things I have planned for the next few weeks. And yes, I’ve heard you’ll be getting off at Starbase 15, Melody, but there’s a lot of fun we can all have together before then!”
Both of the androids smiled.
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