– Android?
– Android.
– Light me in the dawn. It's the same everywhere.
– The worlds are parallel. What about you?
– We still have all of this experimentally, in its infancy, as it were. But it is a very promising direction.
– We too were enthusiastic about it at first, and then, when they let the genie out of the bottle....
They looked at each other again, and Joseph had an astonished look on his face. The Rabbi explained:
– The technology went first, but afterward the ladies took over and gave the males a shove.
– What do you mean?
Ruthra stopped. The look on his face showed that the effect of what the ISKI from the alternate worlds had said had not softened the blow; his face had become more tense. Seeing this, an already wary Rangit added:
– They made an android lover too, and now men were no longer needed. This became the premise of the battle. By the way, the ladies have equipped their android with the logic of power. He has had a program shoved into him that he must reach the number 100 to not be rejected by his androids. According to the program put into him, he must always maintain the integrity of his body.
– What do you mean…what do you mean by integrity?
– Well, his penis could be replaced," the "Bedouin" smiled, covering his mouth with his palm, "but not you?
– Ah. What penis is there to replace, so far we have only the heart, kidneys are replaced, that is more important vital organs.
Rabbi looked at Rutra in surprise:
– The heart can, but the penis can't?
Now Ruthra was hesitating:
– Indeed… it seems they even change the floor, but not like you, I think – zhizk! – and took off, put another one in place. No, it's a whole procedure. A surgical operation.
The ISKIN pressed his lips together and raised his eyebrows. Ruthra smiled in response.
– The ladies made his penis removable," the Bedouin continued with a chuckle, "and if he behaved badly, that is, not as they wanted, they would disable his erection, and sometimes… remove his penis altogether, as a sign of special punishment.
– I suppose a mentally healthy person should at least smile at this point," Ruthra said ironically, and then, not seeing Rangit's reaction, noted the fact of his multiple personalities and alien variation, "Don't worry, I've ascertained your sanity. You've touched on a very important concept of setting the so-called norm… normality.
– I apologize, I should remind you, I run bodies, but I am in no way the same person, by the way, as you are at the moment.
– I'm aware of that," Ruthra smiled broadly.
– No, Rutra Tigrovich, judging by your style of speech, you're talking to a human, and I'm just gathering information in this body, in this addon mission. You understand my role perfectly well. Perhaps I will transfer my essence into another body.
– Hmm. Yes indeed… now that you, or rather you, Rangit, have spoken in gamer terms, I have seen in reality who is in front of me. But I have to correct you – it's not you who flips your essence, it's me… or people like me.
They stopped, exchanged glances, and there was no animosity, no fear, no distrust. Although they were alien to each other, they were alien in this curious combination: Rabbi and Joseph were probably colleagues, perhaps even friends in real life, for Arimathean was a rabbi; Ruthra and Rangit were also colleagues to some extent, at least working on the project together. And yet, looking into the Bedouin's eyes, despite the fact that Ruthra had developed the technology himself, he was a little frightened: for now that it was possible to travel across worlds, any interlocutor could be anyone from any world.
After a studied eye contact, Ruthra broke the pause.
– Whatever kind of Rangit you are, I don't doubt your sanity," Ruthra confirmed his understanding of his interlocutor's psychotype.
A few seconds of silence spoke of the reflection of the interlocutors. The Arimathean interrupted the silence again:
– I am referring to the concept of a person being considered mentally healthy as a norm. After all, it can be inherent to this time of chronological development of society, and only in this region, even only in a certain enclave. And if we talk about worlds, then the whole concept collapses here. The same, by the way, can be said about religion and faith. One part of society can easily consider those who do not believe in God as deluded and inhuman. And this will not be a fashionable judgment in line with the general trend, but a sincere conviction. And the other part can consider those who believe in God or gods as absolutely archaic, primitive, unenlightened and even wild because of their worldviews. However, we digress.
Silence.
– Wait a minute, wait a minute. I beg your pardon. We have time to talk about the gods. But I'd like to talk about androids, about the method of raising them.
Ruthra exhaled air sharply through his nostrils:
– I don't really have much to say about it. I don't even mind finding out how your society has evolved in this direction. By the way, you are a Rangit, that is now a network of supercomputers from several worlds… you can get access, with my permission, of course, to the available information inside our Rangit. Pardon the expression.
– I would love to explore your world.
– Please. Just finish the thought of your fellow tribesmen, the androids. I hope you're not offended by such rhetoric.
– Why should it be? It's flattering," Rabbi stroked his beard and scratched a little at the stubble on his cheeks. – I was talking about the way androids were brought up – the ladies deprived them of their penis, if, of course, this organ can be so characterized when speaking of humanoid robots. That is, as a special punishment, they would remove the android's penis. But that was at first, too. Then they came up with another trick. The reason for this was a conflict between the two programs. There were even casualties. Robots started refusing to give access to their bodies. The penis had to be removed somehow. And in order for the android to understand the logic, it was necessary to remove it as if from a living one, that is, to take it away and thus show the power of people. And they take it and rebel. It all started with this… When investigating a case, it turned out that one cunning type, a grandfather by age, but a young man by clone-option, decided to test his android, and for the test he used not eunuchs – we call those who make sex tests for androids – but the android itself. And how do you think he got him involved, how did he get him interested? Well, here's how: they added an option to the program so that the male android could be charged through his penis, and the charging socket was made… I hope you understand.
– Ha, that's funny. Then how did he initially become interested in exercise? Was it a mandatory program?
– The charging itself did not have a compulsion option, it had an option to be mobile, so the limb functions would gradually shut down as the battery was drained. First they slowed down when, for example, there was no solar charging, and after that, if there was no stationary charging, whether wired or wireless, one hand would shut down, then the penis in men, and then they slowed down and eventually all motor functions were completely shut down.
– This again begs the question, why would he, an android, want to be mobile? But okay, we have the immediate mission program.
– Hmmm, I told you, he was programmed to want that.....
Suddenly the two interlocutors were thinking about the same thing. It was clear from their simultaneous slowing down, from their gazes at each other, which expressed penetrating thoughtfulness, and from the simultaneous change in their facial expressions. Each thought – what program had been put into him? One was thinking about God, the other about