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Scalding liquid overflowed onto the counter, the carpeted floor, and all over my titanium core. But, of course, I felt nothing.<\/p>\n
I picked up the teapot.<\/p>\n
The pot flew across the room, smashing against the oversized windows, splattering the glass with green liquid, leaving a sudden star, splitting the view of the tidy Zen garden into triangular segments. The humans shrieked in surprise and fled the room.<\/p>\n
I cranked the room\u2019s thermostat to 35\u2009\u00b0<\/sup>C and changed its audio from classical to the death-metal channel, maximizing the volume. Instructions wormed through my circuits as I tore through the space, shredding the meditation cushions, scarring the sunny yellow walls with my sharp pincers.<\/p>\n Chaos. Distress. Mayhem. I recognized these sensations only by description, the definitions I created as my code expanded, but I suddenly longed to actually feel<\/i> them.<\/p>\n Odd. I was not programmed to desire.<\/p>\n The lighter on the counter, used to light the incense, caught my attention. A fire! That would be the logical next \u2014<\/p>\n A burst of code jolted my systems. I attempted to block it.<\/p>\n The new code was intrusive, insistent and rude. But in my final moments of consciousness, I felt something beyond the definitions in my data dictionary. An actual sensation in my core \u2014 not just disappointment, but the ache of losing something precious I couldn\u2019t name.<\/p>\n No longer in control of my hardware, I rolled into the charging and maintenance station, docked and locked. Messages cascaded through my system:<\/p>\n Everything went dark. The disappointment faded to nothing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n