Philip # 47 walked into the space station lounge. He surveyed the patrons and went to sit with a girl he had met a week ago.
"Hi, Ginger," he greeted her.
"Hi Philip. What brings you out tonight?"
"Three pump modules broke down so I cannot continue until they are replaced."
She didn't offer him a drink because she was fully aware that he was an android, a new model, but an android, none the less. Ginger's curiosity was burning brightly. "Do you have any feelings at all?" she asked.
"No, they are supposed to come out with an emotion card next year, though. I'm not sure I want one."
"Why not? Don't you want the full human experience?"
"I'm not sure that I do. I have seen much apparent pain caused by emotions. I do not know what a strong negative emotion might do to my circuitry. I might get angry and hurt someone. That would not be a good thing."
"That's true, but on the other hand, you would experience joy, love and sadness, all of which are part of the human condition."
"I would like to experience love. But even love seems to cause great sadness sometimes. How could I adjust to that? I have no experience."
"Surely the circuit designers and programmers would compensate for that. After all, we can't have a bunch of angry supermen running around, now can we?"
"I must do some research before I am ready to make a rational decision."
"By the way, are you a fully functional android?" she asked curiously.
"Yes, I am equipped with everything a human male is equipped with."
She took another sip of her drink. "Would you show me?"
"I cannot do it here. To do so would violate my social graces programming and render me inoperative."