Wonko the Sane and Ford Prefect | H2G2 | That bar from their canon

[mm_z]

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[fixitblowitup]

"Is there something wrong with your robot?"

The girl with the thick glasses is addressing you, Ford.

[ix_imeanford]

Ford looks up at her.

"Strictly speaking, it's not mine and I'm trying to disable its security circuits, but otherwise, yes."

He has odd ideas about when honesty is required, and when he should lie. It's basically the exact opposite of most people.

[fixitblowitup]

"Why?"

If it's a good reason, she'll probably even help; it's not as if Lucca hasn't done her fair share of asset liberation.

[ix_imeanford]

"Because it's useless if all it does is cry at me every time I tell it to do something."

Duh.

[fixitblowitup]

"Oh, is there something wrong with its programming then?" she asks, coming a bit closer. "I might be able to do something about that..."

[ix_imeanford]

"Not wrong, as such," Ford says.

When the robot stops wailing, he takes the towel off and crams the sonic screwdriver into a gap in its casing.

"It's just not programmed to respond well to anyone who's not its actual owner. But I need something to be able to fetch drinks for me."

In other words, he stole the robot.

[fixitblowitup]

"Well, why not just get one that's actually programmed to obey you? It'd be easier than wrestling with a stolen robot."

She's starting to feel bad for the robot now; sure, it seems like it probably doesn't have real AI, but she can still feel empathy.

[ix_imeanford]

"Yes, but this way's cheaper."

That's the important thing.

[fixitblowitup]

She has to laugh at that.

"I can't argue with that. Do you want me to take a look at it?"

[ix_imeanford]

"Do you think you can?" asks Ford.

Without waiting for an answer, he hands her the sonic screwdriver, assuming she knows how to use the thing.

[fixitblowitup]

"I can give it a shot," she replies.

She's never seen a sonic screwdriver in her life, but this is a girl who invented a teleportation machine, and created a device that uses a micro-black hole for a power source. Among other things. It doesn't take her long to figure it out.

"Nice," she comments, mostly to herself, before tackling the job on the robot. "...This is just a temporary measure," she says after a little while. "You're going to have to change the hardware, if you want to change it long term. I could do that too, but it'd take longer."