Jon thought frantically. Robots in movies and TV were often super-intelligent. Jon didn't seem to be. Maybe it had something to do with that emulation thing... his mind couldn't be running as fast as the robot could run if it has to work that way. "I guess I'll tell.."
"Who?" wondered Karyn.
"I... oh, I don't know, Karyn. Mom and Dad, maybe. I'd ask you to get the stone first. You don't think my folks threw it away, do you?"
"I came to visit once," explained Karyn. "People inherited your things. Mostly your brother and sister. They offered me some letters I had written to you. No porn stash, and I have no idea who'd get it. Maybe it's in a box in the attic waiting for Mikey to get old enough. Maybe they just refuse to deal with it because it reveals something uncomfortable." Karyn paused awkwardly. "Does it? Just, well, wondering. I mean, since apparently the way for you to get the greatest possible happiness is to be a girl. Is there anything about your porn stash that would really upset anyone?"
"I don't think so," said Jon. "It was naked girls, that's pretty much it. There's..." She leaned close to whisper, despite herself. "one with a whip, there's this spread with two women..."
"Enough," said Karyn. "I don't make you look at yaoi, you don't need to give me the details of your porn stash."
"I must confess I never thought I'd die and have to explain it. You know what the real problem is? You know about the stone, so you're willing to believe impossible things. If I were to tell anyone other than you that I'm a robot and I'm really Jon, they'd think I'm nuts."
"Can you prove it? lift big things? Run as fast as a car?"
"My body's responding like a human body, so I don't think so. But I haven't tried. Maybe we'd better talk to Anne."
Jon led Karyn to the farmhouse. It was barely out in the countryside, not really that far. Of course, it couldn't be hundreds of miles away; after all, the stone did have a limited range. It was a bit on the far side to walk, but no problem to reach by bus.
Jon decided to knock before trying the key Anne had lent her. "It's me, Anne."
"Hello, Jon," said a woman's voice.
"Anne? My friend Karyn's with me."
Anne opened the door and led them both in. "You did well," she said to Jon. "You must have, if you're here with your friend. She believes you, right?"
"You're Dr. Anne?" said Karyn.
"Dr. Anne Larue."
"Nice to meet you. Yes, I believe Jon."
"I must confess I have no idea how she did it. What did she tell you?"
"What she told me is private," explained Karyn, careful to not to slip between pronouns. "But there are very special circumstances, and I don't just mean her telling me things nobody else would know. The reason I believed Jon literally isn't possible with anyone else. At all."
"Yeah," said Jon. "We need your help in order to tell anyone else. Even before I can tell people I'm Jon in a robot, I have to tell people I am a robot. And that's completely unbelievable, since I can't open myself up and show wires and stuff. Maybe if you can explain exactly what this body can do. I could do something only a robot could do like bend a metal bar. Or you could program me to do so."
"You're designed to have enough flexibility to look human. There's only so much I could do while keeping that true. You're around four times as strong and fast as a human. You could bend a small metal bar of the right thickness, but a human being could bend one of half that thickness. It's not enough of a difference to look dramatic. You could run, but people could just think you're a very fast runner even if they don't understand how that's possible."
"I have an idea," said Karyn. "Maybe you have some other inventions. Surely if you can demonstrate a jetpack or something, people would be more likely to believe that robots are real too."
"I don't have that," she said. "I think I've found a room temperature superconductor, but it would take a long time before I could use it to make something big and obvious."
"Please," said Jon. "You have to do something. Please, Mom?"
"I suppose I am," she said. "I wish I could do something, but I really don't have any ideas. And about that..."
"What?" replied Jon.
"Well, there's one way I can help you. That whole 'Mom' thing? You could say you are my daughter. You were staying out of town but just came here. Go to school and meet your friends, have someone to tell your family you are before you can tell the truth."
"I..." said Jon. "I don't think it's possible. It's a nice offer, but I don't have a Social Security number, or a birth certificate, or a driver's license, and you certainly haven't declared me on your taxes."
Anne laughed. "Do you think I'd make you an offer like that without considering that? There's a great computer hacker who lives just down the road. He owes me a favor, and he said he can do it. Just pick a name for yourself. Go to your room and think over which one you want."
"That's impossible," said Jon.
"I believe it," said Karyn."
"It's the truth," said Anne. A loud buzz suddenly filled the air. "Hold on, I have to go check on an experiment," she explained, and went off.
"I'm glad she's gone," said Karyn. "Now we can talk. Don't you see? If the whole point is to give you and your loved ones the greatest happiness, it would have had to take care of things like this no matter how unlikely. If it means conjuring up an impossible hacker as well as an impossible scientist, that's what it does."
"I'm worried about that," said Jon. "My family's the happiest if they think I'm dead? I'm willing to try the robot, especially if I'll be able to change back someday when my brain's developed enough, but I know that that the way to bring happiness to those you love is not to have them think you're dead. If the stone's smart enough to make a hacker to give me a new identity, why doesn't it just make my family just magically believe it's me?"
"Maybe it did make them magically believe it's you. How would you know? You haven't spoken to them."
"In that case, why the hacker? It's obviously a set up so I can be Anne's daughter for a while. Having my family know would ruin that. I can't help but think that there's some kind of loophole here where greatest happiness isn't. I hope you manage to find that porn stash...."
