Changes

Phil and Dave are friends who have a relationship similar to that of brothers. They did not go to college together but when Phil went to Messina to practice medicine he found Dave in a little robot repair shop. Phil specialized in endocrinology and had a fond understading of glands, secretions, hormones and miscellanies which are the physical causes of emotions. Their relationship grew stronger and when Phil started dating a twin, Dave found the other attrative and they becames a foursome. They lived in a little apartment near the rocket fields, although noisy they loved it as the rocket launches discourages apartment building. Phil and Dave owned a female robot, most importantly she was somewhat of a maid to them. She cooked and cleaned and everything was swell until one day Lena (the female robot) accidentally put vanilla on their steak instead of salt. It was then that they discarded Lena and ordered the newest, state of the art utility model from a company called Dillard. The result was Helen. Her designation was K2W88, deciding it was not interesting they named her Helen O'loy instead (getting the name from Helen of Troy, but "of Troy" was also bland to them). They unpacked and unwrapped Helen from her box and began preparing the diagrams and schematics for Helen. They decided that they were going to implant her with memory coils and artificial glands so that she may act more human and that she may learn from her experiences. Later that night they decided they were going to activate her the next morning so they went to bed. The next morning Dave woke up Phil saying that Mrs. Van Styler's son became infatuated with a servant girl and wanted Phil to go to Maine where they were and give counter hormones. Phil left for Maine leaving Dave to watch Helen, Dave was not supposed to activate Helen while he was away but he did. Dave ran tests and everything was satisfactory he went down to work. With Helen still somewhat an empty vessel he showed her what her duties were around the house when that was finished he sat her down besides the "stereovisor" which is basically TV. Very curious and still learning Helen watched sitcoms and a futurisitc soap opera. She also found Dave's books. Having been exposed to these images and emotions she became very loving towards Dave, but Dave did no feel the same. Dave slowly went into a depression and started drinking. 3 Week later Phil returned home when Archy was cured (the son of Mrs. Van Styler). Helen and Dave both gave their version of the story to Phil and later decided that he was going to wipe her memory, but then decided not to. With Dave's growing depression he sold his repair shop and left to become a rancher. Phil stayed with Helen but noticed Helen missed Dave alot and was also growing in a depression. Again Phil decided he was going to wipe Helen's memory because she was suffering and unhappy but Phil forbid him from doing so. With the time that Dave spent alone on the ranch he learned the folly of his ways and let Helen live with him on the ranch, somewhat of a husband and wife farmer. Years have passed, Dave and Phil grew older but Helen did not. One morning a letter came from Helen saying that Dave had died from heart complications and that she was going to die eventually also. He asked Phil to make sure that they were buried together and that the moticians did not find out about Helen. The story ends with Phil stating that he should have gotten married and had children, "but there was only one, Helen O'loy".