Android technology had come a long way by the beginning of the 21st Century. Competition among the economic superpowers had made it imperative that companies find out what the public actually wanted (even if said public wasn't always clear about that) and could afford to pay for. With large numbers of post-World War II workers – also known as Baby Boomers, though they were now far from being babies – becoming retirees, entrepreneurs had realized that there might not be enough workers in younger generations to care for them. Many retirees lived alone, but couldn't afford assisted-living arrangements. Why not use androids rather than humans to care for these people? People were used to getting answers from the likes of Siri and Alexa, so maybe these helpers could provide physical assistance as well.

There were now at least six companies pumping out robotic valets, gofers, and even nurses for the older retirees and the first wave of the Baby Boomers. Androids were becoming easier to assemble, and could be sold as kits to do-it-yourselfers like Sigismund.

There was yet another market beginning to open up: android-to-android communication. Renfrew had heard about the Androidnet, but Sigismund had programmed him to doubt that it had anything to do with him. Now, though, his conversations in Androids R We had made him realize that maybe he was missing out on something. He loved talking to Curlew, and wanted to stay in touch at home.

Renfrew wondered if do it-yourselfers could assemble androids as complex as Curlew. Well, not all do-it-yourselfers, as Curlew was amazingly close to being human. He had passed the Turing test many times. Even a doctor would be deceived at first. Curlew could eat, take showers, even go swimming without short-circuiting. Renfrew, by contrast, looked rather a lot like the tin man from "Wizard of Oz." What you see is what you get, he thought to himself as the tuneup began.

Paulh