...and he'd thought he was out of date. The AI contains his amusement—and any too-flippant retorts. The human is always right, even when they're stupid. Or when his own curiosity gets overridden.

"Visual recording device. They let humans observe things without being there. Or make home videos of like, cats."

Has the mainframe ever seen a cat himself? No. But you'd be surprised what people store on the work computer.

"This one's hooked up to the terminal you're speaking with. So I can see anyone nearby."