A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)

by Becky Chambers

The intense feeling of containment within the City became intolerable.

The robot looked a touch offended. “I would never call you just an animal, Sibling Dex.” It turned its gaze to the road, head held high. “We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.”

This is an exchange, remember? These things will happen.”

“That’s how we function, not how we perceive.”

“You see, this is my problem. Most of my kind have a focus—not as sharply focused as Two Foxes or Black Marbled Rockfrog, necessarily, but they have an area of expertise, at least. Whereas I … I like everything. Everything is interesting. I know about a lot of things, but only a little in each regard.”

“I appreciate the intent. I really do. But if you don’t want to infringe upon my agency, let me have agency.

“So, the paradox is that the ecosystem as a whole needs its participants to act with restraint in order to avoid collapse, but the participants themselves have no inbuilt mechanism to encourage such behavior.”

faced with the prospect of entering the world unaided, unaltered, Dex felt helpless.

You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do.”

I don’t know what my pieces were before they were me, and I don’t know what they’ll become after. All I have is right now, and at some point, I’ll just end, and I can’t predict when that will be, and—and if I don’t use this time for something, if I don’t make the absolute most of it, then I’ll have wasted something precious.”

“how does the idea of maybe being meaningless sit well with you?”

“Because I know that no matter what, I’m wonderful,”