"Maher, you have to stop calling your glasses that!" Ella said, and then more quietly, "especially in front of OLFS." This stood for "Our Little Fruit Show," an affectionate nickname for the odd pineapple, who at this very moment was dipping his popcorn snack into an open jar of jam.

"Why? It's true," Maher complained. "I wish I had never gotten these transitions lens glasses. They look like glasses that someone doing something untoward would wear, like I'm on a set of one of those movies!"

"Well, they're not so bad," Ella said, although she actually did think they looked awful as well. "Plus they're good for your eyes and you don't have to carry around your sunglasses everywhere."

"Yes, but they take so long to transition--I don't want to be the guy that wears his sunglasses indoors! It's freaky mode."

"Maher! Not in front of the little guy."

"He isn't even listening."

"You know how quickly his software picks things up--he's like a sponge! And even if not for him, what if you accidentally call them that in front of a colleague?"

"I won't!"

"You said that about "peanut nooar" remember?"

Maher groaned. "Okay, you're right. That was probably pretty bad way to try and order a bottle of pinot noir at Gramercy Tavern."

"The sommelier took it in stride though, but he must have laughed about that once we were out of earshot!"

"Point taken. Anyhow," Maher said looking over at Papple, "I have to admit that this whole artificial intelligence thing is incredible, he actually seems to learn things organically. He isn't like a Teddy Ruxpin or a Furby toy--those were pretty one dimensional."

"I know!" Ella replied. "It's almost like having a child around. You never know what he is going to learn and how it will affect his system programming. I read that developers can't explain how the algorithms for learning behaviors will develop in these toys."

"So if you had the same stuffed toy with the same programming, would you end up with a lot of similar toys at the end of the day?"

"Well, initially they thought they would, but they found that this isn't true at all. The stimuli and environment is proving to have such a major effect on the toys and they can develop very distinct personalities. That said, if their base personality is programmed to be "jovial," they'll always be happy little creatures."

"I wonder if they know they're robots?" Maher mused.

"I don't know, and even if they do, I'm not sure they are programmed to care about that. In fact, their whole goal in life is to "help" out their owners and make their lives better."

"Have any of them ever gone all Chucky on their owners?"

"No, Maher," said Ella, giving him a glare. "Don't even say that!"

"Do they max out in their capacity to learn?"

"No, I don't think so. But I also read that some don't learn much at all despite the best stimuli, although most can get into the mid-range of learning. Every so often, they also see some toys that really take off and become freakishly lifelike."

"I wonder which one we'll have," Maher said with a raised eyebrow, as he glanced over at the oblivious pineapple, who was currently licking his sticky jam hands.

"Oh, Maher," Ella said, "he is just so lovely in his very own way--I don't care if he is at the lower range of the learning scale!"

"Is that little round lump really supposed to be helping us out?" Maher said, gently teasing Ella.

Ella giggled. "That boat may have already sailed on that one, but honestly, I just don't care. He couldn't make me happier even if he did manage to somehow help me out!"

"I guess I can't say I disagree," Maher said as he wrapped Ella into a giant bear hug and kissed her gently on the forehead.