Narrator: The following is a transcription of Megoplolis City Police Audio Record #8765648, as recorded by Edmond Beck, Police Psychiatrist First Class on April 12, 2121.

Beck: This is police psychiatrist Beck. 04-12-21, 11:22 p.m. Called in on domestic disturbance incident. I… Jesus, what the Hell happened here?

Pause.

Beck: OK, I'm at Sector Q Highrise... Officer?

Officer: Um, Highrise Complex BETA7483, Apartment #3958.

Beck: Thanks. I'm standing in what appears to be the living room, which is the only entry access, standard BETA apartment set-up. There seems to be debris everywhere. Metal, plastic, silicone, rubber, wires, circuit boards, shells and casings. The pieces are broken and scattered, dispersed and destroyed in such a methodic manner as to leave no clue as to what they previously constituted. I'm talking really small. Jeez, what a mess.
Neighbors called in over noise. Officers investigated. It appeared that occupant, one Henry Luddle, violently destroyed what appears to be a number of appliances, though the devices were broken down to unrecognizable components. No apparent motive, and Luddle was unresponsive to the officers. Records show Luddle had been seeing a psychiatrist, so I was called in.
Is that correct, officer?

Officer: Yes.

Beck: Anything else to add for the report?

Officer: Not really. You can pretty much see for yourself.

Beck: OK. Where's Mr. Luddle?

Officer: Over behind the couch. He hasn't said much. No charges have been made. Neighbors decided not to press on the disturbance, and I guess it isn't against the law to dismantle a coffee maker or whatever this all was.

Beck: Thanks. Nice hand, by the way. Asian?

Officer: Thai. Cost a pretty credit.

Beck: Looks like it.

Pause.

Beck (softly): Mr. Luddle Is seated cross-legged on the floor. He's a thin man, average height but slight in build, and has his arms wrapped around his small chest. I tried to call up his files, but the homeothread is currently down.

Pause. Crunching sounds, the mechanical debris crushed underfoot as Beck walks across the room.

Beck: Mr. Luddle? I'm a police psychiatrist. I would like to talk to you and find out what happened tonight. May I record our conversation? By granting this permission, you acknowledge the right of the state to utilize the record in court. Do you understand this right?

Luddle: Uh. Sure. You're a psych-cop?

Beck: Yes, Mr. Luddle. I'm here to help you.

Pause.

Beck: What happened tonight, Mr. Luddle?

Luddle: I... I'm not sure. I'm having trouble remembering.

Pause.

Luddle: Did I break something?

Pause.

Beck: Is something the matter, Mr. Luddle? I mean the way you're looking at me…

Luddle: Your eye…

Beck: Oh, it's Swiss. Nice design, huh? One of my few extravagances.

Pause.

Beck: So, Mr. Luddle, you have been seeing Dr. Young, a psychiatrist?

Luddle: Uh-huh.

Beck: You're seeing him because..?

Luddle: I… I have a fear of prosthetics and body part replacements.

Pause.

Luddle: I have no enhancements.

Pause.

Beck: None?

Luddle: None.

Beck: I see.

Luddle: And I'm... Uh, uncomfortable with them in others.

Beck: Oh.

Luddle: It wasn't really a problem, per se, until the dog. Lucy.

Beck: Dog?

Luddle: An Irish setter. Oh, I doted on Lucy. She was so smart-- I almost thought she knew what I was thinking.

Beck: And what happened with the dog?

Luddle: You see, Madge, my fiancée, she loved having Lucy about, even took care of her when I went out of town for work. Madge was so sweet about it, so kind. Until I one time, she...

Beck: Please go on.

Luddle: Well, it was my birthday, and Madge decided to surprise me, which was just like her. She was always doing special things like that. It's just… Madge had Lucy enhanced, but not any one part, all of her parts. They replaced her.

Beck: Yes, I'm familiar with process. They break down all the brain's components and…

Luddle: 'Isn't it wonderful!' That's what Madge said. 'Lucy's completely solid state, all memory intact.' She meant well. I mean, her intensions were so loving, but I thought I was going to be sick, physically ill. Literally ill. I tasted bile in my throat, my stomach cramped. Lucy was all gleaming metal, bright, shiny and new, so not alive. I told Madge I had the flu and needed to go. I didn't want her to see me like that.
I took Lucy home, but she wasn't Lucy. I don't think Madge would have understood my feelings. We were getting married. We were... I...

Luddle crys.

Pause.

Luddle: I couldn't live with the metal dog. Touching it made my hands shake. After a while, I couldn't even look at it directly. It would do everything that Lucy did, chew on her toy bone, bark at the doorbell, but it wasn't her. It was all wrong.
And it wanted to be petted, to rub against me, to sleep at the foot of my bed. She kept me up at night, scratching at the door constantly. But it wasn't my Lucy. She would whine, and I would hear her and want to let her in, but the idea of seeing that thing... With the best of intentions, they had killed my dog and replaced her with something synthetic.
It horrified me. I even thought of breaking it.

Beck: And what happened?

Luddle: I had some friends come and take the Lucy-thing away. I lied to Madge, to not hurt her feelings. Though maybe I was afraid to tell her and have her think I was insane. But the lying was so horrible. Do you know what she said? Madge said, 'That was so sad you had to give up Lucy. They had done such a nice job on her, too.'
So I began to see Dr. Young... I don't know if he helped much with my phobia, but he made me realize a few things. I remember him asking if I was being fair to Madge, not telling her about my fears, and that really bothered me. He had a way of saying things like, 'Won't she notice this peculiarity if she is going to live with you for the rest of your lives?'

Beck: Did you tell her?

Luddle: I decided to talk to Madge tonight, our wedding night.

Beck: Did you?

Luddle: I can't remember.

Beck: Do you remember anything?

Luddle: We came in, and I… we both were kind of nervous. We had never… I mean... We hadn't... Well, we were just married. Madge said she wanted to make herself ready, y'know, special for our wedding night. So she went into the bedroom. And I waited. Poured myself a drink. We talked through the door.

Beck: About anything in particular?

Luddle: I wanted to talk about my fear. I guess I was also nervous about that, too. I said, 'Can I ask you something?' And Madge replied, from the bedroom, 'I should think so, now that I'm Mrs. Luddle.' I thought that was sweet. I said… I…

Pause.

Beck: Then what did you say, Mr. Luddle?

Luddle: I said, 'Madge, If you had a knife and you replaced the blade would It still be the same knife?' She said something like, 'A knife? What are you going on about, Henry?' So I asked her to humor me and repeated the question, if it was still the same knife. 'Well, I guess It would be,' she said, 'Though I never pictured my honeymoon being like this.' And I said, 'What if, years later, you replaced the handle, would It still be the same knife?' She was still back in the bedroom, but I could hear her say, 'Hmmm. It's like the tree falling In the woods and no one hears It, right?'

Pause.

Beck: Then what happened, Mr. Luddle?

Luddle: She said...

Beck: What did she say, Henry?

Luddle: She said she was ready.

Beck: Then?

Luddle: I said… I said that we could discuss it later, and…

Pause.

Beck: Yes, Mr. Luddle?

Luddle: She came out.

Pause.

Luddle: She was different.

Beck: Different?

Luddle: Like Lucy was different. It…

Pause.

Luddle: I... I don't remember anything else.