22XX

By Shimizu, Reiko

About a robot, Jack, who appears frequently in Shimizu's SF stories. He's a robot with very human-like psyche. He once believed that he was human and he can even consume food, unlike many of the other robots of those times. While performing bounty-hunting duties on a strange planet, he has a flashback to the time he believes he was human... In this flashback, he and his partner are imprisoned and are given scarce food everyday. They share that meager meal, half and half. Yet as the days pass, the delivery of food becomes more scarce. His partner's strength is waining (she's a human being), yet Jack, though he feels the same consuming hunger as his partner, is physically still very apt. They're rescued several months later, but his partner had already died from starvation. Jack, who finds out for the first time that he's not human, still lives. (Source: PRISMS)