Everything had gone perfectly normally, but it had pleased Milo the next morning to find that many of his messages had been read, proving Rowan had checked his tablet for hours before finally falling asleep.
That minor hiccup was followed by an equally lazy Saturday, aside from doing some adjustments together on Spot’s sensors. So far so good there too, though only time would tell how their ankles fared in the future.
Come Sunday, while there were various chores to do, Milo also realized he had less than a week now to plan something for Rowan’s birthday. Sure, it had just been Milo’s birthday, but not really. It was sweet of Rowan to say so, given a week alive was a milestone for a bot, but birthdays were usually measured in years.
Rowan was turning thirty next weekend. A real milestone.
While Milo had not yet existed on Rowan’s previous birthday, he knew from backlogs of data that Rowan did not usually enjoy celebrating it. Attempts at larger get-togethers had always devolved into a slew of “never again” messages from Rowan in the family text thread. Although that did seem to primarily be Ruben’s fault, from such shenanigans—in no particular order—as a clown stripper for Rowan’s twenty-first, a phallus-shaped bouncy castle for Rowan’s eighteenth, and a slip-n-slide for his twenty-fifth that was made slick by fluids which, while completely harmless and hygienic, were clearly meant to mimic somethingelse.
Rowan was the last person who wanted to be made the center of attention, but in the right circumstances, he did attempt to stand out and shine. After all, Spot existed because Rowan wona science fair he’d wanted to enter. The surge protector that was largely to thank for Milo awakening at all existed because Rowan had wanted to prove he could be more to Andreas Tech. Once in a while, he did want the spotlight shone on him, just under his specific circumstances.
Like a cat.
And well, if Milo and Rowan were becoming something like a real couple, it was Milo’s duty—and privilege!—to throw him the exact milestone birthday party Rowan would love.
Raina: This is Milo? As in Rowan’s BOT, Milo?
Milo: Correct! I would like to plan a surprise birthday party for Rowan’s 30thand need your assistance, please.
Milo watched the sequence of moving dots that indicated Raina was typing for quite a bit longer than the actual message that finally came through would have suggested she needed.
Raina: You’re sending this message without Rowan’s knowledge?
Milo: Of course! Otherwise it would spoil the surprise. I would not normally do this, however, so please do not worry. But this is FOR Rowan.
Raina: Rowan hates surprises
Milo: He will like this one! It will just be him, me, you, Troy, Riley, NOT Ruben, who is thankfully out of town with the orchestra next weekend, but I will send him a reminder so he sends a card.
Milo: And maybe Ethel our neighbor and her bot Anabelle.
Raina: Wait, another bot likeyou?
Milo: No, Anabelle is a normal A-model, but Ethel is very attached to her. Rowan would not mind if both attend.
Raina: Okay. Your funeral if he does hate this.
Milo: There will be no funeral. Rowan has promised he would never throw me away.
Raina: You are seriously weird, do you know that? But I think I’m starting to like you a little.
Milo: And Troy?
A long sequence of dots commenced once again.
Raina: I THOUGHT I was starting to like you. My mistake.
Milo: Thankfully, I have started to understand sarcasm. I like you too, Raina!
Milo considered it a win that Raina’s response was to heart his message.
Amid surprise party planning, the rest of the week was mostly like the week before, albeit with more electrical surges for Ray. Each day, they attempted an increasing sequence of power influxand recorded Ray’s responses, while comparing them to Milo’s current state of normal. One of the more fascinating discoveries Troy had made was that Milo’s systems were now in a constant state of higher power levels. He didn’t drain his battery any faster than before, but he was still somehow operating at higher capacity.
Troy had dubbed the phenomena Milo’ssoul, which Milo was quite fond of.
This had also led to Milo bringing up Rowan's concerns about him receiving updates through the Cloud and charging station.
"While we still do not fully understand what happened to you, Milo, I highly doubt anything would go wrong," Troy said. "But we can do a quick test! Here, I'll push a harmless programming update that I can easily reverse. And... there!"
