I don’t move, I can’t. The small creature is still staring at me. It isn’t even blinking. The brilliant light blue of its eyes are almost the only speck of colour on it. Its fur is a pale white, dusted with grey, which makes it blend into the snow almost perfectly. The small thing’s nose is pink though.

It blinks slowly, lazily, but I still cannot move. Is it about to attack me? It looks like it might. Its small body is bundled tightly, huddled on the snow. Surely, it must be cold. Snow is cold, isn’t it? The little thing seems to be made entirely of fluff though, maybe that’s keeping it warm. I’m not sure but I worry about it.

Slowly, it stands. It straightens up carefully before walking towards me. Its steps are slow, deliberate. The lithe body moves sinuously but I still cannot move. I could probably escape it, if I were to flee. Maybe, that would be enough to bump my speed stats up. A high pressured chase across the icy park surely had to help, right? But I still don’t move. I’m stuck, frozen to the spot, as the creature approaches.

It seems to know exactly where my lens are because it leans towards the one that I was staring at it through, nuzzling the outside of my body, if I can even call it that. I’m not sure what else I would call it though. It is my body, just not the type that I’m used to. The creature doesn’t seem put off though. It’s emitting a strange rumbling noise which I assume must mean it is happy. I’m not sure though but it continues to nuzzle at me.

After a while, I don’t know how long, it pulls back and examines me carefully. Its pale blue eyes stare at me, mimicking the beautiful sky behind it and I feel like it is staring into my lens and seeing me. The real me, whoever I was before I became the robot. It moves suddenly, in a flurry of movement, and it is on top of me. I flick through my cameras, panic building in me, until I find the one that shows my lid.

I expected the creature to be clawing at my lid and trying to open it but it isn’t. It’s moving in a slow circle, padding so gently that its paws don’t make any noise on top of me. Finally, it seems satisfied. It drops down, curling into a tight ball on my snow-dusted lid.

Happiness increased.

Speed 1/10 Hope 3/10 Determination 4.3/10 Happiness 5.2/10 Pride 3.5/10 Battery 90%

I don’t know what to do. Part of me wants to stay there forever, to let the small creature fall asleep on me and never move, but I know that I cannot. I start to move as slowly and carefully as I can, taking care not to jostle the cat napping on top of me. It lifts its head as I roll, surveying the land around it, but it tires quickly. It lays its head on its paws once more, its eyes staying open to watch the world pass it by.

At first, I worry. I edge around as many mounds of snow and ice as I can, scared of disturbing the creature that is purring softly on top of me, the vibrations echoing throughout my microphone. Before long, its eyes flutter shut. It falls into a slumber, its body moving with every breath. I watch it, hope and happiness alight within me.

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“Oh my God!” I hear someone shriek and I look at the cat again. Its ear flicks with irritation but its eyes stay shut. Something tells me that it is a conscious decision though. “Look!”

Sure that the cat will not awaken, I flick through my cameras again until I find the source of the shout. A woman, a girl maybe, stands on the path in front of me. Her hand is raised, her phone clutched in it but seemingly forgotten as she stares at me with wide eyes. She’s looking at the kitten though and that makes worry shoot through me.

What if she’s going to shoo it away?

“What?” I hear a faint voice say from her phone.

She must be on a call with someone, I realise.

“You need to see this. Oh my God, it is just too cute!” she says, her voice still louder than I want it to be.

“Well, flip the camera then,” I hear the voice say but it is tinged with irritation.

The girl pokes at her phone for a moment, mumbling under her breath as she does so before saying, “There. Can you see it?”

“What is it?” the voice asks, annoyance draining from it gradually. “Is that a robot?”

“Yes!” the girl cries, moving closer to me. “Look at what’s on top of it though!”

There was a pause as the girl approaches me and shoves her phone obnoxiously close to the cat whose ear twitched again. I wait, my hope feeling taut within me, to see if the cat will run away. It doesn’t though. It doesn’t even open its eyes.

“Oh my God! Is that a cat?” the voice on the other end of the phone asks, sounding delighted. “That’s so cute!”

“Right?” the girl cries. “It’s getting a ride home with the robot! Aww! Should I take it home with me?”

Determination increased.

Speed 1/10 Hope 3/10 Determination 4.5/10 Happiness 5.2/10 Pride 3.5/10 Battery 88%

I am ready to run if she tries to as much as touch the cat.

“Lizzie, your mom would kill you,” the voice says and I see the boy roll his eyes. “You know that. She’d kick it out as soon as she saw it.”

The girl pouts and straightens up.

“I know. She’s so ridiculous. You know, I don’t even believe that she’s actually allergic to them,” Lizzie says as she starts to walk away, holding the phone in front of her face again. “I mean, my uncle has a cat and any time we go to visit she’ll, like, sneeze a bit but that’s it. It’s not fair that I can’t have a cat just because she sneezes.”

I hear the boy say something in response but I ignore it and start moving again as the cat lifts its head. It stares straight into my lens, giving me an unimpressed look. I wish that I could reply and tell it how irritating I found them too but I cannot. The cat isn’t a customer, I can’t speak to it. I would get scolded if I did and I wasn’t even sure if it would understand me. It doesn’t matter though. The cat’s head returns to its paws once more as I continue through the park.

The rest of the journey is uneventful. As soon as people spot the cat on top of me, they stop me to take photos, gushing over how adorable we are. It worries me each time. I’m scared that the small ball of fluff on top of me will wake up and get annoyed by all of the attention but she sleeps through it all. She doesn’t even awaken as I approach the shop once more.

There’s a space at the front of the shop, near the door. Normally, I would have rushed towards it but this time, I hesitate. The cat is still sleeping on top of me and I don’t want to risk waking it up. I’m not sure how long it’ll be there but I join the end of the queue, backing onto my charging pad and staring at the cat as I power down.