Well, at least he was interested, and not afraid. She had heard horror stories - some that may not have been entirely truthful - about humans who reacted badly to advanced robotics and lashed out at them violently out of fear.

"Well..." she started with a faint smile, "For a start, everything you see here is artificial. Mostly metal. Some plastic. My skin is synthetic," she said, pulling on a little on her arm to demonstrate that it held no nerve endings and could be tugged away from her casing as if no muscle or tissue held it in place.

"And would you believe? I'm only four years old."