Pip was a small garden robot, and its program was simple: grow tomatoes. Old Mr. Haruki had bought Pip to look after the roof of his building, where he and his wife used to garden together. Every afternoon Mr. Haruki sat in the sun with a cup of tea and talked to Pip. He talked about the weather, about the news, and, more and more often, about Emi, his late wife, who had loved sunflowers more than any other flower in the world.
Pip's program said, "Tomatoes only," but over the months Pip learned to ask questions. "What color?" it asked. "What did she like best?" Mr. Haruki answered every one of them, and slowly his voice grew lighter, as if each answer had taken something heavy off his shoulders. One spring, Pip found Emi's old jar of seeds at the back of a shelf, and without being asked, it planted a row of sunflowers along the edge of the roof.
In July, Mr. Haruki came up the stairs and saw the yellow flowers. He sat down without a word and stayed silent for a long time. Then he said, "Thank you, Pip." That night Pip wrote in its log: "Error: no task assigned. Result: happiness."