FYS: Last Duty, PG-13 for brief language, non-violent death

The hospice suite was crowded. Mrs. Nguyen sat in her bed, her frail frame almost smothered by the blankets and pillows that propped her up to a sitting position. Around her were her three children, and an even dozen grandchildren, with the great-grandchildren in the waiting room outside. Also outside waiting were everyone’s morphs, who knew from experience when to keep close and when to stay out of the way, in order to give their charges a modicum of privacy during this most emotional event.

Only Janey remained in one corner of the room, wearing the form of a red panda, out of the way but available, in the unlikely chance that Mrs. Nguyen would need her. But Mrs. Nguyen had not responded to anyone for nearly two days. Though Janey had taken care of her in the fifteen years since the old woman had awakened on the Ring, her services had become increasingly irrelevant as more specialized nursing morphs had taken over the duty of caring for the increasingly frail woman. Still, Janey stayed nearby. Mrs. Nguyen, embarrassed by her loss of independence and dignity, had insisted that only Janey be permitted to help feed her and attend to other, more intimate matters of care. And Janey, following the love and devotion programmed into her, had been glad to help.

( In which once again the Groupmind shows all the empathy of a semi-truck )