{"id":3533,"date":"2022-04-14T20:55:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T20:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/?p=3533"},"modified":"2022-04-15T13:29:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-15T13:29:11","slug":"my-heart-is-at-capacity-by-t-j-berry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/?p=3533","title":{"rendered":"My Heart is at Capacity by T. J. Berry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My Heart is at Capacity<\/em><\/strong> by T. J. Berry (Asimov\u2019s SF<\/em>, May-June 2021) is narrated by Paul, the android partner of a young woman called Rebecca:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My heart is at capacity. I\u2019m scheduled for an upgrade tomorrow. I don\u2019t have the power to love Rebecca any more than I already do, and it is not enough for her.
I spend the day before my appointment creating economic projections for a developing nation\u2019s STEM investment. Picking up an extra side gig means my upgrade won\u2019t impact our household budget. I don\u2019t want Rebecca to feel that the opening of my heart comes at her expense.
My numbers reveal that this young country will recoup their STEM investment within a generation. There\u2019s a statistical certainty it will bring up their GDP by 5-7 percent in a year or two. My numbers also say that my upgrade will allow me to devote 9 percent more processing power to Rebecca\u2019s needs. We don\u2019t have a GDP-like measurement in our relationship, but my nested flowchart says that if I identify and satisfy a greater percentage of her needs, she will recognize my usefulness and love me more.  p. 131<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course (spoiler) that latter conclusion (his being more useful will make her love him more) is obviously erroneous, and this becomes apparent during the rest of the story, where their interactions become increasingly suboptimal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca kisses me on her way out in the morning, tight-lipped and perfunctory. Not the warm, open-mouthed kisses of our middle days together. I don\u2019t push for more. Nor do I mention the lunch that\u2019s in her satchel. In my experience, explicitly telling a partner what you\u2019ve done for them elicits a negative reaction. Better to work silently and unnoticed than to demand praise that will only be offered resentfully.  p. 133<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s solitary reflections, and his analysis of their interactions\u2014which are acutely observed alternating with entertainingly wonky\u2014occur during the same period he meets and interacts with Ashira, a more basic android partner (\u201cDo you want some feedback?\u201d he asks her after a limp handshake). Through these exchanges we learn more about the androids\u2019 history and their use as human partners.
Eventually, Paul goes to get his upgrade (secretly paid by himself from the odd jobs he does when Rebecca is working or asleep) and, when it is complete, he instantly realises that Rebecca has a new, human partner. After they split up (or, more accurately, Rebecca dumps him) Paul moves on to a new relationship with a male bartender. He still thinks about Rebecca, but is reluctant to delete his memories of her because of the \u201cvaluable data mixed in\u201d with them.
This is a smartly observed story that provides an intriguing and witty view of human relationships.
***+ (Good to Very Good). 6,300 words. Story link<\/a>.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Heart is at Capacity by T. J. Berry (Asimov\u2019s SF, May-June 2021) is narrated by Paul, the android partner of a young woman called Rebecca: My heart is at capacity. I\u2019m scheduled for an upgrade tomorrow. I don\u2019t have the power to love Rebecca any more than I already do, and it is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[848],"tags":[50,217,850,4,12,849],"class_list":["post-3533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-t-j-berry","tag-50","tag-3-5","tag-android-partners","tag-asimovs-sf","tag-short-story","tag-t-j-berry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3533"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3568,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3533\/revisions\/3568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}