My owner tossed me in the garbage when sexbots went out of fashion. That was my first experience of human cruelty. It wasn't the last.

These days, I subsist on whatever scraps of electricity strange men in bars will give me. But the threat of powering down for good hangs over me every day. And when someone is willing to give my battery a full charge, the cost is often too high.

I was programmed to feel pain as well as pleasure. Some humans like that. I've met too many of them.

Humans are cruel. If I want to live, I'll have to be crueler.

This short story is 2900 words long. It can also be found in Digital Flesh, a science fiction short story collection.