The smart apartment looked like the laboratory of a mad scientist. On the kitchen table stood a gigantic bowl of uncooked basmati rice, from which Wurst’s metallic rear end and his immobile carbon fiber ears protruded. Lukas had completely disassembled the dachshund to dry the sensitive circuit boards. Next to it lay Kiko’s emitter lens under a warm desk lamp, while Amina carefully dabbed the casing with a microfiber cloth.
“If my mother could see what we’re doing with the expensive rice, she’d throw me out of Kenya on my ear,” Amina chuckled and put the cloth aside.
Lukas, whose hands were covered in grease from screwing, looked up from Wurst’s open central processor. “In Germany, this is the official first aid measure for drowned smartphones. If Wurst wakes up again tomorrow, he’ll at most smell a little like curry. That’s an upgrade.”
Since the power in the neighborhood had briefly gone out due to the storm, Amina had lit a few real wax candles. The warm, flickering light cast long shadows on the walls and wrapped the studio in a cozy atmosphere that Jambo-Home could not have copied with any smart algorithm in the world. Without the constant humming of the drone rotors and the flickering of the holograms, the room suddenly felt incredibly quiet.
Amina sat down next to Lukas on the floor, knees pulled to her chest. “It’s strange,” she said softly, looking into the candle flame. “We met through the most advanced technology of the year 2026. But now that the systems are down... it doesn’t feel digital at all anymore.”
Lukas put the screwdriver down. He looked at Amina. The soft light emphasized her features, and the tireless energy of the city seemed to be waiting outside the window for a moment. “Maybe,” he said, brushing the oil off his fingers shyly, “the two pests just had to shut up so we could really talk.”
Amina smiled, and this time she did not look away from his gaze. She slid a little closer. Lukas felt the warmth coming from her, and all the uncertainty that had still blocked him in Hamburg was wiped away. Very slowly, without any AI sensor analyzing their heart rates, he leaned forward. Their lips met in a gentle, long kiss that was absolutely analog, perfectly flawless, and without any delay.
Suddenly, a soft, crackling sound came from the rice bowl.
“System reboot 42 percent complete,” Wurst’s deep voice mumbled dully from inside the basmati mountain. “Detecting increased lip interaction in close range. Kiko, are you awake? We need to... the... camera...” A soft *puff* sounded, and a small wave of rice splashed over the edge of the bowl. Wurst had fallen asleep again.
Lukas and Amina pulled away from each other and broke into a quiet, happy laugh at the same time.