A short silence.

“I miss the animals.”

“Me too.”

“Were you good friends?”

“Not really. Except for my cat, I didn’t know them that well. But still, I liked just knowing they were there, beside me, beside us, minding their own business.” “Yeah. It was a special kind of friendship.”

“What was so special about it?”

“It made me feel less lonely, as a human.”

“We are all lonely, Schätzchen. I guess this is the reason I ended up here.” She refers to her position as a receptionist at the Animal Sound Archive. Her heart beats under a metallic name tag. She puts a hand on it, cocking her head to the side.

“Herz. Frau Herz. Isn’t that the unit for measuring frequencies?” you ask, referring to the word Hertz, often abbreviated to Hz, which is pronounced the same. She does not correct you.