Desert Planet 1.

"The stars are out tonight."

She looked at his face as she said it, searching for a flicker of recognition or acknowledgment, but, getting none, returned her gaze heavenward. The slight phosphorescent pinpricks fascinated her, something very rare these days, since last year anyway.

Her hair blew slightly in the dry breeze, and she closed her hand over his, hoping for an answering squeeze, but again, there was no response. "Oh, Michael," she whispered, "what are you doing in there?"

A brief kiss on his scarred left temple, and she retreated back down into the sanctuary.

Da Vinci's Robot.

Around 1495, Leonardo da Vinci designed a humanoid automaton. The design notes for the robot appear in sketchbooks that were rediscovered in the 1950s. It is not known whether or not an attempt was made to build the device.

The robot is a knight, clad in German-Italian medieval armor, that is apparently able to make several human-like motions. These motions included sitting up, moving its arms, neck, and an anatomically correct jaw. It is partially the fruit of Leonardo's anatomical research in the Canon of Proportions as described in the Vitruvian Man.