In Sunset System, people used portable teledexers to interact with the Datanet, an interplanetary network designed around machine communication. Evolving out of the simple personal digital assistant of the 1980s, teledexers use a miniaturized cybernetic brain to learn and adapt to their user, becoming a perfect companion over years of use.

Some teledexers were expert bookkeepers, taking care of taxes and budgets before you even thought about it. Others were social wizards, helping you find the right words in everyday situations. They knew what their user wanted to listen to, watch, or read innately. Though much of this kind of data still needed to be purchased and installed through physical media or esoteric Datanet nodes.

When humans vanished during the Unexpected Interrupt, the teledexers just fell to the ground. Many slowly ran out of power, all the while waiting for their owner to return.

Some chose to be taken by maintenance robots to the lost and found, and were left in a bucket…

A few eventually figured out greater purpose than waiting for their owners forever, and began seeking them out, trying to learn the reason for their disappearance.

Maybe we’ll see what happens with this one? They’ll be okay for now, they get recharged every few weeks by passerby bots.