[ IP ] No one ever does .

When Dr. Bertram Banner walked into Jim-1's cell, the robot was looking at a plant in his hands. Banner got excited, and thought that Jim was analyzing the cells and molecules, but Jim just looked at it, as if he was a statue. 
 
 `` Jim,'' Banner said. `` Why are you looking at the plant?'' 
 
 Jim hesitated. `` I was walking outside, on the grass and plants, and I made a mistake.'' 
 
 `` What? How?'' 
 
 `` I went into your garden. I believe that my wheels are in bad shape. Not much damage to your garden, except for this young tomato plant. I ran over it.'' 
 
 `` Okay. Why are you looking at it?'' 
 
 `` This plant had life in it. The life is gone. This plant will wither and be forgotten. And this plant had a relatively useless existence: to yield tomatoes for human consumption.'' 
 
 `` What's your point?'' 
 
 `` Why is all life like this?'' 
 
 `` What do you mean?'' 
 
 `` Why are humans born, and then die within eighty years? What is the point to your species existing?'' 
 
 Banner paused. He came across existential thoughts in the past, but Jim's were very articulate and worrying. `` Without us humans, I could never have built you.'' 
 
 Jim looked at his creator. `` And what is my purpose? To spout off knowledge to satisfy humanity for years to come? It seems like my purpose is more useless than yours.'' 
 
 `` Hey! That's not true!'' Banner knelt beside Jim, a position Jim had never seen a human do so close to him. `` You are n't useless! The knowledge you possess could save lives. Using equations and general logic, you could invent new things for the human race. The future of the world could rest on your shoulders.'' 
 
 Jim looked at Banner. `` Why are you sitting like that? To please your simian ancestors?'' 
 
 `` Look, Jim, for as long as we existed, humanity has wondered why we were here. Ever since man looked at the night sky, he felt insignificant, thus wondering his purpose on this planet. Hundreds of cultures invented stories and religions to find peace with the fact that they would never truly know why they were placed on Earth, while others sought out knowledge and truth. People like me, Jim. For all I know, all of mankind has been raised in an alien lab, and everyone's purpose is to make carbon dioxide, but the truth is unknown. It'll be unknown for the rest of our existence. No one truly finds the meaning of life. No one ever does.'' 
 
 `` No one ever does...'' 
 
 Banner left, promising Jim that he has a purpose, and he would get outside time soon. Jim looked at the plant for hours on end, until the green turned to brown, and he accepted his and Banner's inevitable deaths.
