Moonlight and Robots

The story follows Thad Morgan as he navigates a ritualized courtship in which engaged partners alternate between inhabiting mechanical facsimiles and their real bodies while trying to identify which is authentic. He practices operating a harness and a robot double, participates in seven staged situations governed by strict rules, and wins some challenges while often misjudging sensations transmitted through the apparatus. The contest complicates intimacy and pride, strains his relationship with Myrna through misidentifications and spiteful responses, and forces both characters to confront whether ceremony and technology obscure or reveal genuine feeling as the final encounter pushes them toward a personal resolution.