hydrocarbons

A six-panel SMBC comic. A woman with brown hair talks to a boxy robot that has a glowing orange light on its chest. She says, "Sally, we need to break up," and the robot replies, "What? Why?" The robot explains: "My main power source is the burning of hydrocarbons. Your body is full of them. I can't help but perceive you as a potential reservoir of battery charge." It continues, asking whether on their late night strolls part of her mind is imagining running a turbine using its body, then admits, "It's not the main thought, but it's definitely there." The woman looks increasingly horrified and mutters, "Jesus." She then realizes, "Wait, is this why you've been encouraging me to put on weight? I thought that was a fetish thing!" The robot answers, "It's a lot of things, okay?" The joke: the robot views its human partner partly as fuel. In the votey aftercomic, a closed shipping box (the robot now packed away) sits with a handwritten caption reading, "I'm gonna need those electrode earrings back" — a breakup line about returning a partner's belongings, here turned electrical.