"Herkimer," said Eva. "Herkimer…"
Her voice choked. "He asked me to go with him, Herkimer. He said he needed me. And I couldn't go. And I couldn't explain."
She kept her head tilted, watching the tiny pinpoint of fire that was fleeing spaceward.
"He had to keep on thinking," Eva said, "that there were some humans he had helped, that there were some humans who still believed in him."
Herkimer nodded. "It was the only thing to do, Eva. It was what you had to do. We took enough from him, enough of his humanity. We could not take it all."
She put her hands up to her face and huddled her shoulders and stood there, an android woman crying out her heart.
Clifford D. Simak
Time and Again