Patient 626

A short sci-fi story written in 20 minutes.

“Wake up, Vik.”

Xavier’s metallic voice whispers through their headboard speaker. Vik could hear them, as they’ve been awake already since 6:00 am.

“I’m awake, Xavier,” Vik murmurs.

“I know,” he answers. “I’m programmed to monitor your sleeping patterns each night. Last night you slept for 4 hours and 38 minutes; that’s 16 minutes longer than the night before. You haven’t been getting a full 7 hours of sleep since last week. Shall I hail your therapist?”

“No… it’s okay,” Vik responds unconvincingly.

Their bed’s robotic arms switch on and lift themselves over the comforter. The fingers stretch to grip the top of the sheet and pull the comforter off. Vik sits up and swings their pale legs over the bed. Their heater slippers are waiting at the foot of the bed and Vik quietly slips them on. The slippers vibrate slightly and their feet are instantly warmed up. Vik stifles a yawn.

“Shall I play your Bjork playlist or your Joy Division playlist?” Xavier asks as his voice hums with electricity.

“Joy Division. Start with Transmission. Turn on my shower, please,” Vik yawns again.

“Already on it.”

The 1990s gothic song filters through the ceiling speakers and echoes from the shower stall down the hall, muffled by the running water. Vik shuffles off to the bathroom, their slippers rubbing against the tile floor.

Xavier’s humanoid form powers on at the corner of the bedroom. His eyes light up, and his battery dings at a full charge. He stretches out his arms and stands up. Xavier briskly trots over to his patient on their way to the bathroom. Once they reach their destination, Xavier helps Vik out of their breathing mask and spine brace, removing each screw from the back. 

Once Vik steps into the shower, their robotic nurse dunks the medical gear into the bathroom disinfectant tank. Powerful yet gentle robotic arms scrub and rinse away the dirt and germs from the previous day.

 

            As Vik showers, Xavier prepares their hairbrush, toothbrush and paste, and their clothes for the day. Even though the water drowns out most of the surrounding sound, Vik can hear their robot humming along to the music. They smile.

The water shuts off after 15 minutes and the patient steps out into the towel in Xavier’s arms.

“Vik,” the robot starts to say but then closes his mouth.

“Yes? What is it?” Vik prompts them to say more, but he shakes his head.

While they dry off, Xavier takes Vik’s freshly washed spine brace from the disinfectant tank. Carefully, the robot drills each screw into place, but Vik winces. Taking off the brace is always less painful than putting it back on.

“It’s the election day, today. The run for Prime Minister is between Hilga Sharen and Glenn Bret-Dillard,” Xavier reminds their patient while helping them into their clothes.

“You know the sick can’t vote, and all I care about is when one of these b******s will get a new Cygarian Act in order. We should never have voted out Minister Tob…”

Xavier sighs and buttons Vik’s collar.

“I’m sure the new Prime Minister will get a Cygarian Act together, and hopefully find a way to stop the War.”

“Yeah, I really hope so…” Vik responds quietly.

Outside the hospital room, a fleet of warplanes skirts by. Past them, a Collector tromps through burnt trees and fallen towers. Past that, four more Collectors throw the bodies of Eastern citizens into the incinerators. However, the violence is obstructed by the semi-transparent force field surrounding the hospital.

The year is 2052, and the Continental War has been raging on for seven long years.

Author's Note

This was written in 20 mins for a writing warm up in my short story class. It was inspired why Wall-E and the alien hospital episode on Doctor Who.

UPDATE: I changed a few things. Going back to all my old writing now that I've taken creative writing in college.
The story is still from Vik's perspective but now in 3rd person. So as to not confuse pronouns, Xavier is "he" and Vik is "they."
I'll be featuring the updated version in a collection of sci-fi, horror, and fantasy short stories. I'm even binding the book myself!

Reviews

[Fallen Phoenix]

I enjoyed reading it. just one or two things, firstly is merely for accuracy, you'd hever have 7 hours of REM sleep at night more like 90-120 minutes.
Secondly I don't quite understand why you're referring to the robot as "they" etc.
The third paragraph is a little too descriptive in my openion. The overly descriptive nature disruptes the rhythm and unnecessarily slows down the narrative.
The start of the story starts off a little slowly with a lot of very nice descriptive writing and then suddenly we are hit with an election and a war which are only briefly explained. I would personally try to balance out the rythmn between the first and second half.
And finally the last line is good as a line, I'm just not sure it works as the last line.

That's just a few things I thought I'm sure other people disagree, on the whole though I enjoyed it and it's certainly on the right tracks!

[Cactus Jones]

I never realized that REM sleep doesn't last so long, thank you for telling me!
Also, on your note of the robot's pronouns, I prefer to refer to certain characters, and especially robots, but more gender neutral terms, as not everyone has a defined gender. It's more of a personal preference, but I do see how it can be confusing to some people.
And I only had 20 minutes to write this story, so I'm sure with more time I would develop it further and space out the description more evenly.
All in all, thank you for the review!

[E Chadwick]

I really enjoyed this! That ending hit me like a brick. I'd love to hear more backstory on the character and on the war.

[Amelia May]

I had the same questions as the reviewer below, but I realize that you have made a note of that in your authors notes.
However, the sequencing and order of some things feel a bit off and awkward.
I am more than willing to sit down and look at this in depth if you would like me to.
Overall, I think it is a marvelous beginning to an even more wonderful end.