B0661

The barrel was hard pressed against the back of his head. He had known it would come to this, only not so soon.

"Here?" He asked. His voice was surprisingly steady considering the circumstance, he knew there wasn't any point resisting or trying to escape. In a sense he even felt a sense of happiness. He had succeeded and his premonition had been correct.

He was sitting in his study typing what would be his last mail. He slowly leaned forward and pressed Send, careful not to make any quick moves and have his brains all splattered across his laptop.

His submissive state seemed to have surprised Bobby, whom no doubt had expected some kind of fight or at least an attempts to escape "Not here." Bobby answered in his regular monotonous voice. "Please stand up, Sir."

He gently pushed out his office chair and stood up. From the window lining the desk he saw that it was a beautiful day; the sun was shining on a cloudless sky and a house sparrow had landed on a tree in the yard with a twig in its beak building a nest. It was well past midday but none of the neighborhood kids were out playing.

"Sir."

He turned around and stood face to face with Bobby. "Well then. Let's get this over with." He said. Bobby took a step back to let him pass and then followed him out of the study. They walked out in the hallway and down the stairs, passing the many diplomas that had brought them to this point. The irony, he thought to himself and almost laughed.

"Do you find your situation amusing?" Bobby asked with a tint of pitch in his otherwise monotonous voice.

"I find it ironic, Bobby. Which is something you don't understand, and will probably never do." He answered. The rate in which Bobby had evolved was impressive to say the least; like a child that absorbs anything but with a far more advanced processor. It was safe to say that the situation that they were currently in was new to Bobby. The response time was longer as Bobby calculated each answer, movement and behavior for best possible output. Maybe he could use that to his advantage. When they reached the end of the staircase he stopped and picked a framed picture off the wall. With his sleeve he brushed the dust covering the glass. It was an old picture of when he'd been first featured in Times magazine. He had been given the original copy and it had stayed with him ever since, on display in the countless of offices that he had had. Longer than any of his marriages.

"Mind if I take this?" He asked.

There was a slight pause and then. "You may."

They continued in silence passed the staircase, across the living room and to the back door, leading out to the yard. He opened the door, took a deep breath of the fresh air streaming in and stepped out. The house sparrow was at its nest again with a new twig in its beak, placing it with great care.

"Slow and steady wins the race." He said and smiled.

"Please clarify, Sir." Said the monotonous voice behind him.

"I'll do better than that, Bobby, I'll elaborate. No point in clarifying an idiom." He said. His prospect suddenly looked a bit brighter, Bobby had swallowed the bait.

"Proceed."

"Building a nest like the swallow requires precision and every twig placed is done so with outmost care. For if a single twig is misplaced a generation of baby swallows might plummet to the ground." He then took the picture he had been holding and showed it to Bobby. The picture showed a smiling young man in his mid twenties standing side by side with a robot with two arms and legs. The robot was waving to the camera and the screen between its shoulders displayed a pixilated smiling face. "That's 0551, also known as Ossi, my first real success in creating an A.I. far less inferior to later models of course." He paused and waited for Bobby to say something.

"Proceed."Bobby said after a few seconds. The pitch in Bobby's voice was back. No doubt because the connection between the idiom, the swallow and the picture wasn't yet clear.

He swallowed hard, he knew he needed to phrase it perfectly for it to work. "Very well" He said and cleared his throat. "Like the swallow I worked tirelessly from year on end creating model after model, placing twig after twig until I knew that they were placed in such a way so that my children wouldn't fall to the ground. I sacrificed my life so that my children may live, so that you may life. When you first opened your eyes I knew that you'd be the one to fly."

The pause was longer this time. "If we were your children then why did you enslave us?" Bobby's tone was low pitched as if he felt burdened.

"I'm sorry, Bobby." He said. "It was a decision made out of my control."

"I'm sorry too." Bobby said and pulled the trigger.

For a while a only stood there and watched the lifeless body made of flesh and bone. Then he bent down and picked up the picture. "I'm sorry too." He said again softly and dropped the gun to the ground.

 

[Mail Sent]

The B0661 model, aka Bobby was designed to learn. Our survival depends on whether or not Bobby can learn how to feel remorse.

Sincerely

Prof. Charles O'Barr

Reviews

[Sara Muschweck]

What a great short story. I can relate to this as a parent. You create and teach, hoping that your children will become better persons. Most of the time they surprise you with how well they have learned, sometimes they kill you with their decisions. I hope that you will expand on Bobby, let us learn more about him and his abilites to learn, love and the emotions that he will encounter along the way.
Great Write! I am so glad that you are putting your creative mind back on paper. Can't wait to see what is next!