Hermes and the Rose

Hermes was troubled. Bending carefully over the rosebush and increasing the standard magnification level of his visual sensors by a factor of five, he examined the plant. As he expected tiny, pale aphidoid pests were crawling all the roses literally sucking the life out of them.

The infestation had started only days ago but already it was proving to be the greatest challenge Hermes had ever faced in his time as chief gardener at the Griffin mansion. This rosebush, a rare specimen of 'rosa meraviglia celestiale', was his master's prize possession. It had been imported directly from Earth at great cost. There was nothing quite like it in the whole sector.

Despite an encyclopedic knowledge of horticulture the robot had not found any method to get rid of the parasites without harming the plant. The standard poisons did not seem to affect this mutant aphid species and with each day Hermes watched helplessly as his rosebush, his charge and prime responsibility, grew weaker and weaker.

To make matter worse, Mr. Griffin was away on a highly important business trip and was not readily available for advice. He'd only been able to reach Mr. Griffin briefly once on the comm-link, but all Mr. Griffin had been able to say is "I am sure you will do your best.” So far his best had clearly not been enough.

With renewed determination, the robot rose to his feet and purposefully strode to his master's study. There he would gain access the ultra-fast Grid link. If the solution for the current crisis was not to be found in standard horticultural texts, he concluded, he would search for an answer further a-field.

Plugging himself directly into the Grid, the robot began to search for any scrap of information that might help him out of this predicament. For several intense minutes, the robot browsed millions of virtual books and articles, using random search algorithms engineered to mimic that quality humans referred to as 'inspiration'. Eventually he hit on something that seemed promising. It was a radical solution, a technique that to his knowledge had never been tried before in the field of gardening.

Undeterred, he pulled back more and more information on the topic, slowly (by robot standards) building a mathematical model of the cure. He ran several million simulations of this model though his quantum positronic brain until he was totally satisfied of the soundness of his plan, within a 0.001% margin of error that is.

One problem remained. It would require some rather sophisticated equipment for this cure; advanced bits of technology not normally found in garden centers. Ordinarily Hermes would have asked Mr. Griffin for his assistance. As an important Omni-Tek official, Mr. Griffin could in these occasions 'pull a few strings', as he was fond of saying. But with the master away, this could prove difficult.

Just then Juno, the maid-bot, entered Griffin's study on her regular clean up patrol.

"Hermes, what are you doing here? This is not the garden."

"You are correct Juno. This is not the garden. I had to momentarily absent myself from my regular post to do some research. I have a vexing problem."

"Acknowledged. Has your research been fruitful?" asked Juno as she hovered into the room and methodically started dusting and cleaning.

"Only partially. I have determined a course of action, but I do not know how to secure all the materials required for it."

"Beam me the list of what you require. Maybe I can help." The maid robot scanned the list comparing it with the household inventory. "71.42857% of the required materials are already present on these premises, or can be made with what exists on these premises. 17.85714% of the missing items I can place on the regular shopping list for tomorrow. The remaining 10.71429% is more problematic."

"I concur." replied Hermes. "And yet without these items the rosebush is sure to die."

"There may be a way. Allow me a moment to consider the options." Juno pondered over the issue for a few milliseconds. "This is what we shall do. I will contact Hillary-Bot from the Staplehurst estate. Our schedules result in us randomly meeting at the Omni-Mart supermarket 84.3333% of the time, the chances increase significantly if we pre-arrange to meet. Hilary-bot's master is a researcher at Omni-Med. I will ask Hilary-bot to instruct Mr. Staplehurst’s chauffeur-bot, Drive-Me-Drone, to make arrangements with Omni-Med security bot RB23432-C on his next journey to Omni-Med HQ. Rb23432-C will in turn order one of the local laboratory robots deliver to it the exact inert nanobots specificed on your list. Meanwhile I coordinate with the local Omni-Mark's Stockboy-7000 to engineer a system error on the supermarket’s inventory/purchase system which will result in 100cc of Storpic-protein solution to be delivered which I myself will collect. I believe that will secure all you require for your task."

"Yes, I believe it will." replied Hermes. "Your assistance is appreciated Juno."

"Leave it with me."

It took two long days for the various robots to gather all the necessary equipment. In that time Hermes was busy setting the ground work. He built a glass cage made from the windows taken from the pool and guest rooms, ground fine silver dust from the dinning room silverware and synthesized necessary chemicals from products found in the laundry room and gardening shed. Thus when Juno came to deliver the test-tube full of nanobots, he was all ready to start.

Hermes placed glass cage around the roses to create a protected, airtight environment for the nanobots. He then flooded the cage with a gas saturated with nutrients and finally released the nanobots, quickly sealing the cage behind them. The gas in the cage grew misty and opaque, so much so that one could barely see the roses. But Hermes was not worried. This was as expected.

Several hours passed. Hermes monitored the progress with satisfaction. It was all going according to his simulations. The robot stayed up all running the delicate experiment. Then at the appointed time, exactly 13 hours 22 minutes from the start of the process, he began pumping out the nanobot saturated gases into a disposable cylinder. Finally, it lifted the cage off.

The robot regarded his handiwork with delight. All the rose’s vulnerable organic parts, its leaves, petals and stem, had been replaced by the busy nanobots with a strong, durable silver-fiber mesh. The once inadequate thorns were now razor sharp and poisonous to boot. Still living, but now a raised above the fragile rule of nature, the cyborg rose would no longer be subject to sickness or parasites. This rose would defy time itself.

Hermes allowed himself a private smile. Mr. Griffin would most certainly be pleased on his return.