“Bite me Mr. Angry,” Slotine says to her robot companion.
”Invalid command. I am afraid I cannot do that Miss,” responded the metal contraption in a monotonous tone.
Frustrated more than angered, Slotine looks at her robot and remembers that despite the fluent verbal ability of the machine, he was still in fact an assemblage of machinery and an Artificial Stupid. Yup. An Artificial Stupid. Not even a fancy brain like the QPT.
It was just as well, for Slotine preferred the cold, calculating nature of the AS. The QPT was widely known to be somewhat erratic, leading in part to its more ‘natural’ behavior. The Artificial Stupid on the other hand, would never do anything beyond its initial programming. It would never compose great masterpieces like “Leets in Lingerie” or dream of witty things to say. It would never ask her how her day was. It would not even care. It would simply exist. It would be there when she needed, and not - when she didn’t. It would never demand. It would never expect. And it would never hurt her.
At this thought, Slotine’s heart momentarily skipped a beat. It had only been two years. Two lonely years, but ones that were free of any emotional tie-downs. Or so she thought. In her mind’s eye, she could see uncle Tappert perform his morning ritual of cleaning and preparing the tailor shop for opening hour. She could see the solemn look on his face as he wearily swept away the dust. A sweep here. A sweep there. Soon, the morning sunlight breaking through the store window could be seen glittering off the suspended dust in the air. No sounds pervaded this scene, despite the fact that she knew there was always a soft chanting in the streets of Rome just outside.
At such quiet times, she felt pangs of pity for the old man who had taken her in. Despite the fact that he had raised her since the early days of their fateful meeting, there was always a part of him that lingered in the distance. That part of him, she was not privy to but could glimpse from her corner of the universe during the morning rituals.
He has lost both his son and his wife years earlier before they met. So when happenstance brought them together, they both considered it fate. For she too had lost her family during the rebellion on Crime. But during all these years, she had never tried to broach the subject of the past with him, in part for fear of opening her own painful wounds. So she kept herself content with this and loved and adored him as a father. All was good.
Until of course, the day he left. Not a good bye. Not even a simple note. The dust had already resettled on the ground from the previous day. Days passed, and the dust laid still. Then weeks passed with no signs of the man she called uncle. For the second time in her life, she made herself vulnerable to the whims of the universe by reaching out and it had struck back at her with all its might.
Of course, that was two years ago. “Slotine, you’ve grown up and don’t need anyone anymore,” she tried to convince herself. The truth of the matter was that she didn’t really need anyone. Her life now was simple and self-complete. Her tinkering with robotics provided her the escape from the people around her. Day in, day out, she would take Mr. Angry out into the field and tweak the latest revision of his Artificial Stupid. The so-called mathematical “Intractable Pillar Problems” were quite a challenge but exciting in their own way. She could easily keep herself occupied to the extent that she barely notices her coworkers walk past her workstation at R.U.R. In short, she had successfully managed to build an impenetrable wall around herself, defending against the universe outside. Nothing could get in and hurt her.
Snapping out of the painful recollection, Slotine gathers up her belongings and coldly stares at the robot for a brief instant. Then she presses a button on her wrist comm.
“Terminating master.”
wtb more plzkthx!)
