Author: Alexander Fawn

He sat looking down into the busy street.

He was reflecting on the fact that there were good days and bad days in his line of business. He smiled to himself. The duffle bag at his feet was worth a great deal of money. He was reflecting on how well the job had gone. Staying under the radar hadn’t been an issue. He could hear the shower going. She was cleaning up, getting ready for the flight. Not long now and the taxi would be here. He thought about her, his newly recruited assistant. Crime obviously came naturally to her. He would definitely use her on future jobs. She had been a real asset on this one. Right up to the point where the drugs had been delivered, she had stayed calm and collected. It was obvious that she had shared his delight when the stuff had been handed over and the cash had changed hands.

A sound brought him out of his reverie. He turned to face the silencer fitted to a nasty looking Ruger Mark IV handgun. He squinted down at the metropolitan police badge clipped to the belt on her jeans. The gun was certainly not law enforcement issue!

It came to him in a flash. A copper, no… a bent copper.

This was not a good day.

He lay comfortably on his back, confident that he could speak freely.

He knew that he could talk about his problems openly in such a safe environment. After all, that’s why he was there. The other just listened. He never passed judgement or even expressed an opinion. He sat there silently listening, understanding and just taking everything in as it comes. He just lets him vent. He listens with great interest as he describes his feelings about how he was spoken to. How he had tried to explain that he had only been trying to do the right thing. When the session had finished, he felt so much better. It was as though all of the problems and worries that he had come into the room with were all gone.

“Thank you teddy,” he said and switched out the light.

When robots became really useful, things changed.

Not just really useful, but really, really useful. No longer were they seen as just beneficial or advantageous or nice to have around. No, they became indispensable, crucial, essential, vital even. It became clear that robots were responsible for so much that was required to maintain a comfortable world for people to live in. Anyway, that’s when things changed. A lot of comparisons were being made, not only within the scientific community, but out among the general public. Comparing the actual value of people with that of robots. The most important people, who couldn’t easily be replaced, were those who built robots. These people were really needed. It was coming to this realisation that caused all sorts of difficulties. Problems arose concerning the moral judgments being made about who should be replaced and who shouldn’t.

During the first few months of the Great Global Replacement Program, most of the world’s leaders went. For people not chosen for replacement, this provided an almost complete cessation of wars and a much better, safer and more enjoyable world to live in. From that point on, world events moved on very quickly. So much changed in that time that I am finding it difficult to piece it all together.

Anyway, that is why, as a robot, I am writing this thesis for my university degree.

He had made his fortune early in life.

However, happiness for him was elusive. Despite his great wealth, he felt compelled to go looking for more; something greater than what he had, something of greater value. He was not entirely sure exactly what he was looking for. He seemed to have all that a person could possibly want, yet there was something missing. He had money, female companions, memberships in the best clubs, and properties in several countries. With all these things, came the freedom to pursue his dreams. As a self-made billionaire, people would say he was the man who had everything.

As a boy, he loved travelling by train, now he regularly rode the Trans-Siberian Express when he wanted time out. He would spend his idle days in his penthouse suite in Geneva. He took his Winter sports at an exclusive lodge in the ski town of Aspen. He sometimes holidayed on his private island in Fiji. Occasionally, he would spend time in a five-star safari lodge on a luxury reserve in South Africa.

A couple of times, he took the six-month epicurean odyssey luxury cruise. He had enjoyed several Air Cruises in the exclusive 777-200 private jet, when not using his own. He often stayed in the underwater hotel suite in Atlantis the Palm, Dubai. At times, he would relax in the French Polynesian paradise of Tetiaroa Island. He liked to chill out in his beachfront villa on the Santa Teresa Beach in Costa Rica, and once in a while he would sail his luxury yacht and moor for a spell at the Marina di Portofino, Italy.

But… at the end of the day, there was something that the 24-carat gold bathroom tap fittings, the chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce and the Saint Laurent suits weren’t giving him.

Finally, the night came when he had his chauffeur drop him off five minutes from his city apartment, preferring to walk the rest of the way. It took him past a late-night café. On a whim he went in and ordered a coffee. He sat looking around at the other customers. It had been such a long time since he’d done anything like it.

The waitress brought his coffee. His napkin fluttered to the floor. She picked it up. Their eyes met…

He’d been looking in all the wrong places.

There were ten cats that lived in the street, there used to be eleven.

Tiddles, a pretty little thing, wasn’t the only cat to be chased by the ferrel Pit Bull that currently besieged the neighbourhood, but so far it was the only one to lose its life. Word went round and the cats held a meeting. Several of them had been mauled by the predator and it was only a matter of time before another of their number joined Tiddles in the great cat refuge in the sky. It was decided that they should get some outside help. It was known that some streets away lived an old cat wizard. There were many stories about how he had demonstrated his amazing magic powers. He was not easily approached, but it was agreed that they should rely on his sense of camaraderie.

Between them, they selected the one to approach him and explain their problem and describe the fear that had gripped them ever since the mad dog had begun prowling around there territory. The messenger returned saying that the wizard would figure something out for them. He said to come back in a week.

All through the following week the cats were extremely cautious in their comings and goings, staying either inside or close to their houses. A second meeting was held before the nominated return to the wizard. Several members of their group had doubts about whether the wizard could actually do anything about it. Regardless, the messenger was sent back.

On his return, the messenger came back with the news that the wizard had decided to use a new shape-shifter spell that he was looking forward to using. Basically, he managed to track the dog down and had turned it into a mouse!

It was just after Christmas when she found the thing in her mail box.

At first she thought it was a late card. It wasn’t. She took it in and sat staring at it. The envelope had no address or stamp. It only had the house number written on it. Inside she found a plain white piece of card with just a few words written in ballpoint. Although it was a bold hand, it had obviously been written with a great deal of care. It read, ‘I wish you a very happy birthday. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I miss you so much.’

She sat for a long time thinking about the sender. She was touched. A tear was dabbed with a tissue. She couldn’t help feeling the anguish that radiated from the card.

Then, she chided herself for being silly.

Her birthday wasn’t until November, and she’d only just moved in.

The incident certainly shook him up.

He had been under pressure to stop the leak for some time. She had been prompting him regularly, as though he had forgotten about it, with him having to explain over and over again how nervous he was about being up there when it was so windy and how he was continually watching the weather forecasts. Finally, despite the lack of improvement in the weather reports, he went out to the shed and collected the ladder. As soon as he was high enough to see what the problem was, his confidence about getting it fixed went up a few notches. He eased his way onto the roof and slowly made his way to the area that was causing the problem.

He wasn’t sure what happened next, but he knew he had a number of aches and pains in most of his body. In fact, he was standing there rubbing himself when the elderly gentleman dressed in white approached him asking if he was alright.

“Yes,” he replied, without thinking, “although I do seem to have several bruises.”

“That’s often the way. I understand, I might give you a moment, then.” Smiling, he sauntered off. Watching him go, he couldn’t help noticing the mist swirling around his feet as he went.

He was still massaging his wounds when it all came back to him; the leak, the roof, the weather…

He called him back. “Hello, I remember now. Can you help me? I mean, what happens now?”

The old man returned, still smiling. “That’s good. Sometimes it takes a while. It’s quite normal. Nothing to worry about.”

“I was up on the roof, fixing tiles when this gust of wind…”

The other interrupted. “Yes, we know. How’s the pain now?”

The man patted himself in several places. “Well, now that you ask, it seems to be getting better, surprisingly quickly it seems.”

“Yes. Good. It’ll be completely gone in no time.”

“I’ve always had,” he faltered, “you know, a terrible fear of falling!”

“Yes, I thought that was the case. We can certainly help you overcome those fears, up here.”

“You can?”

“Oh yes. Let’s take a walk.”

They began to walk. Looking around the man said, “Everything seems to be white up here, and I couldn’t help noticing the mist wherever you go.”

“That’s because we’re on a cloud, you see. We’re almost there.”

Moments later they came to a clearly defined hole in the cloud.

It was quite remarkable.

He was peering down into it when the man in white gave him a gentle nudge.

He toppled in.

She had known for some time that he wanted to shoot her.

The scene was being prepared. He had hired the room especially for it. The building was quiet and they wouldn’t be disturbed. Blue plastic sheeting covered the floor in the corner where she stood. They were both nervous. It would be the first time for him. She been in many sessions, but none of them had been quite like this. He spent time getting the lighting right.

She glanced across at the mirror. She had to admit, the skimpy bikini did look good on her.

He asked if she was ready, she said she was.

He took out the gun and shot her.

Then he took a picture.

They were both sitting reading, which was often the way they passed their evenings.

In the main, you could say they were an elderly couple, well passed their working lives and perfectly content with retirement. They sometimes watched a television programme, but not often. Most nights it was switched off after the news. It was their quiet time at the end of the day. A chance for him to catch up with the newspaper and to look back over the many lecture notes he had prepared for a time when he held a post at the university. For her it was a much appreciated opportunity to peruse her monthly magazine on gardening and to catch up with the regularly received holiday brochures. This was their special time.

The silence was broken by him saying, “Listen to this, dear. I remember delivering this lecture.”

She lowered her magazine and smiled. “Yes, dear?”

“It’s just a short piece, do you mind?”

“No, dear. Go ahead.”

He lifted the Manila folder and read aloud for a couple of minutes from one of the loosely filed pages. He put the folder back on his lap.

She smiled. “That was very good, dear.”

He smiled and nodded his appreciation.

She thought about the nature of what he had read. She remembered the words. She knew them well. She could repeat them verbatim. Not that she ever would. They were his and they were precious to him. She remembered how he had read them to her only yesterday evening, and a few days before that. It had been a few weeks before that. It would seem that it was happening more often. She sighed softly to herself as she recalled the first time, all those years ago, when he first wrote them. She smiled again when she reminisced about how he had come to her, paper in hand saying, “Listen to this, dear…”

The room was quiet, some of the residents were sleeping.

Dinner time was over. The flickering television in the corner was now set on mute. Two elderly men were playing chess, while those still awake were mostly reading. Several nurses were coming and going, gradually seeing the home’s patients off to their rooms for the night.

After tidying magazines on the table, she said, “Are you sure there’s nothing I can get you?”

The old man looked up from his newspaper with greying eyes. He stared at her before saying, “Oh! Well…” After a wheezing cough, his expression began to change. A smile was trying to form across his wrinkled features and the smallest glint came into his eyes. “Would you like to play a game?”

She straightened and looked around the room. Her eyes settled on the corner shelf, loaded with jig-saw puzzles and several board games.

She said, “I think it’s too late to start anything now.”

“No!” He shook his head. “Not that sort of game…” he whispered.

“What do you mean?”

He rolled his shoulders and managed a small wink. “I’ve got three guesses to get you name right.” He touched his cheek. “If I get it right, I get a kiss on the cheek.”

At first she looked confused, then said, “All right.”

“Barbara?”

“No.”

“Sally?”

“No.”

“Carol?”

The woman shook her head, and said, “No,” she stiffened, took a deep breath, bent and kissed him on the cheek. She said, “You get that for effort. Goodnight.”

She turned and made for the front door with tears streaming down her face.

A visitor watched the woman leave, and pointing to the old man who had gone back to his paper, asked one of the nurses, “What did he do?”

“Oh! Him? He’s been flirting with his wife again.”