Author: Alexander Fawn

The town’s only electrical repair shop was never short of customers.

The owner’s wife was no longer around and his teenage daughter could only do so much. The owner realised he needed to employ an assistant. He reluctantly hired a lad just out of school. After a couple of months, the boy’s help around the shop made a big difference. On the morning of the expected delivery of spare parts the man grew agitated; the van was late. There were several jobs outstanding, waiting for parts, with customers asking when there items would be ready for collection. On top of that, the air-conditioning unit on the roof was not cooling the place down the way it should. The lad had been up there before and shown how to clean the filters. He was asked to do it again.

“Just be careful,” said the owner, “it’s very windy up there.”

He collected what he needed and made his way to the staircase that took him up through a small door onto the roof. On the way, she stepped back and smiled, letting him pass in the passage with his toolbox. He winked.

He emerged into a blustery wind with occasional strong gusts. He made his way to the unit. He had been cleaning the filters for several minutes when the owner came out through the door.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“OK,” he replied, “They were pretty clogged up.”

The man smiled, then took on a worried expression. “Still no sign of the delivery.” He lifted his head and listened to the traffic. “Is that him? About time! Take a look, will you.”

The boy moved to the edge and peered down into the street. He hardly felt the gentle prod.

The man just didn’t like the kid dating his daughter.

The press was all over it.

The whole thing went ballistic from the time the body was found in the town’s best hotel. In quick time, the police had their prime suspect and spent hours questioning him. There were those who thought they were a bit hasty, but they pressed ahead. His alibi was weak and the interrogators kept the pressure up because of it. At the time of the crime, he maintained that he’d been at a night club in another town, but nobody interviewed could definitely state that they had seen him on the night. The case drew a lot of attention because the victim was a known crime boss from a major city, who’d come to the town for a meeting with other key players and members of a countrywide crime syndicate.

From the word go, he had fervently protested his innocence. During questioning he had repeated that he was being wrongly accused of something that was completely foreign to his nature; that he was trying to get away with murder. He pointed out that he had no motive to commit the murder. People who knew him would say that this simply wasn’t the sort of person he was.

Despite all this, it went to trial.

As a result of there being only circumstantial evidence, together with the idea that police had possibly cut a few corners in order to get a conviction, he was pronounced not guilty. Owing to the case having created so much publicity, a huge crowd of reporters waited outside the courthouse.

As he left the building a free man, he fought his way through the noisy reporters and jumped into a waiting car. He’d had enough of being the centre of attention.

Although it was hard, he made absolutely sure that nobody saw him smirk.

She enjoyed weaving, but needed to be left alone with her work.

It was only a small company and her part was just a small activity compared with all the heavy engineering that went on next door. She really didn’t do well in there, with all the noise and distraction. She could concentrate on what she was doing far better in a quiet part of the building. Although this area was pretty drab, she had set herself up in a nice quiet corner. She’d never been one to draw attention to herself, anyway. She was happy to be out of the way and on her own. She hadn’t heard any complaints when she moved.

When she had finished her latest piece of work, she scuttled off out of sight, to give all eight legs a rest, and to wait.

He groaned to himself when he saw who was coming up the drive.

It was the kid from next door. He caught sight of him through the front window. Unfortunately, the kid saw him at the same time. There was no chance of pretending that no one was home. School must have finished, he thought. He knew how important it was to be patient with children, despite having none of his own, but this kid was… well, he was weird, and that’s all there is to it. He was precocious and dumb at the same time.

When he let him in, he was full of some conundrum they’d been given at school. He sat down and immediately went rabbiting on about it. It was a about animals trying to cross a river, and some guy on the other side with a small raft. One was a crocodile and the other was a horse. The raft is only big enough to carry himself and one animal. Left to their own devices these animals may very well kill one another. The horse could trample the crocodile and the crocodile could bite the horse. How do you save them? He couldn’t help thinking that the kid had got it wrong somehow. After all, both of these animals could swim. He decided to let that go.

Trying to jog his memory, the man asked, “What about the third thing.”

“What third thing?”

“Isn’t there supposed to be three things the man is trying to get across the river?”

“No. Only two.”

“OK. What was the answer?”

 “Dunno yet. We’re supposed to think about it. What would you do?”

“Well, first I would ask why they aren’t attacking one another where they are.”

“Yes, I forgot about the fence.”

“What fence?”

“There’s a fence right across the island.”

“So, they’re on an island?”

“Yes, and the fence keeps them safe, you see?”

“OK, in that case, why move them?”

“Because of the fire.”

“What fire?”

“The one that’s on the other side of the island and coming up behind them.”

The neighbour, thoroughly sick of the whole thing, said, “In that case I would go across and save the horse.”

“What about the crocodile?”

“Well, if there is no fence where the man starts from, I’d leave the crocodile.”

The boy’s eyebrows raised. “Why would you do that?”

“I suppose, because I like horses, but I’ve never liked crocodiles.”

The boy grunted with contempt and stood up. Shaking his head, he made his way to the front door. On the way, he said, “That’s discrimination, that is!”

Half way down the drive he turned and called out, “You can be reported for that!”

At that point the man realised that he disliked the kid even more than crocodiles.

In future, he decided, when school’s out, he’d stay away from the front window.

He sat watching the old man across the street with interest.

It would be hard to judge his age beyond being old. Probably the same age as me, he thought. He noted the man’s large sturdy-looking frame, but at the same time how he walked very slowly. Maybe it was age, together with some degenerative condition, he guessed. Could be anything; hard to tell. He had come out of the large building opposite and was making his way to the top of the building’s steps. He saw how difficult it was for him to walk the short distance. He watched as the man made a desperate grab for the handrail. His whole body language showed the relief he felt by having something to hold on to.

Then came the tortuous step by step as he came down. There must have been more than a dozen of them. He looked on. He wasn’t going anywhere for the next few minutes, so he could simply observe. He nodded slowly and smiled as the old man left the bottom step and sauntered away along the footpath. He sat thinking about what he had seen. Envy was never a part of his personality. Well, maybe just a little. Anyway, envy without resentment was alright, wasn’t it?

He was startled when his wife returned and tapped on the car’s side window.

“OK? There ready for us now,” she said.

She went to the boot for his wheelchair.

The sun is bright and sets sparkles on the great blue ocean.

He sits on the balcony of their elegant villa looking down at the pool where his wife and two young children frolic and splash and giggle. The villa, a luxury home with well-kept gardens, indoor spar, gym, sauna, and full air-conditioning throughout, sits on the slopes of Portofino, Italy, looking out to sea. He sips the chilled Martini cocktail, his third, and reflects on how life has been good to him. Apart from several bestselling books, his recent worldwide tour giving lectures on maintaining wellness pays for his lavish lifestyle. He feels that this in itself is a reward for bringing so much happiness to so many who have followed his teachings. Happiness, and in some cases a cure, a remedy for so many unwanted symptoms that people are prey to.

However, fate keeps its own unseen ledger. It enacts and sanctions events that take no account of such things. He will soon stand and feel a momentary loss of balance. In that fleeting moment he will no doubt mentally blame the drink. It will be several days before he questions the persistent unsteadiness while completely sober, and several weeks before seeking medical advice. He will have even more time before being diagnosed with brain cancer…

Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do.

–

Dough, another word for cash.

Ray, light coming from a gun.

Me, yours truly, right enough.

Far, a trip around the sun.

–

Sow, seeds going underground.

La, a Californian city.

Tee, a golf ball sits and waits.

This brings us back to dough,

When smackers ends the ditty.

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.