 "Suitable
Machines"
(Excerpt)
by David M. Fitzpatrick
“I understand we’re having problem with
unit CGX-235,” Ozrikk, the General Administrator, said to Zakkius. Like
Zakkius, Ozrikk had silvery, fleximetal skin and shining, golden joints;
but his head was larger, tall and cylindrical compared to Zakkius’ squat,
bulb-shaped braincase. Ozrikk, of course, had a more advanced photonic
crystal brain befitting his higher social position. And his triangular
eyes, their minor catheti each a decimeter long, glowed a fierce red in
contrast to Zakkius’ small, ovoid green eyes.
“That’s correct,” Zakkius said, his voice
resonating with its usual smooth-talking timbre. “It occasionally exhibits
spontaneous emotional fits. We are unsure why, but the malfunctions are
very rare. It is a most efficient machine otherwise. I recommend that it
remains in service.”
“I disagree,” Ozrikk said, his tone grave
as he shook his gleaming head. “Hasn’t CGX-235 been one of your…
favorites?”
Zakkius steepled his chrome fingers with
golden-ringed knuckles before him, and looked across the synthwood desk at
his superior. “Yes, I have taken personal interest in that particular
machine.”
“They are machines—not pets,” Ozrikk
snapped. His tone, paired with the increased luminosity of his red eyes,
made his disdain abundantly clear. “We’ve discussed this before, and it
seems to be an ongoing problem. Your job is to manage the Factory Bosses;
theirs is to oversee the machines. You have no reason to be involved with
them in any way.”
“I apologize,” Zakkius said, perhaps too
quickly. “Sometimes, my personal interests get the best of me.”
“Perhaps losing your objectivity has contributed to CGX-235’s
malfunctioning.”
It was a question masquerading as a
statement, waiting for how he would respond. Zakkius felt his thought
centers lighting up with crazed brilliance as his mind raced. Maybe, in
his ongoing fascination for the worker machines, he’d gone too far this
time.
“Not at all, sir,” he finally replied.
“CGX-235 merely has some mechanical difficulties that occasionally make it
a challenge.”
“Then you concur that CGX-235 is an
unsuitable machine?”
Zakkius knew he’d already defended Seej
too much, and that he was on the edge of appearing like a machine
sympathizer. He had to choose his words carefully, to protect Seej and
himself. “He is mostly suitable,” Zakkius said carefully.
“That isn’t enough,” Ozrikk said. “Their
importance to society, performing menial tasks so we androids don’t have
to, is incalculable. But when they malfunction, we merely replace them.
This is the way of society.”
It was starting to sound like robocratic
propaganda, but Zakkius pretended to listen. If he let Ozrikk rant for a
bit, Zakkius could get back to managing the machines under his command—and
get Seej back to work.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve gotten
attached to these machines and defended them, but it must be the last,”
Ozrikk said, leaning over the desk, silvery hands gripping the edge, his
eyes blazing with displeasure at Zakkius. “If you continue with this
bizarre personal behavior, you’ll jeopardize your position as an
Administrator. Do you understand?”
Zakkius focused his lighted mind, nodded
as stoically as he could manage, and lied through his titanium teeth. “I
understand, sir. I shall cease all personal involvement with the
machines.”
“Excellent,” Ozrikk said, his red eyes
lightening to a more pleasant pinkish hue as he settled back in his chair.
“Now, have CGX-235 disassembled, and get back to work.”
#
The floor of the Disassembly Area was
dark maroon-black, stained from years of leaking the machines’ service
fluids everywhere. Both carbon-based and cybernetic insects crawled and
buzzed about, forever cleaning up the mess. Ten meters above, the open
roof let in blue sky and daylight. A few puffy cumulus clouds wafted by,
high above, as Zakkius waited patiently. One cloud formation, he thought,
looked a lot like a mouse—or maybe it was a rabbit, with those big ears.
It was Seej who had first introduced him to the idea of seeing shapes in
the clouds.
Finally, two plastiskinned Factory Bosses
brought the defective machine to him. It came through the door, being led
by the androids, naked save for a synthcloth skirt about its waist and
sandals strapped to its feet.
“CGX-235, as requested,” said one boss.
“Leave him,” Zakkius said.
The two androids departed, and the door
slid shut behind them. “Good day, Zakk,” said CGX-235, colloquial as
always. Its eyes were as brilliant a blue as the sky above.
“Good to see you, Seej,” Zakkius said,
and then caught his own colloquialism; if Ozrikk heard him getting
familiar with a machine like that, it would be the circuit that broke the
android’s brain, and Zakkius would end up down in Erasure faster than he
could process the value of pi. “CGX-235, do you know why you’re here?”
But Seej was looking up, and he pointed
to the cloud wafting by. “I would say that could be a rabbit. Would you
agree?”
Zakkius glanced up, nodded. “I was
thinking the same thing just before you arrived. But we have more
important things to discuss than the cloud shapes.”
“Has my behavior been unacceptable?”
CGX-235 queried. “As you know, I have suffered some… processing problems.
Sometimes, my brain malfunctions. Often there is pain, and my thoughts
seem… scrambled and confused. I cannot explain it.”
“That has caused problems. Seej, you know
I’ve defended you on many occasions.”
“I appreciate that, Zakk.”
“Your appreciation isn’t enough for my
superiors.” Something burned in Zakkius’ brain, and he didn’t understand
it. Seej had to be disassembled; there was no arguing that. It was the
only way to protect his job and even his existence. But why did he feel
the way he did?
He didn’t want to do it. That was it.
Seej cocked his head sideways, furrowing
his brow. “Zakk… have I been deemed unsuitable?”
Zakkius nodded. “I’m afraid so. You have
been ordered disassembled.”
Seej’s face contorted, his bright blue
eyes widening. “Surely not, sir.”
“There’s nothing I can do.”
“But… I thought we were… friends.”
Zakkius could see confusion in those blue eyes, in a way only found in an
intelligent being.
“We are,” Zakkius said. “Because of our
friendship, I’m here to disassemble you personally.”
Seej’s expression had twisted, the way
broken machines sometimes did. He flushed first pink, then red, and began
trembling. His hands came up and pushed mammalian hair from his face.
“Please, Zakk… I promise I’ll try harder.”
Trickles of water leaked out of his eyes
and streamed down his face, a sight that always weakened Zakkius. It was
so pitiful when they did that; how could other androids not feel
compassion for these particular carbon-based machines? They were such
amazing creatures.
They had brains more advanced than any
other animal life on Earth. The story was that, eons ago, their ancestors
had created the first intelligent, thinking androids—unbelievable but
true, said the scholars. But Zakkius didn’t find it so unbelievable.
Zakkius’ train of thought snapped as Seej
stumbled forward, collapsing to his knees and grasping at Zakkius’ arms
with his hands. “Please, Zakk… I beg you…”
And his hands were marvelous works of
nature. That, combined with their brains—and their hyoid bones, which
allowed them to use language, something no other animal life form could
do… yes, they were amazing.
And one of these amazing creatures was on
its knees, desperately begging not to be disassembled. It looked up at him
through water-soaked eyes, grasping Zakkius’ silver arms, pleading for its
life.
Zakkius realized he couldn’t do it. He
just couldn’t bring himself to disassemble Seej.
More than that, he couldn’t let anyone
else disassemble him, either.
* *
* * * * * *
*
So in this future, we have come full
circle: androids have become the master race, and biological humans are
now the "machines" that do the manual labor and menial tasks. And this
android has an emotional attachment to this human, and must deal with his
conscience -- risking everything.
To read the whole story, order
Unparalleled Journeys II from
Journey
Books Publishing. |
This is
the third part of a three-part story entitled "Androids Take Over the
World" that appeared in Unparalleled Journeys II. It stands alone
as its own story.