She walked into the repair shop, dragging her Bot behind her. She tapped the tiny bell on the counter and waited.
"Oh, my," said the woman, who came through the navy blue curtains that hung in the door way. "What have we here?"
"Uh, he broke."
"Sweetheart, he more than broke. What happened to him?"
"Doesn't it seem weird to call him by a gender? I wonder about that sometimes. I mean he's a robot, an AI, how can it be a he?"
"Not strange at all dear. We think in terms of gender and it would seem rude to call your bot, an 'it'. Now, what can I do for you?"
"Fix him."
The woman laughed, her cheeks turning bright pink. "Fix him," she roared. "I'd have to rebuild him. He's mangled."
"He's not that bad," she said.
"Yes," she wheezed. "Yes, he is."
"Can you do it?"
The woman leaned agains the counter and tried to catch her breath. "Of course, I can do it, but it will cost a small fortune. This is an old model," she said, lifting the arm off the counter. "They don't even make parts for this one anymore."
"So that means yes? Yes, you can fix him?"
"Probably. I think there's a good chance I can get, or make the parts he needs, but tell me what happened to him."
The girl sighed and picked a wet leaf off the bots shoulder.
"You care about him?"
"I guess," said girl. "I mean he's a bot, so he doesn't care about me, but we've been together a long time and..."
"I understand. Let me take look at him," she said, dragging the body onto the counter. "Do you have the rest of his arm?"
"Yes, it's right here in my bag."
"What happened to him?"
"I'm not sure. He might have been hit by a truck, or fallen off something."
"You weren't with him?"
"No."
"Are you saying he was out alone?"
The girl nodded. "He likes to go out with friends, now and then."
"Friends? Bots don't have friends."
"He does."
"Did you meet them?"
"Just one, number 347K984-1V."
The woman opened a drawer and pulled out a long nose pliers. "That's an important bot to have for a friend."
"Is it?"
"It's a battle bot."
"How do you know that?"
"The number."
"Oh. Well, he didn't tell me who his friends were."
"Again, they aren't supposed to have friends. Don't you know the laws?"
"What laws?" asked the girl.
"How did you get this one?"
"He's always been with me."
"Where are your parents?"
"I never hand any."
"Are you telling me this bot raised you?"
"Yes. Is that unusual?"
The woman closed her eyes, resting her hands on the steel body of the bot laying in front of her.
"If you can fix him enough to wake up, he can fix himself. He's done that before."
"He has?"
"He does it all the time. He's really smart."
The door to the shop slammed open. Two men in black and a silver bot barged in. "That bot your working on is government property and I'm here to take it into custody," said the man on the right.
"He's mine," said the girl. "He's always been mine. You can't have him."
The man went to shove her out of the way and she broke his arm. "I said, he's mine," hissed the girl.
The two men were dead in a matter of minutes, the bot who accompanied them, simply looked around. Then he walked over to the counter and started repairing the downed AI. The woman and the bot worked together for some time, until the broken bot sat up. He looked around, saw the girl and waved. She waved back, then ran over and hugged him. He put his arm round her, then threw his legs over the counter and jumped down. He walked over to the bot who had helped him and they stared at each other for about three minutes, then he turned to the woman behind the counter.
"THANK YOU," he said.
"You're welcome, but what about the dead guys on the floor?"
The bot looked at the bodies, then at the girl and said, "GOOD JOB."
She smiled and they slapped palms and did a two minute hand routine.
"The dead guys?" said the woman, once again. "And make it fast because more of the stooges will be coming for you once these guys don't check in.
The second bot walked to the counter and asked to buy the robot head in the window. The woman said, "If you get rid of the bodies, you can have it."
The girl thanked the woman, while the bots took the bodies through through the back of the shop.
"I don't know what's going on," she said. "But be careful. The government wants your bot and they won't stop until they get him."
"They won't ever get him."
"What will you do with the second one?"
"That's up to him, I guess."
"Free will?"
"Something like that," said the girl. "Thank you for all you've done."
The woman nodded. "I would like to know the story behind this."
"No," said the girl. "You wouldn't."
The bods came back into the shop. The second bot took the head out of the window and bowed to the woman. She bowed back, and watched all three of them walk out of the shop.
When they were gone, the woman swept the floor and cleaned the counter. "Somedays," she muttered to herself, "are so much weirder than others."
Photo: Gabriella Clare Marino
Unsplash
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