Fantasy & Science Fiction 2021 05-06 by Spilogale Inc

Author:Spilogale Inc. [Spilogale Inc.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spilogale Inc.
Published: 2021-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

FOR THE NEXT HOUR OR SO, while Logan watched the sky grow brighter between the gaps in the boards, Charlie dug through his piles of parts, muttering to himself about serial numbers and operating systems and other things Logan didn’t understand. The little robotic vacuum cleaner went to charge itself, then continued running. Though it carefully edged around Logan’s father, it bumped directly into Logan’s thigh, then backed up and did it again.

“I think your vacuum is confused,” Logan said.

“What?” Charlie’s head swiveled around to see the little vacuum bumping into Logan’s knee this time. “Oh. He wants you to get up so he can clean that spot. Isn’t that right, Buddy?”

The vacuum beeped once and then paused, as though waiting.

“That means ‘yes,’” Charlie said. “Once for yes, twice for no.”

“Wait,” Logan said. “You mean he’s…um…”

“Aware?” Charlie finished. “Yeah, he is. Buddy was an experiment of mine. Wanted to see if I could program consciousness into a machine that was never designed to accept it. I thought it would be miraculous. Like creating life. I hadn’t yet figured out how cruel it actually was.”

Buddy bumped into Logan’s leg again, and Logan scrambled to his feet to get out of the way. “Cruel?” he said, watching as the little vacuum meticulously swept the carpet where Logan had just been sitting. “How?”

“It’s all about the parts,” Charlie said quietly, pausing in his rummaging.

“If Buddy decides he wants to paint a picture, read a book, or even have a conversation, he can’t. Doesn’t have the parts. He tries sometimes, you know. The conversation bit, at least. He’ll try to use a different series of beeps and tones, different pitches, longer or shorter durations, rapid or slow. I don’t know what any of it means. Imagine having something important that you want to say to someone, but you have to depend on that person to ask the right questions for you to be able to communicate it.”

“That’s…”

“Awful,” Charlie finished for him. “Absolutely awful. But Buddy’s nicer about it than I probably deserve.”

“Beep,” said the vacuum, apparently in agreement, which made Charlie laugh softly.

“Anyways, kid, I think I’ve found about the closest thing I’ve got for your pops here. Now we just have to crack him open and see what’s going on in there. Bring him over here, would ya?”

Logan led his father to the other side of the room where Charlie was waiting with some type of powered screwdriver in his hand. This he used to remove a panel at the back of his father’s head and then another one at the base of his neck. He poked around at the various parts so revealed, grunting or mumbling to himself, and occasionally wielding his screwdriver or a can of compressed air to detach, reattach, or clean things. After that, he used a cable to connect one of his father’s ports to a computer.

Logan didn’t watch any of this too closely. He wouldn’t know what to look for, for one thing, and there was something

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