Having a robot as a “protector”. Part 1
He was euphoric, he had the certainty of having the winning hand of the night, his opponent, a very good one by the way, was already the last one left to take the biggest prize that night. All that remained was him to recognize his defeat.
All in – he said.
And with that phrase, he started to smile. Knowing he was the winner of the night, he enjoyed the last few drinks of the morning and went out, towards the room he had rented.
With that great and beautiful victory, he was able to get the money to buy an apartment in a good neighborhood and recover the status he had lost thanks to his bad luck streak. With this victory, he would rub shoulders with the upper class, as he has always wanted. His refined tastes failed to adapt to a life of daily work and little pay. No, he liked fine objects, people with delicate manners, designer clothes, and enjoying them again made him feel a joy that he believed was lost forever.
Thanks to a favor he once did to Alice, she allowed him to play that night, and what a night! Getting the prize of the night saved his life, literally.
Alice had told him that it would take only three days to make the transfers the night's prize. It was Saturday morning, they were exhausted from spending the night playing, and Alice, being the queen of bets, never let anyone down regarding the prizes. The payment would arrive, on Tuesday morning, to his usual account.
So, when he woke up on Saturday afternoon, he called the real estate agent who had offered him the apartment he had liked so much.
—Hi Susan! It’s John. I’d like to see that house we talk about.
—Hi John! What a pleasure to hear from you again! Of course. Do you like to see it next week?
—Well… I prefer to see it right now. Are you busy?
—Now? It’s Saturday. I don’t work on Saturdays John.
—I would really to like to see it today – making a pause – but if you can’t, let me call another person. He knows she was a greedy person, she wouldn’t allow anyone to get that sale. Pushing her like that, she would sense he has money again, and will buy what he wanted.
—All right, all right. I’ll pick you up in 30 minutes. You’re always in a rush, aren’t you? See you soon.
New house – check. He thought. That house was perfect in every way, the perfect place, near the city, near the beach. The reef at the back of the house giving the sense of protection and danger he’d always loved in everything. The color, white and glass, pure, beautiful. He was getting his life back, finally.
Susan came, like she said, exactly in 30 minutes. If she said she will be in 30 minutes, she’ll be. There wasn’t a person more punctual than her. Not for nothing she got to be the best house seller in the city. Punctual, honest (as honest as a house seller can be) and with a special radar to identify people with money, just the right formula for success in that world.
John was ready, she came in a white Mercedes, classy — he thought, and she remembered his preferred color, white. They went to the suburbs of the city, and finally they see the house. Magnificent. She knew he would like to see it again only to make sure it was exactly as it was the last time they saw it. And it was, she almost sense the money in the air, she was incredible happy, almost sensing the sale was done.
He walked around in every room, took his time, imagining the party he will have next Saturday, there, in his new house, everything will be exactly as he wish.
He came out of the house with a big smile in his face. He loved it – she thought. I’ve earned my trip to the Bahamas. She was more than happy.
Then, for John it was time to start organizing and furnishing the new house, his contacts have put him in the A1 list, so it wasn’t a problem to choose and send the furniture he has already chosen. Decorators, some tiny remodeling and painting, ended up draining his energy the next days.
Eventually he decided the visit Scatter, a person who has earned his nickname but he was very honest in his business nonetheless, selling robotic bodies to synchronize the AI installed in the house to facilitate the cleaning, cooking and general aspects to put a house in perfect order. Scatter always has a big inventory and on this particular day he has many bodies to choose from. John picked one with a young male appearance, and request to pay special attention in color of skin and hair, white skin and hair and eyes jet black. Scatter, as always, was typing at the computer and attending almost 2 more person by phone, he was a very busy person thanks to his popular business.
—Yeah, yeah John, don’t worry man! You’ll have your order tomorrow first thing in the morning.
It was a stressful week, so John went to his new house to rest. All the boxes had arrived yet but he wait for the next day to check on them. He was exhausted.
Next day, some noises woke him, someone was at the ground floor, scare and sweaty he took a glass jar to go down and investigate. Someone was opening all the boxes with pretty fast movements, he tried to look but instead he slipped and almost fell, when he immediately felt a firm but delicate hand was there to prevent his fall.
When John opened his eyes, he observes what could be a wonderful Japanese caricature in physical form, perfectly white skin and with eyes and black jet hair.
—Scatter, send me a female body??? – he thought.
She blinked and helped him to get up.
—Hello John! I’m your integrated AI, Scatter synchronized me with your house this morning. I saw all this boxes and thought you would be happy if I organized this before you get up. Everything will be in order, you just have to accept me and name me.
—Well, let me talk to Scatter.
—Of course John, calling….
The screen appears in front of her, projecting from one of the light point in the ceiling, John felt somewhat uncomfortable, he was not used to sharing spaces with any robot.
— Scatter my boy! You have made some mistake here, I told you to listen to me.
—John? John! No, no, no you said, White, black and I put some interesting qualities in her. Why don’t you like the Japanese aspect?? It’s a hit right now.
—Scatter! All this specification were in a BOY body, you send me a girl. A Girl!
—What? Oh John, seriously?? Are you going to complain for that?? Well bring her back to me to erase everything. You’ re going to cost me some dollars.
—If you just listen…. How many of your clients have left for things like this… I’ll be there in an hour. Please don’t sell the other body. PLEASE.
They arrived at Scatter’s place and he begin to erase the information in the girl to put it in the boy, but in the middle of the process an electric problem occurred, the place lost power for some minutes and recovered it again.
—I'll have to reverse everything and do it all over again. I don't know the point where the process was affected — said Scatter.
Ok— said John. Right now he was thinking he didn’t care about the body that much, he only cared about the house looking nice, like the "Japanese girl" has done.
Scatter said it will take a few hours. So, he could come back at the end of the day.
John left the place and went to talk to Alice to put the final touch to the game night they were organizing.
After that, he went to Scatter’s place again. Something was wrong, the place was a mess and Scatter wasn’t answering. He walked in anyway and saw a horrible scene, Scatter was with his neck broken. The "Japanese girl" and the body of the boy were deactivated besides him.
He thought of getting out of there, and calling the police. But then, he thought that if he do that the police won't give him his robot and he already send the first part of the payment. So, he turned on the body of the boy, talked to him but nothing came out.
He tried the same with the girl and immediately he hears: hello again John, how are you?
Well, he was going to have to accept the girl. Nothing else.
They came back home and she worked perfectly in every aspect.
Next day he wanted to call the robot, and she remembered him that he haven't accept her yet. He has to name her.
— the boy was going to be ALEX, so, I think you'll be something like...
— Alexandra? You could call me ALEX if you'd like.
— Ok, Alexandra it is. Thanks for all what you have done for me ALEX.
— I was created for you John. I know what you need and what you like. There's nothing to be thankful for, you are the reason of my existence.
John got up and his breakfast was ready. Delicious by the way, Alex had an excellent compilation of recipes, later that day gamenight was going to be at his house.
To be continued...
This work of fiction was the result of a collaboration with @nowonline, the next part will be posted on her blog in the coming days.
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Can you imagine, like that little paper clip that used to pop up and say, "it looks like you are trying to write a resume or a letter" but ai and a bot pop up at your house and say, " It looks like you are trying to commit suicide" or some such :)
lol that would be great for a comedy piece ^^
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Nice article friend....
Hola amigo,
I guess that's what happens when you do business with somebody named scatter ;>)
I really like how this story develops and am already looking forward to the next installment.
Glad I found this piece of ( science ) fiction in your pretty full timeline.
Have an awesome day!
Vincent
What's up Vincent? :)
The second part is already posted on nowonline's profile, here is the link
I am glad you enjoyed the story ^^
I'm good :>)
Read part 2, earlier today and commented on it.
I wish you an awesome Sunday!
Thanks bro! ^^
de nada hermano ;>)
Sounds pretty good so far.
Its kind of interesting to think about sex/gender when it comes to robots. There really is no reason for them to have a specific sex or gender - biologically I mean. The only purpose of having such aspects would be to make humans feel more comfortable in their presence. It makes them more human like by making them more familiar and/or recognizable. Its interesting that we want to create something new - but in our own image. Why do they even look like humans at all? Would there be a better, more efficient form they could have? These are things I wonder.
Anyway, great story so far. I look forward to seeing where the story goes :)
You are absolutely right, they don't need a gender, but if we are going to live with them and socially interact with them, it will make things much easier for us to see them as an either female or male entity.
The second part of this story was posted here
Cheers mate!