Dystopian vision

acknowledgements to Asimov’s I, Robot stories & Orwell’s 1984 

It was a dull, warm day in November and the clocks were striking thirty-eleven as the unit catalogued LL002RH788/ BL1511-24XLF2VS/9Y-$WGR3432 made its way from the dark, oppressive factory in Oceania. The only other sounds were the hum of its servo mechanisms, the rattle of aluminium cards in its credit-slots, and the wheeze of its heat sink.

Soon it was among other artificial lifeforms – the mechanical pleasure machines, the bright neons and LEDs of the Eurasian metropolis. It gamed and tried new protein supplements and wagered on the Robot Wars and the Rollerball Tournaments.

Soon all the credit was wasted.

Panic! A power outage robbed everything of juice. Hums wound down and viewscreens grew strangely dark. Plusungood.

LL002RH788/BL1511-24XLF2VS/9Y-$WGR3432, with neither credit nor hope of any, recognized some of the despised clockwork machinery, and experienced new sensory inputs. It was longing to sustain itself with the lubricating oil that facilitated rack & pinions, sprockets, crown gears and escapements. Doubleplusungoodbellyfeel.

It processed the logic with some difficulty due to low wattage, but eventually produced an answer.

‘Return to the manufacturer. Once a broadband comms link has been established with the CPU, a place significantly deeper in the software architecture can be allocated for this droid.’

It was still a long way off when the CPU’s proximity alert triggered and the machines achieved electronic handshaking via hard wiring.

‘Unperson…’ it began.

But LL002RH788/BL1511-24XLF2VS/9Y-$WGR3432 got a fresh coat of vinyl, brand new castors, one replacement washer in its servo, and had an uniquely organic fuel installed.

The input/output delivery chutes of the supervising droid interfaced momentarily with LL002RH788/BL1511- 24XLF2VS/9Y-$WGR3432’s audio system, which appeared to malfunction. So, of course, a level 3 diagnostic report was automatically recommended.

‘This worker was off-line, but is rebooted. It was about to be scrapped, but is reconditioned and recommissioned!’ Other mechanisms were recalled to the factory for fuel installation and thorough testing.

Everyone was goodthinkful.