Chapter Four
The Dormitory
“Every woman and her robot knew what to do apart from the leader.” —Manifesto the Great’s Wife’s Diary
The Operators stood in the kitchen of their dormitory staring at the dismantled H-Pad 11. Operator One licked her fingers and nudged it; the H-Pad 11 rattled like a broken clock.
They were tucking into scones and hot coffee. As the scones had been liberally spread with the hemp butter and soya cream, some were feeling a touch squeamish; but, as they had no idea what to do next apart from eat more scones, they continued to tuck in, letting forth the odd belch. They were still trying to absorb the sight of Hilda losing it. Watching a dominant, intimating bully uselessly toss water like a robot with its let’s be logical app missing can do that to an Operator, e
