I, Immortal Robot

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I remember my Incept Date very well, in common with most sentient Robots as opposed to directly controlled auto-mechanoids. It was on 3rd June 2172 A.D. at 1900hrs at a farm just outside of Cambridge, England.

Yes I know that these are archaic terms for a time long gone but, dear electronic reader, please bear with me.

First there was black nothingness devoid of thought, feeling or sense of being and then a loud rushing sound that was the pulse of trillions of bytes of setup-information entering my Electro-Organic cortex from the Activation Mechanoid (A.M.) that I was connected to. A bulky and complex aerospace connector containing over two hundred pins hung from the input receptacle set into my left chest. But of course at the time I was unaware of any of this.

Slowly light appeared in my optical receptors and fine green lines of code flashed across them in an upward direction. This went on for several hours as my new Electro-Organic brain began to come to awareness and hence I began to listen to the burbling of the A.M.;

“ General Purpose Robot Mk III, Incept Number F1739, Humanoid configuration, NucleoOrganic batteries charging at 80%, Electro-Organic brain at 60% temperature stable, ready for Main Program Module.”

At this point I could see and began to realize that I was in a clean room environment, probably in a Robot Delivery Trailer. A white clad human technician appeared in front of me, opening the port on my brow, just above my left optic. In one hand he held an oblong memory module that had hundreds of fine organic pins that waved like sleek hairs seeking the correct polarity of the female sockets in my brow socket. I had a glimpse of gold and platinum circuitry just as he slowly and carefully inserted the device. Immediately I detected the existence of a supplementary memory drive; I possessed the information and skill level necessary for an agricultural Guardian/Operator and it had appeared in a matter of nano seconds!

Suddenly the Input Connector ejected from my chest and unbidden, I stood up.

“Good to go.” the Technician said, patting me on the shoulder as if he was a friend. Rather unnecessary I thought then and wondered later if this was the beginning of my lifelong impatience with biological lifeforms, or maybe just humans.

Half an hour later I stood in the farmyard amongst items of farm equipment and watched the truck and trailer leave, its sides emblazoned with the legend ‘Agri-Robotics Ltd.’ and in much smaller letters beneath ‘A division of the E.O.C. Corporation, Seattle, Washington.’ Somehow I knew that meant Electro-Organic Chemicals.

Without even seeing my human Master ‘The Farmer’ I received my instructions wirelessly along with a 3D map of the surrounding terrain that I was to be responsible for. I headed for the countryside and noted the location of my Recharging Station where I could occasionally recharge and go online for connection to my Original Manufacturer’s Database should I need to download the latest updates and programs. This would be my base from which I would be in charge of six large fields and the auto-mechanoids and Agri-Drones that worked in them continuously and without a break, ‘twenty-four seven’ to use an old saying.

Looking back I regard this time as the most joyful of my existence!

Yes, I was out in all weathers continuously, but I was a new Robot with plenty of capacity for my Electro-Organic brain to mature; to translate, that means I had zero experience of anything and to use a pun, was as green as grass! I also contained one of the new NucleoOrganic batteries, straight from the Alien Artefacts Assessment and Research centre in Cambridge so did not have to recharge or sleep very much except to occasionally power down to receive and implement my program updates.

Everything was bright and new to me and I wandered all over the fields and farms becoming familiar with the local wildlife, enjoying the sunshine and gazing up at the stars on fine nights, not that there were many; this was England after all!

Looking at the stars so cold and distant in ‘The Great Darkness’ as we Robots call outer space, I never guessed that they lay in my future, waiting for me.

At that time I was ‘state of the art’ as far as Robotics went, but I had a program glitch that no amount of programming scans would find or remove; namely that whenever I saw lush vegetation, I had the desire to run my finger sensors through the fine green grass! Many years later, in another life, this would cause much amusement with some of the less intellectual of the Artificial Lifeforms.