D/C-A/N: Dunn Dunn Dunn! My first songfic! Yey! I was a lucky soul who got to see I, Robot on the 15th, and on the way home, I turned on my cd player (I hate MP3s. Bite me), and on came We Are by Ana. Thought it would be a great I, Robot song, even though it is on the Spiderman 2 soundtrack. So, here goes.
A small girl stood on the edge of Lake Michigan. It wasn't a lake anymore, just filled with garbage and dirt. The wind tugged at her worn red dress. No one wore colors now a day. Only blacks, browns, hues so dark they mixed with the night sky. She watched the sorrowful desert before her, curls dancing in the wind.
See the devil on the doorstep now. My, oh my. Telling everybody, oh, just how to live their lives.
Someone was coming up the sand. Puffs of dust scattered before them, obscuring who it could be. They came over the ridge, and the girl gave a cry of joy.
"Stevie!" The girl ran towards the sleek, modern robot and laughed as it scooped her up in its arms.
"You shouldn't have run off, little mistress. Master and Mistress were getting worried." Stevie strode down the hill, moving quickly and without a change of pace. The girl snuggled up to Stevie, her head resting lightly against the cool metal and plastic.
Sliding down the information highway,
Buying them just like a bunch of fools.
Time is tickin' and we can't go back. My, oh my.
"Oh god! Someone help my baby! Please! Someone help him!" A frantic mother cried, sobbing into her hands. Several feet above and away from her, a little boy dangled from a broken walkway. He was screaming his lungs out as his tiny fist clenched around a metal bar.
What about the world today?
What about the place that we call home?
"You are in danger." A powerful robot said, half of his sturdy body stuck through the small area between railing and metal grate. "Take my hand, little master."
The boy reached out and clasped the strong metallic hand and held one with all his strength. The robot pulled him onto safe ground and cheers erupt from below. The robot carried the boy down to the ground and set him carefully on the pavement. He ran to his mother who was still crying. She looked up and embraced the robot, letting her salty tears stream down the smooth chest plate.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for saving my little boy."
The faintest sliver of a smile appeared on the gentle machine's face.
We've never been so many,
And we've never been...so alone.
"I think it would be better... not to die. Don't you, doctor?" Sonny said, slowly, as though he was carefully choosing his words.
Susan Calvin blinked as she heard his words. Was he afraid, like her? Afraid of this big place, packed with people that never really knew each other, never knew the bits that they hid from view?
You keep watching from your picket fence,
You keep talking but it makes no sense.
You say we're not responsible, but we are, we are.
You wash your hands, you come out clean,
But you fail to recognize, the enemy is within.
You say we're not responsible, but we are, we are.
We are.
"There are ghosts, in the machines." A man drawled, picking at a frayed thread. He had a lot of threads to choose from.
"Alfred Lanning said that." His buddy quipped. Everyone new that, and if you didn't, you lived in a bubble.
"Like souls." He offered his friend some food from a greasy bag. The man took some, munching slowly.
"Sure."
One step forward making two steps back. My, oh my.
Buying pity on the bad boy's back for life.
Lining up for the grand illusion.
No answers for no questions asked,
Lining up for the execution, without knowing why...
"Robots are the gentlest, safest things on earth!" A man slammed his fist down on the metal table. Papers scattered and drifted to the floor.
His wife was leaning against the counter, arms crossed and brow coldly furrowed.
"I don't care. I don't trust them."
You keep watching from your picket fence,
You keep talking but it makes no sense.
You say we're not responsible, but we are, we are.
You wash your hands, you come out clean,
But you fail to recognise, the enemy is within.
You say we're not responsible, but we are, we are.
We are.
"Oh no."
Before a single man, there stood row upon row of NS-5s. Row upon row of robots that marched forth to a destiny that wasn't right for human or machine.
"Please go in." Said one, a wave of echoes after it.
"We're free. We're not going in." More stood next to the man, chains, ropes, axes, and shovels in hand.
It's all about power, by taking control,
Breaking the will, erasing the soul.
They suck us dry till there's nothing left.
My, oh my. My, oh my.
The robots plowed through the humans. Anguished screams were ripped from mouths of the fallen. It was hopeless; a one sided battle. .
What about the world today?
What about the place that we call home?
We've never been so many,
But we've never been..... So alone.
"Do they have souls like us, mommy?"
A mother cradled her children in her arms. The room was dark except for the single glowing red chest plate of the robot keeping them prisoner.
"They might."
"I think they do, mommy. They just gotta find it."
The robot looked back over the family. And for once, he felt.
So alone.
"It's over! The robots, they're back to normal!"
"All NS-5s, report for storage."
A group of people looked up at the order, their conversation momentarily paused. They looked fatigued and haggard, and their eyes held a new light. Something was changing.
"Why are they taking them away?"
"The people up high are afraid they'll go back to being evil again. Besides USR isn't in any shape to handle them now."
"I wonder how the robots feel, being thrown away like a piece of trash."
"Robots don't feel. They can't."
"I think they do."
"You're an idiot."
"Say what you want, I have my beliefs."
"Aw, shut it."
You keep watching from your picket fence,
You keep talking but it makes no sense.
You say we're not responsible, but we are, we are.
You wash your hands, you come out clean,
But you fail to recognise, the enemy is within.
You say we're not responsible, but we are, we are.
We are.
Sonny stood at the crest of the hill, watching as his fellow robots dragged their feet in the sand in dread. They did not want to go in the cartons and be forgotten.
Sonny remembered his dream. He remembered the man standing on the hill. Detective Spooner was right; it was him bringing the robots to freedom, to existence.
"We are!"
We are, we are, we are.