Chapter Two
Who Is Me?
The bot scanned the room. The room had a solid ceiling and the walls from halfway up, all painted a light shade of blue with large puffs of green erupting from the bottom part of the half-wall. Deeper blue cushioning decorated with exaggerated hills speckled with flowers created the lower half of the walls. Beneath it, the soft floor alternated between different primary colors in a giant grid. A camera with a glowing red light sat in the corner, staring at it. On the wall opposite, a giant poster stretched from just above the half wall to the floor. Upon a white background with a thick, baby blue, curved line was an endoskeleton with three happy children around it.
The bot looked over itself. While no cords or wires of any type clung to it, its body looked… different. It did recognize itself. Reddish orange frills laced with a golden stripe at the brim wrapped around its waist. Long, puffy pants with red and yellow stripes stretched from its waist to his ankle, which was puffed out with frills. It had two, pointed orange shoes curled up at the tips and ending in a bell each. A crescent moon in a lighter shade printed on the sides of his shoes facing inward, while a star in a lighter shade decorated the other side. It held up its hands and looked over its yellow-gold arms and hands and chest. It could feel another set of frills wrapped around its throat with one of its hands.
Ting, ting!
Red ribbons wrapped around its wrist. A couple of bells tied to its wrists jingled. It shook its hand, jingling the bells again. Intrigued, it shook its foot. That bell sang, too.
Its face was round and relatively flat, save for the etched designs and its eyes. It could feel something else attached to his head. A triangular piece of metal, rounded at the outer edges, came out from the side of its head. It searched further, finding more spokes coming from its head. When it pressed down on one, it retreated into its head and then sprung back out when it let go. It shook its head. The spokes followed at a slight delay, shrinking inward and then going back outward as they moved on springs.
It made a trilling noise and then shook its head again. The bells on its hand jingled when it shook its hand. It looked back up at the camera. It got to its feet and walked up to the corner. The camera followed, tipping itself down until it pointed almost straight down at it. The camera was a little too high, but it may as well try. It started to reach its hand up to touch it.
An outside electric jolt ripped through it.
It yanked back its hand and took a few steps back.
The camera stared at it.
It looked at its hand and then the camera. It decided to go back to the place where it woke up and sat down. It shook its hand again. The bells jingled joyfully. Nothing felt out of place.
The bright light above shut off. Glowing stars spotted the blue of the walls and ceiling.
It looked around. Then, its spokes retracted into its head. The colors of its once vibrant, red-and-yellow pants faded into navy blue with gold stars. A floppy nightcap flipped onto the top of its head. A bell dangled on the triangular tip while white fur-lined the bottom of the navy-blue cap peppered with gold stars. Half of its torso and face turned white while the other half turned a dark navy blue. Its forearms started white and faded to blue so the lower part of its forearms and its hands were blue. While its fingers were white, the tips were blue. Its frills and shoes retained their red and gold coloring.
It ran its fingers over the cap, its fingers tinking over the ball at the tip. When it tipped its head back and forth, the lower half of its nightcap that folded over swung back and forth. It tipped its head to the side and then rolled it further so that its head was right-side-up again. It tipped its head in the opposite direction. When it brought its hand up, a baby blue glow from its eyes shed light over his palm and fingers.
It looked at the camera. It got to its feet and slunk forward, hunched over and quiet as its footfalls were softer than when it was covered in warm colors. The camera followed its movement. It stopped at the corner. It thought about reaching up to it. However, the memory of the electric shock stopped it.
It backed off and then inspected the room and its walls. Stars it did not previously notice dappled the walls and ceiling. It ran its fingers over one of the stars. The wall where the star was and the wall beside the star felt the same. It cupped its hand over the star and tipped its head to watch it. The star's light did not falter. It got close enough that the blue glow from its eyes shone over the star and reflected off its smooth palm. The star's light dimmed under the weight of its eye's light.
It retracted its head and let go. It looked at the camera and its glowing red light. It raised a hand so that one of its fingers blocked out the camera's light for just a moment. It walked past the wall and to the other corner. The camera followed its movements.
It went back to its spot and sat down.
The lights turned back on.
It lost its extreme blue and white coloring in favor of close red and gold. It shook its head so the spokes shivered and expanded and contracted. After a moment, it turned its head so that it went in a full circle, just as it had done while it was blue. It turned its head again back in the opposite direction. It shook its head and played with one of the spokes again. It trilled and shook its head again.
The poster slid upward into the metal part of the wall.
It bristled at the sudden noise and flipped its head up. Two humans walked through the sudden doorway. They wore blue suits and smelled like oil. They were shorter than it by a fairly large margin, at least while it was standing. At the moment, it sat, and the two humans stood taller. They were male. The black-haired one held a large basket full of objects. The poster door shut behind them.
When they stopped, the black-haired male was a little farther back while the brown-haired male was closer to it. It stared back. They didn't have red lights, but they watched it.
The black-haired one looked like it wanted to speak, but it kept glancing at the brown-haired one and stayed silent.
Eventually, the brown-haired one raised his hand. The bot raised its hand as well. The brown-haired one's eyebrows furrowed, and he lowered his hand. It followed, lowering its hand, too. The brown-haired one curled all but his index finger into his fist. It copied. Then, hand still up, the brown-haired one said, "Speak."
It mimicked the man's speech perfectly.
The black-haired one sent a wide-eyed look at the brown-haired one.
It looked back at the black-haired one and cocked its head a little. Was speaking scary? Was that why the black-haired one didn't speak?
"In your own voice," the brown-haired one said. "Speak."
It repeated the words exactly.
The brown-haired one lowered his hand. It followed.
"Can you understand what I'm saying? Yes or no?" he asked without moving his head.
"Yes," it said, mimicking the man's voice.
"So, you're just copying me. Huh. Do you know you have a voice?"
"Yes." This was, again, in the man's voice.
The brown-haired man thought over the word for a little while. Finally, he glanced at the black-haired one. "Come over here. It can't bite."
The black-haired one stepped forward, clutching the basket.
The brown-haired one rifled through the basket until he gathered four colorful blocks. He held out one for the bot. The bot took it and turned it over in its hands. This block was not soft like the floor or lower parts of the wall. It could feel a grain in the smooth parts. While one side had a raised letter–this one was "M"–the other sides had symbols and pictures. A crescent moon, a monkey, a milk bottle, a lower-case n, and the letter "13". It rolled it over in its hands and inspected its sides.
It looked down as the brown-haired man set down the three blocks in his hand so they faced it. "S", "U", "N". "What does this spell?"
It stared at the blocks. It spelled "SUN", of course. It knew this. It was programmed with linguistic abilities in multiple languages. But the man never said "sun". It looked up at the man and then the blocks. Finally, it gained a brilliant idea and said "Sun." Though, the word felt weird as it had to pick apart a few of the words the man had said to fish out the letters hopefully into a semi-cohesive word.
"Jesus Christ," the man grumbled.
But the blocks spelled "SUN"!
The man held out his hand. "Hand over the block."
It did as it was told.
"Got something right." The man picked up the "S" and "U" blocks. He handed the "S" block to it and then traded the "U" for two "O" blocks.
The "S" block had symbols, too. Sun, a snake, a soda can, a lower-case s, and the number "19". Oh, that made sense. "S" was the first letter, and the first picture was a sun.
"Over here," the brown-haired man said.
It looked up and pulled the block closer to itself. It looked down at the alphabet blocks, which spelled "MOON". "Now, what does this say? In your own voice this time."
But it was talking each time it was prompted? What did he mean by 'your own voice'? Did it have a pre-programmed voice? It looked down at the blocks and fidgeted with the "S" block in its hands.
"Can you speak?" The words felt a little sharper, but it wouldn't say he was mad. Frustrated? Why was he frustrated? Was he doing something wrong? Was it doing something wrong?
Finally, the man looked over his shoulder at the camera. "Cut the lights." He pulled out a flashlight.
The lights went out. Its spokes retracted and were quickly replaced by a nightcap. Red and gold turned to blue and yellow. It dropped the block in the sudden change. It picked the block back up and looked up at the man.
The black-haired one sucked in his breath and looked at the brown-haired man.
"What does this say?" the brown-haired man asked.
It looked down at the blocks illuminated by the man's flashlight. "…Moon." Its voice was deep and quiet.
The man sucked in his breath and fought down a smile. He held out his hand. "Give me the block."
It held out the block.
The man switched the blocks around until they spelled "SUN". "What does this say?"
"Sun," it repeated in its previous speech.
"No, in your voice."
It stated in its own deeper, quiet voice, "Sun."
The man nodded. "Huh. You're the smarter one. Eh, don't need to be particularly smart to work with children." He shrugged and put away the blocks. He held out his hand. It wordlessly gave back the block. The block was put into the basket.
The black-haired one cleared his throat.
The brown-haired one asked, "Yes?"
"Um," the black-haired one said. "What if the yellow one can't speak? Can the blue one not repeat noises?"
The brown-haired one's eyebrows furrowed. "Hmm…" He turned back to the robot. "Repeat after me in my voice: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
It repeated the line in the man's voice.
"Huh." He looked back at the black-haired one. "Well, you still might be onto something. One more test." The man turned back to the robot. "Okay. My name is John Remington. Can you see my face?"
"Yes."
"What is my name?"
"John Remington."
"Good. Remember me." He turned to the camera. "Turn on the lights."
The lights turned back on.
It changed from blue to yellow.
John asked, "What is my name?"
"John Remington," it said in his voice.
John said, "So you know my name, and you said it, but you won't say it now. Interesting. Got a little more work to do, then." He walked around behind the robot. When it tracked him, the man waved his hand. "Face forward."
It stared ahead, unmoving.