Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 2:

About the time that Jimmy found the mushroom for his project Goddard roused himself in preparation for greeting Jimmy home from school. Although technically Goddard did not "sleep" in the way that most animals slept he did have a power conservation mode in which most of his higher motor and nerve functions were temporarily suspended. After reactivating his dormant systems Goddard ran a routine self-diagnostic and determined that it was time for periodic routine maintenance on his primary power system and so set about locating Jimmy to perform the task. After a quick scan revealed that only Jimmy's parents Hugh and Judy Neutron were in the house Goddard set out for Jimmy's lab in search of his master.

When Goddard arrived at the lab he noted that Jimmy's friends Carl and Sheen were there but as Jimmy was also present decided that no action to expel them from the restricted area was required. Jimmy himself was involved with manipulating the controls on some gadget that Goddard did not recognize, and as he did not understand its purpose determined that the maintenance on his power system was more important. He barked once to get Jimmy's attention.

"Not now, Goddard," Jimmy grunted. "I'm busy."

Patiently Goddard settled himself on the floor next to Jimmy, waiting for Jimmy to be free to attend to his needs. It was clear to Goddard and even to Carl and Sheen that whatever Jimmy was doing was very complicated, forcing Jimmy to work slowly and with great care. At last Jimmy held up a small glass dish in triumph.

"Done!" he said. Since Jimmy had announced he was finished Goddard barked again. Preoccupied with progress of his gene splicing Jimmy gave Goddard an impatient look. "What?" he demanded.

In response Goddard flipped up his front plate, revealing his video screen. On it were the words:

POWER SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE REQUIRED

Jimmy brushed the message aside as Goddard covered his video screen. "Later, Goddard. I've got other things to do now." Since Jimmy didn't say how much later it would be when he would attend to him Goddard settled back on the floor. Jimmy turned to his friends. "Well, here it is!" he proclaimed

"Is that your new pet?" asked Carl as he examined the contents of the small container. "It's awfully little."

Sheen peered at the dish. "Are you sure you just didn't sneeze in there, Jimmy?" he said at last.

Jimmy shook his head. "No guys. This is just the recombinant DNA for my new pet. I just need to put it into the incubator for a while."

"DNA?" Sheen looked alarmed. "Doesn't that explode if you heat it up?"

"You're thinking about TNT, Sheen. This is DNA."

Sheen looked relieved. "Oh, right. So that only explodes with, like, blasting caps and stuff, right?"

Jimmy looked pained. "DNA doesn't explode at all, Sheen. It stands for deoxyribonucleic acid."

"Acid?" Carl said fearfully.

"Don't worry, Carl," Jimmy reassured his friend. "We all have it. It's in every one of our cells – except for mature red blood cells, of course, as they have no nuclei."

"Oh." Carl looked thoughtful. "Well, maybe the acid explains why I get heartburn so often."

"It's not that kind of acid, Carl. This acid is the genetic material that makes up the genes I told you about."

"Oh, I get it," ventured Sheen. "Like acid-washed jeans, right?"

Jimmy decided to give up while he was at least partly ahead and mostly sane. "Not exactly. I'll try explaining it to you again later." Much later, he thought. "But for now we need to get this in the incubator so we can get the growth process started." He turned and started for the chamber, again absorbed in his plans. "I figure that we need to keep this at 37° C for exactly 17.3 hours before –"

So engrossed was he in his calculations that Jimmy totally overlooked the robotic dog lying unmoving and forgotten at his feet. Jimmy's musings were cut short as he stumbled over Goddard's still form and he fell forward. As Jimmy struggled to simultaneously maintain his balance and keep the precious glass dish from dropping to the hard lab floor he performed a frantic and somewhat comic juggling act. Had he attempted only to keep from falling or from dropping the dish he might have succeeded, as for an instant he managed to maneuver both his feet beneath him. The gods of physics, however, were apparently enraged that Jimmy had attempted to save both himself and his vessel. In terribly retribution they refused to let him succeed at either. Jimmy fell heavily to the ground and the glass dish flew from his hands, shattering into a thousand glittering shards and small drops of liquid.

"NOOOO!" Jimmy screamed, aghast.

For a moment Carl and Sheen stood petrified at the sight before Sheen leapt suddenly forward. "Five second rule!" he yelled, stooping to scoop the scattered fragments together with his hands.

"No Sheen! Don't touch it!" Jimmy called out painfully, and Sheen froze with his hands inches from the debris. "It's already contaminated. It's biohazardous waste and I'll have to dispose of it safely and decontaminate the lab. That will take about an hour, and then I'll have to start all over again from the start." Stiff and bruised from his fall Jimmy got to his feet and turned to look at the cause of the disaster. Aware that he had somehow done something wrong but unsure of what he had done Goddard hung his head and whimpered softly.

"He didn't mean it, Jimmy," offered Carl, who often found himself in Goddard's situation.

"It doesn't matter if he did or not," Jimmy replied tightly. "He should have known better."

"Hey, calm down Jimmy," Sheen said, seeing the ugly change in Jimmy's face. "It'll be okay. It's just an experiment."

Jimmy didn't seem to be listening. All he could think of was the time that had been wasted and the extra time it would now take to fix the situation. As he dwelt on these dark thoughts the anger inside him built to a dangerous level, demanding an outlet. "Goddard," he said fiercely, as Goddard cowered. "Get out of here and stay away from me. Do you understand? I don't have time for you right now. I have work to do, so just – leave – me – alone!" And with that Jimmy stormed off to a locker of cleaning supplies and slammed the door open. Not knowing what else to do Carl and Sheen moved to help Jimmy.

Goddard cringed away from Jimmy and moved to comply with his instructions. Jimmy had told him to go, and despite his desire to remain he had no choice but to go. He had also been commanded to leave Jimmy alone, and so he would have to obey that as well. But Jimmy had not told Goddard how long to leave him alone. Without a specified time frame the directive was automatically added to the Goddard's list of standing instructions and would remain there until Jimmy himself cancelled it.

The lab door opened automatically at his approach to permit him to leave. Goddard paused briefly to look back once, as though hoping that Jimmy would countermand the order, and then moved through the opening. As the door slid silently shut behind him neither Jimmy nor the others saw him go.

End of Part 3.