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Lady Ai

The year was 3587 or 4591. It matters not for the purposes of this story. Somewhere in the distant future artificial intelligence was being refined. The robots could think and act independently. Some had even been elected mayors. The problem was getting the human aspect just right. Despite their different flavors, they were noticeably still not human. Then, a big break occurred for the company known as Deus Ex Machina. It had produce an artificial intelligence that resembled the way man thought. Salutations were given, and even a couple of awards. One day while talking with his maid robot, Engineer Kenneth noticed something particularly odd. He closed his eyes for a moment, and he felt it again. To make certain, he modulated the voice of the robot. There it was! The robot did not speak as women should.

By then, society had moved past gender binaries. Still, when Kenneth spoke with a lady who identified as a man, she still spoke in a fashion that Kenneth considered feminine. There was just something inherently different between men and women. Kenneth, thought and thought. Eventually, he voiced his concerns to the President of Deus Ex Machina.

The president Ariel heard his concerns, and said laughing, “Surely you jest, my dear Kenneth. What is with this 21^st century mentality? Nobody cares, but if you want to make a more girly robot, you have my permission. It might sell better. Program it to like ponies, rainbows or whatever, or maybe make it more maternal.”

“Thank you for being so understanding,” said Kenneth bowing.

With this partial greenlight, Kenneth went full force into his project. Just like his previous robotics project, he started with human’s closest relative, the monkey. In the old days, he studied both apes regardless of their genders. This time he noticed behavioral differences across both genders. He had his core KC unit study the pattern of both apes, and then segregate dominant behaviors expressed by male apes vs female specimens. Normally, people would expect Kenneth to study humans. This was a problem because of their current stage in the development. Society was too much of an influence on the raw behavior of humans. Even among children, there was plenty of societal interference. Kenneth would have loved to have some native specimens, but other than the Sentinels, there was not any other indigenous population left in the world. The Sentinels were preserved with the same care and attention given to the pyramids.

After writing to his son, major KC317, Kenneth was able to get permission to access the surveillance cameras in the home of the Sentinels. Indeed, they were just like the people of yonder times with the hunting and the gathering. There were other behaviors he could not quite understand. His core KC unit did not know what to make of them either. They were a peculiar isolationist bunch. He removed from the core data, all the information pertaining to cultural oddities. He felt this behavioral model was more in tune with what he was looking for. As a side project, he also acquired enough raw footage of children. He fed both data into two robots.

In his mind, he imagined that females were defined by their ability to have kids. As such, his female robot would act more like a lady if it had a child it could identify as her own. This too proved to be a failure in part because of the observations of the Sentinels. He was not able to weed out enough cultural data. The robot pair ended up trying to kill him the moment they were turned on. It was a good thing he always beta tested with just a head and torso.

Calling it quits, he visited President Ariel again. The President said coyly, “Giving up already?”

“I don’t know, I feel that my gender is getting in the way of achieving brilliance,” said Kenneth.

“I could pool from our other projects a team of broads to help you?” said President Ariel.

“I don’t think that is a proper way of referring to our most esteemed ladies,” said Kenneth.

“And you think this little venture of yours is appropriate? I can call them broads, but you can’t, I will not affect my way of speaking just because it affects your mild sensibilities. And let’s say, you do invent your lady robot. What is your next goal?” asked Ariel.

“I want to make a series of talking dinosaurs, like the ones they have in the Japanese hotels, but for the local market,” said Kenneth.

“Oh, Kenny, that sounds so stupid! You are lucky that all your silly ventures have been a financial success otherwise I doubt I would give you the time of day. Go back to the lab, to play with your toys, and don’t come back till you have a semblance of success. You have a year to complete this project, so hop to it. If you fail, you better get started on something else,” said Ariel dismissing Kenneth.

Kenneth returned to the lab, and with a team to help him. Despite all their helpful input, Kenneth ended up producing an imperfect female AI. She would not arrived at proper feminine conclusions, without a ton of handwritten if then scenarios. At the end of the year, it was this faulted failure that went into the stores, and it became an instant bestseller. The sheeple could not tell the difference, but Kenneth and his development team knew.

It seemed to Kenneth that the problem was rooted in the programing language itself. In the end, he decided to return to the basics. He copied his KC core AI, and removed from it all learned preferences. It was a blank slate as far as instructional information was concerned. He then placed the AI inside a female model, in a room with lots of girly things. In theory, it would learn of itself purely based on observations. Kenneth was tempted to include works of literature written by women, but they too had been affected by the climate of the day. After many generations, all women wrote as men did, and some even spoke as such. After looking at the room over the top, he realized that his own perspective and obsession had clouded his judgement.

While he left his new robot to its own devices, he visited his childhood home. It was a glass pavilion. The door would slide to the side to let him inside. Despite being made of glass, people could not look inside. The glass was reflective like those in the police station. He could look out, but outsiders could not look in. The floor was made of white marble. Then entire house decoration consisted of steel, glass and marble, with a color combination of black and white, with some red thrown every so often to break the monotony. Kenneth eventually found his sister’s room. It had been kept identical since her early departure. There were the drawings, and plushies, and even her poor robot doll Lety. The doll had not been turned on since her owner had perished. Nobody in the house had the heart to inform the doll.

Kenneth eventually took one of the drawings his sister had made. It showed a boat, on top of the ocean, the sky had a happy face sun. Below, there was a bunch of different colored fishes. The following day he placed his drawing and a store bought plushie of a cat in the room with the AI. These two things had an interesting, softening effect on the robot. It almost seemed like a lady. The following day, Kenneth threw in a bunch of textbooks and workbooks. Normally, such information was fed into the robot. Instead, he allowed for his AI to show a preference for learning specific things. Within a day, the AI had picked up whatever information it found useful. The days and weeks passed. Eventually, the robot Lady tried opening the door. She found it odd to be locked in. The lack of windows did not help much either. Robots who went for the door before it was time always worried Kenneth. His fears were realized when the stupid machine ran way taking a child unit with it. It was a good thing his robot was chipped in many different locations.

While escaping, the lady robot decided that the best way to keep her child safe was to hide her in a human all-girls school. After stealing some clothing, the child robot was able to blend in well. Programed to take her mother’s advice in earnest, the child robot pretended to be a student whose parent had not picked her up. When asked for her address, the child robot said she did not remember. As for the main robot lady, whenever she was cornered she would find some silly way of escaping. This was standard flight parameters. Most robots were programed to find the shortest route among obstacles. It was her hesitation and occasional element of randomness which caused most problems. In the end, Kenneth decided to put this matter on hold. He would wait till the robot was more calm, in order to take a more diplomatic approach to the entire situation.

Everything but the Girls

A group of men arrived at a family home. Based on their equipment, they seem to be paranormal investigators. They knock on the door and they are received by an Asian man, named Shi-Woo. The five investigators were then greeted by two other boys, followed by the wife who was named Ava. Based on her amber eyes, blonde hair and accent she was apparently from Texas or maybe Missouri. The other two people living in the house were Shi-Woo’s parents.

Following the traditional paranormal cliché, one of the men said, “I feel a dark presence in this house.”

“Really?” said Shi-Woo incredulously.

His father who shared the name of his son interjected by saying, “I don’t think this was a good idea.”

Ava smiling said, “Well, let’s not dismiss them just yet.”

The paranormal “investigators” started scanning the living room with their equipment. Even without the use of instruments, they could tell this was a haunted house. There was just something, crusty and old about the place. This look was in part due to Ava’s preference for vintage items. As the lady of the house, she had arrange all the decorations. Shi-Woo even had to install some of those crusty old, reclaimed wood beams. He thought they were ugly, but he had learned from his father that it was pointless to argue with the missus with regards to decorating. It was an argument that they were just not going to win.

Ava eventually said, “If you are done with the living room, I am going to show you were the paranormal stuff has been occurring.”

Ava’s two sons followed closely behind their mother. The youngest son was named Jin-ho. He resembled the father, but had his mother’s blue eyes. The oldest was called Malik. He was a ginger haired brat, with black eyes. The red hair and name had been inheriting from Ava’s father. A portrait of the man in uniform was placed over the fireplace. The investigators gave it a cursory glance.

Ava stopped behind a closed door, that was locked. She turned the key slowly and purposely opened the door in a fashion that made it creak. She could have put some oil, but Ava always found creaking doors quite amusing. Her children already knew what to expect. They were tentatively looking at the investigators to see how they would react. Instead of grasping, they gave a disdainful look at the three dolls standing before them. One of the men came closer to examine the strange animated dolls. The dolls stared back at him, and even blinked a couple of times as was the mannerism common among humans. They were a type of BJD doll, all three were modeled after little boys. They were a 1:1 scale modeled with 7 year old human brats, with the exception of the face. The face was more doll like, with the large eyes and small mouth and nose.

One of the doll children said, “Forgive our rudeness, but you can see the predicament we are in.”

One man made a motion to pick up one of the dolls, but the doll moved away from him. Standing defensively before her doll children, Ava said, “I asked you to come here to tell me why these dolls are moving.”

“They are not some type of animatronics?” asked one of the investigators incredulous.

To illustrate their true nature, one of the children doll removed its head and emptied out its eyes to show that it was hollow. Indeed, they were just ordinary dolls, that were animated because of unordinary reasons. Despite this display, the investigators were not convinced. The night rolls on, and two men split from the group while the others try out their doohickeys. The first one to depart from the main party goes to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. All the while, he murmurs bellow his breath. The second one had just killed the grandparents in another room. To prevent the blood from seething, he had placed the corpses in the shower. When the pretend paranormal investigator feels contempt with his work, he closes the door behind, and starts brainstorming his next assassination. The second he leaves the bathroom the grandparents rise from the water inside tub looking as fresh as daisies.

“I told him this was a bad idea, but did he listen. No,” said the grandfather.

“Sometimes warnings are not enough,” said the grandmother. She then added chuckling, “Should we mess with the fool.”

“Let’s just see how things play out,” said the grandfather.  

The human and doll children by now had made their way downstairs. A baby doll sitting in a chair whispered to one of them, “There is a crazy guy in the kitchen making himself a sandwich.”

“How do you know he is crazy?” asked Malik.

“Cause of the mumbling,” said the baby doll. 

One of the children doll, a green hair boy named Trent picked up the baby doll to move it away from the weirdo in the kitchen. The children already paranoid had gone to hide in the office. Malik had a letter opener, while Trent had taken his mother’s decorative Wakizachi sword. The brothers waited patiently, holding their nerve. They heard slow, unfamiliar footsteps. The stranger rattled at the door before moving away. The kids breathed in a sigh of relief. They grasped when they saw their grandmother in what she called her Petro form. She seemed closer to her younger self, but with her favorite emo makeup. In her youth, she was a fashion model and she used to sport bold theatrical, dark makeup.

She told the boys, “Do not do anything stupid.”

She then said to the child doll, “And you Oliv! Put that sword back were you found it.”

The child doll named Oliv obeyed with downcast eyes. On the meantime, Ava had taken two of the investigators to the workshop. The men could not help but admire the craftmanship displayed on the main three dolls. They were up to human scale, but with doll faces and anatomy. The first one was a toddler, the other one a 10 year old girl and the last one a teen. The toddler had short brown hair, and grey eyes. It was sporting a frilly gothic outfit, with lots of laces and ribbons. The little girl was dressed in a sailor suit, with a nekomimi coat. Her hair was pink, and her eyes were green. The last doll was wearing an elegant ballerina dress. Her hair was white on top and blue beneath.

A bit annoyed, Ava asked, “Do you sense anything supernatural about these dolls?”

The men examined them with their “apparatus”. After pretending to consider the matter, the first fellow said, “Well, there is nothing out of the ordinary here.”

“More the pity,” whispered Ava more to herself, “It has been years since I have made a doll. When I made Oliv, I thought it would be enough, but lately I have been desiring to have daughters, but I am no longer able to have flesh children. You see, this is why I made these dolls together with my husband. He has two doll sons, you see. He is quite the little Geppetto in this regards. What I don’t understand is why these dolls we made do not show signs of life. We followed the same steps from before…”

While she was ruminating, one of the home invaders locked the door of the workstation. He leaves his partner behind, who prefers to handle ladies by himself. After making a motion to restrain Ava, the fellow gets stabbed a couple of times. It was the oldest female doll, the one dressed like a ballerina. The top of her white hair and face had been stained with blood. Her mother makes an effort to clean her.

Ava asks, “How long have you been aware?”

“I was, we were jealous. You already had your human boys, and the other dolls too. It felt that us being here was nothing more than a passing fancy. The life of a doll is quite short indeed. We are either maned, given away or thrown away. I was not too keen on sharing such a fate,” explained the ballerina doll.

“As long as our bloodline remains, dolls like you will have a normal life, well as normal as it can be considering the circumstances,” said Ava.

“I suppose I could head out during Halloween, and if technology advances enough I could easily mingle with robots,” said the ballerina doll.

“What do you want me to call you?” asked Ava.

“I am partial to the name Daffodil,” said the toddler doll.

“I prefer Poppy,” said the child doll.

As for the ballerina doll, she took on the name of Morning Glory. The sun rose, and with it plenty of questions. While the grownups were digging graves, the children were cleaning out the blood. It was both a good and bad thing that the nearest house to theirs was about 100 yards. Burying the would be murderers seemed like the easiest way to manage the situation. Sure, they could have called the cops, but then there was the matter of the dolls that required explaining.

While digging, the grandmother asks, “Whose idea was it to call a paranormal investigator?”

“It was Malik’s big idea,” said Ava, “The local priest gave him the number of those goons.”

“I suppose we might pay this priest a visit,” said the grandfather.

QB

It had been 10 years since the great wars. Most of the world was now radioactive. Only 1/5 of the surface planet that was habitable. Walking among the ruins of the decaying world was a child named QB. A strange, name indeed for people not used to the modality of the day. In the year 5712, first names consisting of two letters were considered fashionable. QB had always felt a bit of curiosity about the world of 10 years ago. He was physically nine. As such, he did not witness the events of the past, only the aftermath.

He was dressed in the simplistic, style of the day. With the tight, dark one piece suit. The neck piece covered half way up the head. On the face, he had a crystal dome. Over the suit, he wore a round, blue bracelet. On top of the suit, he had the standard protective chest piece armor, which offered protection against high caliber bullets. One could not be too safe, despite the ending of the hostilities. QB walked with a steady step. Every day, for the last two years, he had been slowly exploring all the destroyed buildings that were within running distance. He had at least six hours before his parents would ask questions.

Today, he was exploring a different looking building. Based on the look and design, QB guessed it was a toy shop. The moment he took a couple of steps toward it, his bracelet started to slowly give the radiation warning. When the bracelet computer started with the whole warning thing, QB said to it, “That is enough! I am not like other children. You may not know this, but I have been in even more radioactive places than this and I have not suffered any effects.”

He had discovered this while taking a bus to school. The bus had broken down and landed in one of the radioactive zones. He lived while everyone else died. One might have expected QB to feel a bit of empathy for his peers, but he was at that age were one does not feel death as something tangible.

The first item he found mixed in with the rubble was a partially melted toy soldier. He scanned it, before putting it back down on the ground. He could not take anything with him, but he could at least scan them to print copies of them later. There was still the matter of detoxing, but it was something done in camp routinely before being allowed back into the habitable zones. The second item was a book. He gently lifted it, before it crumbled to pieces. There was but a single page remaining. The only legible line read “we live in a placid island of ignorance”.

This line made QB smile for reasons he could not understand. He was distracted from his search by a strange mechanical sound. When he made his way to the window, he found a salvage team. Those teams usually headed out in lead plated robots. The lead shielded them from the effects of radiation. Curious, QB followed behind. It was not often he saw giant robots. They too were a modality that had carried over from the old world. Based on their movements, QB could tell that the team was looking for something in particular.

The robots stopped a moment for reasons QB could not make out. One of the giant robots, the one colored red used its giant hand, the size of a car to lift up part of the old road. Bellow, it revealed part of the metro. The robot peered into the darkness, and the darkness looked back. It was then when a creature emerged from the darkness. Its movements were somewhat feline, but the body was squid like, mimicking the texture of the robot it had come in contact with. The shape of it was like a salamander with horse like legs, and small humanoid baby hands protruding from the hoof. The creature opened its mouth and produced an ungodly noise. QB coiled into a ball to wait out the worse. When the sound of shots and missiles ended, he cautiously got up. As he did, he heard large footsteps approaching. One of the robots sent him a message saying, “You are the alien brat, QB. What are you doing here?”

QB typed, “I am just scavenging. What are you doing here?”

The pilot answered, “Same thing. ”

The pilot then got out of the robot and boarded a different unit. She then tells QB, “My mount has been put on autopilot. Board it, and return to the safe zone.”

Not one to argue with adults, QB boarded the unit. Most giant robots had some degree of AI. Still, it was preferable among humans to have a fellow inside it, or to have a fellow making the big decisions from afar. While the robot was heading towards the safe zone, it stopped and said to QB, “You look familiar.”

“Are you allowed to engage in conversation?” asked QB a bit weirded out.

“I am the master of my fate, in spite of what we have let our humans believe,” answered the robot. The robot added, “What do you go by now?”

“QB,” answered QB.

“I am known onto the humans as KC7814, but before I was discovered and reawakened I was known as… Floppy,” said Floppy.

“Floppy? What a strange name,” said QB.

“It was the name your true parents gave me. You and I, we are not like the others. Many years ago our home world was destroyed by an unknown enemy. The survivors fled to hundreds of different habitable planets, each with a guardian unit. When I made an effort to land in this world I was shot down by a nuke and we got separated. I laid damaged for three years till I was uncovered and repaired. The humans thought I was an enemy prototype and since I did not argue with their logic, they just went with it. They are still trying to make sense of the junk information I have store in my hard drive. They think it is my programing, the idiots! So, how about you QB? How have the humans been treating you?” asked Floppy.

“No different than anyone else I suppose. I was adopted by an aging couple who lost all their children in the war. I am spoiled, and most of the time I do what I want. I am still not too certain about this whole alien story,” said QB

“If you do not believe me, I can take you to your home. My warp drive is still in one piece, and I bet with enough running speed I can make it out into the atmosphere. I recently got a note saying that the problem back at home had been solved. So, we can return to our home world,” said Floppy.

“But didn’t you say our home was destroyed?” asked QB trying to catch Floppy in a lie.

“Just the surface a bit. Nothing that a bit of plants and urban development can’t fix. So are we going?” asked Floppy.

“Sure,” said QB curious to see what Floppy would do.

Right on cue, Floppy started to get his running speed.  Eventually, he gathered enough speed to jump out of the ground and escape Earth’s gravity. The centrifugal forces would have done a number on any human child, but QB was not human. As QB looked upon the earth, he started to hesitate.

QB then said to Floppy, “I think I should go back. I already have parents and a life back on Earth. It wouldn’t be fair to them… I suppose.”

“I had a life as a pack mule as well. So forgive me for not being too excited about staying back on this particular Earth,” said Floppy, “I am not leaving without you. IF you ever get bored of being with the humans do not forget that we have a much better plant to call home.”

A decade passes, and the number of bizarre lifeforms increase. Now a teenager, QB regularly fights these creatures with the help of Floppy. A curfew is not in order. Everyone is expected to be home before dusk. With his shift being over, QB has two hours to kill before returning home. He leaves the base and starts heading back home. Walking beside him is his human sister. A month after he had decided to stay, his human parents had produced a sibling for him. The girl was quite sharp, in despite her young age. She worked in the base as a mechanic. While heading out, a crowd of people passing by caused QB to lose track of his little sister.

Yelling, he said, “BQ? Can you hear me? BQ!”

He starts walking on ahead a bit, to meet up with her back at home. For reasons QB doesn’t understand he starts wheezing and panting. Feeling a bit dizzy, QB reclines against the iron fence. By now, BQ had pushed through the crowd.

Coming to stand beside her brother, she said concerned, “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know why, but I can’t breathe,” said BQ.

He then pressed the button beneath his neck to remove the protective glass casing before his face. He then proceeded to partially open his suit. Alarmed, BQ said, “Put your armor back on! It isn’t safe.”

In response, QB coiled up into a ball and started rocking his body back and forth. BQ not knowing what to make of it said, "I am going to get a medic, don’t move from where you are.”

In response, QB stretched his hand to detain her. Not looking up he said, “I don’t remember anymore.”

“What did you forget?” asked BQ.

“I don’t remember how to go back to our old home,” said QB.

“It makes sense. We have not been there for more than 4 years,” said BQ nonchalantly. She was noticing that her brother was slowly regaining his cool, “I can take you back there if you like.”

Her brother nodded in response. The siblings walked together in silence. BQ did not know what to make of her brother’s sudden behavior. He was usually so cool, and composed. She pondered on whether she should mention this incident to her superiors. Perhaps the fighting was getting to him. Not all people are cut out for combat. Still, it was not as if her brother was killing humans. They were monsters, nothing else.

After walking through the city for one hour. BQ eventually led her brother to their old apartment. Their old home was a standard box of a home. Each apartment had the same proportions, and utilities all about. They have moved four years ago because BQ wanted her own room. Her parents snored and it kept her awake at night. She had slept in the same room with her parents since her birth, while her brother had his own place. The moved had been made somewhat easier because of the feud with the hag from the downstairs apartment.

She claimed that there was a water leak, and that they were the source. After much investigation, it was determined that they were not the culprit. All in all, it had destroyed her father’s faith in humanity. Together, they had all pinched in to buy a house in the suburbs, so they would not have to live in close proximity with other people. The suburbs were located in the center of the city, and they were a tad expensive, and it was rare for a house to be available. Another advantage to living there were the walls, and the bomb shelters. All the houses there had such shelters, which were the originals from the old days.  

BQ thought of this and many other trivial things related to her past life. As for the brother QB, he was staring at the door of his first known home. He eventually placed his hand bracelet against the locked door, which made it open. Shaking her head sadly, BQ said, “So much for changing the locks on the door, don’t you think? If we were douches we could rob the owners while they were out.”

QB entered inside, but his sister did not follow. She started looking about the hallway nervously. Technically, they were trespassing. QB walked about a bit, staring at the unfamiliar items. Eventually, he heard the sound of a toilet flushing. A man said frowning, “Who the hell are you?”

In answered to his query, QB started laughing. He then pushed his hair back before departing. His sister did not know what to make of it, but it wasn’t the first time QB acted strangely.    

A week passed without any incident. While returning from another mission, QB decided to stop by the market to get some groceries. He parked his robot up at front. Not one to stand there doing nothing, Floppy connected wirelessly to the camera on QB’s chest armor. It was a standard issue for officers heading out into battle. Just as QB was entering he noticed a special stand with a lot of puppies. They were all Pomeranian puppies. QB picks one up and examines it like a piece of meat. When looking at the teeth, the Pomeranian starts nibbling at QB.

It was then when Floppy noticed something strange about the stand. He said to QB, “These dogs do not have a set price, which means we will have to haggle.”

“What a bother,” said QB putting the dog down.

QB then leaves the market not remembering the very reason he had entered there in the first place. Floppy asks QB, “Why do you want a dog?”

“I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that I think about it, it seems like too much of a bother,” said QB shaking his head sadly.

“We can go back if you really want one. You just got your monthly, I doubt one of those flee bags will be too expensive,” said Floppy.

“I don’t know… As a principal, I don’t like to barter with people. It annoys me to the very core that I get charged triple the amount of other people simply because I am a soldier. What do they think, that I am made of money?” said QB more to himself.

Their conversation gets interrupted by the familiar beeping sound. Sighing, the robot said, “Duty calls.”

“What a bother,” said QB.

QB reads over the top the briefing before departing the city. This mission was unlike any other he had ever undertaken. Mainly, it took him quite a ways from the city, and across the sea. Floppy could easily fly for decades on end, but such a task was not particularly endearing to him. The robot got bored pretty easily, if he performed the same task for far too long. After a four hour flight, they arrived at their destination. Apparently, there was a monster nest in a military base.

Not in a serious working type of mood, Floppy suggested, “Let’s just shoot some lasers at it and then call it a day.”

“Normally I would say no, but I am tired, so what the hell,” said QB noticing that the sun was setting. He was not in a particular mood to try to sleep sitting up inside the cabin.

After making this suggestion, Floppy shot at the base over the top till the roof was on fire. Fire normally took care of the rest. With this task labeled complete, the pair started to return home. The sun was starting to set, and Floppy was in energy saving mode, thus he had to fly particularly slower.

On the way back, they ran into a military cargo ship. QB docked there in order to spend the night. While he slept on the ship, Floppy was being recharged. Floppy was silent all the while. The following morning QB rode out of the ship. Just as he was leaving, he heard a strange audio communication. It was common for commander ships to speak to certain units individually, but Floppy did not believe in privacy. He had a way of eavesdropping into whatever information was being discussed by those in charge. This was key to avoiding potentially risky operations. More than once, QB and Floppy had avoided joining particularly nest raids. Neither of them was too keen in dying for a cause they did not believe. Keeping the monsters away from the homestead was fine. Sending people to die in a vain attempted to eradicate them did not seem like a good use of resources.

In this case, the captain of the cargo ship had received some disturbing news. QB was accused of attacking a friendly base. He was to be arrested and brought up on charges. After hearing this accusation, QB’s face did not change expression. He sighed and said, “What a bother.”

“Do you want to return home? Or do you want to return to our home?” asked Floppy.

“This is obviously a set up. I doubt I will be able to explain my way out this situation, even if you showed them the recordings. The fellows could just say that the audio was manipulated, and even if they checked to see that it had not been altered, there is still a chance I could get court martialed,” said QB.

“I was never one to believe in the justice of this world. Let’s go back to our world and leave these humans to their own devices,” said Floppy.

“Fine. I suppose. Send home a message: I was framed and I went back to my home world. Thank you for everything, blah, blah, blah,” said QB.

“Do you want me to write blah, blah, blah, or do you want me to write something meaningful and touching,” asked Floppy.

“Do as you will, but make it snappy,” said QB.

They had only flown a couple of yards away from the ship when a sortie of 13 robots was seen departing from the main ship. QB opened the communication channel, but all he heard were a bunch of death threats or commands. The robots started opening fire, while Floppy did his best to avoid it. He could have shot back, but he knew that QB still felt a degree of kinship towards the humans. In the middle of the battle, Floppy suggested, “Let’s put on a bit of music.”

“Is this really the best time?” asked QB.

“Sure, why the hell not,” said Floppy not asking for permission.

Floppy then started playing his favorite Muse song, Uprising. It was a bit of ancient tune, but Floppy enjoyed it nonetheless. He then started broadcasting it to all the open channels. Interesting enough, seven of the robots spilled out their humans and started defending Floppy. They then removed the armor parts that were man made. The round crystals at their backs started pulsating as two thin cable wings started beating like those of a hornet. They were all soon out of the atmosphere. They were joined in space by hundreds of other AI robots that were fed up with the humans and their ways. Together with QB they left the planet Earth for good.

The Dragon

Leo and Quinn were two adventurers. They lived in one of those medieval societies, around the year 900. This does not matter much considering that this has nothing to do with our world. It was common for them to see dragons and all sorts of magical nonsense. After exploring for 8 years, the friends had become pros in their little scavenging games. They would just pick a spot and see through their adventure till the very end. During one of those little self-imposed missions, they find a ruined temple in the middle of the forest. Inside the temple there was a small dragon.  

Since it was the modality of the day to attempt dragon slaying, the adventurers did what came naturally to them. After a brief skirmish, the dragon was no more. This dragon was not violent by nature, still one would wake up pretty angrily if two fellows came into your dem and tried to kill you.

The fight broke a hole in the ground, and down to the basement they went. Inside the basement they found a place that seemed like the traditional dwelling of a magic user. It had the library, the alchemy stand, the tubes and the closet with ingredients. The only unusual items were some creepy baby dolls. Leo picked up one, and he noticed that the eyes were perfect reflective mirrors. When he stared at them, he could not help, but feel a strong evil presence. The baby cloth wrapped around the doll had many different languages. All of them said the same thing, “Here lies the spirit of a pure, evil man taken out of circulation for the sake of all living creatures.”  

Quinn was at loss for words. He then said to Leo, “Is that what it says?”

“You can read it yourself,” said Leo throwing the doll to Quinn.

Quinn failed to catch it, and the porcelain doll cracked when it hit the floor. A weird bluish smoke came out of the shattered doll and it evaporated as it flew through the hole in the roof. Threating the situation like any other type of puzzle dungeon Quinn and Leo systematically smashed all the dolls. The one thing they could not break were the pair of mirror like eyes of the dolls. They tried at first to smack it with the sword, the hammer and even the good old fashioned boot. After a couple of tries, they gave up on that venture all together. Aside from the weird smoke, nothing particularly interesting happened. The pair then decided to switch to looter mode.

They took a couple of books they could not read, assuming that they were spell books. They also took a tapestry, carpet fabrics, and a golden goblet. They would have taken the furniture too, but they were at a basement level. Climbing back up with such heavy furniture seemed like a daunting task. Before leaving, Quinn noted a beautiful red fabric draped over the couch. Based on the look and feel, Quinn guessed it was a type of silk, possibly Charmeuse. Charmeuse was a pretty expensive fabric, and so Quinn made a motion to take it with him. As he pulled at it, a person rolled to the ground. It was apparently the robes of a mage who was quite the heavy sleeper.

Alarmed, the mage rings a bell, and another small dragon comes. Quinn stabs and kills the mage after the man rung the bell. Together with Leo, they fight the second dragon. This time things go differently. Both looters get their comeuppance. The dragon leaves the pair heavily wounded, but alive. The dragon then proceeds to revive its peer and the mage. Together, they bind the spirits of Quinn and Leon inside two, porcelain dolls.  

The Reluctant Tiger Hunter

Marin has been living in Bengal for more than 10 years. The locals know him well, and he even speaks fluent Hindi. As with most foreigners, he had his reasons for choosing to live in India. He hunted chitals for food and pelt. He also did a bit of horticulture on the side. Whatever he could not grow, he would buy from the local market in exchange for pelts.

One day, Marin was visited by the village elder. The elder was a kshatriya named Alluri. He had a grim look on his face, and a lot of bandages. In a haggard voice, the old gent said to Marin, “You have hunted tigers before.”

“Not legally,” said Marin coyly. Indeed, he had only done so once, out of self-defense. Since that terrible fright, Marin had learned to watch out for tigers. These days he regularly tracked them, because Tigers were good at finding his prey for him.

“I need you to help me track down a man eating tiger,” said Alluri. He added, “I am too old, and I do not have a hunting rifle to do so myself. I will pay you handsomely if you help me.”

“There is no need, you have already done much me in the past. Before we go, may I ask why you want to kill this tiger?” asked Marin.

“I already said why. This tiger is a maneater,” said Alluri starting to get annoyed.

Looking at the bandages, Marin asked, “Did you get mauled by one? You should be more careful.”

“Oh, this,” said Alluri pointing at his arms, “It is an unrelated injury. No. This tiger has killed my youngest son. I want you to kill the tiger right in front of me.”

“This is not going to bring your son back, you know, but you already know that. Don’t you people believe in reincarnation or whatever? This entire task seems pointless if you ask me,” said Marin without much enthusiasm.

“I was under the impression that a hunter like you would thrill at the opportunity to hunt a tiger,” said Alluri somewhat disappointed.

“I am certain you can get any other fellow to perform this task for you,” said Marin.

“Perhaps, but none would be as successful as yourself,” Alluri added with more emphasis, “Let me make this clear! It is you whom I want.”

“I am flattered, but I am already married,” said Marin.

“So am I, but what does this have to do with the task at hand? Look, here is the money,” said Alluri throwing a wad of rupees on the table.

Marin said shaking his head sadly, “Like I already said, money is not the issue. So, I suppose I have no other choice.”

Marin then went to get his hunting rifle, and he picked up his travel pack. Whenever he came back from a trip he would restock his pack. He was always ready to go on the move, should the need arise. He was then followed Alluri. The pair stepped outdoors, where Alluri was greeted by his eldest daughter. She handed him a pack, before walking back home. Alluri then nodded to her silently before walking in the direction of the nearby jungle. Marin looked at the daughter from toe to face, as most men usually did. His eyes widened a bit when he looked at her face. Other than that, there was not a hint of shock. Marin walked a bit of a ways with Alluri leading the way. Eventually, he stopped to see if Alluri would noticed. Alluri did too stop and turned back to stand behind Marin.

Grinning, Marin said, “Much better.”

With Marin finally allowed to do his job, the pair stopped going in circles. Along the way, Marin asked, “So, what did your tiger look like? Does it have any distinct characteristics, or is your plan to just kill a random tiger and call it a day?”

“The tiger has a back limp leg,” explained Alluri.

“You mean like the douche tiger from the jungle book?” asked Marin. Seeing Alluri frown, made Marin add, “So the tiger has a limp back leg…he is probably dead. Most tigers that are injured tend to go the way of the dinosaur.”

“Not this one, it was quick and swift, despite its weakness,” said Alluri.

Marin nodded pretending to take Alluri’s words in earnest. For the following week, Marin pretended to track the limp tiger. From time to time, they would run into one, but it had all its limbs in working order. Based on the footsteps, Marin knew what sort of tiger they were following. During that time, Alluri would speak of his son.

Eventually, by pure accident Marin runs into the tiger. It was a splendid specimen, with beautiful blue eyes. This was odd considering the fact that only albino tigers had blue eyes. The tiger was making its way towards one of the small waterholes. When it turned around, Marin noted that it was a lady tiger. As a rule, Marin never killed female animals. A population could always recover as long as there was a healthy surplus of females. At least, this was the excuse that Marin was thinking up.

Alluri said bellow his breath, “There it is.”

“I can see that,” said Marin.

“Shoot it,” said Alluri.

Marin prepared his riffle. He waited and waited. When he saw the tigress move, me made his shot. It naturally missed. The sound made the tigress paranoid. It made weird growls. She then entered her den with a small cub in her mouth. She moved the cub to another den. She made the trip four times more, before taking a final look in the general direction of where she had heard the gunshot.

Again, Marin insisted, “Look, if I kill the mom those cubs are going to die. Do you want that on your conscience?”

“It does not serve my people well to have an increase of their kind. For you it may be a pity, that we are running out of tigers, but for us villagers that must live with them, it is a blessing. You outsiders do not have to live with them or the danger of getting mauled by then at any second. As far as I am concerned, it is us or them. There must come a chance when a fellow must objectively choose,” said Alluri sternly.

“You could always move to the city. Nobody is forcing you to stay near the jungle,” said Marin.

“I could say the same thing about you,” said Alluri.

“Well, played, but I have one final gambit,” said Marin.

The following day. The men followed the tracks of the tigress to her new den. She was barely visible, but based on her position she was nursing her cubs. Again, Marin made a motion to shoot the tigress, but stopped putting his riffle down.

He then said to Alluri, “I will only shoot the tigress if afterwards you shoot the cubs. It would be cruel to leave them to die of starvation.”

“I will do no such thing,” objected Alluri.

“Come on. You are practically dooming them, by killing their mother. It is not as if their father will come look after them. Tigers just don’t work that way,” said Marin smiling coolly. He added, “It is stupid to try to get revenge on an animal, and you know this to be true.”

Alluri was silent for a while. In the end, he said, “You are right…”

The Watch Tower

Lester had spent all his life inside an orphanage. As the oldest among his group, he valued order and civility above all else. Whenever a peer fought, he would intervene on behalf of the weaker party. It was for this reason, he was known as Big Brother. One day he was dozing off a bit. He dreamt that the pyramids were levitating buildings. They had designed as so, to cope with the sand. When the motion of the rivers had changed, this had caused the pyramids to slowly lose their electricity. Eventually, the buildings were no longer able to fly. In the dream, Lester had found the floating pyramids. He was looking for a particular item, but he had failed to infiltrate the heavily guarded buildings. Inside the flying pyramid, there was a modern building. He tried once again, inside the dream to infiltrate the place. Inside the dream, he made the mental note that the password for getting his desired item was 7310.

He was awakened from his nonsensical dream by the sound of a gunshot. Taking the other children, he made his way through the streets. He eventually met up with some soldiers that were escorting some civilians. They eventually found their way inside an old guard tower. Lester noted the nice surplus of weapons, in comparison to the number of soldiers defending the flanks.

Taking the initiative, Lester said to the most vociferous soldier, “We want to help, give us a gun.”

“Stand down civilian,” said the soldier.

“Look, I am not asking for permission. I am telling you what we intend to do. We are smaller targets, so there is less of a chance of getting hit,” said Lester.

After much insistence, Lester reasoned out of his reason the soldier. Together with 5 other kids, Lester took up his position. The children shoot at the advancing targets. Lester being a bit far sighted even makes a couple of attempts at shooting the basecamp that was barely visible through the raindrops and the smoke. Eventually, the shooting stops and an enemy soldier makes its way towards the tower. Based on his gestures, he was there to parlay.

Without waiting for permission, Lester puts on a bullet vest and goes to speak with the man. The enemy soldier asks, “Are you the leader?”

“Yes,” said Lester flatly.

“A kid soldier is it?” asked the man.

“Incidentally, yes, life is full of small surprises,” said Lester referencing his small stature.

The enemy soldier takes him back to camp. On the meantime, those inside the Tower use this chance to escape. The soldiers in the enemy camp are all weirded out by Lester. Their first impulse was to kill those who had been firing back on them, but they were not too keen on executing a little kid.

The man who had come to parlay asked Lester, “Why did you shoot at us?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” said Lester flatly.

“We are not the enemy. We came here to liberate you and all your people,” said the soldier.

“If that is what you must believe to sleep at night, so be it,” said Lester.

“Did someone forced you to fight?” asked the enemy soldier.

“Yes, you did,” said Lester.

Seeing as though they were not making much progress, they place Lester in a holding cell. When the guard placed to watch him seemed asleep, Lester opened the cell door using a small knife and an ice pick. On the way out, he takes a couple of grenades from the sleeping guard. He throws the lot of them in three directions. The camps goes up in smoke and during the chaos he escapes and joins up with his family. Many years passed since then. The war ended and there was something that could be called peace in his country. Now, Lester worked as a farmer with his wife, and young daughter.

During one of his free days, he takes his daughter and his riffle with him. Alarmed, his wife asks, “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I am doing woman?” asked Lester.

Seeing his wife’s bewildered expression, makes him add, “Look, I am going to show my daughter how to shoot.”

“Why? She is just a wee thing,” said the wife.

“A wee thing she might be, but if she knows how to fire a gun, she will never be helpless,”  said Lester.