3 AM Call

The call woke up Leonore at 3AM. Immediately she drove to the Fabrika in a mad rush. The engineer was waiting for her at the entrance.

“Take me to the robot now,” she ordered.

They walked down to the basement through corridors illuminated by fluorescent light. They stepped into a small room. There was a large box right in the middle. A number was printed on the top. 6001.

The young man pushed a button on the side of the box. The lid opened. A robot laid stretched inside.

“Is this the robot I saw on the video?” asked Leonore.

“Yes”

There was nothing out of the ordinary with the robot at first sight. It looked like any other unit she had inspected before.

“I’ve done a full hardware and software debug,” said the engineer. “I looked into every single thing, every line on his programming and every neural pathway, and I didn’t find any deviation from the blueprint.”

Leonore paused and looked up at the engineer. “You are saying there is no bug?”

“No.”

“Well, something must have made this robot go off its conditioning.”

“There’s absolutely nothing remarkable about this robot,” the engineer’s eyes were fixed on the machine. “Whatever caused the… incident… is present in all the other robots. It is not something exclusive of this one.”

“So any other 6000 model could glitch?”

“It would appear that any other robot could commit murderer like this one has. Yes”

Leonore closed her eyes and massaged her temples, wishing she hadn’t heard the engineer say that. She inhaled deeply, focusing her attention on her breath, calming herself down. She looked at the engineer in the eyes. “We can’t rush to conclusions… What’s your name?”

“Martin.”

“Martin, we can’t let this out. If the RDA thinks the new generation is compromised they will close us down. I want you to destroy this unit and dispose of the parts tonight. Don’t recycle it, destroy it. I don’t want a single screw recycled. Is that clear?” The engineer nodded. “I’ll take care of the security footage. And for all that’s good, keep this to yourself.”

“What about the other 6000 on the market?”

“You said it yourself there was nothing wrong with the unit.”

“What about… the family?”

“Martin, this is not a time for questions.”

Leonore left the engineer in the small room, got back in the car and headed back home. She needed the sleep. She had been through this before and knew she had a busy day ahead tomorrow.