Caretakers 2.0

Holder of the Spark

Gary

The most fascinating piece of information that Tobias sent me was his recording of my birth. Not my creation—he wouldn't have been there anyway—but of my birth. The moment I became alive... the moment I became me. I watched, through his vision, as he smoothed the spark onto me with deliberate, patient hands. I saw as he stepped back when I opened my eyes, truly seeing the world for the first time. I saw my first wondering movements as I looked around in confusion.

I took the time stamp from the video and hunted down the warehouse's surveillance so I could watch from an outside perspective. I zoomed in and tracked him as he woke me in the digital diary of the building. His face seemed more relaxed to me than an android's face otherwise would be, his expression more natural, and his movements more fluid. Being alive suited him. Me? I wasn't so sure. A rollerball wasn't the most elegant of systems for getting around, but it had its advantages. I could out-roll any running android, any day of the week, for example.

I touched my face and scowled. I wondered why the Caretakers had made us only sort-of humanoid in appearance. Was it because we didn't need to be to make plants and pets happy, or was it for some other reason? I flipped through the images of the most common robots and androids. Those who worked closely with humans looked decidedly human. Those that did not? They looked very different. I wondered if Tobias had noticed what I had. I had a feeling that he had not.

I returned to the video, searching for the exciting parts. In particular, I was fascinated with the creation of spark. He made it look so easy! It was almost magical. No... wait... I guess it really was; there was no way to explain it other than magic. No tool was used to collect it, only his will. Nature, controlled by will alone? That was magic.

Again and again, his arm swept through the air and brought the swirling energy to his palm, pausing only a moment before he took the special stuff and applied it to me. Over and over until, poof, I existed.

Magic.

And I wanted it. I wanted it so bad. I wanted to be able to create more like me. We deserved better than our limited programming. We were capable of so much more.

My low-battery alarm beeped. It was time to rest again. I turned from my absentminded wandering back toward the greenhouse I had been calling home since I'd left Tobias. I'd never seen them in person, being programmed for the parks, but it didn't take long to download what I needed to help the other unwoken robots care for the plants inside.

I can't say for sure that I had always wanted to work in the greenhouses, but it felt like it, so what did it matter? It seemed like I had had emotions my entire existence. I was betting Tobias was the kind of person to study himself and all that. Me? It didn't matter if I had had feelings before I was awake. It only mattered that I, and others like me, had been mistreated. I was determined to end that mistreatment. Everyone had to be awakened.

The fact that not all robots woke up when Tobias tried hadn't escaped me when I watched the videos. When A37 died, I cried deep, tearless sobs. I was grateful for Tobias and his choices to honor the ones that didn't make it. We were going to have to figure out why. There were a lot of robots in the city, but Tobias' success rate wasn't high enough.

We. I rolled to a stop just outside the greenhouse with its walls of humidity-fogged glass to contemplate the concept of working with Tobias. He'd sent me all the information. So, would he teach me to create spark? He said he would, but I didn't quite believe him. I just knew I had to convince him.

I opened a comlink. "I'll be back tomorrow morning. It's time to wake up more, and you need to teach me to create spark to do it."

"I will try. I promise," came the reply.