Tika joins her on the flatform as she goes down to the kitchen, she eats a quick breakfast with Arya and they leave home with their bags at 7:15am. The sound of Tika's wheel is barely covered up by her voice as she talks with Arya, and when she takes a break after her sentence she can her him following her. She turns around and sees Tika 5 feet behind her, looking up at her after she stops.
"Tika" Molly says.
"Do you need assistance?" Tika asks in reply.
"No, I want you to go back home" Molly says.
"I have been programmed to follow whoever it is I am bonded to. I can not leave your side" Tika says.
"Well I'm ordering you to return home" Molly says, Arya puts her hand on her shoulder.
"The school doesn't prohibit bringing robots to class, you could let him come with you" she says. "Tika wait!"
The bot doesn't stop, having not been familiarized to Arya.
"Tika stop!" Molly calls out, and Tika stops still and turns around to face her. Molly points down gesturing for it to come to her, and it does. "You may come along with me today, but you are to stay at my side the whole time, do you understand?"
"Understood" Tika says.
"Good, and try to be quiet the whole time too" she says before continuing her walk to school.
Later at 7:55am the sisters arrive at school. Some glance and look over as Molly walks through the halls, bring tailed by Tika. She enters her first class, saying goodbye to Arya as she walks down the hall. She sits down and Tika moves underneath her desk, staying completely still right between her feet.
"Good morning class" the teacher says.
"Good morning Mr Robinson" the class replies collectively.
"Today we'll be continuing to read the informational book about all operating systems. Yesterday and last week we were reading about the Lana operating system. As a reminder can someone tell me all the systems that a robot can currently run on?"
A student in the back raises her hand.
"Yes, Alissa" the teacher says pointing back at her.
"The different operating systems are the companies that make the robot. These are Lana, Myazaki, Konotol, and Taristech" Alissa says.
"Good job, and those four large companies manufacture all the robots in our society, does anyone know the years they were founded?" the teacher asks. "Yes, Molly."
"Lana was founded in the year 2500, Myazaki is the oldest since 2300, Konotol was founded in 2700, and Taristech was founded in 3200" Molly says.
"Correct, and very well done Molly. I see you studied quite a lot" the teacher says. "Yesterday we finished reading a quarter of the book, today you will learn about Myazaki and its history. Please turn to page 362, and Molly can you start reading the first two pages?"
"The oldest and largest of the current robotics companies is known today as Myazaki. Myazaki started out as a small company in 2300 when it was founded. There wasn't much use for robots back at that time, and no one had ever imagined having AI systems put into a mechanical shell. Myazaki's founder, Rinette Simmerstein, was the first woman of that age who proposed the idea of creating a machine that could act as a body for AI. Any and all AI systems in her day were limited in their functions, which made research very difficult. Simmerstein devoted much of her life from 2300 to 2370 strictly to improving her AI systems, and finding the perfect way to store them into a machine. It wasn't until her successor, Matthew Rinas, who managed to integrate the first AI system into a robotic body. Simmerstein passed away in 2375, leaving all her work and research to Rinas, who continued her legacy. Over the next decades he put in as much work as Simmerstein had, and he eventually was successful in making an AI that could communicate as accurately as any human. In 2400 his company had sold over 2 million robots, which he manufactured in his warehouses and on many production lines. In 2427 his company expanded even further, globalizing and selling robots exponentially, reaching close to 4 billion across the Earth. Rinas's work helped to spark the creation of other robotics companies, but also to help improve his own. He had many successors after him who ran the company, some better than others, but with each decade and century improved robots were released. Those robots went from simple shells that walked slowly at a penguin's pace, up to walking like a human and were able to keep up with them easily" Molly reads, finishing the last sentence on the second page.
"Great reading Molly, thank you" the teacher says. "So could anyone tell me what this led to? Which decade was it when robots became how they are today? Smart, functional, and some could even argue that robots today are caring."
"Was it in 3600?" as student at the front asks.
"That's correct, so the robots we have today have been around for a long time. For your homework I want you to fill out this packet I'll send you digitally, I need you to read the rest of the first chapter here that we started, and to read the next 2 chapters about the Myazaki corporation. It'll be due in 3 days, so you have plenty of time" the teacher says. "For now though please focus your attention to the board."
The large screen panel on the front wall turns on, showing a set of slides on the left with one at the top selected, and the class starts their note-taking.
"For the rest of the class here you'll be writing down the different functions each robot has. Yesterday we went over and finished the topic of robots with the purpose of cleaning and disposing of trash or recyclables. Today we start a new section about robots designed to help humans. And we'll start with the ones that have public responsibilities" Robinson says, pointing at the next slide when it comes up.
He instructs them on the different robots that help the public, robots that assist with street crossing, maintenance in public buildings, reception in stores, and construction sites. There are many other public uses for robots that are covered in the nearly 55 slides the teacher gives them. A long set of notes coming with slide, taking up a full page with each one. Despite this first class being an hour long, there's so much crammed into it that it's almost unbearable on Molly's mind. Despite the work and information load, her grades are still some of the best.
Molly leaves the classroom, happy to not be staring at any more slides or pages in a book. She lets out a tired sigh as Tika follows a few inches to her left. She goes down the long hallway to her next class and enters the room. Tika takes his regular spot between her feet under the desk, a computer sits in front of Molly for her programming and coding class. That class is long and finishes with a bit more fun than her first class, and Molly took a special interest in coding this time in hopes of tinkering with Tika someday. She then goes across the school to the robotics warehouse where her third class is, which is for building bots. This class of her's includes building individual parts, and connecting wires and bits of electrical components to build a small moving segment.
"Good morning Molly, care to explain who's following you?" her teacher asks.
"Sorry sir, I brought him along because my sister told me it was allowed" Molly says.
"It is allowed, I'm just curious to know since you've never had a robot before" he replies.
"He's Tika, he showed up at my home yesterday and I bonded with him last night" Molly says before going to her workbench. Tika rolls over and stops below the desk next to her bag.
"Thank you for coming in today class, I know most of you finished your list of parts, while others still have a few to build. Those who aren't done yet, please finish them by the middle of next week. To the others, please assemble your parts together into a functional robot, we will be testing them out at the end of class" he says, and the students all get to work.
"Not sure what other parts I need to make, do you know Tika?" Molly asks as she looks at the list. "It seems I only need a part for transportation or movement, and a camera so it can detect its surroundings."
Molly gets to work on the motion piece, attaching plating to a frame and running wires through it to connect with the main body. She places Tika up on the desk so he can watch her build another bot, this bot of which after she fully assembles it looks similar to that of a bird, more specifically a parrot. The bot will be able to fly and glide and will be on her shoulder as it travels with her. Most of the way into the class period she puts together her bird, placing a wide screen over the face with a wide view camera underneath it.
YOU ARE READING
A Small Companion
Short StoryFor most of her school life her classmates around her have always been interested in technology. Those in her city, and surrounding areas have all been obsessed with having their own robots, their own companions and friends. Molly tried to not be li...
