G.A.I.T

Chapter 1: Weakness

The wind went past me with a gust, pushing my clothes around on my frame. The neon lights reflect off every surface around me as I stand glaring skywards. Endless buildings lead up into the dark clouds that were seen as the heavens, but now they are just smog; the excrements of this forsaken city. It's called the city of Endurance. The loud electric whirring of flying cars invades the environment. Walking around in this tainted, dystopian environment instills dithering means within me.

Nothing ever feels right, though. I feel like I've been in this never-ending spiral down through hell. Through the gears of this world being ground up into a worthless paste. But that's just me. Awake and alone, trying to get a grip on reality. Just trying to understand everything; everything that my past friends didn't.

After studying the environment more, I heard metallic jingles get louder. I look to my left, down a dark alleyway, and see a small, stout robot marching over to me with its rhythmic footsteps. It had a round, black visor with some LEDs hidden under it to express its 'emotions'.

Technology today, in 2089 has become advanced enough that engineers—or robots themselves—have come up with ideas to create working emotions in robots. They studied the human brain and how it handles different situations, then fabricated a system called the Artificial Adaptive Organic Emotions Emulator; AAOEE for short, though it's not that short. A chip that uses common sense to read the room and change the robot's feelings, verbal tone, body language, etc. It contorts its 'feelings' to better fit the situation. Not that complicated.

The small white robot looked beat up, with shoe marks and scratches on it. It was just sitting there, standing only two feet tall, staring at me. The small white robot's face went from a blank face to a dead smile.

"Hello there!" said the small robot.

As I crouched there parallel to the wall of the alleyway behind me, the rain started to come down, with each droplet splatting like bugs under a shoe. I knelt down and just stared at the small bot. I didn't say anything. Just knelt there, studying it while trying to make sense of why it was scuffed and cracked. My brain tuned out what was going on around me and what the bot was trying to say to me. I just ignored it unintentionally. I've lost close friends due to my ignorance.

"Sir? Sir?" the bot was asking.

"Hm?" I mumbled in reply, still somewhat spaced out, now staring at a piece of trash behind the bot not paying attention.

"You look lost, may I assist you? I can lead you—" the bot chirped happily, closing its eyes while still smiling and tilting its head.

I slowly stood up nonchalantly, cutting it off while it was speaking, then mumbled, "No thanks."

I didn't look back at the small bot when walking away. I just assumed that it was trying to advertise something. I saw a hologram platform on the left side of its hip. Most advertisers are set up like that; the same rig setup.

"Sir, wait!" the tin can screeched while trying to catch up with me.

I stopped walking abruptly as it ran into my leg unintentionally. It fell over as I turned around. I didn't want to touch it, but I felt compelled to pick it up. I looked around the plaza and hunched over. After looking at the bot some, my hands jolted out under its arms and lifted it straight in front of my face. The small bot was somewhat heavy, weighing down on my hands. I've noticed the texture of the arms, torso, and legs was not a metallic material like most bots. It's a soft, squishy rubbery-feeling texture. It's a very unique idea for a robot. I was too busy fiddling my thumbs on its chest to remember what I was doing.

"What are you doing? Put me down, sir," the bot demanded, then I snapped back to reality.

"Why? What do you want? Why are you following me?" I said letting out an irritated sigh.