A Bit of Sci-Fi

The Tin Man - part four

"He hesitated."

"Yes, again."

"He knows."

"Yes, I saw his thought pattern too Strale."

The two men stood watching the scene from the high window of the base, their eyes transfixed on Hale's body.

"We'll have to wipe his mind again and start over tomorrow."

"There isn't really a point is there? No matter how many times we wipe it, he still remembers Leona every single time they meet."

"Yes, but this time he didn't react immediately, perhaps the new hard drive removed the function that causes him to care." Strale looked hopefully at his partner, nervously running his hands through his straw like hair as he waited for Bolger to respond.

"Were we not watching the same trial run? We sent him out and the tin man lost his nerve when he encountered the animals."

"Perhaps he won't do that in battle?"

Bolger slammed his hand down on the desk, causing the litter of paperwork to disperse in every direction. "If we send this version to the Witch family they will shut us down. They hired us to create a ruthless soldier."

"In the image of a being."

"What's your point Strale?"

Strale patted down the sides of his white overcoat, removing a piece of straw that had lodged itself on his front pocket. "I just think that perhaps, that any soldier created in the likeness of a being, any being, will eventually take on their characteristics."

Bolger's face twisted with the presented thought, his head slowly turning to take in the view outside the lab. The trial had been run repeatedly with the newest version of their soldier, only to fail on the emotion of their best prototype every time.

He lowered his head in frustration. "We can remove the heart."

"There's no heart to remove Bolger."

"Then how..."

Strale stepped closer to his partner; lightly covering the hand of the companion he knew was mentally struggling under the weight of soldier he viewed as a failure. "We didn't give H.A.L.E.Y. a heart Bolger, the prototype just developed one. It's like it was there all along"

"That makes no sense Strale, it's impossible."

"Yet it is."

Bolger sighed and turned away from the scene behind the large glass. "It hurts my brain Strale. Leave it for tonight. We will wipe him clean and run H.A.L.E.Y. again tomorrow."

Both men left the top of the watchtower, the sky’s red streaks evolving into a rainbow of colors behind them as the day's trials ended.