One World

41) Kryten

Posted 14th October 2016

John and Mary built a beautiful little cottage by the sea, and soon settled into a life of domestic bliss together. They didn't have children, but Mary had a little dog which she fussed over and, often with her hubby by her side, took little Sonic long walks along the beach. Mary enjoyed reading about mysticism, ancient beliefs and customs, whereas John's passions were computer programming and robotic engineering. John enjoyed developing computer programs which instructed their general purpose android, Kryten, on how to carry out various chores around the house. He even programmed the android to take Sonic a walk for those times it was raining or when neither he nor Mary were in the mood to go out.

One dark afternoon, John and Mary were cuddled up in front of a romantic movie, feeling cosy while the rain pattered on the window. Suddenly there was barking from outside, and furious scratching on the outside of the front door. The couple jumped to their feet and ran to open the door. There, shivering in the cold wet and continuing to bark anxiously, was little Sonic.

"Sonic!" cried Mary, "Are you OK? Come here darling!"

The little dog ran into Mary's arms and she lifted her up.

"Where's Kryten?" asked John, looking around outside and scanning up and down the dunes.

"He'll be coming soon, I imagine," said Mary, drying her little dog with a towel, "Sonic probably just ran ahead."

John took the end of the leash from Mary.

"No, this is strange," said John, "Kryten would have taken the leash off Sonic to let her run free. He wouldn't have just let go off the leash."

"Maybe Sonic just got away from him."

"No," said John with certainty now, taking his waterproof jacket from the coat hook, "I programmed Kryten to keep hold of the leash at all times. Something's wrong."

John walked quickly down the garden path, past the gate and up the grassy sand dune. From here he could see up and down the sandy beach for miles. Nothing. Putting his hand in his coat pocket, he pulled out a small device which he'd built to locate Kryten and issue instructions from a distance. But there was no signal from Kryten.

"Kryten!" cried John at the top of his voice.

Nothing. There was no sign of...wait...John spotted something about a quarter of a mile down the beach. An open red umbrella was being dragged about in the surf. Kryten had been programmed to use a red umbrella to shelter Sonic from the rain. John sprinted down the sand dune, onto the beach and towards the umbrella.

Three hours later, John was sitting on the wet sand, sheltering himself with Kryten's umbrella, and crying. He remembered, as a little boy, wondering why the scientists who'd been involved in the Rosetta mission to survey a comet, had actually cried when their little surveyor module had made its planned crash landing onto the comet. Now he understood. Like the scientists did with Rosetta, John had spent many years working on Kryten, and had developed a deep affection for him. And now it looked like Kryten may be gone forever. John had walked the entire length of the beach, climbing dunes along the way to get a better view, checked and rechecked the link to Kryten, and called home twice to see if Kryten had come back on his own, all to no avail. Eventually, Mary walked down the beach to where John was sitting, where he'd found the umbrella, embraced him and asked him to come home.

It was a clear, bright morning and John headed for the front door.

"Where you headed, darling?" said Mary.