Ari's POV
When my snowball-chucking menace is finally complete, Randy and I bring it outside to celebrate. I gently place it on the grass, as a warm breeze trickles through the air.
"We should christen it with a cool name," I whisper reverently, watching the whirling rotors swish through the air and the slight rumbling noise indicating that it was reloading the snowballs.
No response. I look over to Randy, who's gazing at the ground with a wistful expression.
He must have seen my questioning glance, because he rolls his shoulders awkwardly, and responds, "My sister brought me here for a picnic to celebrate my birthday."
He doesn't look at me, nudging the ground with a dirt-covered shoe. I can't help but inwardly wince, because he just looks so mournful, and there's nothing much I can do to help. No offense to any humans out there, but this is why humans are so much more harder to work with than robots, or even animals. I don't exactly do well with feelings, which sucks since moments like this are not my forte.
Instead, I bump his shoulder gently. "I'm always here for you to blab to."
He nods, and gives me a small, sad smile, before wiping it away, and replacing it with a much more cheerful expression.
"How about... Randy?"
I give him a look. "As a name? Why not Olaf or something awesome like that?"
"Because Randy is a much better name than Olaf."
I snort, "In your dreams," as I face the little creature, who's now on the ground, filling the holes with chunks of snow. "Work with me here."
He sighs, and flops on the grass, staring at the sky. "Robots who have one of those fancy names that stand for something else are pretty cool."
After a couple of seconds, he says, "B.O.B."
I glare at him. "You want to call my baby Bob?"
He grins at me sheepishly. "Exactly! B.O.B. as in Blasting Off Babies."
"That doesn't even make any sense."
He throws his arms in the air in triumph. "Exactly! Perfect name. Now let's go and terrorize the teachers."
*****
I jab Tiana excitedly in my seat, nearly knocking over the desk. She laughs and shakes her head in mock disappointment.
"I thought you matured over the summer."
I gestured to myself in disbelief. "Me? Mature? Never!"
She grins and watches the tiny robot dipping up and down, slowly revolving in the air, searching for reluctant victims. "What did you name it?"
"His name is B.O.B."
She looks back at me confusedly. "What?"
"Stands for Blasting Off Babies."
"That... makes even worse sense."
I nod seriously. "Exactly! That's the entire point of the name!"
"...Okay?"
We watch as the tiny robot zips off and dives into the next classroom, and screams of "What is that thing?" and "SOMEONE, save the papers!" start pouring out of the room. Then, a stream of teachers flow out of the room, covered in slushy snow and damp papers.
That probably was the teacher's lounge. Woops.
Tiana gapes at me, dark hair frazzled. "What did you do?"
YOU ARE READING
Mischief Reborn
Science Fiction"Nuclear weapons? They could be shut down by the mechanical bomb. AI? No one's going to be touching that subject with a ten-foot pole. But they've decided that having fire-breathing kids would be an acceptable replacement for an army. And that's whe...
