Malfunction

Chapter Three

January was jumpy as she made her way to MC. She was more wary of robots now and when one bumped into her shoulder on the Speedaway, she jumped, startled.

"Excuse me." It droned, walking ahead of her before grabbing a pole. It looked down at a screen on it's hand and read through a grocery list.

Jae swallowed and got off of the Speedaway. She took a taxi with an actual person driving it and stepped off at MC. She walked up to the entrance but a woman stopped her. "Sorry for the inconvenience but can I see your ID chip?"

January frowned. "Why?"

"The register machine malfunctioned. You can check it if you want."

Jae grabbed her ID chip and scanned it on the register. It glowed red and responded with, "Sorry for the inconvenience, please report to HQ by pressing the red button on the left for help , thank you."

"What happened?" She asked, handing her chip over to the woman.

"Turn the TV on in the lobby at News Channel number four and you'll find out more than I could ever tell you." The woman scanned it, her eyes glowing green. At that moment, Jae realized she was a security bot and swallowed as she automatically opened the door. January went through the doors and made it to the lobby. Once there, she grabbed a black remote off of the glass coffee table and turned the TV on. There was a picture of multiple robots exploding at the same time and the caption read, Robots across the globe malfunction between the hours five and seven AM, causing mass hysteria. President concerned for civilians, debating on how to proceed with issue.

"I was just in my house," the screen switched to a terrified old woman. "My maid robot was doing her chores like she was supposed to and then-and then she started talking to herself. I went into the kitchen to see what she was doing and she started to break my plates. I told her to stop and then she turned around repeating the words, 'command not recognized.' Then her head, it-it..." she sobbed. "It exploded."

Jae stepped back as the TV then switched to the news woman, "Engineers are currently trying to find the source of this nationwide mystery. They have made considerable progress and will be reporting back soon—"

The TV blackened and bright yellow letters started to sprawl across the screen: This program is no longer available due to dhurneishskmfk

"Scary, right?" Akiane said from behind Jae.

January clutched her chest, wheezing from the fright. "I said-" she gasped. "I said to stop doing that."

"Sorry."

"Why are you here so early?" January finally asked, breathless.

"Well, I—um," she looked sheepish. "I wanted to see the robo you found yesterday."

"What? Why would you go without me?"

"Because I—"

"You know what, Akiane?! You can't help me with the Android. You can't help me dissect him."

"What? But-" Akiane followed Jae, flustered.

"No! I said you could help and you took advantage of that and decided that you could just go without me!" January turned around and started to walk away towards the elevator that led to the robot cadaver basement.

"Wait! I need to tell you something about—"

As she stepped in the elevator and pressed a button to the basement. It dinged and the doors started to close.

"No, save it for later! I don't want you bugging me. Just go away." Jae crossed her arms.

"But-but It's about the robot."