Reboot

Part 6

"Easy, be careful!" Sara warned as Jacob stumbled on the ladder above her.

They had wasted no time, once Sara felt it was safe, they had ventured out to the lab. She had not wanted to bring Jacob, but he had been quite distressed after the storm and like her, was worried about Reb.

As Reb had predicted, the storm had lasted till dawn; the streets were a mess and it had taken longer to reach the skyscraper that held Reb's lab.

"Ok, you need to jump over to the elevator now- ok?" Sara prepared the child as she held a hand to his back, afraid that he would slip.

Once at the bottom, she dropped to the elevator and splashed into two inches of water; the basement had taken on even more water from the storm.

She glanced to the open ventilation shaft; the water had not reached it.

"Come down, that's it," she guided Jacob to the elevator roof, fighting hard to remain calm and reliable.

"Ok we're going to crawl through this tunnel, ok?" she said, cranking her flashlight.

"Where's Reb?" Jacob asked, his eyes wide at this new experience.

"We have to go through the tunnel to get to her- I'll go first, alright?" Planning head, Sara struggled to climb backwards so that she could pull Jacob up. Once they were both in the tunnel, she began crawling backwards, keeping a hand on Jacobs wrist, afraid he might panic and turn back. Unlike last time there was no red light or beeping sound; it made her worry even more for Reb.

They reached the lab and dropped to the floor, once their heavy breathing stilled, they became aware of the sound of machinery working. Cranking her flashlight up, Sara hastily shined it around the eerie lab, "Reb?" she called out nervously; the robot was not there.

"Where?" Jacob whined taking a few steps forward, and Sara's light fell on the large metal box at the far end of the lab.

Rushing forward she found that it was the source of the noise.

"Reb!?" she called, there was no answer. She looked for a door or some other entrance to the box but could find nothing, even the hole where she had placed the remote on her first visit was empty.

Jacob tapped his fingers repeatedly on the side of the box, "Reb inside?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah... she must be," Sara decided, sounding less sure than she intended.

They stood, listening and waiting for long minutes; nothing changed. Jacob soon lost interest and began exploring the lab.

Sara sighed, her tension and worry increasing her exhaustion. She collapsed into a stool by the table that she had found the blueprints on. Remembering all of Reb's notes, Sara dug them from her pocket and began smoothing them out.

Looking over all her conversations with Reb made Sara's throat ach. Her nervous energy drove her to fidget with the notes, flipping them over and looking at the disrupted blueprints.

She frowned; a sixth sense urging her to recreate the blueprints.

Some pieces were missing, and others damaged by Reb's burned in text, but Sara soon assembled a picture that made her pause.

"Is that Reb?" Jacob asked, peaking at the recreated blueprint.

"I don't know..." Sara mumbled as she tried to make sense of what she saw. The blueprint depicted something that looked similar to Reb, just with a slightly different design. In the top corner of the blueprint read, '16th Model prediction'.

"Why would Reb's designers make a prediction of what she would look like?" Sara wondered out loud, feeling like she was on the edge of discovering something, "Unless... they didn't design her."

The sound of machinery stopped, silence reigning again in the lab. Sara slid off the stool and drew Jacob close to her as she backed away from the box, a sense of dread nagging at her. "She designs herself!" she whispered, remembering every horror story she had ever heard of A.I learning from humans before destroying them.

"Reb?" Jacob called out.

Sara aimed her light at the box, as she backed further away, hugging Jacob close to her with one hand. A hidden panel in the box slid open, light flooding the room from Reb as she stepped out, only it wasn't the Reb they had gotten to know!

She was larger, her body thicker and wider in circumference, her legs sturdier.

"Reb- you're bigger!" Sara stated, fear and doubts of the robot's intentions filling her mind.

"That's right," Reb answered but it wasn't Reb's voice! It was Sara's voice! Reb was speaking with Sara's voice!

"Sara!" Jacob exclaimed in astonishment, glancing between Sara and Reb.

"I told you that my last voice was from a woman who inspired me," Reb explained. The sound of Sara's own voice talking to her, sent shivers up her spine. "Now you have inspired me, Sara."

"Why are you bigger?" Sara asked, her heart pounding in her ears; Reb took up even more of the room then before.

"I found that my previous design just wasn't right for the environment and situations I found myself in," Reb explained, "I also wanted to make some improvements." Reb's familiar drawer slid open.

Sara leaned forward on tip toes to see; inside the tray was Reb's remote, but it too had changed.

Straining to reach it without moving closer, Sara took up the new remote; it was the same size, with the clip on the back, but it now had a screen. Sara watched in astonishment as a pixelated cartoon face appeared on the screen; it was biting its lower lip, as if nervously waiting for Sara's reaction.

Sara looked up at Reb, her doubts melting, "You made a face!" she exclaimed with a laugh. Reb's 'face' broke into an overjoyed smile.

"Yeah, I was inspired by our conversation; I hope this meets the need for human like emotions and makes me less disturbing to you and others," Reb said.

"So, Reb.16; new and improved!" Sara said, allowing Jacob to struggle free, he approached the robot with curiosity.

"Not quite," Reb corrected, "I am Reb.17."

Sara frowned, "A new number?"

"Yeah, remember when I told you that problem solving is my core programming?" Reb asked, as Jacob inspected her new legs.

Sara nodded, watching him closely, still not sure if they were safe, "How could I forget?"

"What I didn't tell you is that whenever I encounter a problem that I can't solve, I reboot. I return to the lab, to redesign myself and reboot my programming to solve the problem at hand."

"You were damaged in the storm," Sara guessed, beginning to understand.

"That wasn't the problem I couldn't solve."

Sara was quiet and Jacob looked at her, she remembered Reb's prediction of his future. "Jacob," She whispered.

"Yeah, my previous design did not have medical procedures in mind." A large panel opened in the side of Reb's body, revealing a large, lighted cavity. Just the right size to fit Jacob.

"You want to do surgery on him!?" Sara exclaimed, her heart pounding again.

"The hole in his heart must be repaired. Trust me Sara, he will be safe."

"What if something goes wrong?" Sara pointed out pulling Jacob close again.

A small smile appeared on Reb's 'face', "Problem solving is my core programming."

Thank you so much for reading! The genres 'Post Apocalypse' or 'si fi' have never been on my bucket list for writing in! But a massive wave of inspiration hit me and who am I to turn down inspiration? I would love to hear your thoughts on Reboot :)