Servo 5:2
Servo 5:2
It was Monday a week later when I heard the phone ring. Grandpa was somewhere on the property, so Grandma answered it. I happened to be within earshot of the conversation. It was Mrs. Bagley. She called to inform them that the school had concocted a reasonable facsimile of our educational level, and that we were to report to school on Tuesday. I couldn’t believe my ears. School in this wasteland? What were they going to teach us? We were already smarter than the majority of the faculty in the school. And they were going to teach us? I prepped my mind for what should be immense boredom to come. What could they possibly possess that could educate us? I wanted to laugh aloud.Rory came downstairs and found me in the hallway. “Whatcha doing?” he asked.I took note of his choice of clothing. He wore jeans and a pale blue t-shirt. “You’re not going to believe this.”“What?”“The school called. They want us in school tomorrow.”“No way!”“I overheard Grandma talking to them. Supposedly they have something to teach us.”“Yeah, right.” He nudged past me and headed to the front door. “Jonah?”“Mmm?”“You wanna go check out the barn some more?”I pondered his invitation a few moments. Having only a brief time in Grandpa’s workshop, I wanted to get a better look, sans the old man. “Where is Grandpa?”“Saw him go out on that tractor machine. He left about an hour ago.”Cocking my head, I listened throughout the house. I was fairly confident Grandma was in the kitchen working on dinner—or as they called it here: supper. “Okay,” I said, “but if we hear Grandpa, we hurry back to the house.”“Why don’t you want him knowing?”“He may not be happy with us meddling in technology.”“What do you mean?”“He might not want anyone in there.” I went to the door and opened it. “But did you see the head and torso of a service bot in the corner?”Rory shook his head. “No…What are you thinking?”“I’m not sure just yet.” Stepping onto the porch I scanned the area. There was no Grandpa or tractor in sight. A stiff breeze blew across the land kicking up dust with it. Was there no rain here? “Come on, let’s go.” I ran across the open expanse between buildings. Rory was right on my heels. We weren’t normally known for this type of behavior. In fact, exploring things was encouraged by our parents. They wanted us to learn, to grow, to expand our minds. Grandpa seemed perturbed with our presence in the old barn. It was if he was keeping a secret in there. I had to know.The doors were open, the tractor no longer blocking our access. We hurried back to the workbench. It was dusty, dirty, and smelly, but I dove in and started rifling through ancient bot parts. “Do you think Grandpa will notice?” Rory said. He wasn’t too enthusiastic about rummaging. “He might.”“Think we’ll get in trouble?”“Maybe…But do you want to sit here in a wasteland and let your brain rot?”“No, but I don’t want to get in trouble either.”I made my way to the corner and unearthed the bot head and torso. “Whoa! Have you ever seen anything this old?” Grabbing a rag I dusted it off. It was beautiful in a rustic way. This bot had probably been produced quite a few years before Suz was even born. Maybe more. Definitely ancient. I was intrigued. The head was smoothly sculpted. Not exactly like a human head, but gave the idea of one. The eyes were small, a nose was placed on the face probably for aesthetic purpose, and it had a small slit for a mouth. The whole thing was a shiny golden color. “How old do you think that thing is?” Rory asked.“I’ll tell you in a minute.” I dusted it off better and then tucked the rag in my pocket. With both hands, I grasped the shoulders of the bot and leaned it forward. It was quite heavy. I was looking for the service tag that was usually found on the back just below the neck. There was one, but it was so corroded that I couldn’t read it. “Help me out here,” I said, trying to wrestle the bot to the workbench. Rory jumped in and with several grunts and groans, we had the bot on the bench face down. I snatched the rag and went to work giving the plate a thorough scrubbing. It must’ve been five minutes before I could make anything out. This poor bot must have spent most of its life in the barn. “Now, let’s see,” I said, squinting. “Made by Servidyne Industries…Model 106…Produced May 29, 2022.”“Wow, that’s old!”I studied the plate in detail. “Older than Mom and Dad I think.”“Was this one of the first service bots?”“Might be.”“Jonah, you’ve discovered an antique!”I’m not sure Rory really understood the term antique, but finding a thirty-three year old robot was kind of exciting. What sort of life had it had? Did the memory still work? Was the battery bank still good? Could I even get it to boot up? And how could I hide my work from Grandpa? Something deep inside me wanted to get this bot functioning again. But how could I do it?Searching around the workshop area, I found a screwdriver. With great care, I opened the skull of the bot and peered inside. Rory appeared and leaned over my shoulder. “What are you going to do?”I poked and prodded a bit. “I was thinking of removing the memory cells and taking them in the house. Maybe I can figure out a way to charge and run them.”“You want the bot to function again?”“I want to see what the bot was programmed with.” With a few twists of the screwdriver and some creative wire removal, I quickly had the memory core bank of cells in my hand. It was about the size of a baseball and contained the entire neural net. Newer bots had ones about a third of the size. I tossed the core to Rory and set about putting the bot’s face back on. As I screwed down the last screw, I looked deeply into the expressionless face of the bot. It said nothing, but spoke volumes to me. Something clicked in my head. “Grandpa!” Rory shouted. In the distance I heard the tractor approaching. “Help me get it back to the corner.”We wrestled the bot back and did our best to clean up from our explorations. Then we slipped unnoticed from the barn and ran back to the house.“You have the core, right?” I said.Rory handed it to me. “Still don’t know how you’ll make something that old work again.”I studied it briefly before shoving it into my shirt. “Not sure if I can, but I’ll give it a try.” We watched as Grandpa drove the tractor into the barn, shut it off, and hopped down. He closed the barn doors and headed toward the house. I nonchalantly nudged Rory and we slipped into the house. As we entered, I looked around for Grandma. Not seeing her, we hurried upstairs to our room. With the door shut, I removed the core from my shirt and tucked it under the bed. I’d take a closer look at it after supper.
It was Monday a week later when I heard the phone ring. Grandpa was somewhere on the property, so Grandma answered it. I happened to be within earshot of the conversation. It was Mrs. Bagley. She called to inform them that the school had concocted a reasonable facsimile of our educational level, and that we were to report to school on Tuesday. I couldn’t believe my ears. School in this wasteland? What were they going to teach us? We were already smarter than the majority of the faculty in the school. And they were going to teach us? I prepped my mind for what should be immense boredom to come. What could they possibly possess that could educate us? I wanted to laugh aloud.Rory came downstairs and found me in the hallway. “Whatcha doing?” he asked.I took note of his choice of clothing. He wore jeans and a pale blue t-shirt. “You’re not going to believe this.”“What?”“The school called. They want us in school tomorrow.”“No way!”“I overheard Grandma talking to them. Supposedly they have something to teach us.”“Yeah, right.” He nudged past me and headed to the front door. “Jonah?”“Mmm?”“You wanna go check out the barn some more?”I pondered his invitation a few moments. Having only a brief time in Grandpa’s workshop, I wanted to get a better look, sans the old man. “Where is Grandpa?”“Saw him go out on that tractor machine. He left about an hour ago.”Cocking my head, I listened throughout the house. I was fairly confident Grandma was in the kitchen working on dinner—or as they called it here: supper. “Okay,” I said, “but if we hear Grandpa, we hurry back to the house.”“Why don’t you want him knowing?”“He may not be happy with us meddling in technology.”“What do you mean?”“He might not want anyone in there.” I went to the door and opened it. “But did you see the head and torso of a service bot in the corner?”Rory shook his head. “No…What are you thinking?”“I’m not sure just yet.” Stepping onto the porch I scanned the area. There was no Grandpa or tractor in sight. A stiff breeze blew across the land kicking up dust with it. Was there no rain here? “Come on, let’s go.” I ran across the open expanse between buildings. Rory was right on my heels. We weren’t normally known for this type of behavior. In fact, exploring things was encouraged by our parents. They wanted us to learn, to grow, to expand our minds. Grandpa seemed perturbed with our presence in the old barn. It was if he was keeping a secret in there. I had to know.The doors were open, the tractor no longer blocking our access. We hurried back to the workbench. It was dusty, dirty, and smelly, but I dove in and started rifling through ancient bot parts. “Do you think Grandpa will notice?” Rory said. He wasn’t too enthusiastic about rummaging. “He might.”“Think we’ll get in trouble?”“Maybe…But do you want to sit here in a wasteland and let your brain rot?”“No, but I don’t want to get in trouble either.”I made my way to the corner and unearthed the bot head and torso. “Whoa! Have you ever seen anything this old?” Grabbing a rag I dusted it off. It was beautiful in a rustic way. This bot had probably been produced quite a few years before Suz was even born. Maybe more. Definitely ancient. I was intrigued. The head was smoothly sculpted. Not exactly like a human head, but gave the idea of one. The eyes were small, a nose was placed on the face probably for aesthetic purpose, and it had a small slit for a mouth. The whole thing was a shiny golden color. “How old do you think that thing is?” Rory asked.“I’ll tell you in a minute.” I dusted it off better and then tucked the rag in my pocket. With both hands, I grasped the shoulders of the bot and leaned it forward. It was quite heavy. I was looking for the service tag that was usually found on the back just below the neck. There was one, but it was so corroded that I couldn’t read it. “Help me out here,” I said, trying to wrestle the bot to the workbench. Rory jumped in and with several grunts and groans, we had the bot on the bench face down. I snatched the rag and went to work giving the plate a thorough scrubbing. It must’ve been five minutes before I could make anything out. This poor bot must have spent most of its life in the barn. “Now, let’s see,” I said, squinting. “Made by Servidyne Industries…Model 106…Produced May 29, 2022.”“Wow, that’s old!”I studied the plate in detail. “Older than Mom and Dad I think.”“Was this one of the first service bots?”“Might be.”“Jonah, you’ve discovered an antique!”I’m not sure Rory really understood the term antique, but finding a thirty-three year old robot was kind of exciting. What sort of life had it had? Did the memory still work? Was the battery bank still good? Could I even get it to boot up? And how could I hide my work from Grandpa? Something deep inside me wanted to get this bot functioning again. But how could I do it?Searching around the workshop area, I found a screwdriver. With great care, I opened the skull of the bot and peered inside. Rory appeared and leaned over my shoulder. “What are you going to do?”I poked and prodded a bit. “I was thinking of removing the memory cells and taking them in the house. Maybe I can figure out a way to charge and run them.”“You want the bot to function again?”“I want to see what the bot was programmed with.” With a few twists of the screwdriver and some creative wire removal, I quickly had the memory core bank of cells in my hand. It was about the size of a baseball and contained the entire neural net. Newer bots had ones about a third of the size. I tossed the core to Rory and set about putting the bot’s face back on. As I screwed down the last screw, I looked deeply into the expressionless face of the bot. It said nothing, but spoke volumes to me. Something clicked in my head. “Grandpa!” Rory shouted. In the distance I heard the tractor approaching. “Help me get it back to the corner.”We wrestled the bot back and did our best to clean up from our explorations. Then we slipped unnoticed from the barn and ran back to the house.“You have the core, right?” I said.Rory handed it to me. “Still don’t know how you’ll make something that old work again.”I studied it briefly before shoving it into my shirt. “Not sure if I can, but I’ll give it a try.” We watched as Grandpa drove the tractor into the barn, shut it off, and hopped down. He closed the barn doors and headed toward the house. I nonchalantly nudged Rory and we slipped into the house. As we entered, I looked around for Grandma. Not seeing her, we hurried upstairs to our room. With the door shut, I removed the core from my shirt and tucked it under the bed. I’d take a closer look at it after supper.
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