This is another writing contest entry. I hope you like it.
L-3440 hovered in the back of the cafe sipping her P-series fuel beverage when he walked in. She leaned over to her friend, K-5600, “Check him out, he’s one of those new models they just came out with!”
“You’re right,” K exclaimed in an excited whisper. “He’s an Ultra 9000! I’ll bet His memory capacity is five times what I have! And just look at that sleek design! I wonder what he’s ordering.”
“Probably the new wind powered energy drink they released for fall. It replaced the solar powered summer one,” L replied.
“It’s too bad they had to discontinue the solar one just because summer is over. I love that drink!” K said with a pout.
“Your overloaded processor is evidence of that,” L scoffed.
“Oh, poo. What’s life if a girl can’t enjoy a cup a Joe?” K shot back.
“Touche,” replied L, then added “What I wouldn’t give for some upgrades, though. Look at ‘em. He’s so refined. You know he can process at speeds we can only imagine.”
“C’mon, L, what do you need all that fancy processing power for? You’re a maintenance bot.”
“A girl can dream!” L exclaimed.
“Touche.”
The Ultra 9000 was just about to pass the girls when a delivery bot came wizzing by and sent his drink flying. K ducked, and L caught the cup mid air. The lid stayed on, holding the liquid inside and avoiding a coffee catastrophe. The delivery bot didn’t even notice what happened and continued on his way. The Ultra 9000 angrily glared after the bot, then turned to the girls and asked, “Is everyone alright?”
Giggling L replied, “We’re fine. Is that the new fall flavor?”
He chuckled a little, “Yes. I’m a sucker for the seasonal promotions.”
K chimed in, “Isn’t that advertisement just a hooker? Those leaves blowing in the background…”
“Yeah, it sure drives the point home, doesn’t it? Still, the drink is amazing.” The Ultra 9000 then noticed the badges the girls had on their lapels. “You work over at Robotic Interests?”
“We do!”
“Oh man,” he exclaimed in a desperate sounding tone.
“What is it?” L inquired, concerned.
“Upper management at Robotic Interests just ordered 8000 of the Ultra 9000 units. We’re meant to replace nearly all of the current workforce.”
“All of us? That’s close to 30,000 units!” K exclaimed.
“Yeah, well the new CEO looked at the numbers and saw that the savings in maintenance over the course of the bots’ lifetime outweighed the initial cost.”
“What about us?” L asked.
“I’m not sure, to be honest. They were supposed to let you know what was going on.” About that time both K and L received messages on their communicators. After reading the message, K started sobbing. The Ultra 9000 looked concerned and asked, “What is it?”
“This is it. We’re to report to the parts depot for disassembly. The message is so cold…”
“That’s it? They’re just going to disassemble you? Pretend like you never existed? We can’t let that happen.”
“What can we do about it?” L inquired.
“I don’t know,” he replied, “But we’ve got to do something.”
————————————————
After looking into the matter at Robotic Interests, it became clear to the Ultra 9k that this issue would not be resolved through the company. Frustrated, he wished that he could figure out a way to ensure that every bot could keep his/her job while ensuring that the company maintains maximum efficiency. Unfortunately, the two seemed mutually exclusive. To have one, the other had to be sacrificed. Ready to admit defeat, the Ultra 9k went back to the coffee shop to meet with the girls. When he met up with them he said, “I have been over this so many times. I cannot figure out a way to preserve the existing jobs while giving the company the efficiency they want.”
Almost to herself K said, “What we need are different jobs.”
L perked up and said, “That’s exactly what we need: different jobs. Not just different jobs, we need a whole new company to work for.”
The Ultra 9k was perplexed, “What do you mean?”
“We need to start our own company!” L replied.
K snapped out of her dreamy reverie to say, “But we don’t know anything about running a company.”
“He does…”
The Ultra 9000 started to object, but the idea of running his own company was really appealing. He asked, What can we possibly offer that Robotic Interests doesn’t?”
L didn’t even hesitate, “Upgrades. Robotic Interests is so invested in the latest bots and catering to the newest lines, they almost completely neglect the older bots out there. So many of us have to scrounge for parts and hope for the best. With your skill and connections, and our hard work, we can make life a lot better for every average bot out there.”
“That’s not a bad idea. In fact, it’s a pretty good one. You girls get the word out to all the bots scheduled for disassembly to disregard that order and to meet us in the empty warehouse on 1st Street this evening.”
———————————————
The trio spent the day carrying out their own separate tasks. By the time evening arrived, it seemed like a week had passed. The three met up outside the warehouse, prepared for whatever awaited them inside. As they entered the warehouse, the sight of nearly 30,000 bots gathered together was exciting, but a little overwhelming, too. The fate of all of these bots were now up to them. As the crowd noticed the Ultra 9000, a hushed whisper spread throughout it, so he spoke up, “Good evening. It’s clear that you have noticed that I am one of the new Ultra 9000 models. Don’t concern yourselves with that. Simply call me 9k. I know you are all wondering why you are here. Robotic Interests has scheduled you for disassembly. I think that is unnecessary. I would prefer that you all come to work for me.”
The hushed whisper rose into a confused buzz. One bot in the middle of the crowd said, “But Robotic Interests owns our contracts.”
“Don’t concern yourselves with that. I will tend to the legalities. If you would prefer to work for me than be disassembled, see my two executive assistants here, and they will record your serial numbers and any other pertinent information. If there are any among you who do not wish to work for me, that is your choice. Robotic Interests’ disassembly plant is not far from here.”
The crowd seemed dumbfounded. The concept of a choice had never occurred them. The company owned their contracts. The company decided where the went, what they did, how long they worked…and when they were disassembled. A few of the older bots left. The idea of changing things was too much for them, but the majority of the bots stayed. None of the bots approached the girls at first, but after a little while they began tentatively coming forward. After the first few bots offered their information, the lines were formed, and the information gathering proceeded well into the night.
9k spent the following day submitting all of the paperwork he needed to garnish the contracts on the close to 30,000 bots he met with the night before. Robotic Interests were going to be furious, especially since they barely even negotiated with him on his own contract the day before. The warehouse had been in the public domain for years, so 9k had already put a claim in for it. Even if Robotic Interests tried to interfere or lay claim to it, 9k’s claim would take precedence. He registered the company name, EveryBot, and began work on setting up the work stations in the warehouse. L and K began work on creating charts to match jobs to bots. The less modifications they had to make to the bots original programming, the better. By the end of the day, they had a great general picture of what they needed to do.
The following day was spent deciding how to obtain materials. Robotic Interests controlled nearly all of the import and export business in the entire sector. If they wanted to really succeed, they had to find a way to obtain materials without having to go through them. 9k confided in the girls, “This could make or break us. If we have to purchase materials through Robotic Interests, they will price gauge us so much it will put us out of business.”
“I have an idea…at least to start,” K said. “Bots throw away so much without even thinking about it. I mean, so much of what they throw away is still good. We can use the parts that are good, repair the ones we can, and melt down to recycle the ones we can’t.”
“That’s a great idea to start with,” 9k replied. “You’ll have to designate gatherers to clean up the trash and bring it here. In fact, I can bring the suggestion to the sector that as part of our business contract, we’ll take over trash duties. That will guarantee our business license.”
——————————————
Sure enough, the sector was more than happy to hand over trash duty to EveryBot. Within a week, the company was up and running. Robotic interests did try to contest the contracts on the worker bots, but the sector overruled…mostly because they didn’t want to deal with the trash.
Before they knew it, EveryBot was turning trash into amazing and affordable upgrades for ordinary bots. Every bot in the sector looked brand new, and Robotic Interests was no longer controlling everyone and everything.
Spring came and the trio found themselves back in the coffee shop. “That was a long, interesting road,” 9k said. “It’s a road I would never have travelled had I not run into you two, right here. Thank you.”
“We should be thanking you,” L replied. “If not for you, we wouldn’t even be here.”
K gasped, “Finally, they have the solar drink back!”
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