Read Online Bootstrap Colony by Chris Hechtl - Free Book Online Page B

death.
    The robot’s pop pop was a bit of
surprise. Its “Final perimeter defense initiated,” rumble was something that
made him break out of his rage and realize the animals were pretty damn close.
He ducked back into the car, pulling the hatch shut. There were three animals
left, one charging the front got killed by the robot, but another flanked left
of the robot and then charged, biting down onto the arm. The last one danced;
suddenly aware it and its pack mate were all that were left. It cawed,
fluttering in distress. The robot mechanically reached with its free arm for
the throat of the raptor biting and clawing it.
    Mitch winced, hearing the crunch
of plastic and metal, then the spark of wiring. “Going to have to fix that,” he
sighed. The robot got it’s attacker by the throat and squeezed hard. The head
popped off, the body fluttering and thrashing as the neck gushed blood. Mitch
winced once more. The other raptor had had enough, it turned to flee but the
robot turned, angled its good arm and shot, catching the animal in the rear and
then back. It stepped over to the raptor, feebly thrashing in the grass and
stomped on its head. “One way to put it out of its misery,” Mitch said with
rich approval.
    Knowing it would be bad, but that
he had to know, he drove closer and up to the body of the man. He fought the
nausea as he looked. The man was torn apart, shredded. Nausea tore through
Mitch; he managed to climb out of the truck in time to barf in the nearby
grass. Caws from the wood line let him know he hadn’t gotten the entire pack.
He was not going to let them eat the body however. He pulled out a tarp,
working quickly he gently pushed the body onto it, and then bundled it onto the
top of the truck. The robot docked after he got back into the car. He felt his
nausea cramp his stomach as he returned to the base.
    It was no longer a good day, this
really sucked he thought. Not only did he fail, but he knew he should have been
out rescuing others. Part of him knew that he should, people mattered not
machines, but he also knew that going out into the bush blind was dangerous.
    He used the trencher to dig a
hole near the edge of the inner perimeter. Carefully he lowered the tarp into
the hole. A robot bulldozed the Earth over the body. “Damn that truly sucked,”
he said, head low. He commanded the machine to return to work and then turned
back to his own work.
    When he realized that he was
filthy, covered in drying blood and dirt he took the time to wash up. The
animals in his mobile home were subdued. He dried off, and then petted each of
them, gently holding the pregnant female cat Hera to his chest as she purred
her heart out. The computer beeped some endless time later. “Reminder cheese.
Feeding time,” the AI said. He sighed and got up. A mew from the cats and woof
let him know they were hungry too. He fed them, and then got back to the job of
living.
     
    Several days later he was stuck
in the mobile home. It wasn’t so bad; he had a cat in his lap while he sat in
the window with his laptop. He watched the robots sludge through the rain on
chores. When one of the androids slipped and fell in the mud, scattering its
load all over the wet ground he winced. He clicked the Bluetooth on. The robot
thrashed in the mud, acting like a stuck turtle. “Andy.” He looked through the
binoculars. “Andy eight roll onto your back,” Mitch ordered patiently. It would
be comical if he wasn't aware of how much damage the robot could do to itself.
The robot stilled for a moment as it processed the order and then complied.
“All right, now sit up.” The robot teetered, but managed to sit up. An attempt
to get its feet under it made it slip and fall once more.
    A general purpose robot trundled
by with a load. “GP six halt,” Mitch ordered. The robot stopped, then spun to
orient on his position. Its tracks dug into the mud, spraying it around and
onto the hapless Andy. “Set your load down and aide Andy eight