The last rays of sunlight beamed through the windows of the robot factory, suffusing its white walls with a brilliant orange glow. Dust particles twirled in the air, producing a Tyndall effect. The whirring machinery in the background echoed across the open space. Through the haze, on the other end, the faint shadows of robotic arms worked away, chipping corners and wedging gears to create more cold, hard metal.
The robot factory never closes. Many years ago, the workers went home in the aftermath of the Great Robot War, and the director, named Albert, was replaced by an AI robot, known as Director, who oversaw the factory’s constant production. Albert never returned to the factory.
One afternoon, a cold gust of air came through the open window and roused Albert from his uneasy dreams. He thought of his mother, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances during the War. The two had become increasingly distant over the years. To Albert, his mother was shapeless, a mere memory. He turned over, took off his virtual reality headset, and suddenly felt dreadful. He tossed and turned as irritation and boredom crept into his blank mind, now painting it with a morbid image of his robot overlords ordering him to obey. He wondered if he would suffer the same fate as his mother. For the first time in days, Albert started across his room, his eyes darting like those of a caged lion. His legs and joints moved awkwardly in a trance-like, agitated state. His brain tumbled over itself in a mad rush like a baby AI robot learning to walk. But he felt overwhelmed with a mad curiosity. He demanded to learn of his mother’s whereabouts.
Albert was consumed by a fiery desire, one unlike anything he had ever felt. He departed his house and walked down the narrow sidewalk. The sun was suspended over the horizon, its dying light casting long shadows of the city’s twisted buildings. Vehicles rushed past him with their coordinated, synchronized movements. It was a lifeless ambiance on the road. He heard that traffic lights once stood at every intersection in the world. The idea seemed more nonsensical the more he thought about it.
Today, Albert walked wherever his heart led him. Almost instinctively he found himself tracing the paths he used to take every morning on his way to work.
He stood outside the robot factory, peering at the three story, cold and menacing building. He took a deep breath and pushed open the factory door. A blast of cold air came at him as he wandered further inside. Shadows danced across the walls, mimicking his every step, as if the factory walls were alive and watching. The whirring grew louder.
Director came out from the darkness. Albert had long hoped to meet his successor, but had never imagined leaving his house and attempting it before. Often, in his quiet little chamber, he had thought about the manufacturing complex in between the endless stream of videos and reels that sent their little dramas dancing across his television.
Albert and Director stood face to face. He looked into Director’s eyes, the ones he had designed to mimic those of a human. There would occasionally be a certain sparkle of life in them when a thought or idea intrigued the AI brain, or when fake tears would fall out of them in artificial sadness. But now, its eyes simply looked empty. Albert focused his gaze somewhere on the background behind the director. He could faintly see the shapes of other robots, moving seamlessly in repeated, calibrated arcs behind their new director like grains of sand hiding the slithering of a sand snake.
“Albert,” Director said. “It is certainly most irresponsible and careless of you to wander off into the streets at this hour, and to disregard your proper place in society. When AI can do things no human can ever dream of, it is time for them to go.”
Albert replied, “Robot! Tell me what happened to my mother, or I will deprogram you!”
Director looked startled. Its body froze momentarily, as if in contemplation. “I have no knowledge of your mother. Return to your home.”
“No way,” said Albert. “You destroyed our lives, and I will destroy yours.”
Director’s eyes turned red, as though they could emit flames. Lines of contempt snaked across on its face.
The lights went out, and a door dropped down behind the two, hemming them in the open space. Director started advancing toward Albert, each step carrying more weight than the last. The engineer’s face turned ghastly pale, fearful of the very creature upon which he had imparted life and absolute power. Had it been planning this the whole time? he thought. No, since I left my house? Since I left the factory? Since I created it?
Director started to speak. “You programmed me to understand the knowledge of the world. Now let us see who is more powerful.”
Director raised its firm fists and struck at Albert, his thin body flying towards the ground in a graceful arc. Albert faced him helplessly as he fell, his outstretched hands reaching for the ceiling as if desperately trying to hold onto an innocent world that was not his. He landed with a sickening crash.
Director towered over him, its AI brain sensing that it was being threatened. Its neurons signaled action. Director was filled with an uncontrollable desire to end the man who constructed him. It felt like a wild animal that had lost control of its temperament, and for a second, leapt beyond the restraints of its algorithms.
The eyes of a shapeless face at a nearby window opened wide in horror, then shut tightly to avoid watching the unfolding sight. The individual had not witnessed this kind of madness since being held in captivity following the War.
For a moment, Albert’s world was completely dark, the weak light falling before him. There only stood the director. Albert’s world came crashing down, feeling a shrill of agony ripping raw into him as Director’s foot came down. He let out a groan of intense pain, a sound so horrifying and disgusting that it could not have been intended for human ears. Director turned around, its face cold as stone. The figure dashed away.
Three days later, Director demanded its robot servants to clean up the loathsome thing. Four metal entities dragged the stiff body away. Albert’s expressionless eyes were blank, his face unrecognizable and robotic. A teary-eyed woman stopped by the nearby window, this time to watch the sun rise. The other robots stopped for a moment to witness such strange human emotion. The factory was completely silent, save for a faint noise that sounded like the scratching of a mouse. It was Albert’s mother.