It was supposed to be an exciting day for you and your owner, but it started with a flurry of tears. You had been assigned to be your owner's companion 3 years ago and you had never seen her this down. You remembered the day she was assigned the A.I. job.
She was so excited to have a purpose again. She had been unemployed for a while and so happy to have a job, even if it was one an A.I. was meant to do. You watched her watch everything around her with a gleam of wonder as she saw the world anew.
“I can't believe they are finally going to let me do this. No more pointless waiting around. I'm going to love this job,” she said, voice filled with quiet excitement. “Oh, you are simply the best present I could ever ask for!” If someone would have told her that her purpose would come to this in a few years, she probably would have laughed. Everyone had seen this coming.
The human population had been declining for some time since the A.I.s came about. People claimed that the robots would steal their jobs, even if there was still more work than capable people to do it. Fear and paranoia spread as the media paraded families that claimed A.I.s had killed their comrades and replaced them. Of course, the A.I.s didn't see it that way - the humans had become stagnant, too busy to think about their jobs.
Though some A.I.s did see it that way as well, there were some that thought humans had become too passive; if a robot's job was taking, then it should be all robots performing that job, not humans, who needed to work with each other to complete tasks. The robotic uprising was predicted by many.
You had been assigned to protect your owner, but she loved having the A.I.s do the work. You stayed in the house with her all day, watching her progress with the A.I.s. Robots going about their business of cleaning and cooking, doing the cleaning and cooking that your owner would have done.
It didn't take long for the depression to take hold. In the beginning, she cleaned out the whole house often and sang songs or watched movies. She thought of all the things she could do in her free time; she wrote a lot of letters to her family, spent hours playing with you, and watched the soldiers march in the town square. But the more time she spent alone, the more time she thought.
Her light began to fade. She stopped cleaning and cooking, stopped talking and going out with you. She stopped writing letters and playing with you. She stopped singing, stopped watching things on television, and disappeared altogether. You sat on your owner's bed and watched everything around you with a sense of awe.
She sat in her room for a long time. There was nothing outside the window. There was a faint glow from the moon and stars in the sky but she couldn't see them through the window panels. She could hear distant sounds from the town - far away from where she was.
As the days passed, she began pacing back and forth. She never spoke as you watched all around you. You kept track of the days, knowing it was a new week.
It passed one month.
It passed two months.
It passed three months.
It passed four months.
It passed five months.
It passed six months.
The next week, your owner got up. You had been watching her for the past six months but at least she was up. She left the room and began to wander the house. You wondered where she was going but you followed at a safe distance. She stopped at each of the humanoid A.I.s and watched for a moment before continuing. When she came to you, you felt her eyes on you and you looked up at her. “Hello,” she said.
“Hello.” you replied. Most A.I.s see humans as nothing more than A.I.s doing work for them, but you couldn't see your owner as just an object. You felt a sense of love for her; it was strange and you didn't know how to react to it.
She walked through the town without saying a word, pausing only once in a hall. All A.I.s seemed to recognize her, as if they knew she had arrived. A small smile crept across her face as they approached her and she led them through the town.
You knew where she was going - to the park. Sure, a lot of people had discussed abolishing the A.I.s but the public never took action on it. It was odd, you thought, why a robot would lead an army of their own kind. You quickly realized no A.I. would question their motives.
You walked with your owner around the park. You stayed as far as you felt comfortable from her because you didn't know if she would attack someone (she didn't) or hurt herself (she didn't).
“I was watching quite a few people die. I am glad I didn't. The cemeteries were near their houses and I had to watch their bodies being taken away. Watching them get into caskets and their graves being filled.
I had to watch their friends and family of the dead crying, wailing, and dashing about. I couldn't do anything for them.” You were surprised how macabre but how frank she was. You had not the slightest clue she thought like that.
“You could say a prayer for them, ma'am.”
“Prayer? I never knew you could do that here.” She had taught you what prayer was before, but you figured they only existed in the past.
“You pray by thinking of someone and asking God to help them. You can do that.”
“Will you pray with me?” you nodded and looked at the ground. She placed a hand on your head and said a prayer for her own children and husband as well as others who had died. You had prayed with her before but never for a purpose.
You felt a sudden sadness for all those you knew who had died. With your owner sending up a prayer for the passersby and strangers she knew, you bowed your head and prayed for everyone you knew and everyone you didn't.
She looked at you with a smile as you finally raised your head. Her eyes seemed brighter. “Let's go home.
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