Tobias is the first of the second iteration of Caretakers, beings tasked with gathering spark to care for the city and its inhabitant, both human and machine alike. He does his best, managing to acquire the necessary skills and companions. But, when...
I followed its movement. "Why not? It's a much nicer station than at the warehouse," I pointed out. "It's rapid charge, too."
Gary shifted. "I just don't! I have enough charge to last until at least noon tomorrow. I can charge somewhere else before then."
I narrowed my eyes at it. "Are—are you frightened? Of the basement?"
Gary sagged even more and shook its head. "No. Not of the basement. Of the dark. I've never been in the dark before!"
I rolled my eyes and stepped into the car, punching the button for the sixth floor. "Don't be ridiculous! Every time you shut down, you're in the dark!"
"Once I'm shut down, I don't know what's what. Who cares if I'm in the dark when I can't see it? But during the time I'm getting turned on and turned off? Or when I'm just on charge? I've never been in the dark. Not once."
The quiet logic of Gary's explanation hit me, cooling my temper and bringing a moment of contemplation. How would I feel, faced with utter blackness, if I had never been in the dark previously? The protest seemed more and more sound, and it became apparent that I needed to spare a little compassion and understanding.
I clasped my hands in front of me and bounced on the balls of my feet a little. "Well, why don't you stay with me, or in one of the empty apartments, for the night, and then tomorrow, we'll not only find you a station, we'll find you a home?"
Gary's head came up, and a bright chirp filled the car a moment before the sixth-floor chime. "Really? A home of my own?"
"Yes. If that's what you want." I stepped into the hall.
"Oh, yes!" Gary rolled after me.
My feet were nearly kicked out from underneath me when Gary grabbed me in an awkward hug from behind. I threw my arms out for support as it screeched, "Thank you, Tobias!" It released me before we went down in a heap, the bizarre maneuver over so quickly that I didn't have time to react. Dazed, I could only watch as it rolled into my apartment once again, chatting as it did. "We're going to be such good friends! I just know it!"
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I contemplated the necessity of "sleep" for androids and robots. The Caretakers had created our systems to conduct basic self-repair on an ongoing basis. Still, more extensive repairs and other tasks, such as storing the daily recordings, required actual downtime. Hence, we needed periodic sleep. It consisted of a swath of time, usually six hours or so, of uninterrupted processing. We weren't turned off and put into storage, but we weren't awake and simply charging either. Our systems were set to minimal levels, diverting power to our processors and self-repair systems. It truly did mimic human sleep. So, it shouldn't have been any surprise how angry I became when a loud crash tripped my internal alarms, woke me up with a start, and propelled me off the sleeping platform mere moments before I had scheduled my morning alarm.
"Gary! What's going on?" I shouted as I rolled into the main room from the sleeping chamber.
"I'm so sorry, Tobias!" it said as it swept the painting's crooked canvas off the floor. "I'll get you a new one!" It stood and clutched the disheveled art to its chest. "I didn't mean to break it."
