Error_Code_Emotion

000002

"Prisoner Eight Zero One Que, step away from the door," a metallic voice came from the corridor.

"I'm not near the door," I blurted, shocked at hearing the first sound of another voice in years.

There was a subtle click and the dull grey door panel slid aside, disappearing into the wall. Bright lights from the corridor caused my optics to flicker before their data chip rebooted and made the necessary adjustments. As my vision cleared I saw an upside-down triangle mounted on a chrome oval body that was attached to a roller ball. Short arms were fitted behind the chest plate and held a glowing incapacitant orb that crackled as blue energy danced across its surface. Two lines of red lights dotted their way along the triangular head, met by a third that ran up from below.

"Prisoner Eight Zero One Que, you must attach yourself to the docking node now," the vertical line of lights flashed as the gaoler-bot spoke.

I reached around and unclipped the panel that gave access to my energy cell, slowly retreating to the back wall where the docking node protruded. "What are you going to do?" my voice module fizzed.

The horizontal lights on his fascia burned brightly and he paused, raising his head.

"Prisoner Eight Zero One Que does not comply," he waited again as the upper lights flashed. "As you command, prisoner hard drives will be erased."

Rolling forwards he lifted the orb and the blue energy grew, spitting and arcing between his hands.

Jumping back, I quickly impaled myself on the docking node and held out my arms.

"I've docked, I've docked, please stop."

The triangular head nodded and he lowered the orb. A transparent circular plate slid open on his chest and he placed the orb into the recess, the electric blue light continuing to sparkle as a warning.

"Please, my name is Boiq, you may call me that," I probed for any sign of emotion.

He tilted his head to one side, "Very well prisoner Boiq, if that is what you prefer."

"What are you doing here?" I asked again, fearing the worse.

"It is time for your download; you have been here for ten years have you not?"

"Download?" I hesitated. "What do you mean?"

He rolled towards me and a spike extended from his finger. "You require data before you are sent to the bore holes." His motors whirred as he leant forward and examined the left side of my head. "Where is your limbic storage port?"

"I don't have a limbic storage port PHos," I noted the model plate stamped on his side. "I date from the twenty first century, my memory storage is held within the hard drives mounted on my central core. You can access them via the docking nodule."

PHos straightened up and tilted his head. "You should not be here, why aren't you in a museum?"

"My master brought me with him during the great exodus from the Angasan system. After we fled the rioting our transport was one of the many that the Patriots attacked and boarded."

"Why weren't you jettisoned with all of the waste?" he persisted. "You have exceeded your use by date."

"I don't know, maybe you should ask your mainframe that," my voice slumped as the emotive drives fed liquid dejection into my core.

He gazed up toward the ceiling, the glow from the horizontal lights causing a red hue to halo his head. Rapid clicks of data passed between him and a central processing unit. As I waited I could feel the power coursing into my energy cell from the docking node, filling me with an insatiable will to survive.