YEAR - 4372 AD
Katherine Polly was in the kitchen, preparing dinner for her family. She knew that she shouldn't really, and she should us the kitchen-bot her sister had spent so much money on for her. But she couldn't help it, Kate simply LOVED cooking. She had done since she was young. It was true that people hadn't had to work for themselves in centuries, but to Kate there was nothing better then rolling your sleeves up and getting elbow-deep in flour. Besides, robots might be fancy and shiny but they couldn't cook with love and consideration. That was something only a human could provide.
She was just rolling out the pastry for dessert- her special apple pie- when her daughter Kelly came in.
'Mu-u--um.' She whined
'What is it sweetheart?'
'There's something wrong with Missy.'
Kate sighed. Missy was the latest in toy technology. She was a special doll designed to act like a little sister to only children. After much insistence, Kate had finally caved in and bought on for Kelly's seventh birthday three weeks ago. It had cost nothing less than a small fortune, but Kelly had somehow managed to damage her already. Not that money was much of a problem in the Polly house, but still...,
'Okay, sweetie. What's wrong with her.'
'She won't wake up properly from sleep mode. She just keeps stirring then shutting down again. And when I touch her it burns my hand.' Kate smiled a little to herself. It almost sounded like the doll was ill with a fever.
'Alright honey, you go sit with Missy and I'll call Mr Cal. Just don't touch her, you don't want to be burnt to badly.'
Dr Cal was the neighbourhood toy repair man. He used to be a mechanical engineer, but had quit when it began to take him away from his family too much. Now he helped out kids with broken toy and games. People liked to call him the "toy doctor". He fixed things up for a fraction of the price of a repair shop, so he got a lot of business. Kate picked up the earbud- The latest in communication technology, with a holoscreen so you can see the person your talking to!- and gave it a voice command to call Dr Cal.
'Why hello, Kate!' Cried Dr Cal when he saw her. 'To what do I owe this pleasure? Another broken toy?'
'I'm afraid so, Dr Cal. It's Kelly's new doll, it's running a fever apparently.'
'Running a fever? How peculiar. Well, no need to worry. I'll just get My things and I'll be there in a jiffy.'
'Thanks so much Cr Cal. There'll be pie for your troubles.'
'Pie you say? That wouldn't be your homemade pie, would it? Madam, my feet shall soar to reach you!' And with that he signed off. Kate laughed at hung the earbud back on its hook. Another thing she liked about Dr Cal was that he made a habit of walking when he could. Most people would just take a teleport, but Dr Cal liked nothing better than a brisk walk through the city.
'Alright honey,' she called to Kelly 'Dr Cal's on his way, he'll be here soon.' And she went back to her pie.
It was a while before Dr Cal got to the house, but withing the hour he was knocking on the door with a rat-a-tat-tat.Kate answered it.
'Hello Dr Cal!' She smiled. 'I'm glad you're here, Kelly's beginning to get upset.'
'Then it seems I'm just in time.' He said with a grin. 'Would you be so kind as to show me to the patient?' So Kate led the way.
Dr Cal was a tall skinny fellow with a kind face, dressed smartly in a black suit. He had a full head of soft brown hair, which he currently had covered with a bowler hat. He also carried around a long ebony cane, more for show than anything else. It was topped with a crystal that glimmered all ways in the light. He had with him a bag that was full of tools that he used to repair the broken toys.
'Why hello there, Miss Polly!' He exclaimed when he saw Kelly. 'Now I hear you've got a dolly who's not feeling very well.'
'She has a fever!' Cried Kelly.
'Yes well let's see what we can do about that, shall we?' Dr Cal set his bag on the floor and picked up his screwdriver. Carefully, he opened up the panel on her stomach.
'Ah, I think I see the problem.'
'What is it?' cried Kelly 'Can you fix it?'
'Well, it looks like someone's been feeding their dolly things they shouldn't have been.' Kelly cringed at that. Kate peered over Dr Cal's shoulder and saw that there was what looked like mashed up cake stuck in the circuitry.
'We were having a tea party.' mumbled Kelly. 'She wanted to have some cake.'
'That's nice. But dolly's can't eat food like we can' Explained Dr Cal. 'it makes them sick'
'I'm sorry. Can you still fix her?'
'That's okay. I'm going to clean out some of the cake here. But for the rest you're going to have to get a Cleanser.'
'What's a Cleanser?' Asked Kate.
'A Cleanser,' said Dr Cal, picking out bits of cake from the wires. 'is a small electronic pill that's loaded with nanites. The robot swallows it, and the nanites clear out any messes from the system. You can but it from any parts shop. Here,' Dr Cal pulled out a notepad and pen from one of his suit pockets. 'I'm going to write you a note. Go to the shop on Ens Street when you have a moment, and show it to them. They'll probably give you a discount. But until then, keep the doll turned off.'
'I'll make her up a bed!' Piped Kelly, and ran off to fetch blankets and a pillow.
'Thank you so much Dr Cal, I won't forget this.'
'No worries, this IS my job after all.'
'Well thank you just the same. Say, John will be home soon. DO you want to stay for dinner? We're having the pie for dessert.'
'Then how could I refuse?' He said with a smile.
And so everyone enjoyed a very nice evening. And the next day Kate went out and bought a cleanser- with a discount!- and kelly was over the moon to have Missy back. Kate was just pleased to have some peace again to to her baking.
THE END.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AUTHORS NOTE:
I will give three imaginary cookies to the first person who can guess the nursery rhyme this was written for.
For the past couple of days I've had this particular rhyme lodged in my head. Then today I watched AstroBoy, which set off a weird chain of thought in my head. This is where it ended up.
Not my best work, but I would appreciate feed back. And each person who leaves a comment gets an imaginary cookie of their choice. SO I guess the person who guesses the rhyme get four cookies, really. All the more reason to be the first to comment, people!
I hope you enjoyed reading this anyway. ^_^
