Last Robot

Chapter 4. THE RED DOT GIRL

But the Meeting Building also acted as a humongous cylindrical plinth upon which the giant figures of a HEP male and female sculptured from industrial navy-blue diamond, stood triumphantly on a mound of twisted stainless steel broken chunky mechanical robots (with exposed ball and socket joints). The two symbolic figures of humanity had their right fists raised victoriously high up to the sky. The Victory of the Metal Monstrosity Monument atop the building was a perpetual reminder of humanity's victory over the robots in the Robot War. Riley knew that the mechanical robots depicted in the sculpture were rare soldier class robots. The vast majority of intelligent robots were so human-like that apparently it was only from their behaviour that you could guess whether they were robots or not.

Riley was fascinated by seeing the actual physical representation of robots even if it was as a twisted and broken pile. This was the only place such a physical representation could be seen. In every other case, it was unlawful to show any representation of the robots. Riley looked up at the monument...but eventually the sharp blinding reflections of the blazing sun from the polished stainless steel and diamond surfaces forced him to lower his streaming copper eyes and look down at his well-polished continuously marching black high-strength polymer boots.

Just then, a HEP aircar whizzed overhead with its distinct hum. He did his best to ignore it. However, when it turned about and swept back towards him, hovering only 250 feet above his head he began to worry that he was being watched.

Perhaps it's time to admit to myself that I am not paranoid and that the HEP really are out to get me. Better keep the pretence of my Perfect marching going... I suppose there's always the sliver of a chance of hope—even for the deluded.

Riley's copper coloured eyes looked about furtively for signs of loitering HEP officers...

He couldn't see any.

But then he saw an unusual sight that caused him to grind his Perfect march to a halt. He realised why the aircar might be hovering in his vicinity. And, thankfully, it probably had nothing to do with him. His sliver of a chance of hope had miraculously materialised. Because marching out of the Meeting Building in Perfect time was a female HEP teacher leading a two-by-two stream of ten-year-old schoolgirls.

Riley's eyes widened in shock. He had never in his whole life seen a girl before, unless you counted the strange unPerfect girl depicted in the unusual painting he saw at the conclusion of his recurring dream. That girl in the painting didn't look anything like a human should look and was probably a surreal interpretation of a girl. He doubted that the girl was an example of a pre-Perfect Age human girl. However, as he thought the strange creatures in the same painting and other paintings he saw were representations of pre-Perfect Age animals, he did not dismiss the possibility that the unPerfect girl might somehow be a representation of a pre-Perfect Age girl.

Riley stared with flabbergasted curiosity at the group of twenty-four marching girls. They were grey-skinned and looked neat and tidy in their bright-pink boiler suits. They were like half-sized versions of his wife, twenty-four bald-headed miniature humans marching beneath the midday sun. For some obscure reason he found their appearance quite amusing and had to stifle a high-pitched laugh.

Quickly, he bundled his way to a nearby bench on the light-grey sandstone flagstones of the forecourt that faced the Meeting Building, as he didn't want the teacher and girls marching past him as they might be going to go in the same direction as him. Their Perfect marching was a great deal faster than his. And that was because they were marching in the footsteps of their marching HEP teacher, and members of the HEP always marched faster than non-HEP citizens.

"Ignore that man," ordered the teacher in her navy-blue coloured boiler suit with its HEP logo on the left-hand breast pocket. She gave Riley a suspicious glance as she marched passed his bench. The pupils obediently followed in her wake ignoring Riley with their eyes directed straight ahead of them. As they began filing past him, he noticed they were, as one would expect, all exactly the same height, and it was impossible for him to tell them apart as they had the same determined expression on their faces.