Last Robot

Chapter 5. THE DREAM; THE MYTH

"I'm not violent. I don't have an aggressive cell in my body."

This made the Red Dot girl burst into laughter.

"Listen to me, mister man, and listen good. Because something is hidden, it doesn't mean it isn't there. You're violent all right. I reckon, since you're probably due to live out your dream tomorrow, you'll be finding that out soon enough. And think of the violence you needed in the dream? I'll just say that you and I are more alike than we appear."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"As I said, you'll soon find out. I'm not one for spoiling." The girl cupped her hand over her mouth, and added, "Shush now, mister man...here comes trouble."

"Miss Burnham," said the HEP teacher approaching the bench with a severe look on her face, "I hope you are not bothering this man. How dare you behave like this! I hope you are not making up stories about unPerfect buildings, plants and insects. You are obsessed with such unPerfect nonsense. Your drawings depict your ravings and are the product of an unPerfect mind. You will be suitably punished when we get back from this adult city acclimatisation school trip for bothering this man. I will remove your pudding cubes for at least a week."

"Aw, sorry, Mrs Calliope. I wasn't bothering the man. I had to stop to do up my laces."

Riley looked down at the girl's bright-pink boot laces, and was surprised to see that both of them were loose.

"Do them up then," ordered Mrs Calliope. "Quickly now!" she added.

The girl tied up her laces quicker than Riley had ever seen anyone do so before.

"Good girl, Lisa Burnham," praised Mrs Calliope. "Now get back in line with your partner and prepare to march in your Perfect best."

"Yes, Mrs Calliope," said the Red Dot girl running silently to join her partner at the back of the queue of girls.

"I apologise for any unPerfectness," said Mrs Calliope to Riley. She gave him a curt Perfect nod and swept away to the head of her schoolgirls' queue.

"Girls, march!" she ordered.

Off they marched in a Perfect synchronicity, except for the Red Dot girl's last defiant unPerfect cheeky act. She managed to discreetly turn her face back to Riley and give him a quick cheeky wink and poke of her tongue.

"Miss Burnham?" said Mrs Calliope without turning her head back. "I hope you are marching with your eyes directly ahead of you."

'Yes, Mrs Calliope," chirped the Red Dot girl, who immediately jumped up manically in a final act of unPerfectness.

"I saw that!" shouted Mrs Calliope, as if she had eyes in the back of her head.

Off the teacher and her troupe of schoolgirls marched around a corner and out of Riley's sight.

The HEP aircar followed them. Riley wondered if the HEP officers in the aircar had recorded the behaviour of the girl and possibly the conversation he had with her. He doubted it, as children were not allowed to have conversations listened to or recorded. It was against the Perfect Laws of Child Privacy. Thankfully, this meant his conversation with her was safe from prying ears—except perhaps from Mrs Calliope's ears if they were anything like she claimed her eyes to be.

Riley relaxed a little, leaning back and spreading his arms behind the back of the bench. Why shouldn't he? It might be a touch unPerfect, but it wasn't illegal.

He stared at the dusty surfaced light-grey flagstones of the Meeting Building's forecourt in front of him. They were shaped in the simplest geometric shape possible, Perfect Large Squares, each side measuring exactly a yard. Some of them displayed intricate geometric etchings subtly coloured in different shades of grey. Riley momentarily considered the view of one such flagstone that displayed a beautiful arrangement of Penrose tiling...