Behind The Big Ben

Chapter 4

Four months had passed since they had started building the robot and four months had also passed since they began to try and fix the bell. They might have been finished faster but, after all, there was not many great electronic inventions in 1974.

 Alice and Will were actually almost done with the robot though, unlike the people fixing the bell who only seemed half way through their job. Fair enough, the robot was only going to be about one metre tall but it was still a great achievement for two twelve year olds.

 “Hand me that wrench, Alice,” Will said, holding out his right hand that was smeared with grease. His hair was too, the result of him constantly running his hands through it. Alice, who was staying away from the oil and machine bit, was working on the theory part of the robot. Anytime something went wrong, she would start working up a different theory, keeping the bits that had worked in it.

 “Yeah, sure,” Alice said, throwing away a few other tools as she looked for the wrench in the big pile of tools. She handed it to Will and he began working on the machine of the robot. Alice had finished the outside shell of the robot a month into the beginning but the machine was the part that would make it move; the main part.

 “It’s almost done,” Will said, his teeth gritted as he tried to make the wrench screw on one of the nuts completely. Alice felt a smile take over her features. She was excited - as was Will - for the robot to come to life. They could be the greatest scientists ever, especially as they were only twelve. They just had to complete making the robot.

 “Just think, William-“

 “Will.”

 “Just think Will, in the next week we could have a real, moving, talking robot,” Alice said dreamily. She didn’t know what this robot would actually do but she knew it would be the biggest scientific discovery of this century.

“In the next week? Try today, Alice. It’s finished,” Will grinned as Alice looked up at the machine, gobsmacked. Could it really be finished already? When her eyes met the machine she realised it was. She let out a laugh and wrapped her arms around Will in a big bear hug.

 “It’s done!” Alice exclaimed, clapping her hands together as for the first time she began to think about how different this robot could make her life. She would be in every history book up until the year 3000 and maybe even further than that. Her name would be like Albert Einstein’s or Shakespeare; as long as you were over eight, you would know it.

“Should we turn it on?” Will asked as he put the machine into the robot’s shell. Alice could hear her father shout that he was leaving as he and his co-workers left. Alice nodded and just as his hand went to flick the switch, she stopped him.

 “What?”

 “It needs a name.”

 “Ummm, Molly, now can we turn it on?”

 “So it’s a girl?”

 “Yes, now can we turn it on?” Will asked impatiently. Alice nodded quickly, clearly excited. Will mentally chuckled to himself at her. She was like a little kid, waiting for Santa to come on Christmas night.

He flicked the switch on and the robot’s eyes lit up. They both grinned as it began to walk forward, moving the metal arms and legs that they had managed to afford from Will’s market job and Alice’s job helping at a local hairdressers that her mum owned.

The first words the robot said, however, they were not quite as happy about. “De-stroy.”

 ~*~

so due to the fact I wrote this in one day for school (I had gone fore holidays in Sweden in the middle of the time we were supposed to be writing them and due to that fact, I was behind everyone else) it is a little uncreative and lacks all romance because I'm sorry but I don't write things like that at school.

banner on the side is made by the lovely blackstarryskies whom this is dedicated to.

also, special thanks for getting this book to #78 in historical fiction and #748 in short story. it means a lot.

please keep reading, commenting, voting and sharing my story!!