RoboNomics

Chapter 24 - 2016

"At least I'm not alone," I say to Austin as we wind our way up College Street. 

The sun is red and bright and I look up at my husband through the long evening rays. His long, angular face shows no reaction.

Austin and I are going to Dharma, the restaurant where we had our first date. It's a popular hangout where kids from the university begin long nights of trying to drink each other under the table. 

Austin and I first met when we were that age, and he took me to Dharma for our first date. We make a yearly pilgrimage to celebrate the anniversary of the beginning of our romance.

We had cut back all our expenses. We never went out to eat anymore. 

But I didn't want to give up our traditional visit to the restaurant. I wanted to hold on to at least one thing from the past as the world around us changed.

I remember when we first met. At some party or another. I was in teacher's college and he was just finishing his residency. 

I was standing by myself next to the most massive bowl of chips I'd ever seen. Feeling uncomfortable in my skin, having just grown out my hair to fit in with the other teaching students. That's when he came up to the table with his eyes locked on the chips.

"It looks like a giant's cereal bowl, doesn't it?" I asked as he took a handful.

It wasn't a particularly funny joke, but he laughed. His blue eyes lit up as he looked at me for the first time. 

And that was all it took. In that moment I knew I'd do anything to hear his laugh for the rest of my life.

Everything had run so smoothly for us. We started our careers at the same time and settled into middle-class comfort together. Now I wondered whether we'd ever have that again.

"There's dozens of teachers now, apparently, who are being replaced by the I.I.U.s. Even Elizabeth lost her job. They told her a couple weeks ago," I continue. "Can you imagine? Weeks before school starts. You get all ready for your class and boom! It's all over before it begins."

"No, I can't imagine," he says.

"They have to acknowledge that this is a problem now. There are so many of us."

"Who's 'they'?" 

Austin has always been so precise. It's one of his quirks. It's in his nature, to be precise. He is a neurosurgeon, after all.

"Oh, the school board I guess. The ministry -- whoever's making these decisions. And it's not just teachers, you know. They can't just keep doing this. The papers all say it's about less taxes. But who's going to pay whatever's left? There's no one with an income anymore."

"Well, not no one," he says. 

I glare at him. I love my husband for his sharp intellect and his warmth. But sometimes this quirk of precision is too much to bear.

"But you can't deny that things are different," I insist, sweeping my arm wide as we walk. 

College Street is filled with people trudging rather than walking. The city was not so long ago a Mecca for business, finance, the arts, research. 

The citizens who formerly rushed from street to subway now march slowly. Their growing desperation has extinguished the fire in their eyes. It tugs at their faces and drags them millimeter by millimeter into the ground.

Surrounding the humans are the bots that replaced us. They walk down the sidewalk like awkward, lanky teenagers or stubby, plastic bubbles with eyes like cartoon characters. 

They whirl along the ground, speeding between human feet or drive on the road, cleaning up after us. They control the automatic public washrooms and automatic tellers and automated grocery stores, eerie for their absence of a single human employee.

"Yeah, I guess," Austin concedes.

When we arrive at the restaurant, it's like a ghost town. 

"That's weird," I say. "Usually it's pretty full in here." 

On any summer night people would be spilling out onto the street patio, drinking sangria. But today, only a few tables are clustered with groups of three and four people. 

As my eyes adjust to the dim lighting in the black walled dining room, I see what's wrong. A sleek android with the iTronics symbol on its chassis is serving plates of Pad Thai, a dish the restaurant is known for. 

But they don't place anything other than Pad Thai in front of the sparse patrons.

"You're right, this is strange," Austin agrees. "Uh...I guess we'll just seat ourselves?" 

We slide into a table by the door. Menus instantly light up the surface of the black table. But there is only one item on Dharma's menu: Pad Thai.

A hydraulic whirling sound alerts us to the approach of our waiter. 

"What can I bring you? Anything to drink?" It asks in a saccharine tone.

"Um..." Austin starts tentatively, gazing at the table. "Is there nothing else but Pad Thai? What happened to the other dishes?"

"I apologize," says the bot. "Due to structural changes, we are unable to serve you items from past menus. Can I get you something to drink?" 

Its mouth is moving. Its eyebrows rise and fall with its speech. But it is lifeless; its silver limbs and look of innocence make me want to gag.

"Structural changes?" Austin echoes.

"Yes," it replies and walks away. 

I shake my head in disbelief.

"Listen, can you just give me a minute?" 

Austin rises and walks towards the back of the restaurant without waiting for an answer. He heads towards the kitchen. He pushes open the floppy double door and peers inside. 

A minute passes, then another. No one comes to shoo him out of the kitchen. He returns to the table but doesn't sit down.

"Andrea, you have to see this." 

He reaches for my hand.

"What? What is it?"

"Just come look."

He leads me to the kitchen and pushes the doors open. There, where the line of chefs should be are bulky machines mounted on the metal counter. Mass producing noodles, adding sauce, chicken, shrimp. 

Mass producing Pad Thai.

(Continued in Chapter 25...)

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Hey, all and thanks for reading! What do you think of the story so far, and what on Earth do you think of the scenario laid out in this chapter? Let me know in the COMMENTS how likely you think it is to replace all food service professionals (including chefs).

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