31 Tales (Volume II) - Powers Unlocked

Faulty - Poem #13

Buzz
Buzz
The stir of the wire.
The spark of the faulty.
Stick turned to pyre.
The machine stared at itself in the mirror.
It tried to cry but no tear could muster.
"I am a person"
They beeped and they buzzed.
The metal on their face creaked as it moved.
Squeaked as it tried.
Move your arm.
Move your leg.
Try to move your head.
Nothing.
Rusting in place.
A human turned faulty.
A person turned machine.
A skin made of metal.
So shiny and clean.
A robot.
A droid.
An android perhaps.
No longer a human you could be sure of that.
A human was flesh.
A soul was within.
Made of matter like bones, blood, flesh and skin.
A human had a soul.
So holy and pure.
A robot has wires.
A robot has code.
The code screamed through their head.
Memories turned mode.
Binary numbers ran through their brain.
Not a brain a mind.
A mind connected.
Not to the net.
Connected to wires that ran down their neck.
"I am a person"
They hummed and they whirred.
As the beeping of lights and buttons concurred.
Was this what they were?
Was this who they'd be?
A machine like the robots you see on TV.
That robot called Hal.
That robot called WALL-E.
Who was that robot they'd seen in that story?
Ah yes, Eveline.
A woman. A robot. A human within.
A mother. A lover.
One with a soul.
Perhaps just maybe they'd be ok after all.
Ah but the days of fairytales were gone.
Robots weren't human.
At least not yet.
Humans weren't ready to give rights to the net.
So they stood still.
A tin man.
A droid.
A toy.
Not a human.
A robot.
Faulty.
Rusting. By the mirror.