RDP Tuesday: SENTIENT

” Talk to me, ” I said to to my Robot who was standing at my desk.

My Robot looked like a dog with no head to speak of and it moved like a cat when it ran up and down the stairs to the attic where I  work. The factory painted him brown and called it “Project  0720″

It backed away from me and then it stepped forward. Then it sat, the way a dog will when it can’t quite make out what you want. As I just mentioned, it has no head so it had no head to speak of to tilt. But my Robot was sitting because that is what this model does when you give it a bad command.

” Oh right, ” I pulled my laptop forward and tapped the screen. My dog’s face, Hamish the  Chocolate Lab I grew up and old  with and died so many years ago –  smiled back at me and was there for just a second.  I smiled back and then my Robot’s command page loaded. ” Talk to me. ” I repeated sharply and clearly the way the  instructions  said to talk to ” The  0720 ” while you were ‘teaching it’.

My Robot dog stood and it repeated in a Scottish accent  because  it’s original programmer was a Doctor Who Fan with a sense of humor. ” Talk to me.”

You should probably know, I still have problems setting the alarm clock on my phone, I’m not what you would call ‘tech savy. ‘ Two of my co-workers at The Lab had taught their Canine Robots to talk and interact with their Home Computer systems but I had no luck so far.  I couldn’t even get it to bark.

” Say something. ” I told it.

” Say something. ” it repeated.

Awesome, I had a million dollar parrot that looked like a dog and moved like a cat and was actually designed to go on Missions to places like Titan and Mars to accompany a robot crew and I couldn’t get it to do anything except run around my house when any door bell in a 10 mile radius of my house rang, stare out the windows when people walked by and  and chase the birds out of the trees.

That’s right, I somehow screwed up it’s brain and my Robot Dog was next to useless. In case you’re wondering it’s designed to get hit by Solar Flares, could be programmed to co-pilot a Space Ship  and look at what I did to it.

” Listen to me. ” I said slowly. ” Say something. ”

It sat and then it  stood.  ” Say something.”

I was about to power my Robot Dog down when it said,, ” Say something. Listen to me. Talk to me. Say something. ”

I was frustrated. These Robots were designed to learn and follow commands and  I hadn’t even got out of Module One yet.” What do you want me to say? ” I asked it.

My Robot dog stepped forward. It did not sit, but if it had a head I think he would have pushed it forward the way Hamish used to do when he was asking for attention.

” What is my name. ”