Wednesday 16 November 2011

Bobo: Chapter 5

Bobo is a serialized gear-opera as told in several parts by me, your spoiled and decadent Western imperialist host, Cheeseburger Brown. This is the fifth installment.

The story continues...



The man in the yellow jumpsuit found himself unexpectedly sympathetic at the sight of the crushed robot. He sighed. "He had some piss in him, that one. Still can't believe he functioned any after all that time."

"I guess they don't make them like they used to, eh?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Something like that. Whatever it was, you've got to respect that little piece of faeces. Damn thing knew what it was for."

They took off their caps for a silent moment.

"Patent pending, amen."

Bobo rose. Fluid dripped from his abdomen. His starboard arm hung limp. He turned to face his gaping audience, their hats still in the hands. For a heartbeat the moment was fixed in stillness.

With a quavering, distorted voice Bobo said, "You have vandalized Bobo."

"Sacred fornication," whispered the man in the yellow jumpsuit. "The thing bounces back like military metal!"

Bobo forced a dented shoulder back into its proper seating with a metallic grinding sound. "Bobo is manufactured to the high specifications required for full compliance with all mandatory planetary, stellar and panstellar standards of humane geriatric care," he said.

He took a shambling step forward. The company lurched back.

"Robot!" called out yellow jumpsuit; "I order you to power down."

Bobo's face reflected the orange light of the furnace. He held the man's eye for a moment, then turned and began to slowly limp away.

"Robot!" bellowed yellow jumpsuit again. When Bobo did not stop he ran forward and grabbed Bobo's shoulder to wrench him around.

In a blink Bobo had taken hold of the man's wrist. He held it very gently, as human bones had low tensile strength and their fleshy parts were sensitive to acute localized pressure.

"Unhand me!"

The man in the yellow jumpsuit tried to pull away. He yanked against Bobo until Bobo let go, sending the man stumbling backward to fall over himself. He rocketed to his feet, face flushing brightly in the infrared. He roared, "Throw that fornicated thing on the fire!"

Kin rushed forward. They seized Bobo and hauled him toward the blaze. Bobo could think of nothing more sub-optimal than being rendered utterly unable to pursue optimality due to liquefaction. Caring for the elderly was predicated on a certain amount of structural coherence, after all.

Many arms lifted, hefting him over the threshold and into the glowing beyond.

"Bobo objects," said Bobo.

"Goodnight, Bobo!"

The plastic parts of Bobo's outer shell began to soften and run. The rubber pads on the soles of his feet were dripping off in thick clods. Because he wanted to be sure not to act in a cavalier fashion, Bobo double-checked his calculations of the force necessary to oppose this process.

He applied resistance. The humans grunted and pushed harder. Bobo applied further resistance.

With a concerted howl the company threw their weight at Bobo. He ground against the brink, the broken pieces of his outer carapace splintering and falling into the ashes. The largest man bore down on him, wide fists blistering in the heat. Bobo reached out and touched the man's head.

It had always been impressed upon Bobo to be very mindful of the human head as it contained their most irreparable hardware. The man's skin was tougher and more moist than that of most residents. A hairline scar, invisible to the unaided eye, traced a meander along his temple.

Bobo pushed back against the big man's head.

The man's eyes widened. "Please do not put Bobo in the furnace," suggested Bobo. The man's eyes narrowed and he renewed his thrust.

"Please stop," Bobo reminded him.

The man did not stop. But then his skull lost structural integrity, coming apart sloppily under Bobo's fingers.

The company fell back with a collective gasp. The body dropped. Bobo straightened slowly, balancing on the fiery cusp. Fluid dripped from his hand. Somebody screamed, somebody wailed.

Bobo looked down, then up again. He said, "This individual requires medical attention."

11 comments:

Buddy said...

I like how the illustration shows
Bobo crumpled a little bit.

SaintPeter said...

Oh, man, I didn't even notice the minor differences in EACH of the illustrations. ANIMATED GIF TIME!

I am reminded of the Terminator movies, or maybe a good Zomebie flick. Bobo will not die. He is the energizer bunny of future robots.

Also, dangerous. I think that if a crazed robot were gripping my skull with near skull crushing force that I would probably let go.

Side note -
I am delighted at the very wrong turn that this story is taking. The lightweight storytelling mode is joyfully at odds with the horrible violence. I suspect things are going to get worse. Can't wait!

Other Thought -
You mentioned that you had 4 different endings. Maybe, after you post the one you went with, you could also post the other 3 with commentary on why you DIDN'T go with them. I always enjoy "process" posts.

SaintPeter said...

Bobo Animated GIF

Joshua Hemming said...

SaintPeter said:
"Also, dangerous. I think that if a crazed robot were gripping my skull with near skull crushing force that I would probably let go."

My guess is that none of them could EVER have expected a simple rob like Bobo to react like this.

Cheeseburger Brown said...

Dear Buddy,

Heh...I was waiting for someone to notice.

Yours,
Cheeseburger Brown

Cheeseburger Brown said...

Dear SaintPeter,

You mentioned that you had 4 different endings. Maybe, after you post the one you went with, you could also post the other 3 with commentary on why you DIDN'T go with them. I always enjoy "process" posts.

If the story seems popular I have no objection to such a debriefing post, but if the story proves hated and unpopular I'll just want to forget about the whole thing so I won't.

Yours,
Cheeseburger Brown

Cheeseburger Brown said...

Also dear SaintPeter,

Nice GIF. I suspect there may be mores frames coming.

Yours,
CBB

Cheeseburger Brown said...

Dear Joshua,

My guess is that none of them could EVER have expected a simple rob like Bobo to react like this.

Precisely, and the reasons why will be made explicit as we move along.

Yours,
Cheeseburger Brown

Sheik Yerbouti said...

Huh. So, in short, we really have no idea where this is going.

Just like you said.

Also, nice touch with the images. I had not noticed (still can't tell what's different between 2-3-4, so I'm off to the animated version).

Mark said...

Still liking this story quite a bit.

The images were a nice touch I had not noticed prior to Buddy's heads-up.

Josh! Is that the musician who wrote the Secret Mathematic score?

Sheik Yerbouti said...

By the way: small point of contention, but if it's hot enough to destroy Bobo's outer shell and melt his pads, how on earth are those people still there pushing?