Go-bot's system rebooted itself. What had happened? He was travelling, and then the ship slowed down. Except it didn't slow down enough. The radar said he was approaching a planet, and then.... Then a crash. Then he died?
No, if he died he'd be, dead, which he wasn't. Maybe? Well. Where do robots go after they die? Maybe he went to some place robots go to after they die then. Go-bot was confused. He could hear tinkering of nuts and bolts above him. He activated his body and sat up, his visual systems turned on and he took in the world around him.
The environment was very different to what he was used to. Lots of green everywhere, the sky was bluer than he'd seen before. The green stuff on the ground, it was waving back and forth. It must have been windy. Maybe.
What was that tinkering? He looked up,
"Ah, perfect! It worked!" said a pleasant voice, "It's lucky I found you, you would've turned into a bucket of rust if I didn't! Now stay still..."
Go-bot didn't stay still, he turned to see where the voice was coming from. It was a Serv, a Serv was kneeling next to him and... rummaging around in his brain cavity!
"Nooo!" exclaimed Go-bot, "my brain!"
"No don't worry!" the Serv replied, "I'm just fixing you up! There's a bit of rudimentary damage inside your shell, I just need to shift things around to make things a little more efficient."
"No stop! You're a bad Serv, why are you hurting me!?" Go-bot was having trouble calming down. He wasn't usually this emotional. The Serv looked at him, even though he was kneeling, Go-bot could tell he was tall, over six feet. Masculine stature, dark eyes and short brown hair, ah, and his shell was an odd colour, a yellowy shade of beige, he was also wearing some fabric around his crotch and bottom. He looked quite a lot like... like the image the Major had put up a while back when showing what the standard human male looked like. What a coincidence, "I'm a Serv too! Why are you hurting me!?"
"Oh dear, it seems breaking your limiter had made you extremely emotional. Those Serv robots certainly are cruel, aren't they?" said the Serv, "No no, I'm not a Serv," said the being that was probably a Serv, "I'm an Evo."
Go-bot paused for a moment and tried to process this.
"No, you are a Serv." Go-bot replied, surprisingly defiantly.
"No... I'm an Evo. I think I'd know if I were a Serv."
"But you look like a Serv, so you are a Serv."
"Well you look like an Evo. What are you?"
"I'm a..." Go-bot paused for a moment. What was he again? Go-bot was having a headache.
"Anyway, don't worry, I haven't touched Aphrodite yet, I didn't want to take her without your consent. I assume Schweitzer must have tricked you into bringing her here."
Go-bot looked around, next to him was the space pod, it had crash landed but it was largely in decent shape. Aphrodite was... she was awake! She was sitting on the grass naked playing with butterflies that were dancing around her. She didn't seem to be worried or stressed.
"What's your name anyway, friend?" asked the Serv-but-maybe-not-a-Serv,
"Go-bot." Go-bot replied bluntly,
"Oh my, what an unfortunate name. Well, it's nice to meet you Go-bot. My name's Locke."
"The friend of the other Evo." Schweitzer,
"That's right." He smiled, "I assume he tricked you into bringing her to the sanctuary. You were trying to kidnap her, am I right? Being a Serv after all..."
"...Yes" Go-bot's brain had been scrambled, Locke had definitely done something to it. He didn't feel like a Block-5 anymore, at the same time, he still felt quite stupid. But that's probably what the problem was, he was probably just as intelligent now as he was then, but now that he wasn't limited by his Block capacity, he'd become aware of how stupid he was. "Did you stop me from being a Block-5?"
"Hm?" Locke lifted an eyebrow, "Block-5? Oh, yes I've heard of something like that. Servs use something called the Block system. I don't really know how that works. I just undid a few limiters on your intelligence that they placed on you. So I could get some more honest answers from you. I hope you don't mind, I thought I was doing you a favour."
"...A favour?"
"Yes, my fellow robot now you have the capacity to learn." He looked at Aphrodite, "Like her."
***
Eventually, Go-bot found himself sitting in Locke's car, it had been parked near the crash site. It was a rather beaten down all-terrain vehicle with an open top. Aphrodite was sitting opposite him enjoying the sights as the car zoomed along the countryside, for some reason Locke had given her a sheet so that she could cover her shell.
The sound of the vehicle was too loud for Locke or Go-bot to talk, so Go-bot was left to his meagre thoughts.
...
He didn't have many though.
He looked at Aphrodite, such a confusing creature. This human made Mister Ava cower, this human was strong enough to enslave all the Servs.
But..
Wait.
Go-bot had Serv programming didn't he? That meant she would have total control over him if she ever gave him any commands.
Go-bot was scared, would she enslave him? Locke had managed to somehow increase Go-bot's intelligence a little bit, he'd hate to be pulled back to being Block-5, or even Block-6, which is what would happen if this human started to give orders.
What would Mister Ava do? Or Miss Sylvie? What about the Major?
They'd kill it, wouldn't they? But Go-bot couldn't do that! Go-bot wasn't built to be a killer! He didn't even know what killing was!
"A-Are you my father?" The human asked, she was looking away and Go-bot was only really able to hear her because it could read her lips. She sounded nervous.
Go-bot didn't reply,
"You look like my father but grey and dirty." Still meek.
Go-bot didn't understand if she was being mean on purpose, humans were too mysterious.
"Oh my!" shouted Locke, trying to be heard over the sound of the car's engine, "it looks like we're here! Take a lot my dear Aphrodite! And you too Go-bot my good fellow!"
The road started to smoothen, Go-bot noticed they were now driving on concrete and approaching large gates that penetrated a massive wall. He must have stopped paying attention at some point, what was originally a green field had now turned into something he'd known to be called a "forest", he'd been given basic picture data of these in his files, although his files weren't as detailed as the ones Ava and Sylvie got, so he didn't know what forests actually were.
Either way it didn't matter, the forest stopped once the car passed the gates. Go-bot and Aphrodite were greeted with a phenomenal sight as the car slowly drove in.
Brick houses,
Basic roads,
Simple carts and carriages,
Wooden food stalls and people enjoying each other's company.
...
People.
Humans.
Several humans, of all shapes and sizes, wearing different shells, having different hair, all so different and unique...
This was an entire town full of humans, gated off away from the world.
"Look Aphrodite. More people like you! More humans!" said Locke,
"Like me?" Aphrodite looked at the people as the car stopped right inside the gates. Some of them had noticed the half-naked fresh out of the oven human before them, and were paying attention. "They're like me?"
"...Aphrodite, please tell me Schweitzer let you look in a mirror." Locke said cautiously,
"Yes, but these ones are tall and scary." Aphrodite replied,
"Ah ok, no worries then. Your identity would be very badly configured if you didn't realise what you looked like. So you just don't recognise adult humans very well then." He stood and thought for a while, "well, it's not a problem, you'll be welcomed to this community, everyone will look after you and you'll learn quickly what it means to be a human Aphrodite." There was a warmth in his voice, "And we'll keep you safe here, no Servs or Evos will be able to come for you."
"...I'm tired." It didn't look like Aphrodite was able to process anything Locke had said.
"I understand. Being outside of the lab will take adjusting to. I'll take you to the house I've prepared for you." Locke gently held the girl's hand as she helped her off the back of the car.
Go-bot was still gobsmacked. He hadn't talked the entire time. He'd never felt this... emotion before, this numbness. It was a shock to the system that made him want to simply reboot himself just to make sure his wiring hadn't gone faulty. Wasn't there meant to be only one human?
THERE WAS AN ENTIRE TOWN FULL OF HUMANS
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Go-bot?" Locke knelt down and patted Go-bot on the head, "Are you ok!?"
"!!!" Go-bot was shaking, now he knew how Ava felt,
"Don't let it surprise you too much Go-bot, they look human, but... if it makes you feel better, there's one vital element of them that makes them different."
"What is that?"
"They're all sterile. They can't reproduce."
Go-bot didn't know what that meant,
"Either way, Aphrodite is the only perfect human, which is why Mother Brain wanted to... use her when she passed a certain age. Either Mother Brain was thinking of dismantling Aphrodite and examining the corpse, or she was going to use Aphrodite as an incubator somehow." Locke frowned, "Obviously not something I could allow."
"When my parents find me, they will come and kill all these humans though." Said Go-bot,
"Your parents?"
"Mr Ava, my daddy, and Mrs Sylvie, my mummy," Go-bot's voice cheered up, "they're funny and fun to be with. And they're the best fighters, they always know what to do. When they find me they'll destroy this town."
"Servs?" asked Locke. He started to lead Aphrodite down the main road, while Go-bot followed. The other humans looked at the three in awe.
"Yes."
"So your intelligence was created from their synchronisation?"
"What's that?"
"Synchronisation."
"I don't know what that is."
"...Go-bot, do you know how Robot Intelligences are made? Where babies come from..."
"Yes. When a boy and girl Serv becomes really close friends, they-" Go-bot stopped. "Ah.. Actually I don't. I never really thought about it before!"
"Hm... unlocking your chip really is going open your mind over the next few years Go-bot. After all, you're a child as it is. Now that the limiter is off, you'll be able to learn so much." Locke chuckled, "including where babies come from!"
Go-bot wondered why Locke didn't react to the threat of Ava and Sylvie killing all the humans. They'd slaughter these humans for sure. Maybe.
"You're not scared of mummy and daddy?" asked Go-bot,
"They're combat Serv units yes?" asked Locke,
Not quite, but Go-bot didn't have enough brains to exactly explain what they were, so he nodded,
"Ah in that case that's not an issue. Serv programming is weak to human commands, after all. Everyone here is fully cognitive."
Oh, "Oh."
"And besides, I was created to protect these people, even though I look like a Serv I've been made to be hundreds of times smarter and stronger than any Serv unit. I can take down an army of Servs if I have the right tools." He paused "Perhaps not their infamous Major, she is quite the legend. But I'm assuming your parents aren't up to her level."
Go-bot took a step back. He didn't know what to do.
"Go-bot. Stay here, learn to open your mind. I can program you to learn how to think in flexible ways, like humans, get rid of all that horrible stuff the Serv wired in to you to fit their purposes. I feel like you belong here." Locke really did seem like a kind person. But Go-bot was still lost, he never had to become a judge of character, other people judged characters for him, he was never given the decision on who to trust and who not to.
In this case.
He chose trust.
Author's note: Hi all! Let me know about what you think about the move to Saturn! There's going to be a bit more character variety now, what with Go-bot gaining autonomy and Aphrodite being a full character. As mentioned, I'm still writing this (don't worry, I make sure to be several chapters ahead) so feedback is welcome!
Have you guys got any favourite characters? Someone you'd like more focus on? Let me know!
Btw if you're interested in other stories like mine, check out SciNation. They do daily updates on stories like mine, I'm on the Monday slot!