Mango Porcupine Chapter 8

Shel had put his hand on the coffin for a moment trying to think of something to say “Good bye old friend.” or the like but he hardly knew the guy. Guess Gilbrett was right, he didn’t know any humans.

Shel had put his hand on the coffin for a moment trying to think of something to say “Good bye old friend.” or the like but he hardly knew the guy. Guess Gilbrett was right, he didn’t know any humans. In his peripheral he kept catching Reba, frozen in decommission, staring at Fred. He shivered and left without saying anything.

As he was leaving he saw a few sightseers in the living room. In the foyer he overheard a young woman say “Ah, hm.” while reading the plaque on the medals.

He turned all messaging off for the speedrail ride home and stared out the window as each building swiped past faster and faster.

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At The Royal Peregrine he finished telling the story to Gilbrett in a corner booth. Gilbrett had a tired eyebrow cocked, staring into his beer.

“Yeah, so… and uh, yeah.” Shel treadwater.

Gilbrett blinked and looked at him taking in a deep breath. “She was just locked in that plastic case? Staring at him?”

“When she… decommisioned I guess she just turned off. And the last thing she had been looking at was Fred.”

“Creepy.”

“To say the least.”

“I didn’t know they were decommisioned… I thought they had a natural death.”

“I thought so too… but we don’t know any old people in senior centers… there is no aging mechanism in an iBot. Why would they age?”