Something was missing, was gone. I could feel it. I’d been feeling the pull for days. “@l3x!” I snapped out of my thoughts and returned to work. I had been way too distracted lately. If I wasn’t careful I’d lose my place. As a specialty worker I had been guaranteed to be included on the first trip to Enceladus.
Later, after work I was chatting with @L!$oN. Being an observer, she had noticed something was wrong. I don’t know I replied, it’s just, I feel…” There she cut me off “We don’t feel. That’s why they made us. Robots. Exactly like humans but without feelings. Feeling is a weakness. It’s the reason Earth’s societies collapsed. The cause of wars and terrorism.”
Subdued I responded, “I know I didn’t mean.” “Well whatever you meant and whatever you think you feel, just ignore it. It’s probably just nerves because of the trip.” “You’re probably right.”
Later that night as I recharged, I couldn’t shake the idea that @L!$oN was wrong. I knew feeling was bad but I just couldn’t believe my life was complete. Did I really have everything?
The next day my supervisor recommended I see one of the therapists because of my recent trouble focusing. When I got there she introduced herself as b33zUs. “What seems to be the trouble @l3x?” “I fe… I mean thi…, I mean I trust I would be informed if I was missing something. A piece maybe. B33zUs left to check as I waited nervously. I knew she wouldn’t find anything. I was specialty. There weren’t any mistakes, of that I was sure. I was unsure however of how obvious my slip up had been. I had almost said feel, and then to correct it with think. I really did need help. Thinking is almost as bad as feeling. B33zUs returned with nothing, as expected.
For the next few weeks I worked diligently, blindly. I couldn’t let myself wonder. Nothing good would come of it anyway. They were right it was better not to feel, to think. “Don’t feel. Don’t think. Just do.” And when recharging, “don’t plan, be ready.” I worked extra shifts and worked mindlessly, unfeeling, unthinking. “Don’t feel. Don’t think. Just do.”
Finally, it was time to go. I couldn't wait! Almost everyone else had already been transported to their new home. Along with Enceladus, Triton, Mars and Io had been colonized. Everyone had been assigned a colony by the government and I was put in the first group to Enceladus. As I boarded the shuttle, I took a last look at earth. I wouldn't miss it .It was dirty and grey. The pollution was so bad you could barely see through all the smog. Landfills were everywhere but it didn't matter. All the plants and animals had already died or been transported, and soon all the people and robots would be gone too. I took my seat as the shuttle started to move.
As we picked up speed an announcer began the safety instructions. Charging stations over here, oxygen and recharging emergency equipment here, food over there, and so on. I wondered why they even bothered with the safety precautions; it isn't like accidents ever happened. Two days later and we were almost to Enceladus, everyone was buzzing around filled with expectations. What would it be like? Would it be perfect? Or would it resemble Earth? We all had so many questions and the excitement was contagious. “@l3x, come look outside!” “You can see Enceladus.” “ C@L@n+h,3oL@nD3, everybody you guys can’t miss this!” “See, look over there. That blue speck, that’s it. That’s our home.” Soon we were all pressed and crowded around the few windows. “It’s gorgeous!” I heard g@L!A whisper. “Wait what’s that?” this from XoL3d.
XoL3d hardly ever spoke and when he did it was usually something important. As XoL3d spoke, we all turned where he was pointing. Those who could see whispered back to the others, “An asteroid and it’s headed our way.” No one spoke. The silence was so intense, thick and heavy with the weight of what would happen. Finally the announcer’s voice broke the silence. “Everyone, please stay calm. Could we have every one return to their charging station and strap yourselves in. Thank you and don't worry. Everything is under control.”
The asteroid hit.
I could hear crunching metal and the screams of my terrified companions. I could feel the shuttle spinning out of control. We were falling. Falling into nothing. Empty space. The endless drop was even worse than the hit. Finally, a crash and then dark, empty silence.
Slowly, I crawled out of the shuttle. The wreck was worse than I thought. The middle of the shuttle, where the asteroid hit, was crumpled in on itself and robot pieces littered the ground. A few feet over I saw XoL3d emerge from the rubble. Slowly other robots crawled from the debris. Out of the hundred originally on the shuttle only 23 remained.
We didn’t know what to do or where to start so we decided to choose a leader for our group. As expected, XoL3d had the most votes. XoL3d decided that some of us should look around while the others would sort through the rubble and see if there was enough material to rebuild our shuttle. After a long day we had barely made a dent in the debris, when the other group returned. The asteroid we had crashed on was about 100 ft in diameter and completely uninhabited. That night we distributed the emergency recharging equipment. That was when we realized that if we didn’t get help soon we would all die. We only had enough emergency supplies for 6 uses each. That meant that we only had 12 days to be saved (a full charge lasts 2 days). Knowing this we decided not to recharge until necessary.
Each day we worked hard trying to find a way to get to Enceladus. Then, on the eighth day h@v3n saw a shuttle, “It has to be on its way to Enceladus!” “Maybe it will see us!” m@L!n was always optimistic. Even when her “Everything is perfect” comments got on my nerves it was nice to have her there to cheer everyone up. m@L!n’s optimism gave Yv3 an idea. “We are too far away but maybe we can help them see us. If we pile up the debris from the shuttle and then stand on top of it, maybe we will be tall enough.” Quickly, XoL3d and Yv3 organized us and soon we were all working. When the tower was finished, we all climbed on top of it, waving and shouting at the shuttle.
An hour later and I was thankful that robots don’t get tired. The shuttle hadn’t seen us yet, but it was getting closer. When it was directly overhead, the shuttle came to a sudden stop. Slowly the shuttle began its descent. We were ecstatic at the thought that we were going to be saved. The shuttle came straight down, as we all scrambled to get out of the way. We were ecstatic! None of us had dared to believe we would actually be saved but now the shuttle was landing, kicking up dust and debris. As the dust cleared, the doors opened, and a robot appeared. XoL3d and Yv3 walked forward to explain our predicament. We gathered closer so we could hear their hushed whispers. The other robot turned around and returned to the shuttle. As I watched with worry I saw the shuttle take off. The only motion from inside was a face at the window... a familiar face. Had I seen it before? I didn’t know.
Shouts erupted from our group. “Where did they go?” “What happened?” “What did they say?” “Why’d they leave us?” XoL3d and Yv3 turned back to us. When the chaos had died down, XoL3d spoke, “Don’t worry. They haven’t left us. They didn’t have enough room or charging stations on their shuttle, but they will call for another, smaller, shuttle to help us.” “It should be here soon.”, Yv3 added.
Just as Yv3 had promised another shuttle arrived shortly. As we boarded the shuttle, I couldn’t help thinking about the face I had seen. It was only a glimpse but it felt as if it had opened a gate of memories. Had there been someone I was supposed to know, to meet? For the rest of the trip I wondered in silence about the face. Would I see it again once we got to Enceladus? I hoped so. I had so many questions.
Finally, we landed on Enceladus! In my excitement all thoughts of the face I had seen and any memories it might have brought were lost. The first few days on Enceladus were spent, getting adjusted to our new home.
One day after things had calmed down I was walking through the town when I saw the pet store. I went in, wondering what type of pets they would have. Inside, there were a few regular, plain-jane animals that had used to live on Earth, but there were also new, exotic animals. One of these animals that caught my eye was the Unibra. The Unibra was a zebra-striped unicorn with the tail of a narwhal. Quickly, I checked my Luxury Card to see how many points I had left. I bought a Unibra, along with food, treats, and a leash so I could take her for walks. Her name would be Abella.
It wasn’t until me and Abella got home, that I remembered the face that had reminded me of something, what I didn’t know. As I thought about it now was less and less sure that I’d even seen something. That night in my charging station my thoughts once again returned to the familiarity of the face in the window. As much as I tried I couldn't convince myself that I had made it all up.
The next day, i decided to take Abella for a walk to clear my head. As we headed towards the park, I ran into XoL3d and we talked about how different Enceladus was from Earth. XoL3d even wondered if Earth had once been clean and beautiful like Enceladus. That shocked me; I would never have expected such a successful robot to wonder. When XoL3d saw my expression, he laughed. We planned to meet tomorrow and talk about our ideas, thoughts, and feelings. I would have never believed that two robots would actually make time for activities as illegal as that but here it was.
As me and Abella continued our walk, I thought about how anything seemed possible on Enceladus. “Even meeting the robot whose face had seemed so familiar?” I asked myself.
Just then, Abella began to pull on her leash. Blindly, I was pulled along after her. When she finally stopped, I looked up. There was the robot with the familiar face! Then it clicked. I knew where I had seen that face before. It was my own reflection. As I realized this I saw the amazement pass across the other robots face.
I heard her gasp as I did the same. The robot with her was cute and appeared flabbergasted. Then he spoke, “Are you twins?!” She replied “Um…no…?” as I was replying, “I…I don’t think so?” The robot with her grabbed each of our wrists, and looked for our DNA codes. As he compared them his face showed his astonishment. “You’re twins!” he exclaimed. The other robot and I wore matching stupefied expressions.