"First - Chapter 2" by Laura Soret

So what’s in a body? Isn’t the soul what’s real? What does the body have that makes it inhabitable for a soul? Souls can’t inhabit rocks or chairs or clocks any more than they can inhabit a robot? But why not?

A soul is free. A soul feels everything. A soul enters a body and it feels oppressed, trapped, caged. A body of matter is a great impediment for the soul. So it might as well have some comforts. If you’re going to enter a car, that car might as well have windows to the outside, and pedals and a wheel to move around. That’s why we have hands and legs. That’s why we have eyes, and a nose and ears. And, of course, a brain to think and to process feelings and emotions and ways to express them. They are nothing but tools to help the soul feel just a little bit freer in its cage. Does a dog feel more than a beetle? Most probably, but only because it’s a more complicated piece of machinery. It’s got more possibilities, we could say.

But that doesn’t mean a beetle can’t feel… And plants? Do trees have eyes? Do they even have a brain? I’ve seen plants behave strangely. I’ve seen them get ill when the person that cares for them does too.

So…

What does a robot’s body need in order to be able to port a soul? Is there a robot perfect enough to feel as much as a beetle? I’d say a robot these days is not even close. These days… But what keeps us from advancing in the matter? What keeps us from building more complicated robots every day, from giving them the “tools”? What keeps us from taking robots where nature has already taken us all?

After all, why would a soul only choose to reside in a body made of flesh and not in one of metal, if the human body’s just as much a machine as any robot’s?



It really proved fascinating, that robot.

It had not said a word in the whole way home. It kept looking all around it at the cars, the buildings, the clouds in the sky as if it had just learned they existed. But what seemed to call its attention most were people.

Every little thing a person did was apparently entertaining for the android. A woman was carrying her baby and stopped at the sight of the walking robot, such a novelty in the neighborhood. It must have been surprising for her when the robot stopped to look back.

A huge dog was pulling enthusiastically on its leash and hauling its owner across the street. The robot followed them both with its gaze.

A couple was kissing tenderly at a corner, not noticing the pair of mechanical eyes staring fixedly at the point where their lips touched and caressed each other.

It looked so wrapped up in awe, and I was so proud of it for that.

We got home with the robot walking calmly at our heels and I noticed he watched the way I turned the key in the keyhole to open the door. I wondered what it would be thinking right now. I had never seen such a curious model. I was even beginning to doubt it was part of a series.

As soon as we went through the door, its eyes started flying here and there all around the room, feasting on the array of junk piled up over the years. I wanted to find out more about my new acquisition and I called its notice.

“Robot” I said, not sure of what to call it yet. The robot turned its head slowly towards me and gave me all its attention. “I want to have a name to call you.”

I realized, of course, that was a pretty difficult and too indirect question for a robot, but I wanted to test its limits.

“You can call me First.”

I nodded, holding back a smile. Collin watched amusingly from one side.

“Ok, First. Tell me your serial number.”

“I don´t think I have one.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Can you explain that to me?”

“No.”

I nodded again, this time a bit more disappointed.

“It just so happens I have no idea what I brought home” I said, not really expecting a reply. “What can you do?”

“What can I do?”

“Yes, that was the question alright.”

“I don´t understand.”

I was quiet for a moment, thinking. What kind of a robot was it?

“Can you wash the dishes?”

The robot stared.

“Can you sweep? Can you… carry the groceries? Deal with customers?”

I couldn´t actually think of a lot of things a robot of its kind could do nowadays, but it obviously wasn´t familiar with any of the ones I did mention. It just kept staring and only answered after I was waiting for a few seconds.

“I am not familiar with those activities.”

I was beginning to think it really wasn´t as wonderful a robot as I had thought at first. But then it talked again, even when I hadn’t even asked anything about it.

“But maybe you can teach me.”

That really cheered me up.

It still felt strange, to be actually speaking with a robot. Every other robot those days were cold, dumb and infinitely limited, both in their possibilities and in the things they could learn. I thought I had just won the lottery.

I looked around at Collin, who was still watching quiet and curious.

“Well, then, we’d better get you a little cleaned up, shouldn’t we?”

At my remark, the robot looked down at itself. It really was pretty filthy from sitting in that alley, and didn’t smell too nice either.

“Collin, would you like to help?”

There was no denying that. Collin was as thrilled as I was.

“All right, then, go get the things.”

Collin ran off yelling under the surprised look of First.

“And First” the robot looked around at me again. “I´m gonna need you to come with me.”

First followed me to the bathroom and obeyed when I asked it to step into the bathtub and stand there.

“I haven´t really done this very often. This is the best place I got for the occasion.”

Collin then came in with a couple of sponges and a bottle of soap.

“I trust you’re impermeable?” I told the robot.

“I am” it answered and had a look at the dripping sponges, perhaps wondering exactly what would happen next.

“Good. Now I need you to be still.”

Collin and I started scrubbing the robot´s metallic body. It was a little uncomfortable, since it did not have the smooth surface of a normal robot´s case. Its entire body was a mesh of tangled up cables and rods, thin and fragile looking, like a skeleton. Its hands were shaped and worked like those of a human, but had only a soft cushion in each fingertip. The rest was wires and metal.

The face was the only thing that looked remotely finished, and yet it was not made to imitate the human speech. Its eyes had lids that never needed to blink, and its pupils were black as a hole because of the camera lenses. Its jaw could open and close, but its lips were always motionless. Perhaps it was meant to simulate expressions, but I had not seen any for the moment. And yet, I thought I saw uncertainty in its eyes when I brushed its arms with the wet sponge. But, of course, it could’ve been just my deceived imagination.

I took a closer look at the back of the head. The white rubbery material that composed its face stopped right at the forehead and jaw. From there, a sort of dark metallic sphere whirred slightly.

The whole robot seemed unfinished.

After a long while, First seemed clean enough to walk around the house. The water in the bottom of the bathtub was almost muddy. Aside from that of the alley floor, I was sure there was much older dirt. It was like it had never been cleaned before.

I told it to step back out of the bathtub so Collin and I could dry it up with a towel.

“Ok, First. Welcome home.”



Albert seemed flattered and perhaps just a bit taken aback, but still kept that gentle fatherly look to him.

“You did what?”

“It´s ok. There’s not a single problem with the robot!”

“Except the one about not having an ID code?”

“It doesn’t remember it. That doesn’t mean it didn’t have one at some time!”

“Then we’re back at the same point. It does have a problem. A robot doesn’t just forget!”

I gave a deep sigh.

“Why should that worry us? I´m just trying it out. If there’s ever any problem at all, a real one, then I’d consider turning it in to some robot collector freak.”

“You are a robot collector freak. You just only had your chance to prove it very recently.”

“Be quiet, old man!” I laughed. “You wouldn’t argue so much if you saw what it’s able to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“Well” I began, unable to hold back my excitement “yesterday, after tiding it up a bit, I thought I’d teach it to do something useful, you see? So I saw the enormous pile of dirty dishes in the sink and it occurred to me...”

“You taught the robot to wash the dishes” said Albert, seemingly amused.

“And what’s so strange about it? There are lots of dishwasher robots!”

“None humanoid. They’re just mechanical arms attacked to the kitchen walls.”

“Then I rest my case. This one is perfectly capable of doing that and much more. It didn’t stop until every single dish was up in the cabinet sparkling clean.”

“Well, it is a robot. Supposed to be constant.”

“The thing is, it was never even programmed to do so. It learned it from me!"

Albert was thoughtful and looked uncertainly at me while stroking his toothless gums with his tongue.

“And what was it called again?”

“It said its name was First.”

“First? And why First?”

“I didn’t ask it.”

“I dunno. You should still be careful, Tanya.”

“Of what?”

“I’m just saying. You don’t know this robot. You have no idea of what it can do yet.”

“I’ll figure it out. So what do you have today for me?”

The old man gave up trying to convince me and said “Dollar goes down again!”

“Aww… That’s just what this city needs right now” I said, holding the paper to my eyes. “Well, I´m beat. This new job’s killing me. And I’m late for receiving Collin. I’ll see you later, Albert. Here’s a tip.” I handed him fifty dollars.

“Thank you, sweetheart. Don´t know what I’d do without you.”

I gave him a tap on his dusty shoulder and headed home.

Up on the twelfth floor, I could hear the yelling voices of several excited people inside one of the doors. Walking towards mine I realized it was my apartment where those voices were coming from. I stopped right in front, troubled, doubted a little, and then opened the door.

A loud bang made me jump backwards. Scared out of my wits, I stepped back inside. The room was dark except for the bright yellowish light flowing out of the TV.

“Collin!”

Two heads turned sideways at me behind the couch, a little brown haired one and another one with a gloomy metallic sparkle to it. The noise immediately faded off.

“What have I told you about having the television so loud?” I said, turning on the lights.

“Don´t?” answered Collin.

“Exactly.”

“But First was bored, and the A Team was on.”

I walked to the window and opened the curtains to let sunshine in. “There’s still no need for this.”

“OK, sorry.”

I realized First was looking at me while sitting on the couch.

“So how was your day, First?”

“I haven’t done much.”

“You were bored, you can say it” said Collin and then turned to me. “He was bored.”

“Were you really, First?”

“Yes.”

I laughed. First seemed curious about this. “Well, I’ll be sure to give you something to do next time. Would you like that?”

First said it would like that. Then I told it to get up so I could teach it to do something else.

“You know what I would like?” said Collin.

“What?”

“First could walk me to school everyday. And then pick me up and take me back home.”

I considered the possibility. This neighborhood wasn´t very safe for a kid to wonder on his own, and I had never been able to pick him up because of my schedule. But what would a robot of this type do if something ever happened? Would he just watch fascinated how the kid screamed in pain after breaking a leg just like it watched TV? That’s probably what it would do, not being programmed first. And yet, what chances would this skinny, clumsy robot have against a fully grown agile man that would want to hurt Collin in the hypothetical case that it was clever enough to want to defend him?

The conclusions were not very spirit lifting, but I supposed it was better than nothing and, at any rate, First’s company couldn’t hurt Collin anyways whether it was helpful or not.

“Would you like that, First?”

“Yes, I would.”



First not only learnt its way to school and back home. Soon it was able to shop at the grocery store and bring back good loads, although strangely for a robot, it didn´t seem like it could carry more than your average human. It seemed perfectly capable of recognizing its surroundings. I gave it a set of keys with the condition that it didn´t give them away to anyone or lose them, so it was able to go out of the house if it felt like it. It knew where I worked, so it even came to visit me to the pub at one point under the amazed stare of everyone present.

TV was a common pastime in its schedule. Sometimes I would just sit and gloat at how entertained it looked. The news, documentaries, some soap operas and –funny though it was— twentieth century series Friends seemed to be its favorites. It seemed to enjoy these last especially when Collin was watching with it. Collin´s laughter was somehow very fascinating to it.

All this experiencing only aroused more questions in it for what I could tell from its interrogations to me. It would often interrupt what it was watching and turn down the volume so it could ask me about the meaning of a word or a behavior, then listened to my answers devotedly before getting back to the show.

I was overwhelmed. I didn´t feel like I deserved this. First just kept surprising me day after day. Albert, on the other hand, kept reminding me of how insane all of this seemed. But as right as he was, I was not about to quit and send First away. I knew I shouldn´t, but I was beginning to get fond of the robot.