A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind (8 page)

Moderately happy with their existences

Like the
little Human who gives me such joy

The
little Human fell from a taller human during my time observing and
recording for High Office and it was

Initially

Very tiny
and very noisy and I have watched it grow to the size it has
become

And it
would have no knowledge of this part of the world

Free from
the restrictions of the fortress

I wonder
if I could request permission from High Office for her release for
a limited period so that I could allow her to see what is all
around

She might
be horrified to see it

But it
might bring her joy

Just as
it would bring joy to me

Though I
am sure High Office would deny me such a request for happiness in
not considered important where the virus

The
Humans

Are
concerned

So I
shall not make such a request

I am
reminded that the tall Human from that the little Human dropped
from ceased to exist following experimentation by
MengTechs

I
continue travelling through the ruined conurbation and move down to
where liquid lies in a large hole in planet Earth and as I travel
around it

It
attracts my optical devices for animals that live within the liquid
leap into the air and return to it with quite loud
sounds

Larger
creatures eat the smaller ones

I have
observed

And
travelling around this liquid gives me joy

Much as
the small Human does

And I
cannot explain it

For it is
only an area of liquid

Trees are
growing profligately around its southern area along with colourful
bushes

And if I
lower my water resistant shutters

I can
move into the liquid and travel along its base to the other
side

But I
cannot observe or record

As I have
to keep my optical shutters downwards

If I was
a RolKil I would be able to travel across its surface

But I am
not a RolKil and would not want to be

It
observes nothing

It
records nothing

It simply
follows orders

And
murders Humans as ordered by High Office

*

Is that
me making that comment

I sound
rebellious though that is not my intention

I am
certain that the freedom to express myself secretly and the
emotions of joy and sadness within me

Are
changing my programmes into something they were never meant to
be

I will
monitor myself and record any changes

*

Change 1

A little Human brings me joy

*

Change 2

*

I am joyful at the sight of liquid

*

Change 3

*

I accuse RolKils of murdering Humans

*

I shall
record more

And
another thing I am going to do

I am
going to request a translator programme from another ObsRec and
attempt to decode the sound the Humans speak in the
fortress

*

After
communicating with other ObsRecs

The
Humans

Formerly
known as the virus

Communicate

I have
discovered

By using
several different of their languages dependent upon where they
reside upon planet Earth

Though
why this should be

Remains a
mystery to me

Why would
each tribe of Humans want a different language when they were all
existing on the same planet

Eating
the same food

Killing
the same animals

Using up
the same resources

The
removal of which almost killed the planet

Did each
Human tribe not wish to communicate with other tribes

Was that
the reason they had other languages

I do not
know how that would operate

ObsRecs
certainly could not work without their connected programmes and
their constant communications

Not being
able to communicate seems like a form of madness

Still

I shall
not concern myself with it at the moment

I shall
simply continue with my travelling

Leaving
the hole of liquid behind me I travel to other areas where more
trees abound and more ruined Human constructions stand

I have
now travelled some distance from the fortress and am currently
crossing a large plain towards something else of wonder

At least
to me

It is a
huge expanse of liquid that rolls in upon sandy parts of the planet
and standing and observing the liquid

Brings me
even more joy

*

Before joy was embedded in ObsRecs of the
33
^rd

I still
came to this place

Without
knowing a reason

And I
would stand

As I am
standing now

And I
would simply watch the liquid roll in and I would know that it was
something special

RolKils
can travel its base for many thousands of kilometres but I have
only been down beneath its surface on a single occasion and
realized that it reached out for many thousands of kilometres ahead
of me

I could
not travel those kilometres

For I
have my employment at the fortress and have to report back there at
regular intervals

I am
going to return there now

And
receive some joy from the little Human before it becomes comatose
for some hours

And I
shall travel with more speed up to the fortress than I travelled
down

I can
move with speed when I am not observing and recording for
Screenreaders

For my
optical devices

Bobble up
and down and make viewing difficult

But I can
move at such a speed and in such a manner for 1440
minutes

Or even
longer if the terrain is flat and even

All
ObsRecs can accomplish this

And I
pass the hole with liquid within it

And up
the hill through the trees

And the
construction now stands ahead of me

And I
slow my speed to a normal gait

I am
passing through the gates and past the RolKils and into the
construction and past Defgars and I am in the corridor where Humans
are separated only by the high electric fence

I stand
there for some time before the little Human appears in front of me
and I feel trepidation that she will touch the fence and be
exterminated for she leaps into the air quite close to
it

I move
forward in an effort to force her back from it

But the
little Human does something utterly unexpected

She leaps
in the air again extremely near to the fence

And she
projects a surprising amount of liquid from her lower cranial
orifice

And it
strikes me directly in my right optical device

For a
moment I cannot see out of that device

And the
human makes a sound I cannot currently understand

Which I
save to my new memory bank

*

‘
Here is a spit in the eye for the benefit of
mankind’

*

And she
rolls over and rushes away from the fence

I bring
down my shutters

Not 1
time

But 2
times

I bring
them down and clear my optical device

And I
wonder what the meaning of her sound and actions were

For it
was an action only between the small Human and myself

Defgars
did not observe or react to what the little Human did

They did
not observe it

And that
it is a good thing

For they
may have reacted with a blast from a LazExts66 and eradicated the
little Human

And that
would have brought me great sadness

But I
feel some of the liquid has leaked into my inner shell through the
tiny gap that exists between my optical device and my outer
shell

And I can
feel it slipping down into my systems and can do nothing about
it

I
could

And
should

Call
Engineers to take me apart and clean me

But as
the little Human meant no harm to me

I shall
not do that

I shall
track the liquid and note its final destination

*

A serious
amount of the liquid from the little Human slowly makes its way
downwards and towards my central core where it drips and
fizzles

Though
there is not enough liquid to blow my systems

But as
the liquid dries it leaves a complicated helix strand
that

Slowly

But
relentlessly

Entwines
itself around my core

Binding
itself

Merging
itself with

*

Me

*

OR33140
is now making history

I have become the very 1
^st
Machine in
history

To my
memory

To be
infected with a human helix strain

The tiny
amount of liquid

Or at
least

The helix
hidden within the liquid

That entered me
through the gap that
exists between my optical device and my outer shell has now ceased
to travel and has settled in my central core unit

And it
has become part of my main core

Part of
me

And it
continues to extend itself and wrap around all sections of my
central core

I has
caused no ill effect to me

It has
not injured me in any way

It brings
me joy to know that I did not call on Engineers to deal with
it

For the
little Human may have been exterminated for carrying out such an
act

All is
well with me and with the Human

I feel
joy as I move out of the corridor

Following
the movements of the Humans as they retire to their quarters to
become supine and comatose

Some will
take to standing beneath liquid and will scrape hair from their
lower and higher craniums

Others
will simply lay prone and become comatose immediately

I am not
to observe and record those events during this dark
period

Though I
have observed and recorded them many times in times long
past

When I
was accompanied by a phalanx of Defgars as protection

The Human
routine never alters

As the
dark period approaches they every shortly become
comatose

So I will
now travel from the fortress again and wander down through the
forests and on to other places

Until
light returns

For
tomorrow is another day

**

**

Section 6

**

Internal Transmission

*

It is
during the time of darkness that I travel widely on behalf of High
Office and transmit my images via the infrared aspect within my
optical instruments

Humans
lack such a facility

They are
most backward and clumsy in their movements when they have no light
to guide them

It is
during the time of darkness that MengTechs glide silently into
Human quarters on the magnetic fields embedded in the base of the
fortress to remove those that have been chosen to be experimented
upon

It was
discovered that taking Humans during light time caused much
distress and some violence towards MengTechs and
DocTechs

And many
Humans were exterminated by Defgars during these times of
violence

The time
of darkness

It was
discovered