Master, I Need Charging

How long is forever? The 18-year-old girl could not imagine.

Her parents had felt bad about her weak constitution where frequent hospital visits had rendered her study years as almost non-existent. Even as a small child, she was not allowed to play in rowdy playgrounds, and could only watch the other children from afar. Since she was young, the words she had heard the most were: Anbao, be good. After you get better…

There were still so many things she wanted to do. She prayed and hoped to get well every day but if… she could never wake up, what would become of her?

Am I going to be a robot… forever?

After leaving the hospital, Gu Anbao wandered slowly along the road like a lifeless soul, without any aim or direction in mind.

For some reason, her physical coordination seemed to be lagging as she paced along. The body seemed to sink deeper and heavier; every movement felt dull and sluggish.

Her sorrow deepened, thinking that even her mechanical body was about to give up on her as well…

She surveyed the surroundings and realized that she had wandered unknowingly out of the bustling commercial city center into a high-class suburb. Rows of little neat garden walls, planted with nameless big trees and lush vines, lined the two sides of the quiet road.

All of a sudden, her feet stopped moving but as her upper torso was still leaning forward, it caused her to fall, face down, in a bad tumble. At the most critical moment, she managed to catch hold of the metal fence railing beside her which barely allowed her to stabilize her footing.

Her body… was starting to act defiantly as the sluggish movements became more obvious…

She dared not move any further. After finding a stone bench outside the fence wall, she lay down to take a rest.

The entrance to this little estate was not far away from where she sat.

A family seemed to be moving out today. Some movers could be observed bringing out the furnishings and then chucking them aside on the pavement along the road. These were meant for the rubbish collectors to remove.

There was an old sofa set, used tables, television sets, and some teacups… pots and pans could be seen stacked on top of one another haphazardly in big and small cardboard cartons.

A robot was jointly carried out by two men and then thrown into the same pile of rubbish meant to be removed…

The robot’s surface was scratched with corroded patches exposed. The paint on its skin had faded and some parts had even dropped off to reveal the oxidized metal underneath the paint. It looked like momo, the household robot. However, it looked likely to be an earlier version with its bulky design.

The changes in technological equipment often came fast and furious.

A cellphone would be considered an antique after one to two years. A computer would need to be replaced every three to five years. As for a robot, the chip could be upgraded, so the shelf life might hold out a little longer. However, wealthy families would still upgrade their robots more regularly, as new models rolled out every year.

She quietly watched the robot lying in the rubbish pile… It looked old, heavy, and outdated, something that was neither pretty nor useful.

And she thought of herself.

What about her? How many years could she keep at it? Three years… or five years? And then, would she be discarded like a piece of rubbish after that?

The mere thought was enough to send a shudder down her back…

This was not a future that she wanted!

Someone came along and it was an old man on a trishaw. Looking at the pile of rubbish outside the estate, he ran over to have a good look. After flipping back and forth through the pile of goods, he displayed a look of delight when he caught sight of the robot.

The robotic casing could be recycled as scrap metal whereas the circuit board and chip inside the robot could fetch some money, too.

As the old man could not lift the robot, he went to fetch a few tools from the trishaw to start dismantling the machine instead. When the movers next came out carrying a closet in tow, they made no attempt to stop him. After throwing the old man a glance, they continued with their chores. In their mind, they might feel that the robot was not needed anymore, and could be given away without an issue.

She watched the robot being dismantled, piece by piece, and then carried onto the trishaw…

And her entire being went cold at the sight.

She could not bear to watch any longer…

She could not imagine… what if she… if she were to collapse at this spot right now, would she encounter the same fate as well? Would her limbs be dismantled to be collected, part by part…?

She gave a sad smile.

It would happen; that would definitely happen…

With her hand leaning against the wall for support, she stood up with difficulty and turned around to walk back slowly.

Her actions were so weird and every movement so clumsy, that the passersby started throwing her strange and curious looks.

She dared not look up, for fear of being discovered as a robot. Trying as hard as she could to control the sluggish mechanic body, she walked toward a narrow and deserted path…

…

Three days passed before Chen Yuheng found out that his robot was missing.

After his flight back to Qingjiang City, and back into his three-bedroom apartment, he received Lu Lu’s call.

“President Chen, Ruan Ruan is missing!”

The man furrowed his brows at this senseless comment.

“What happened?”

Vexed and flustered, words tumbled out of Lu Lu’s mouth like a bag of beans. “Miss Shen refused to see me over the last few days so I decided to catch her at her film location. I finally got to see her after many difficulties only to be told that Ruan Ruan had gone missing! She did not know where the robot had gone!”

Frowning, he instructed, “Get the technical department to find out her whereabouts through satellite tracking.”

“I don’t have sufficient authority for this request…”

As the robotic location was part of the customer’s privacy, all such requests would need management approval.

The man started to get impatient. “I’ll send you the authorization code from my phone. Send me her location once you receive the information.”

“Understood!”

Every robot produced by RK had their chips supported by satellite tracking. Lu Lu had the location soon after and quickly sent the information to her boss.

The man’s frown deepened when he saw it was in an unknown location, right inside a dead-end.

How did she end up in such a place?

“President Chen, someone from the maintenance department is ready to set off any time.”

He fingered the screen to shift the map for a better look. “I’m afraid a car won’t be able to enter that place… You all go over now, I’ll follow along as well.”

“All right!” The phone was cut.

He picked up the car key and left.

The location was not far from him and he reached the place in about ten minutes. This was an aged neighborhood; and the rubbish lining both sides of the unmaintained road only made the path even narrower and harder to get through.

He drove carefully, at times having to make several stops. And finally when he could no longer venture in further, he stepped out of the vehicle and followed the path on foot instead.

The signal on the map died off without warning which caused him to stop abruptly. His heart had turned into a tight knot.

After two seconds, the indication light flickered again on the screen. The man hurried to the location without further ado. By now, he was pretty sure that the battery in the robot was about to die out!

The indication would flicker on and off when the battery was insufficient. In the end, he broke into a slow jog and finally, after rounding a corner, he saw two half-covered cat ears peeping out from a dusty pile of old cardboard cartons.

His heart, hanging in mid-air, relaxed instantly… Somewhere in his heart, a crack seemed to manifest where something comfortable could be felt oozing out and warming his chest…