It was a sunny summer day in 2013 and I was having a picnic with my robots. I had built them and now I was doing some quality time with them. They were robots of all shapes and sizes, different breeds and each of them had a certain characteristic. They were all friendly, they all liked to joke around and have a good time, but they all had a function too.
One of the robots was a garbage collector. He knew his place and collected the garbage from my house. Another one was a gardener. She harvested fruits and vegetables and brought them to me and gave me some. Another robot was a cook, he prepared nice meals for the family. Another robot was a delivery robot, he would deliver the groceries I bought at the store.
After having some lunch, I returned to my house, when I noticed something.
“What is that?” I exclaimed.
There was something really fascinating in the window. I approached the window slowly and realized it was a baby. I opened the window, took the baby and began to carry him to my lab. When I got to the lab, I realized the baby had a small circuit installed in his arm.
“I’m very curious who this baby is.” I said to a robot. “I am going to perform some tests on him.”
When he was awake, I asked him, “What is your name?”
The baby didn’t answer. Instead he cried.
I performed some further tests. His body wasn’t human. I had to figure out what he was and where he came from. It took me about a day to find out who he was. His name was Michel and he was born the day before in the neighboring hospital. I wasn’t sure what his purpose was.
I wasn’t sure what to do with him. I picked him up and said, “You’re coming with me.” I took Michel inside my house and into the bathroom. I began to fill the bathtub with warm water, then undressed the baby, put him inside and began to scrub him. Eventually Michel cried and I finished bathing him.
As I was drying him off with a towel, I started to look at his body. I noticed that he was developing fast. He was growing. He was a baby but he was also becoming a man. I was fascinated by him. I brought him into a room with all of my other robots.
I had him stay with my other robots, we all had our own room and there was a rule that we could not enter the room of someone else.
A couple of days later Michel was perfectly fine and at last I gave him his freedom.
I had to think about him. I couldn’t allow him to become a person when I didn’t know if his purpose was to live with us. On April 23rd Michel finally decided to become a man. I hurried outside to welcome him to his new form.
Everyone was surprised to see Michel as a man and of course, I was nearly shocked. It wasn’t that he was a male that surprised me; it was the thing he had in his hair.
“What did you do?” I said in shock.
Michel just looked at me and said, “I’m sorry.”
I was angry with Michel. I threw him out.
On my way back to the house, I was thinking. I hadn’t thought about what I would do with him. It was only when I arrived at the house that I realized Michel had been assimilated into the family unit and he needed a place to live.
“I don’t know what I’ll do with you,” I said to Michel.
“I’ll move in with the family,” Michel replied.
“Ok,” I said. “You can move in with my robots.”
“No,” Michel replied. “I want to move in with you.”
I was still very angry with him. It took me a long time to accept him to stay with us.
The next day he snuck into my house and helped around the house. I don’t think I paid him any attention that day, but Michel did the dishes, washed the laundry and tended the living room plant.
As I was walking towards the living room, I said, “Good job Michel.”
“Thanks,” Michel replied.
“You’re doing such a job,” I said to him.
“Yes,” Michel replied. “I’m very good in cleaning.”
It was a huge day for me. I had finally accepted Michel, accepted him into the family unit and he was very happy about it.
The day after, I decided to take him out to lunch. I had no other option. I will have to pay him for whatever work he does.
I took Michel to a restaurant nearby and within ten minutes we were already there. We ordered our food and just as we were about to eat, the cook came running to me.
“Oh no!” The cook said to me. “There is a huge problem.”
“What’s the problem?” I asked the cook.
“The meat,” the cook continued. “The meat is all rotten.”
“Where are the plates?” I inquired.
The cook showed me the plates. They were filthy and filled with dirty water.
“I don’t know what happened,” the cook replied.
I was a very unhappy man.
“And you!” I said to Michel angrily. “What did you do?”
“What?” Michel said.
“That meat is rotten and they look like they have been there a week,” I said.
“You shouldn’t feed on the plates,” Michel said. “The plates are dirty. You had better put them away.”
“No, you should not feed from them,” I replied.
The cook was very surprised. Michel was ten times more intelligent than the cook. Michel learned more than how to cook in the last week.