Bot UFO - (Science Fiction)

The Worker Bots Assemble and Ruminate

While Samsa was sleeping, an engineer detached from his module and rolled out the portal to the sand. It crept along the surf, and when it met the other bots its program was complete. The parts were being exchanged for a new air vent for the hydroponic bay in the small hours of the night when it wouldn't be bothersome to humans. The first engineer opened its container bay and awaited the delivery of the fanned vent. Two bots were wheeling back towards the module, having made their trade. The engineer predicted the air vent should have already been delivered, and sent a request to its partner. Suddenly, the network was overridden by the artificial intelligence system model 113B and the task was forgotten by the bot. It rolled up the beach to the hill where the topsoil met the sand. It rolled past the habitat over 100 feet, then 200 feet. It was jetting along with another bot to the place where an indentation was made into the ground. It was a wide imprint that showed the soft ground compacted in a large circle in front of them. The engineer stuck a bullet into the ground with a microchip inside for observing molecular changes. The other bot that followed it took a flash photograph and headed back for the habitat. The engineer circled all the way around the imprint in the ground then went towards the habitat for good.

Samsa awoke very slowly. He was undernourished and tired from working his arms in the garden the previous day. He became aware of his PC pad at his side and pulled it up to his face. For his tasks today, he would modify the irrigation system of the hydroponics to filter seawater and use the water to feed the plants. It didn't require much programming, but it would still be a challenge to understand the complete operating procedure for the irrigation system. Such things were tended by bots, he thought. Not humans.

He poured some powdered milk into his mug. For breakfast he was having breadcake with a glass of cold milk. He looked glassy-eyed outside for his companions. They were already up and working on the weather system some 300 meters from the habitat. 

Samsa slapped 113's communicator and asked if any engineer bots would help him with his work. The bots actually entertained him during the boring parts of his job. 

"One engineer is available for assisting you today. I will call him to your location," the sweet tone of the computer came. "But he is missing his memory chip. Do you know where it is, Samsa?" 

He blinked twice. "No." He had no problem lying to a computer. But did it seem to know he was lying? He pulled a tube from his waist and sipped some water. He could return the memory chip, but it put him in an awkward position with the artificial intelligence. What was its threshold for reporting misconduct of a human being? He thought of the red dot on the communicator. 113 could cause him to lose his job. 

He packed the filter for carrying to the other module and loaded it into the bot. They rolled about 25 feet to the hydroponics bay and slipped through the portal. A plastic sheet covered behind them as they entered. As long as he returned the chip, 113 probably wouldn't activate his reporting program. He reached into his PC's compartment and punched the chip back into place in the bot. He saved all the data he needed, anyway.

When the first irrigation system was converted for use with seawater, Samsa took a break in the kitchen. He accessed the images of the U. F. O. again to get any indication about what it could have been. He noticed the windswept ground below the craft in the images, and stopped eating to take a look outside to see for any sign of the U. F. O. nearly landing. When he reached the far away spot, he saw the expected imprint and nothing else. 

Underneath his foot, the microchip recorded the pressure of his footstep. It logged his heart rate and oxygen level. It sent the data to the artificial intelligence, and did nothing more. Samsa never noticed it. When he returned to the module, 113B's red light was glowing red in wait for Banb.