The Old Man

Scientist, poet, artist, author, musician. These abilities and more are what make up many people In the world but there are times where these abilities are all rolled up into one person and that one is both feared and admired, Loved and hated, Talked to or talked about.

The Old Man as he was known was one of the latter kinds of person. He felt alone and as if he was on an island far from anyone. There were very few in the world that could relate to him and understand what his life was all about. His dreams were a colorful swirl of shapes and patterns. Music and speech translated into numbers and mathematical equations. In his world, all his senses blended into one and the Old Man could not even smile because he felt so alone.

The Old Man was an inventor of sorts with many of his creations flooding his workshop. His pride was AIME, his personal robot assistant / helper. AIME was not human in form. Having the general shape and form of a spider, it was much larger and with the use of special tool racks mounted on its back, it could be programed for many tasks. Plumbing, electrical, building construction as well as delicate electronics work and being the master chef. AIME was also programed for playing many games with the old man when he desired a distraction from his work. But the spider was not alive and could not give the human the true companionship that he desired. The man wanted someone who truly understood him and he was sad that his search for such a person was for naught. The giant spider cooked and cared for the human but did not question its actions as it was its very programming that controlled its functions. Even bringing the man his evening glass of home brewed wine was a strictly controlled and timed event.

There came one day an event that shook the entire world. A solar storm erupted and a massive flare was ejected toward earth. Most of the electronics of the time were either destroyed or were damaged severely. The laboratory of the Old Man was no exception and except for some backup power sources, his equipment was mostly not functional. His fear was that AIME was also damaged as the spider was sitting immobile and not responding to anything he could do. All of AIME’s programming was either wiped out or severally corrupted.

Days passed and the Old Man was trying to find ways to get his equipment back into running order. He felt so utterly alone now that AIME was not able to help him with even the simplest of tasks. Then one evening the Old Man had the scare of his long life. AIME was standing in the doorway looking at its master. On its serving tray was a glass of wine. The solar flare may have corrupted AIME’s programming but no one will ever know for sure. The Old Man never tried to study why his robot came back to life but one thing he did know was that it was no longer a case of AIME being programmed to do a task. It was now a case of AIME wanting to do it.

And the old man smiled.