Raj grabbed for something to keep him from slipping.  His bright yellow raincoat scraped down the metal roof. Suddenly, the noise stopped as he plunged from the building, arms and legs flailing against nothing. Raj crashed on the asphalt thirty feet below. Rain bounced and splashed on his face and motionless body.

****

“Idiotic robots, they won’t replace me,” mumbled Raj while mopping the floor.

He watched robots moving from machine to machine, suspicious of their metallic bodies. The factory used to be overflowing with loudmouth machinists complaining about management or “the uppers,” as they sarcastically called them, with the implication that those in management considered themselves better or above the lowly machinists. They complained about their rights and what they were entitled to. After all, it was them getting dirty, running the machines in the stinking heat. The factory’s oil-filled air always clung to their clothes and hair. The breaks were never long enough. The paycheck at the end of the week never seemed to balance correctly on the pay-versus-work scale.

Sure, Raj had his complaints, but at the end of the day, he remained at the factory once all the men were replaced with androids. He was the custodian or janitor of the building. It was his job to perform maintenance on the property, but he was also trained to carry out basic work on the androids, if needed. It was easy stuff, he thought: resetting the android’s computers and replacing limbs and eyes that were worn out or damaged. He even replaced their voice boxes—not that they spoke much.

As much of a help as he was to the robots, Raj still hated them. It wasn’t the same as having humans around, with their irritating but amusing idiosyncrasies. There were still some non-androids working at the company: the uppers, material guys, and salespeople. No programmer with their robots had ever been able to mimic those chatty, charming salespeople. 

The robots were brought in one by one to replace the men. The hatred and resentment felt by the human employees started to erode the mood of the factory like the waves of the ocean chipping away at a shore line. Damage to the robots slowly moved to sabotaging of the machines and the property. What did the uppers expect when they replaced humans with robots? A man who felt like he provided for his family took pride in his trade and work ethic.

Raj had no family, but he understood what it was like for these guys to lose their jobs and struggle to provide for their wives, kids, and in some cases, aging parents. Men lost their jobs as the uppers got bigger and fatter.

Financially, it made sense to have robots. Robots don’t need cigarette breaks. They don’t need lunch breaks, and they never complained about upper management. They did what they were told—well, not told, but rather: programmed. 

Raj never trusted the androids. It was said that the robots were humanoid because it made them less threatening. The world they lived in was built for humans with limbs and fingers. So, it made sense that the robots had the same human features in order to press the buttons, open the doors, and pull the levers of the human world. Their cold metal bodies gave Raj an unnerving feeling. He always found something odd about their eyes. Yes, they looked like eyes, Raj thought, but behind those blue piercing glass spheres, there were silicon chips and transistors controlled by an emotionless motherboard rather than a mushy brain full of thoughts and emotions.

It was late and Raj was used to working ten-hour days. There was a storm that night, and the uppers wanted him to work an extra-long shift and make sure everything ran smoothly. The lights of the factory flickered as the rain and wind howled outside. Technology had advanced at an alarming rate; lithium battery capacities increased monumentally while not giving up their compact size. Computer chips had finally broken the two-nanometer barrier, and even more amazing were their process speeds. They were lightning fast, yet always sustained a low temperature due to various revolutionary materials. Science had made incredible steps, but the computer programs and algorithms would never be able to tame the savage weather. Robots were not the only thing Raj feared. 

Excerpt From

Tales From Another Dimension

Robbie Sheerin

This material may be protected by copyright.