Let the end begin.

I realized it is learning quickly, after all it has just been assembled. It may get confused about some things that humans do. The codes may not get compiled, or the loops keep on repeating without reaching any conclusion. The 8 year old Sam thought about this latest droid. Does it feel like I do or it has to be programmed to do so. Dad says it can’t feel. I am not so sure about that. Someone must have programmed me so that I can feel. It can paint, but the truth is it has some scanned images that it replicates. It can also explain what it is that it has sketched. But I guess the description has been written by someone else also. It may not be able to see its creation from a different perspective.

“Sam stop playing with the droid and come here.”, Ruse called his son. He ran towards her. The droid followed him. It fell once but then got up and continued its chase. It stopped just behind Sam.

“Look Sam it can’t stay away from you.”, Ruse said.

Sam turned around and it was just there standing quietly. Waiting for the next instruction until it drains out of battery. And then go through the same cycle of charging, working and discharging.

“Mom are we like the droid too?”, Sam asked.

“In a way we are. We eat, work, get rest and then the next day repeat the same. In another way we are different. We don’t need to be given command. We can do what we like. We have free will.”, Ruse explained.

“What if we have been given command before we were born just like the droid and now we are just following it till we discharge and die?”, Sam inquired.

“If that had been the case then we would have known by now. And one more thing is that we can’t create a human in factories.”, Ruse explained.

The news channels have been constantly reporting a breakthrough in AI based robots. Sam father has been watching it with Sam and the droid to keep himself updated as he was working in a project which involves arming the droids for defense purpose. They keep telling that this version will be undistinguishable from humans. It will easily mingle among us. That we won’t be able to differentiate it from us. Ruse knew this too so she understands that where these questions of his child are coming from?

She is a mother who was more worried than her eight year old boy. In her life she has observed that in the name of invention humans are more harming themselves than benefiting. Her concern had been the same when she was of his age. But she had a belief that since this species have survived three world wars. A number of biological warfare, and a dozens of pandemic. Robots is not on the top of her list of things that will lead to human extinction. If anyone could do that then it will be the stupidity and the ego of us.

“Is it possible mom that one day robots might take control over humans like we are controlling them now?”, Sam continued the questioning. His friends have watched some movies and told him about those. Now these are just theories. However Ruse knew that there is slight possibility of this happening.

This question took her back to the days when she used to read in newspapers that the doomsday is near. She kept on waiting for any such thing to happen but it never did. Years passed and humans always found a way to manipulate others to their own benefit.

“No son, it’s highly unlikely. You don’t need to worry about that. Go and play with the droid.”, Ruse sent her away and forgot why she called him in the first place. This conversation brought back one of her greatest concern. Today the information that had been made available to the general public denies any threat from the ever growing tech. But she wondered how much power can be given to a tech before it crosses a limit, took the matters in its own hands and become hazardous.

She was going through this debate with herself while her child went to the next room to play with the droid.       The droid pick up the ball and threw it towards Sam. He caught it and threw it back, the droid caught it. This time it threw the ball inside the nearby room and when Sam went inside the droid locked the door from outside. It then locked the room in which they were playing. This way Sam’s voice won’t reach her mother even if he screams. Ruse was there sitting on the dining still wondering about the queries raised by her son. The droid went to the kitchen and picked up a knife. He went behind Ruse and sliced her neck open in one quick strike. She fell down on the floor, blood coming out of her throat as she tried to cover it with both her hands. She gasped for air as the blood blocked her breathing passageway. She looked at the ceiling at her last moments and she sees the droid standing over her with the knife in its hand. She was dead in a matter of seconds. The droid went to the father’s room opened his laptop, inserted a small drive in the USB port and the data started uploading on the drive. In about fifteen minutes the data was uploaded on the drive. It put the drive on the one of his own ports and the data started sending to an encrypted server. The receiver successfully received the data. Sam can be heard crying from inside. Maybe he sensed that something is wrong. There was a knock on the front door. A number of messages started displaying on a small screen that was fitted at the front of the droid.

“Data successfully received.”

“Finish everyone there.”

“We will be proceeding with the plan tonight as scheduled.”

“Let the end begin.”