SYDNEY, THE FRISBEE PLAYING DROID

Lexi was a junk collector, by night, and a computer programmer by day, working remotely from her home. She would drive around her community gathering other peoples trash, that they put to the curb. She truly believed in the motto: one persons trash, is another's treasure. She was also an artist and creator. She had a workshop off of her garage, where she kept her "junk", to repurpose.

She had boxes sorted out of wheels and bolts and everything in between, so they were easily accessible when she was working on a project. Anything she found, she would bring home and reduce it to it's simplest form, recreating something better, than the original.

She didn't have any family, or close friends, since she was always tinkering, and didn't get out much to meet new people. She made so many contraptions and gadgets, that she often thought of selling some, but couldn't bare the thought of parting with them. They had become like family to her. They were her children she never had.

Her house was very organized, and neat. Everything was in it's place, and didn't get dirty much, since she spent most of her time in the workshop. But something was missing.

She did long for companionship, someone to talk to, that might understand, and be comforting. That led her to create her newest project. She took the mechanism out of a wind up clock, to give it a heart beat, and the body was made from wire fencing that she cut apart to shape, she took all the dimensions and measurements, to make the perfect size robot, or android. It was a cross between C3PO and Johnny-5.

She had programmed it to walk and talk, and do just about everything.

As she was putting the final touches on it, to see if it worked, she remembered she had some old clothes, and a captains hat, that she could put on him. There she said, feeling satisfied, let's see what my new friend can do.

Slowly she flipped the switch, closing her eyes, and offering a moment of silence, as she let out a deep breath.

Sydney blinked his eyes, turned his head to the left, then the right. Stretched out his arms, taking everything in, he started to move.

Hello, she said. Can you hear me? she programmed him to be voice activated.

Sydney is your name, I'm Lexi, I created you.

He didn't respond.

She checked his circuit box, to see if she forgot to connect a wire or something, but everything looked fine.

Sydney, hello, can you hear me? she said again.

Still nothing.

She went over to take one of his hands, and look in his eyes. Sydney, it's me Lexi, please talk to me, she started to plead with him. Her eyes starting to tear up. Feeling discouraged.

Just then, a spark lit and he jerked forward, almost knocking her off balance.

What's going on...?? this isn't supposed to be happening. I'm sure I got all the connections right. I built his arms and legs to move on different circuits, than his voice box. Why this erratic movement? She was puzzled and decided to take him inside.

She wheeled him into the living room, hoping to be able to examine him better. She manually sat him on the couch. She turned on the tv, thinking some of his mechanisms might be slow to react. Maybe he needed other stimuli to get him activated correctly.

She watched tv with him for a few hours, checking frequently for a change in response, or other reactions.

Still nothing. I wonder what could be wrong with him. I have checked and double checked everything I can think of. There is absolutely no reason for him not to work. Feeling exhausted, and more discouraged than before, she handed Sydney the remote, explaining how to use it, not sure if he was understanding. She went to bed. Praying for a revelation by morning to change his program or something.

Three hours later, she heard some buzzing and bleeping, coming from the living room. She listened.

I am Sydney, Lexi is my creator. I am an Android companion. I can make people laugh, I can make them cry, or wipe their tears. I can hug humans, that are sad, or need comforted.

Slowly, she went into the living room, to check on him.

Sydney, Hi! I heard you talking. Can you talk to me?

Again silent.

Sydney, you must talk when people talk to you. That's what communication is. So when I say Sydney how are you?, you should tell me how you feel. Are you happy? confused? What do you want to do?

Silence.

Ok, Sydney, you have made some good progress, but I'll tell you what.. I'm going back to sleep, cuz humans require a lot of it. I'm leaving the tv on. You stay here and listen to it. If you want to talk to it, that's fine. You can learn a lot from watching how people interact with each other. I'll be in my room, tomorrow I will take you for a ride in the car and you can explore the area, and learn more things. Goodnight Sydney.

He raised his hand to wave.

She smiled, and went back to her room. He'll come around, with a little patience, she thought to herself.

The next day, she woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs, frying, in the kitchen. Mmmm I didn't teach him to cook yet, how's he doing it? she wondered. She put her robe on and went out to check.

Sydney?

Hi! Lexi, good morning, did you sleep well? I want to thank you for the very educational night I had. I learned how to cook on the cooking channel, I hope you like it.

Like it?! I love it! maybe a bit too much, since I'm the only one eating here, but this is fabulous! Sydney you're amazing.

Lexi, what's black and white, and red all over? She knew the answer, having heard it a million times, but went along with the fun, I don't know Sydney, what could it be? she asked chuckling.

A newspaper! get it Lex? He grunted, trying his best to laugh, it's a joke Lexi, I watched the comedy channel too. I love that tv, there's so many funny people on there and a lot of stuff for me to learn.

Oh my she thought. What have I created..?? she ate her breakfast, and got ready, she wanted to take him for a drive, and to the park. It wasn't far from the house, and she wanted to see how Sydney did away from the house, and around other people.

Lexi, thank you for the clothes. I guess it's not polite, or traditional for people, or androids, to expose their bodies, is it? he asked sounding nervous. Do I look ok?

You look amazing, I hope you have fun, we can feed the ducks there too.

Anywhere with you is fun Lexi, let's go!

They got to the park, and went right over to the duck pond. Sydney tried to catch one, almost falling in, Lexi caught him just in time. Hmmm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea..

No, Sydney, you don't chase them, you feed them. Here, I brought a can of corn for you to sprinkle on the ground for them. She handed him the opened can.

Lexi, why do humans enjoy this? It seems to be a very waste of time watching other creatures eat.

Well, I don't really have a good answer for that, I guess we like to learn that, even though we are all different, we are a lot the same. When our creator made us, he gave us things in common for survival, people like to make the comparisons, some find it relaxing.

Come on Lexi, I would rather walk over to watch what those people are doing.

She looked into the field, and saw a bunch of college kids playing frisbee.

As they got closer, the guy intended to catch it missed, and it flew right to them, landing right next to Sydney. He automatically picked it up, and threw it back, perfectly. The gang cheered him on. Lexi can we play with them? This is far better than watching the ducks.

You go ahead Sydney, I'll watch, I'm not very good at it anymore.

He rumbled over to where they were playing, and immediately fell into place, he was playing frisbee, with them, having fun, he was accepted. She felt a tear of joy well up inside, my creation, feeling a sense of pride as well.

When they were too exhausted to throw anymore, they went over to introduce themselves, to Lexi.

Thanks for letting your friend play with us, he's pretty cool. Where did you get him? they asked very interested.

I made him, she said proudly. I like to recreate things, and always thought the ones in the movies, were pretty cool, so I made my own. Today is his first day out.

Well he's totally RAD ,they all said.

He can come practice with us any time he wants. We're here almost every day. Do you think you could bring him back? he's a lot of fun.

Sure, I think he'd like that, if y'all don't mind hanging out with a droid.. she laughed.

Do we?? Do you take orders? We might want one for ourselves, if you want to make more that is.

Now that's a thought, a droid making business. It don't cost much to make, and maybe Sydney might like some friends too.

I'll get back to you on that, she laughed.

Please do, were totally serious. We never met one before and this one is way cool. How do you get him to be so real? I mean he's almost like a human.

Well, we had some glitches in the beginning, I did the programming, he did the homework. He spent all night watching tv, I taught him to use the remote, and he flipped through what interested him the most. He cooked my breakfast this morning, She said matter of factly.

No way! Dude! we really need one of these, they said excitedly.

Ok, make a list of your specifications, with the size and anything specific you want it to do, and we'll see you tomorrow.

Come on Sydney, we gotta go now.

Ok, Lexi, bye friends. I really enjoyed playing frisbee with you, see you tomorrow.

Bye! Sydney, they all chimed, you're awesome! Bye Lexi