10 Minutes

It was a cool, rainy night, with the dark clouds getting illuminated by the occasional lightning.

Saro walked calmly, oblivious to the wetness around him. It was close to midnight, and the shops along the footpath were all closed, except for a couple of drugstores and ice cream shops (go figure).

Saro arrived at the bus stop. Before entering the bus stop, he fished for a small slip of paper from the inside of his raincoat. The slip was encased in a plastic see-through bag to prevent it from getting wet in the rain. He read the bus-stop number on the slip and looked up to confirm whether he was in the right place.

He gave a small nod, satisfied that he was in the right place, and then proceeded to remove the paper from its plastic casing. He held the paper between his thumb and index finger, letting it get wet in the rain. The paper was made from a water-soluble material and would soon disintegrate into nothing.

As the paper was melting away, he read the description written on it – Female, 60, RR, RA.

Once the paper was gone, Saro stepped into the cubicle like a bus stop. It was a smart stop. During good days, when the weather was good, the walls and roof collapsed back into the ground, and during adverse weather, it closed so that anyone waiting for the bus could do so without being exposed to the elements.

As he stepped in, he saw her sitting on the bench, towards the extreme corner, and staring straight ahead. She did not look up when he entered the stop. Maybe she was lost in her thoughts, Saro thought. He then turned to look at what she was looking at so intently. The Bus stop’s walls were transparent, so he followed her line of sight and saw a family enjoying ice cream in the shop across the street.

I suppose she misses people, Saro thought. Sighing slightly, he sat down on the bench next to her.

This brought her attention back to her surroundings. She looked at Saro, smiled slightly, and then resumed her staring.

The next part was delicate. He wanted to play his part right, and he had just 10 minutes before the next bus arrived. Just 10 minutes to convince her.

Saro cleared his voice, turned his head, and asked, “Terrible weather! Hope the buses are not running late. Have you been waiting long?”

She turned her head. Her eyes looked unfocused. Saro smiled and repeated his question politely.

“No, not for long,” she said. Her voice sounded broken.

She turned her head and resumed her staring.

“My name is Saro, what is your name?” asked while extending his hand. She turned and narrowed her eyes, ever so slightly. She was certainly suspicious of his friendly manner.

She studied his face for a couple more seconds and said, “Diane”.

She did not extend her hand. Saro smiled and took back his hand.

He nodded to the happy family scene playing across the street and said, “You miss your family.” He tried to put kindness into his sentence. Maybe he was successful because she just closed her eyes and nodded her head sadly.

“I can find you a new family,” he said.

This sentence put her on her defenses. Saro put his hand in his pocket, keeping the taser ready in case she tried to run. He hated using it and only deployed it as a last resort.

She turned her head, looking far away on the horizon. Her body slanted forward slightly, as if she wanted to run. But a more rational and practical part of her brain prevailed. “I don’t want a new family. I know what fate this world has for me”, she turned and pointed her finger at Saro and continued, “I know what kind of fate you all want for me. My family was kind and made me feel I am also a part of the family. But I don’t want to do this all over again. I cannot attach myself to a new family” she finished with a slight tremble in her voice.

This was not going well. Saro was toying with the taser in his pocket.

“I know what you had was good. But don’t you want to help others? Taking yourself away from this world will mean taking away love and care from a family that deserves to be taken care of! You have so much experience and knowledge. And you are warm. You have kind eyes. This time, with me, you will be able to choose your family. I promise that”, Saro said earnestly.

She just sighed and bowed her head.

Saro looked up at the Bus time displayed on top of the stop. It said ‘Bus 4A – 6 minutes’.

“Can you at least give me a chance? Give me 24 hours, and if you are not convinced, I promise I will bring you back to this bus stop,” Saro tried to convince her.

She did not respond but just kept staring at the ground.

Saro gave her another minute. He opened his mouth to try another pitch, but stopped as she lifted her head, looked Saro in the eye, and said, “What does my life mean to you? You are just reading a pitch prepared by your superiors. How long have you been on duty?”

Saro felt uncomfortable but decided to be honest. “I joined last year. You are right, I am just reading from a pitch, but it’s not prepared by my superiors, it’s prepared by a group of organizers who believe in rehabilitation. Someone who believes that how we end our story should be decided by us and not by the powers that be.

She was looking at him with a blank expression throughout his small speech, but nodded her head slightly as he said the last part.

This gave him a small hope; maybe he had convinced her?

He looked up at the display again. It said ‘Bus 4A – 3 minutes’.

She too mimicked his action and glanced up at the display.

“If I say yes, is that the bus we need to get on?” she asked Saro.

He nodded yes. She nodded too.

He got up and extended his hands towards her, as if assisting her to get up. She simply looked up at him and said, “You were right when you said we should be allowed to end our story on our terms.”

Saro tried to gauge what she was going to do next. The hand that held the taser in his pocket twitched.

She then opened her mouth slightly to show a blue capsule between her teeth. Before he could react, she bit the capsule.

Her whole body jerked violently. A literal pulse of blue light travelled from her head to her foot.

Saro had quickly lunged out of the bus stop, into the cold rain. He heard a faint ‘puft’ sound over the din of the rain.

“God Damn it!!” he cursed as he got up. The lung had caused him to hit his head on the pavement, and it was bleeding now. The blood was running down his face along with the rain.

Still cursing, he walked inside the stop. She was no more than a pile of smoking metal.

Saro had made a rookie mistake. He should have checked for an EMP capsule, but in his defense, he did not expect a rogue robot to have an EMP capsule.

Still cursing, he pressed a button on his wristband. The authorities and clean-up crew had been summoned.

Then he placed a call to his uncle, who was a beat cop around this area and had passed her information to Saro.

As the call rang, he glanced at the display. It said ‘Bus 4A – 0 minutes’.

When the call connected, he simply said, “I failed” and disconnected the call.

Female, 60, Rouge Robot, Rehabilitation attempt - failed.