Three Companions

The river bends and turns in the forest, lush green leaves touching the water, a gentle breeze, as the boat sails effortlessly with three companions aboard—the tranquility of a summer's day.

Reggie guides the boat, with the aid of the oars, an easy task except that this time is different. His thoughts drift towards another time, a carefree day spent here, but that was a long ago. Reggie should not have such feelings. He's not a natural person, but an android, with threads connected to a computer for a brain. Still, there is no denying his memory of Melody, his first love, the sound of her voice, the touch of her lips. She had become a vital part of his essence, and to go on living without her, is more complicated than Reggie's imagine.

Thomas leans to one side. He breathes a sigh of relief, skimming his hand across the water. It isn’t easy sitting here, but there hadn’t been much time to get away from everything. But, now that they are here, Thomas finds it exciting to see his creations enjoying time together. Still, a small part of him envies them, that they don’t know the pain of losing someone. But, there are times that he wishes to be more like them, no feelings to contend with, only calculations, dealing with facts. Yet, he’s human, and this pain is more than he can bear.

Peterson’s sitting on the boat's bow, watching Thomas’s flush face as he takes a small intake of air, contemplating if there is any cause for alarm.  Still, he objects to being here, wishing to be back working in the Lab, calculating the newest advancement of Intelligent life, like him, And despite everything, he finds Thomas adequate for a human being.   But there are times like today when Thomas has succumbed to unseen emotions. That disturbs the way he thinks about Thomas.

Reggie glances from Thomas to Peterson, who is his comrade, a soldier in arms. In essence, he’s a father figure since Peterson was the first one to be created.  But then again, Reggie isn’t human, and pretending to be one would only cause more of a rift between them. Still, he can’t help but feel this way, though, Peterson would say that it is impossible to ‘feel anything.’  And yet, the sensation whenever Melody spoke to him, her laughter there was no denying his feelings. But now, for the first time since his creation, Reggie longest to shred his emotions and embrace being a robot,

Thomas brushes away a strand of his hair, a faint memory of Melody's fingers lightly touching his forehead. The subtle tilt of her head, her laughter when told a joke. Memories, reminding him of the little things that he misses, the curvature of her neck, the way she smiled. That was before the accident, and his life took a different path, one that would end up tearing their relationship apart. However, there is hope, a small flame that one day can be enkindle

Reggie stops rowing, allowing for the boat to drift with the rivers’ current.

“Excuse me, but how long are we staying here?

Peterson said, “Please address him as ‘creator.’

“Creator, how much longer?”

Thomas replied, “ A little bit longer.”

Peterson systematically concludes that it isn’t like Thomas, his creator, to be away from his job. After all this time working together, it baffles him that Thomas finds it necessary to sit in a boat traveling down a river with no agenda in mind.  Halting all of the work and all of his discoveries is hard for Peterson to understand fully. And yet, somehow, it is satisfying to be part of Thomas’s process, working closely together, creation and the creator.  They are, in effect, a perfect team, an equal partnership, 

“Reggie, slow down.”

“Yes,”

Reggies balance the oars across his lap as the boat continues to be adrift, passing by a weeping willow tree along the shore, the tips of its branches dangling over the bank. He shields his eyes, watching a redbreast robin take flight from its perch disappearing in the sky. It’s a human trait that he has seen others do, one that he has been perfecting for some time—self-consciously dropping the oars back into the river. 

Thomas asks. “What are you doing?”

“I thought”

Peterson said, “You had a thought?”

A furrowed brow knitted, a look of confusion, to have Reggie take independent action and decided to disobey his creator. Thomas wanted them to learn how to be human, but he wasn’t expecting Reggie to be the first. He thought that it would have been Peterson, now it seems that he was wrong about Reggie and the possibility of having feelings. Reggies’a’s robot, wires thread through his body, a computerized brain, no heart, no blood, just circuit boards.

“Creator, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

***                               

Streams of sunlight slimmer upon the water, ripples are circling the boat as it drifts along the river, with its oars tucked inside. Thomas watches the boat moving further away from the shore. A hint of guilt soon passes when he turns and walks away. Fate has a funny way when it invades a person’s life. Sometimes it will stretch someone beyond the breaking point where reality seems like a dream, and a dream appears to be reality.

Thomas’s hands are clasped behind him, ambling down a worn-out path leading deeper into the forest. A breath of air escapes from his lungs, ‘ah to feel alive again, it’s been a long time since he had felt this way, and now to finally be free. 

Still, freedom comes with a cost that Thomas has faced, and he passed the test. One that will endure long after he is gone from this earth, Thomas’s creations, his companions. They are his legacy, his shining glory, but it came with a price, Melody, the love of Thomas’s life.

A sweet fragrance lingers in the air. A shadowy figure moves in between the trees. Then a memory draws Thomas back into time, before the loss of his life, sweet Melody.