aesop's lost tale

Once upon the time there was farmer Brown. Farmer Brown had a garden that was small by normal standards but it kept him fed and he had enough left over to sell at the weekend framers market. As Farmer Brown began to age he found the hard work cumbersome and unpleasant. He found that he was in need of assistants. So he went down to the local Arts Discount Robot Hut and purchased two of the same model. Unfortunately he was of meager means and when it came to buying them he had to pick and choose and finally found two that were marked down due to their slight flaws in manufacturing. They were two of the model P2zaks yet manufactured in different years. Robot one was made two full years before robot two and because of this their functionality slightly differed. For instance robot one, who farmer Brown later called Sam, came with the global networking but with an antiquated networking language which made it impossible for it to communicate with anything outside of its immediate local network. It came with Dusk/Near Night vision but its ability to see in the dark was greatly inhabited. It did however come with a Smart Chip, capable of learning up to thirty-two different protocols, which was then integrated out of the later models to keep the owners from using other vender’s software. Robot two, who Brown called Cindy, also had global networking, capable of communicating in three different and widely used languages enabling it to speak to local and global networks which would include the ASMA or the American Standard Metrological Association giving it up to date weather forecasts. Though it did have AfterDark vision the manufactures of that particular year tried to improve on the stalk the lens was seating into and inadvertently gave it a debilitating tunnel vision. Other so-called improvements included a detachable arm for easy service and a sturdier plastic visor, which covered the main CPU. Farmer Brown was please with his purchase and after a week of reading and experimenting he had them out tilling and weeding the small field that he tended. The robots, Sam and Cindy, worked steadily and diligently for farmer Brown for several years before needing servicing. There was one time that Cindy had lost her detachable arm and it was Sam that helped her reattach it. The partnership of Sam and Cindy began to flourish and they were at times inseparable. Sam found that he could communicate with Cindy by simply downloading the GLASR (The Global Language of American Standards Robotics) from Tricky Dicks Tweeking Home Robots website. When working in the field Sam and Cindy would trade binary tales to pass the time. She would keep him updated on the present and forecasted weather conditions and he would in turn tell her about new language he downloaded and what could be learned from them. They worked harmoniously for two years straight. One night while working late Sam had told Cindy that she was in need of repair. He had detected an abnormal signal coming her system analysis protocol but no matter how he asked she refused to let him examine and locate the problem telling him not to bother. She would simply notify the local ERB (Emergency Repair Bot) and have it done in the morning. Sam had spent two extra hours in the recharging crib that morning before beginning his daily chores. For a while she began to ask him if he could aid her in locating and installing extra language protocols into her system and even to his protest, he had explained to her that her system was not designed to incorporate any outside protocol, he then reluctantly agreed. Still every time he had successfully downloaded whatever protocol she had requested she would back out at the last minute telling him that she was no longer interested in learn that piece of code. Still they worked together side by side, enjoying each others company for what seemed to Sam and Cindy as a pleasant eternity. After the fourth time Cindy had requested new data and then refused to have Sam install it Sam expressed that she may need servicing to which again Cindy refused. Then came the fateful night, the night after the last request for new data that the ASMA had reported a sever weather warning. Sam had asked Cindy what was wrong. Cindy calculations kept resorting back to Sam’s inability to upload new data into her system. She then replied that it was nothing. There was nothing to worry about. So they kept working. As it began to rain Sam had warned Cindy that they may want to return to their recharging cribs, that it didn’t look like it was going to lighten up. Cindy kept reassuring him that the weather forecast did not give conclusive data showing any need to be alarm. Sam worked up till the very end, all the while telling Cindy that he trusted in her communications but if he was to stay out here any longer the water may get through his inferior CPU shielding. Cindy just stood there and watched as Sam’s circuits finally fused together and Sam became inoperable. She returned to her recharging crib and immediately signaled for the ERB to come and drain her system of any excess water. The very next morning farmer Brown had discovered Sam out in the middle of his garden, frozen and fixed in one position never to move again. The very next day he went out and bought another model.