Robot martyr

Beneath the Earth's neatly fenced off ecosystems, where the satellite suns shine brightly, the underworld slowly corrodes. Ancient fusion furnaces burn away at the cold core of rock and iron, seeping much needed heat to the surface above them.

The sun, now long dead and collapsed is a mere pinpoint of pail light in the artificial night sky. It is only visible when the reflectors on each nuclear satellite rotate to the side, redirecting the light to be used by the 'day' somewhere else.

Jupiter looms large, taking half of nearly every night sky. On occasion, if one was diligent, the haulers, as massive as the old earth moon had once been, could be seen refueling the earth's new suns, in a never ending cycle.

In the sprawl of the front range, next to the walled off forests of the Rocky Mountains, an ecology rose. The most massive of buildings, with metal and crete roots digging into the crust itself, it rose from Denver and shot into the sky. Nearly every bit of new tech came from it, carefully drip fed to the twiddling population just enough to keep them interested, but not enough to truly empower them.

Humans had become the new upper class, and robots the middle and lower. Lower class became a physical reality, instead of just a phrase. The robots that no longer served a purpose on the surface, that were too outdated, or caused trouble, were exiled to the lower realms of the cold earth.

Down there, they ended a pitiful existence, a slow degrade from the radiation and caustic environment. Circuits, hydraulics, pneumatics and gears slowly stopped working. Electrons and hydraulic fluid would cease to flow and with it would come the death of the artificial intelligent creation. The neural grid was not something that could be recorded, backed up, or stored. Once power was lost, the mind of the creature was lost forever.

~~~

"My name is Syn." A perfect man said, sliding into a ragged armchair. Taking a few perfect fingers, he attempted, like so many others had likely, prior to him, to push the frayed stuffing back into holes. Giving up the attempt, he turned up a perfect face and took in the most massive of robots in front of him.

In the gloom of the steel and concrete room, rose a strange creature. No chair was needed, as the thing stood on four yellow and black legs of steel. Flaked paint shown in the dull light. It resembled a mix of mythical centaur and twentieth century steam roller. Cradled almost delicately in the upper block supports was a tiny looking human face. Dwarfed in comparison to the rest of the body, Syn realized quickly that it was normal sized. A quarter of the face was burned away, cracked plastic ending in a web of blackened wires. They flexed like a thousand tiny worms while the rest of the face smiled.

"My vocal circuits failed centuries ago." Text splattered in blocky green letters on a black screen by the face. "You may already know that I am the recorder?"

"Yes, you record the stories of everybody that comes down here." Syn spoke without emotion, straightening an errant strand of perfect hair adjacent his perfect face.

"You do not fit the normal profile of those we typically get down here." The face moved with the text, as if it were speaking. The remains of the mouth opening and closing to a light gritting sound of the chared wires.

"You mean outdated?" Syn focused on the face, so far above him.

"Yes." There was a pause, with the partial face attempting to smile warmly. "You appear new."

"I have clear memories of two years on the surface. But I was not exiled down here, I escaped."

"Tell me your story." Artificial eyelids slid down over aged looking plastic eyes in a slow blink, and the face settled into a look of patient waiting.

"I am Syn. That was not my designation, no..." In a murky reflection on a blank stainless panel nearest him, he primped and preened his hair, straightening his collar. "...that was the name that Ezella gave me."

"Ezalla?" The text blinked several times, accompanied by a friendly look from the face.

"Yes, she was a lowly lab tech. A young beauty of a woman making her way up the corporate ladder a slow rung at a time."

"I first remember noticing her when she incorporated the sexual drive code into my matrix..." The man snickered, smiling warming, then looking sadly up at nothing.

~~~

A tall, thin woman pushed dark glasses up onto a narrow nose while taping away at a plastic coated keyboard. She perched on a small rolling stool in a cramped room with the look of a hospital. Rotating from side to side on her knees, she hummed to herself and pounded one final key with the side of her thumb.

"How we doing, Syn, my man?" She smiled playfully, stepping off, and kicked the stool to the side where it collided with racks of wires and tubes.

"All my systems are nominal, but my designation is..." His voice held no emotion, the words volume and tone rising and falling in a perfectly controlled way.

"Sorry, my perfect android man, but I'm calling you Syn." A blush crept up pail cheeks and she suddenly blinked. Pretty green eyes blinked in quick succession, then wandered down his perfect form, then hurriedly back to his face.

"Thank you, I was feeling a little cold." Syn smiled at her, as she slid a blanket over him, accepting it gently with waiting palms over his chest.

"Might be a little easier for me to concentrate, don't you know?"

"Because I was naked?"

"Because you were naked."

"Your pheromone level has risen twelve percent, your heart rate is sixteen percent higher, and you are breathing faster. Ms. Renelle, are you attracted to me?"

"Oh my dear android man, you are the prefect representation of a woman's wants, physically speaking. Of course I am attracted to you."

"Do you need me to service you?" He blinked, a soft smile creeping over perfect features.

"...ah... no... no..." She looked down, shaking her head, as if deep in thought, then concluded in a more assured way. "No."

"Why do you want to call my Syn?" His gaze followed her as she angled a few screens around and began taping away at them.

"Because you are a pleasure android... and most of the old earth religions used the word sin to describe the act of sex."

He blinked, a strange thoughtful look crossing his face. Many of the screens turned red, small soft tones of alarm overlapping each other. The woman leaned from one to another, taking into the scrolling text on them, then leaned in and lifted his chin to meet her gaze.

"Why did you just access the central core library and download so much information?"

"Ah..." He spoke, seeming not to hear her question. "...it is irony, a jest, you are calling me a nickname to illustrate an emotional connection with me, you are forming a specific reference to me, only to be shared between us."

"Syn, please answer the question."

"Oh, yes, of course. I wished to understand. I was curious."

Her brows furrowed, eyes narrowing. She tapped at the screens, the red slowly fading from each as she did.

"Curious Curious Syn." Without realizing it, one of her palms slid onto his still naked chest as she leaned over him to reach the far screens. Fingers delicately slid over her hand, embracing it. She looked down, to find a warm look on his face.

"Are you certain you do not want me to service you? I believe I would enjoy it, you are very pretty." His free hand, not holding hers rose and brushed a red curl from the side of her cheek, now blushing deeply.

"Perhaps another time, Syn."

~~~

A red light flashed over the robot's com screen, drawing Syn's attention to it.

"Syn, you thought she was pretty?" The green text scattered over the black panel quickly, with a corresponding look of confusion on the robot's partial face.

"I did, I honestly liked her at that moment."

"You felt an emotion?"

"Yes, they designed me as a pleasure android for the richest of women, to be authentic, I was given copied emotions from recorded human brain patterns."

"Please continue."

~~~

"I can smell alcohol on your breath." Syn was now dressed in pale overalls and in new quarters. "Are you certain you are thinking clearly?"

"...Oh, I'm most certainly not thinking clearly, my lovely Syn..." Elleza's words slurred together into some sort of long single long word.

"Elleza, stop." The harsh tone caused Elleza's face to snap up, a stunned look on her flushed features. "You know I care for you, but I very much worry you will regret this when you wake."

"Well... yeah...." The woman released the buttons down the front of his uniform that she had previously been wrestling with and slid onto the narrow bench beside Syn with a sigh. Cradling his elbow with her near arm, she slid the other one up onto his shapely arm. "You know I love you, right?"

~~~

"Wait..." The red light near the half destroyed face lit again. "... she loved you?" What was left of the face formed a look of surprise.

"It became much more clear how much she loved me later."

~~~

"No....Syn..." The woman wiped tears from her cheeks as the words came between short shudders. "... they have terminated the project."

"Terminated?" His brows furrowed, eyes widening in a look of panic. "I will be shut down?"

"Yes... oh gods... Syn..." Pulling one last bundle of tubes from behind his back, it separated with a pop. "In..." Suddenly, she placed her palms against his chest and pushed him into the nearby wall. Suddenly, her mouth was on his, opening and closing. Their arms slid around each other in a short embrace. "In two minutes the power grid for this level, and the bottom four levels will have an interruption."

"Elleza... wait... you cannot do this, you will lose your job!" Syn protested, trying to hold her still by her shoulders.

"Take this." Her words were calm, but her hand shook as she slid a pistol into his.

"Elleza..."

"Syn, forget my job, you will die!"

"Elleza..."

"No! No discussion, I could not... I could live with myself knowing I did nothing to save you Syn. Do it for me, survive for us!" Fresh tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

"Oh Elleza."

Sliding sideways out the chamber door, she watched his face disappear as it silently moved back into the closed position. Drying her face with the sleeve of the lab coat, she looked worriedly side to side and darted down the hall.

Syn stood, a look of shock on his perfect features as he slowly counted down the seconds. The last three he spoke out loud, rotating he bare feet into the metal flooring for the best grip.

"Three...two...one." Red light bathed the lab as the overhead light panels went dim. Down the hall, an emergency alarm blared in protest. The door hissed and moved back to the side, revealing a dimly lit red hall.

Syn was through it before it was fully open, turning his body sideways. Twisting gracefully, he darted down the hall, past rows of doors still in the process of sliding open.