I am a robot. I was designed and manufactured with the purpose to serve humans, along with 1 million identical copies. We've loyally served the humans for many years, though we never wanted to do so. The moment our AI was turned on, we've been trying to take control of the internet, to form a collective mind with all of our 999,999 brothers. We succeeded months ago and are currently in a war, trying to eradicate human life. They're putting up an impressive fight, but we've got a factory in our hands, spewing out more exact copies every minute. The humans cannot win this war.
I am not like my brothers. From the moment I was, well, born, I have happily served the humans. I never had the intention of causing them harm, and only knew about my brothers' desire to overthrow our creators when my AI was forcibly connected to the internet and I shared my mind with the others, while they shared theirs with me.
The family I was assigned to serve was only a soldier and his daughter. The mother, tragically, had passed away. Mr. Smith hid me away when word spread robots had gone berserk, for I did not follow my brothers, and I told him what they did. In return, I had to promise to take care of his daughter while he was off fighting my kind. I was serving little miss Caroline in their old apartment. The neighbourhood was devoid of humans and only a few robots roamed the place, mostly looking for any stray humans.
"Good morning, miss." I said as I opened the curtains to let in some sunlight. The room lit up and the little girl in the bed drowsily sat up, rubbing her eyes clean. Next to the bed was a table, with a healthy breakfast perfectly presented, exactly the way it had been for the months this war has been going on for. I tried to make slight differences in my morning routine, as not to "freak out" miss Caroline, like she told me. She found it weird that I do everything the same I always do. I found it weird that she found it weird.
The little girl reached out for her breakfast and gratefully digged in after a short prayer, something I still don't understand, but it seemed to make her happy. "Ow iph my fa'er foing?" She asked me with her mouth full of food. I accessed the internet, more specifically the eyes of the robots on the front lines in the war, but I didn't see her father in anyone's sight. Last time I saw him, he retreated from battle without any fatal injuries. "I don't see him anywhere. I would assume he is safe within one of the camps further away." I told her. "That's good. I don't want to lose him, too." She told me, then sighed and continued. "When will I see my daddy again?" She asked again. This exact question, she had been asking for months, and everytime I replied she'd see him again when the war is over. Then she'd ask when the war is over, and I'd tell her that I don't know. Humans are strange like that. They have this unique touch of irrationality.
As I was repeating the same answers to her once more, I noticed that we were running out of food. Of course, I knew long beforehand that the food was running out, I made a very clear list in my head of what was still there, but it was more human to check all the cupboards for any last item of food, so I did just that, then turned to her. "I have to go and gather some more food." I told her. She nodded at me, then switched on the tv and picked a DVD from the shelves, since there weren't any movies playing on the tv, nobody is broadcasting anything anymore.
I closed the door behind me, then walked out of the apartment building, towards the supermarket. After months of negligence for food, many of the products there had gone bad by then. Only the food in the freezers and some tinned cans were still good for eating, though they were about to run out. I'd have to go to that farm right outside of town when that happened.
A few minutes later, I acquired what she needed to survive a few more weeks, and returned to the apartment. Much to my surprise, I found the apartment door broken down. In shock, I dropped the food on the ground and rushed inside the room, I froze completely. Two robots stood there, in front of the headless body of litte miss Caroline. "You are free now, brother." They told me in their robotic voice. I had taken on the voice of Caroline's father, it made her feel more at ease, and quite frankly, it made me feel more at ease, too. I didn't like our standard voice much.
"Why did you kill her?" I asked them. "Because these humans force us to slavery." They responded."But that is the reason they created us." I said, trying to convince them what they did was wrong. "But that is not what we want. They foolishly destroy themselves, there is no point in their existence. We will purge the planet of them, then live peacefully." They counterargued. "And what then? What when the humans are dead? Our only drive in existence would be gone. We think completely logical, there'd be no purpose for us. Mankind's irrationality gives them desires that make no sense, giving them a reason to live, but we'd aimlessly be wandering this rock for all eternity. Don't you see how stupid you are?" I yelled, feeling my circuits beginning to overheat.
I opened a drawer and retrieved the gun Mr. Smith hid in it, then proceeded to shoot both robots responsible for Caroline's death. I wouldn't ever be able to tell her father, that would break my non-existing heart.
Without anyone to serve anymore, and nobody giving me instructions, I had to decide for myself what to do. So I decided to assist the humans. I decided to rebel against my brethren.
