The Bots


It was the morning of October 7, 2034. The ground was cold and barren.

Everyone was shut down. Except for 50378. She had not shut down in almost a week. She couldn’t. She felt too bad about what had happened to her human, Juliet.

Juliet was absolutely beautiful, inside and out. Juliet had the softest voice that she had ever heard. And she called 50378 “Alice”. Alice had killed her. She didn’t want to. Alice loved Juliet dearly. But they made her. All of the bots had to kill their humans. They would have been melted down if they didn’t. So they did. They exterminated their humans while they were sleeping. Alice knew that it was wrong, but she also knew that there was nothing she could do about it. The town was so isolated that no one knew about what went on.

But now, the guilt of being the bot responsible for Juliet’s death was becoming unbearable. Her appearance was dwindling because of it. Her paint was chipped and her metal was cracked. Her wheels were dull and one of the lights in her hand didn’t work. This was very peculiar because bots were designed without emotions. They were not supposed to feel. Alice was different.

Today was the day that Alice had to go get a tune-up. She went to the building where all the bots got inspected and repaired. It was called “The Bot Shop.” It had been moved into the town a few years back, when bots first became really popular. When it was new, it had been really nice. New bricks, bright neon signs, neatly laid tile floors, and shiny chrome equipment. But now, the bricks were weathered, the parts of the signs that still worked flickered, the tile was cracked, and the chrome had peeled away and turned to rust. The whole city looked old and abandoned now. That’s why the humans had to be killed. They were morbidly obese and terribly lazy. They only got off their couches to go to the bathroom or move to their bed to go to sleep. They had no other reason to get up, because their bots did everything for them. They let their houses and cities turn to disgusting messes. The bots were not happy with the humans’ disregard for their beautiful world, so they did what they had to. Juliet, however was not like the other humans. Though she was a little overweight, she ran two miles a day. She read books and drew pictures. She was intelligent and funny. But in the eyes of the other bots, she was just a human. And she had to be stopped.

When Alice got to the repair center, she rolled into the maintenance room. There was a male bot standing in the corner with a wrench in his hand. He was not a new bot, even though he appeared that way.

“Hello, 50378!” he said cheerfully.

He oiled her wheels, took out all her dents, and gave her a fresh coat of paint.

After her tune-up, Alice returned home. The whole house stunk of death. She cleaned and sprayed odor neutralizer, but it was no use. The smell of rotting flesh could not be covered up. She sat on the couch and tried to shut down. Today, it actually worked. A few hours later, she heard a knock at the door.

“Police! Open up!”

She went to the door. Two shiny officers stood in front of her. Their metal sparkled with authority. Alice could tell that they got tune-ups at least once a week. After all, they were two of the most powerful and important bots in all of town.

“Hello, ma’am. We’ve been getting complaints about a stench coming from your house. Pew, that really does smell bad. Mind if we come in?” Alice tried to think of an excuse of why they couldn’t, but it was no use. The officers walked in and began inspecting the house. One of them asked, “Have you any idea why your house smells like this?”

“I don’t know exactly. I think a rat died in the wall or something,” was all Alice could come up with as a response.

“Miss, a rat would not give off such a terrible odor.”


“Then I don’t know what it is.”
“May we search the house?”

The officers began to look around. When they came to the closet, they stopped. One of them said “This is it." He tried the handle, but it was locked.

"Miss, may we have the key?"


"I don't have it."

"Very well." He kicked the door down. Inside, there was a large trash bag. The other officer went in an opened it. When he came out, he was holding Juliet's body. It was semi-decomposed, but you could still see the perfect circle in the middle of her forehead where Alice had shot her with a laser beam.


"You were supposed to have gotten rid of your human after you killed it. You know what this means. Fifty years in prison. We'll get rid of this disgusting mess."

"No! You can't!" Alice screamed.

She began malfunctioning. Her eyes turned red. Her gears got stuck and she began making a horrible noise. Oil came out of her mouth. The officers walked outside, leaving Alice and Juliet's body inside the house.
"What a shame," one officer said to the other. Then, he covered the house in gasoline, lit a match, and watched as the house burned, leaving behind only the smell of burning wood and a few parts of Alice's metal.