Teddy Bot                 by: Paul G Jutras

 

"Mom, can I please have this Teddy bear?" Charlie looked at his mother with loving eyes. "It’s just what I need."

"Aren’t you a little old for teddy bears?" His mother asked as he continued to stare. She let out a sigh and reached into her purse for some money. Charlie quickly snatched it, ran into the store and purchased the bear.

As soon as Charlie got home, he took the teddy bear downstairs to his basement work room and placed it on his work bench. "Here we are." He sliced open its stomach and procceded to place in some micro chips he took from a computer he disassembled. He watched as the glassy brown eyes suddenly glowed red.

"That’s it." Charlie declared as the Teddy bot stood up, lumbered up to him. It bent over, picked up a glass of juice between its paws and handed it to Charlie. Before he could take it; however, the glass dropped and smashed on the ground. "Damn!"

Swinging his arm, the bear was knocked over off the bench and into a trash can. Charlie then went and laid on the couch he put down there. "Back to the drawing board, he muttered as he looked at the shelves filled with broken dolls. Each with some kind of circuitry in them.

"So much for a prototype robot butler." He muttered as he noticed a shadow on the wall. Rolling over, he notice that Teddy Bot was standing on the work bench. "What are you doing there? Is your circuits still switched on?"

The teddy bot’s eyes glowed as its head moved around the room. It appeared to be in some kind of scan mode. "Processing input." A almost human voice came out of the bear. "You appear to have a thing for doing damage to your play things."

"What is this?" Charlie couldn’t help but feeling a bit frightened. He got up and walked over to Teddy Bot when the sound of a drill got his attentioned. He looked down to see a rag doll with a drill step up to him. "Nooooooooooo!" Was all he could scream as the doll started to drill into Charlie’s leg.

"Back off!" Charlie screamed as he collapsed to the ground. With blood draining from his leg, he kicked the doll against the wall. "Th- This can’t be happening,"

"But it can, Charlie, my boy." The voice suddenly became familiar. The voice of his dad, who had died by accident at the hands of one of his son’s inventions a few years back. "You played with the machines, now the machines will play with you."

A pair of cords shot out of a series of machines on the floor. Wrapping around Charlie’s wrists and ankles, they tied him down. Teddy Bot then climbed up on Charlie’s chest with the same knife used on him. "Time to operate." He chuckled.

About supper time, Charlie’s mom went down into the basement. "Charlie, your dinner is getting cold." She called into the darkness. As she reached over and flicked the light switch, she let out a scream in horror. Laying against the wall like a broken puppet was Charlie. One eye replaced by a robotic one, his shaved head shimmered with a metallic look and one hand replace with a robotic claw.

"Oh My God!" She screamed as Charlie rose to his feet. "Program computer. Butler 2000 waiting first assignment."

 

THE END

 

© 2000
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