The Truth About Robots (Androlibras) #ScienceFiction #Horror

Bone Machine
by CN James


A crowd of Haitian men stood over one of the Androlibras, looking down at it, obscuring what was going on. Then two of the men picked it up off the floor and carelessly plunked it down on the workstations that formed a sort of communal desk in the center of the room. Grayson could hear the men cheering. He watched as they raised their hands in victory.
One of the men stood with his back to the camera, and judging from the motions, it appeared as though he was trying to tug the head of the robot off. Someone handed him a knife, and Grayson could clearly see him cutting through the small tubes near the back of the neck. After the first tube was cut, the man repositioned himself, giving the camera a clear view. Grayson watched a white liquid gushed from the severed tube, as the man worked the knife against the second tube.
He cut it through and repositioned himself in front of the camera again. But Grayson could see just enough to know that the man was tugging and pulling at the head as the crowed encouraged him with an eerie sounding chant. The moment almost felt ritualistic, as if Grayson was watching some kind of documentary or had intruded on a private ceremony.
Finally, the man succeeded. Grayson watched as the man recoiled and took a few cautious steps, backing away from the Androlibra. At first, the crowd cheered and several men started dancing around the room. Then the mood shifted abruptly. The celebration stopped. The small mob went silent. The man with the Androlibra head finally moved out of the camera’s view, and there, in the middle of the room, the Androlibra slowly began to rise.