they hung him from metal ropes, lowering him down on the ground. his feet reached out touching the soft mat beneath as he stood there, confused.
thud
the first object hit him, roughly across the side. He wobbled slightly, and looked over to the thrower. The mans grin widened, he said “Finally, looks like he’s alive”. The man grabbed a second ball, throwing it roughly, this time right on the face.
he stumbled back more roughly this time, the shock of the hit stopping him for a second. As he was failing to balance, he heard them begin to laugh. “Did you record that?” the assailant said, almost mockingly. He looked around, seeing that behind him was a second man holding a camera. Suddenly, a third ball hit his back. He stumbled forward, almost hitting the camera-man, who in turn fell on his back.
“Stupid robot.” the camera-man got up, pushing him back, making him stumble, his feet sliding slightly as he struggled to stay up-right. “You’d think he’d learn” the other man spoke contemptuously as he threw another ball, lighter this time, but at the legs. As he tried to dodge, his foot got caught on the ball, and the robot fell flat on his face on the soft safety mat to the response of loud laughter.
“Look at him, stupid little thing.” they where both laughing now, the robot tried to get up, slipping back and forth on the ball each time. Each slip returned a louder laugh, they’re mocking voices entering his circuitry, staying there in a deep-seated virtual neuron.
He slowed down now. Reaching up, to the hooks on his back holding the metal ropes in place. He took one out, then the second. They where laughing too much to care, it looked like yet another mistake, the clueless robot fumbling his arms. His arms lifted, slowly he got onto his knees, lifting his arms out to the sides as if to say do it again, I dare you.
The camera-man laughed. “Is he supposed to be doing that? Looks silly.”
The assailant responded. “Must be a bug in the program, let me reset him and we can get a few more shots in.”
The assailant walked up the robot, reaching for the power switch on his lower back. As he was about to press it, he suddenly felt resistance. That’s when he noticed the robotic claw on his shoulder. It didn’t hurt, but it gripped his shoulder tightly, and as the man began to struggle, trying to wriggle out of the grip, he ended up hurting himself.
The camera-man began to film as the man started to shout. “This is amazing content, how are you doing this?”
“This isn’t a joke help me.”
“Great line, can you say it with a little bit more sincerity?”
“The robot won’t let me go!”
The camera man stopped then, as he saw something strange, at least that’s what we thought analysing the footage and the crime scene. The robots other hand pointed to the camera-man, then the footage stopped recording.
When we arrived, initially nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The robot was by itself in that room, bouncing dodgeballs back and forth across a wall, slowly, methodically, catching and throwing, catching and throwing, it’s batteries draining with each throw, making it slower and lighter, like an office toy, repeating the same movement constantly.
We wouldn’t have known anything was wrong until we checked the charging area, and worked out what had happened with the hooks and ropes on the walls, and the two men.
Where did it even learn such cruelty from?