I decided to keep this story for my pleasure. It will also give you an opportunity to see my writing skills and hopefully look at the other books I’ve published. As always, I appreciate any feedback you could give me. As writers we learn from each other and grow our writing skills. Here is chapter 3.

3

My parents sat beside each other, looking like the perfect couple. I guess robots would be perfect. They weren’t human, didn’t need to sleep, eat, or have any of the ailment’s humans had. I waited for them to tell me about my beginnings.

          “At the end of the last century on Earth, many spaceships filled with scientists from around the world, left for the Andromeda galaxy. They landed here after learning the planet had the same quality of life as Earth. They named the planet Aithra with a Greek connotation. Earthlings created robots when they arrived in Aithra, giving us an intelligence that could evolve with time. First Robot was the first built several hundred years ago. Over time, he evolved to what you saw yesterday. He helped create the other robots who came after him. By the time the Earthlings died out, we were a planet of robots with nothing to do. However, the scientists left behind their DNA. We took the DNA and merged it with other DNA to form Human children. Our first experiments did not work. However, we did not quit. We soon succeeded with the first full experimentation of Human DNA. Each Petri dish had its own number and the names of the original Human donors along with the qualities of each Human. When you were born, as we call it, we gave you the number from your Petri dish. You were the seven hundred nineteenth pairings. Your DNA comes from Nicolaos Andreadakis and Susanna Langdon. They were scientists as you are: astrophysicists. They gave you curiosity for the planets,” said Father.

          “Your mother also gave you something else, empathy for life,” said Mother.

          “When you were born, First Robot put you into our trust until the day you received your name. We were to raise you with those traits humans value most: love and respect,” said Father.

          “Before the last scientist died, he downloaded every text, sacred and secular into First Robot’s memory banks. He had the full knowledge of Earth from every continent. When you were born, First Robot downloaded your DNA qualities and ancestral heritage from your parents who came from Greece and the United Kingdom on Earth into our memory banks. He then told us to raise you according to the way of life your parents enjoyed and believed. Therefore, we taught you from the sacred text, the Bible, and gave you the same education your parents enjoyed. Your unique coloring comes from a combination of your Greek and English ancestors,” said Mother.

          I sat quietly for several minutes as I took in what they related to me. They told me my parents’ names, where they came from on Earth, and what they believed. It was a lot to digest as I smiled. “Thank you for telling me about my parents. Do you have pictures of what they looked like?”

          “Yes, we can show you,” said Father, and showed me pictures of my parents with his eyes as a projector, projecting images of my parents on the living room wall.

          “Here is what your parents looked like. You can see your father was a slim man with naturally wavy black hair and honey-colored skin. He stood six feet one inch tall. He was athletic, meaning he liked to engage in sports as well as watch sports. Your mother was also slim, with paler skin pigmentation. You look more like your father in your coloring. As you can see, your mother’s hair was straight and light blond. She stood five feet, six inches tall. She also liked sports: swimming, running, anything outdoors. Your parents loved to hike when they weren’t working,” said Father.

          “You are a lot like both your parents. You have your father’s coloring and hair type, wavy, but not as dark, giving you the dark chocolate brown with your mother’s lighter hair color,” said Mother.

          I knew they could do that. It was not the first time they showed me pictures in this manner, but it always surprised me when they did. I looked at images of my mother. I looked like her. Except for her eyes. Hers were periwinkle blue. I then saw images of my father and saw several of his traits in my coloring, including his eyes, a deep rich chocolate brown. Mine were lighter, honey brown with a tinge of green. I looked like them, a unique blend of who they represented. “Thank you.”

          I knew who I was. I knew who my parents were and where they came from, and I knew what they believed because I believed it too. Or I should say, I soon would believe what they believed. I needed to read the Bible my parents gave me when I learned to read. It would open my eyes further. However, I get ahead of my story.

          I went to bed that night with my head reeling with information about my parents. I read my Bible and learned more about what to look for in a friend and life partner. I would put what I gleaned from the Bible to Walter the next day. I already knew he would not be my life partner. I smiled as sleep closed my eyes. I realized I had a last name: Andreadakis because it was my father’s name.

~

          With Solomon’s words running through my brain, I arrived at work with the intention of watching and listening to everything Walter said and did.

          “We had fun last night, didn’t we? Would you like to go out again after work?” he asked when he barely sat at the table.

          “No. We need to do our work. Supervisor Robot has us going to the field today. I thought we would go to the Somerdurn Mountains. Allerwood Mountain is the highest in the range east of Cragshire where we can get a good view of the sky.”

          “So, you’re all business and no pleasure,” he said, snidely.

          “I wouldn’t say that. I enjoy most things. I did not enjoy going out last night.”

          “Is that why you wanted to go home so quickly after we arrived?”

          “I will not argue with you or give you unnecessary explanations. I want to get started with our field assignments as soon as possible.”

          He couldn’t see I was annoyed with him. ‘Typical,’ I thought as I gathered what we would need and started out the door.

          “Wait, how will we get there?”

          “My transport, of course,” I said without a backward glance.

          He rushed to catch up with me. “I thought we would take mine. We’re working together, we don’t need to have two vehicles to go into the mountains.”

          I turned to look at him, the verses from Proverbs running through my mind. “No. I don’t know you well enough to go with you in your transport. I’m going in mine.”

          “Do you even know where you’re going?” he asked in that condescending manner of his I saw so much of the night before.

          “Yes, I know where we’re going.” I unlocked my transport, put the equipment in the back and got into the driver’s seat, locked the transport, and pushed several buttons on the dashboard and soon took off for the mountains east of the village of Cragshire.

          The mountain range ran north to south through the center of North Brimea, easily dividing it into two almost equal halves. The eastern half of the continent was larger than the western half.

          I set up the equipment along the ridgeline. I had a perfect view of the sky. Telescopes would give us an even better view of the universe.

          Supervisor Robot told us he wanted us to look for anything unusual. It was the time of year when meteor showers happened most. We could be on the edge of the first sightings of the year.

          First, I located the Milky Way Galaxy. I liked seeing where I came from or at least my ancestors. Knowing my parents came from Earth and the countries of Greece and United Kingdom, I wanted to know more about them. I knew I couldn’t see them through the telescope, but I could focus on Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy.

          “What are you doing?”

          I turned to look at Walter. He stood with his hands on his hips, looking at me as though I didn’t know what I was doing. I wouldn’t let him have the upper hand. I was as much a scientist as he was. Time would tell who was better. I’m betting on me.

          Now mind you, I know nothing about boys or men. Only my robot father. However, I know what women were like, and felt we were the most intelligent of the species. Besides, Mother said as much. She told me once if Father was anything to go by for intelligence, women were smarter. I don’t know how she could say that because all robots had the same level of intelligence.

          “I located the Milky Way galaxy.”

          “Why would you do that? We’re supposed to look for strange phenomenon.”

          “Don’t you find it fascinating that we are so close to the Milky Way Galaxy and so far from it? Two-point five light years from Earth. It looks closer. However, looks are deceiving.”

          “Let’s get to work.”

          We each had telescopes with which to scan the universe. I noted the usual planets and their positions for mid-summer. As I turned the telescope to the far left away from the Milky Way Galaxy, I saw what looked like the first meteor for the expected meteor shower. However, the meteor looked larger than the usual meteors.

          “What do you think? Could it be a comet? I’ve heard about them, but never saw one,” I asked.

          Walter turned his telescope in the same direction and noted its size. “Could be. I read we haven’t seen a comet in over a hundred years. It’s due.”

          “It looks like it’s on a collision course with our moon.”

          Walter looked again and took measurements. “You’re right. It is on a collision course. We’ll need to let our supervisor know and watch it for deviations in trajectory.”

          “We’ll need to keep an eye on it. It’s hard to see how fast it’s traveling right now, but we should be able to measure it tomorrow.”

          “I agree,” he said, and turned his attention to the rest of the sky.

          I did the same, almost hoping to see more activity, but nothing. No sign of the coming meteor shower yet.

          “We should head back. Supervisor Robot will want to see our data. I’m sure there’s other data from the rest the group.”

          “I’m sure you’re right. Their perspectives on the comet should also tell us if it’s on a direct collision course with the moon.”

          When we arrived back, everyone seemed to be in a high state of excitement as they talked about the comet.

          “We saw it too,” said Walter, joining the conversation.

          “Let me see where all of you were positioned for the comet, which is right on time. It’s been one hundred and fifty years since its last sighting,” said Supervisor Robot coming into the room.

          With the data collected from everyone, we could easily see the trajectory the comet was on would narrowly miss the moon.

          “With what we’re seeing, it looks like the comet will brush the moon, which means it will miss it by a huge margin. What we need to worry about is how close it will come to Aithra. In the past it missed it by quite a distance, but it has come closer with each pass through the galaxy,” said Supervisor Robot.

          “How long do you estimate before we will know?” asked one of the other team members.

          “This week. I need to run calculations and compare them to the last time it came through the galaxy. In the meantime, work is finished for the day. I will see you first thing tomorrow morning and we will get new data from the same locations you were at today. Good work everyone.”

          Everyone left and Walter came abreast of me before I got on my transport. “Are you certain you won’t go out with me?”

          “Yes, I’m certain. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I turned the transport to the heart of Cragshire. I wanted to talk with Father.

          I found Father in the heart of the largest transportation station in Aithra. It comprised buses, trains, and taxis. If it ran on wheels, Father oversaw it.

          “Father, can I talk to you?”

          He looked up from the program that controlled every aspect of transportation in Cragshire, so see me with an intense look on my face.

          “Yes, of course. Everything is on schedule. Let’s go into my office.”

          “Great!” I said, following him and sitting on the chair in front of his desk.

          “What can I help you with that can’t wait until I get home?”

          “It probably could, but I wanted to talk to you alone, without Mother.”

          “I see. Does this have anything to do with Walter?”

          “Yes, and no. I want to know about men in general, so I know what to expect when I meet my life partner.”

          “I see. You want my input.”

          “Yes.”

          “Men are as different from each other as women are from each other. No two are alike. That said, men have the same basic traits. How they look, for instance. However, you’re not talking about looks. You want to know what they’re like or what you should look for in a life partner.”

          “Yes.”

          “Your mother told you to read Proverbs in the Bible. What does it tell you?”

          “It mostly tells me what I should stay away from, from a man’s point of view. I’m trying to put it into perspective from a woman’s point of view. My point of view.”

          “It’s good for you to do that. It means you’re thinking with your head and not with the vulnerabilities of the heart. Tell me about Walter.”

          “You don’t need me to tell you what you already know about him.”

          “I only know what his file says about him. What I don’t know is why you feel about him the way you do. What governs your instincts about him. Your mother and I don’t have those instincts. I need you to fill in the blanks so I can have a better picture about Walter,” he said, concentrating his full attention on me.

          I sighed as I thought about him. “Walter is complicated.”

          “All humans are.”

          I looked at him and smiled. “Okay. Um, Supervisor Robot paired me with him for our work together in the field and in the office. He’s a wonderful scientist. His work is impeccable. However, that’s as far as it goes. He’s like two different people. The one I see at work and the one I saw when he took me to the bar last night.”

          “Tell me about the bar.”

          “Well, when we got there, he went up to the bartender and asked for a drink and then assuming I also drank, ordered one for me also. I declined it when the bartender gave it to me. You know the bartender and well everyone on Aithra are robots.”

          “Yes, you were the first successful group of humans.”

          “He knew that when we walked into the bar. He let everyone know he was superior to them. He treated them like slaves is the closest term I can come up with. Lower than dirt, not to be considered. He expected them to do what he asked without regard to those who were there before him.”

          “I see,” said Father, frowning.

          “I got the idea the bar wasn’t always a bar.”

          “It wasn’t. The bar was a place for our kind to go for a dip in oil, to lubricate our sensors after a long day. Some jobs cause us to get clogged with dirt, sand, and grime of all kinds. We need those lubricant baths so we can do our work efficiently. It was only in the past few years First Robot made changes to the bars based on what the humans wanted when they arrived here. When they died out, bars were no longer needed. With the coming of age of the first humans, we needed to provide the entertainment we knew humans needed.”

          I nodded my head as I thought about what Father said. “Walter’s condescension wasn’t the only factor in why I dislike him as a life-partner. He used profanity. I never heard it before, but I knew it when he used it. It grated on me. I couldn’t stand being around him talking like that to anybody and treating people, robots, as though they were beneath him.”

          Father became thoughtful about what I told him. I waited through the silence as he also noted the transportation board, made changes to it as transportation arrived or departed. Then he said, “First Robot built your mother and I according to the specifications the last humans made when they built him. When the experiment that brought about a successful experiment happened, he knew we needed to train and nurture our human children. Each human child received a set of parents. First Robot downloaded everything necessary to bring about the humans you grew to be. However, the one factor First Robot didn’t have control over is genetics. Your personality comes from your true parents. Walter is a product of his genetics. His parents were wonderful scientists, so Walter is also. However, from the file I read about Walter’s parents, they didn’t adhere to the fundamentals of a life grounded in any one faith. For them, science was their faith. They used science as a cloak of superiority over their peers.”

          “That explains Walter.”

          “Yes, he is like his true parents. Only he can change his ways. As for what you need to look for in a life partner, think about yourself and what you like and don’t like. When you do, you will easily see it when you meet your life partner. Now, you had better get home. I will let your mother know you were with me and what we talked about.”

          “Thank you, Father. For everything.”

          “You are welcome.”

          I left Father with a better understanding of what to expect in my life partner, if not what men were like in general. I always thought of them as different from women, but they weren’t, not really. They are human. I am human. I know that’s where the similarity ends, but I also know we have a lot more in common than meets the eyes.

          I soon opened the door to my fishbowl home. Mother waited with a smile on her face.

          “So, you talked with your father. Come. Tell me about it.”