“Warning! Power level is at 60% high”.

He walked into the kitchen.

“Glucose… searching….” “Sugar found. 100%.”

He opened the cupboard and reached out for the small package that contained the sugar. He needed it to be used as “fuel” His large hands were not designed for handling small things, and the little pack fell from his hand on to the ground. He kneeled. He licked his hand, and touched on the ground so that the sugar would stick on it. He licked it off. No taste. Nothing. But still this was very important to him.

His radar picked up a small anthro lurking from behind the kitchen door. He looked up and saw a small child. A wingless griffin, he was Dana’s son. His fur was light colored, just like his mother, but his throat and chest were white. He was wearing his pyjamas-he had obviously gotten up from bed to catch a glimpse of this new creature that came to his home. He smiled at the child. Jimmy giggled and walked forward. “Mommy said that sugar is bad for your teeth!” Jimmy said. But he got no response. The weird machine was still licking the sugar off his hand. He watched him and giggled. Kids can find anything funny. “I can draw! You want me to draw for you?” the robot smiled and nodded. He watched as the kid drew shapes on a piece of paper. He smiled. He reminded him of his niece, Michelle.

“My mom says that machines don’t have a heart…” Jimmy said. This surprised the robot. “Do you want me to draw you one?” He nodded. The small child leaned forwards and clumsily; he drew a tiny red heart on his right chest. He then leaned backwards and admired his creation. “There you go! Now you have a heart! Just like the rest of us! Now people can love you!” He smiled and touched his new heart. Now he was just like everyone at last!

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My son… don’t leave me… please don’t’ go!” A mother is crying above her son’s coffin. She was crying, hoping that it was just a bad dream. Her son could hear her, but he could not speak. He was frozen. They put something inside of him-it made him look dead. “Mother! I’m not dead! Help me! I’m still alive! Get me out of here!” No one could hear him. He was screaming as his coffin was lowered underground. The dust been thrown onto him. Darkness… the weight crashing his chest. Suddenly, he heard voices. Finally! They realised their mistake! They’re here to take him out! But it was no relative. It was pain…

-----

Cleave “woke up”. He wasn’t actually sleeping. He doesn’t sleep. He might have visions some times. He activated his radar to see what “woke” him. He looked down and saw a little creature clinging on to his leg.

“Identifying creature… Creature Identified: Aetoides dilophus. Status: Infant. Undangerous.”

“Oh… that’s my son’s dilophodragon…” it was Dana. She had woken up early. “He found it in the garbish and kept him. Quite a cute company eh?”

Cleave looked down at the cute green creature that was clinging onto him. Obviously, it had difficulty identifying the “thing” it was clinging on to. It had no scent, yet it was moving. It finally gave up and flew up on a bare tree.

----------------

One month went by, and Cleave stayed with Dana all the time. There were a few attacks of machines at the village, but nothing the villagers couldn’t handle. And Cleave helped them a lot. But still, no one seemed to trust him. They all wanted to destroy him, or just see him leave their village. Cleave didn’t blame them. Most of those people lost their loved ones because of those machines. And even though he wasn’t one of them, he was a machine too. And that was enough for them.

-----

Dana was on her way to a meeting. The fighters of the village were gathering to plan on an attack against the machines. She didn’t want to leave her robot home alone (her son was at “school”) so she took him with her. She felt a little guilty, because they were going to plan on how to destroy his kind…

She knocked on an old brown wooden door. “Dana!” she called. Immediately, the door opened to let her in. At the door, a Razor was standing. “Hey Dana” he said, “It’s you we were waiting for. Now we’re ready to start”. His attention then turned to the robot standing behind her. “I’m afraid you’re gonna have to leave your eh… pet… outside!” He said and pulled her in. He then closed the door into Cleave’s face. Cleave tried to control his rage. He owed it to Dana. He turned around and saw children playing in a little square. When they saw him, they stopped and run towards him.

“What was that for?” Dana asked the Razor. “He’s a machine!” “I proved to you that he’s a nice guy!” “We don’t know that” The Razor answered as he let Dana into the meeting room. “It could be a trick. He might be a spy for the machines”. Dana shook her head. “No…” She looked outside the window, and she saw the robot playing with a bunch of little children. He didn’t seem threatening at all, and the children were enjoying it. “Look at him… how can you say that he is not alive?” “Maybe he was programmed to look alive! Come! We have to start planning”. Dana shook her head again, and closed the curtains.