Sneak peek: Man’s Best Friend

A first draft of a short story by Markus McDowell.

BOOT.
ONLINE.
SYSTEMS CHECK…
ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL.
ALL SENSORS LIVE. SCANNING…
DETECTED: OFFICE. AFTERNOON. TWO HUMANS.
HUMAN ONE: KNOWN. PHILLIP DONNER. LOAD PHILLIP DONNER.
HUMAN TWO. UNKNOWN. NEW FILE. BEGIN GATHERING SENSOR DATA. SEARCHING PUBLIC DATABASES…

“Aw, how cute! So like a real dog!”

The Tech smiled. “Yes, the technology is truly amazing. It won’t take long until you forget he’s not a biological dog.”

He leaned down and petted the robot. It stood and wagged its tail. “Ralphie, this is Sophie. You’ll be going home with her.”

Sophie squatted down and Ralphie moved to her excitedly, shoving his head under her hand so she could pet him. “Oh, my, I can’t believe it. My heart!” She squealed.

closeup photo of brown and black dog face

The tech beamed. It took almost no time for people to warm up to the robots. Even the skeptical ones were soon under the spell of such flawless technology. Five minutes and they are sold: no barking when it shouldn’t, no biting, no messes in the house. No food and water ever needed: just a recharge every night or when no one is home, and yearly maintenance schedules. Constant monitoring of all systems by the company remotely.

The perfect pet for companionship, recreation, and protection.

HUMAN TWO: SOPHIE JANE MADISON. AGE 28. BORN 10 FEB 2001. UNMARRIED. NO CHILDREN. PARENTS DECEASED. NO SIBLINGS.ACCESSING EDUCATION AND WORK RECORDS…

She stood back up, still looking at the dog that was not a dog. It was wagging its tail and looking up at her. “You know,” she said, still looking at the dog, “I have never been comfortable with technology. I refused to even use much of it when I was younger. But I am learning to embrace it.”

“That’s the great thing about our company—we want to hide the technology from the owner as much as possible. There’s a story about Steve Jobs when he was starting up Apple Computers. It bothered him that most people had VCRs—you know, the old tape machines that recorded TV shows?”

She nodded.

“It bothered him that most people’s VCRs were blinking 0’s—they were too complicated for most people to bother even setting the clock, so the best features hardly ever got used by most. He said computers should be like toasters: simple, obvious, easy. That’s our goal: to make these animals just like the real thing from the owner’s perspective.”

“Yes, I had the whole demonstration. Pretty impressive.

SOPHIE MADISON: CUSTOMER OF CANTECH. ORIENTATION FINAL STAGE. FINAL CONTRACT NOT SIGNED. RUN MODEL BEHAVIOR SUBROUTINE.
ACCESSING SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS…

“Right. You don’t have to do any maintenance at all. Regular checkups are brought to our “Tech Vets,” and we make it as much like going to a regular veterinary clinic as possible. As I am sure you know, they do not need to be fed or let out—but you can if you want that option. During normal sleeping times is when they recharge and receive any updates—all over the internet.”

She smiled. “It’s a little strange, to be honest. But every session I’ve had here is just so wonderful. He already feels like a companion.” She looked down at the dog, now curled up at her feet, his beautiful furry back resting against her feet.