Servo 34:2
Servo 34:2
This is it folks, the LAST installment! On 1 March, it will be taken down in preparation for the release of Servo at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention.
Six days later, the filthy freight train pulled into Broken Bow. We anticipated having to make a jump for it, but were pleasantly surprised when it stopped. The sun was just coming up over the Great Plains; shining through the dusty haze of agriculture. Other than the fading clamor of the train finally coming to a stop, there was little noise in the sleepy town. I peered from a crack in the door, searching for any rail worker who might spot our disembarkation. The last thing we needed was to be caught and turned over to the authorities. I could imagine the surprise on their faces when we told them of our outlandish adventure in the Inner States. My biggest fear was Dad. He was an unlicensed bot, and bad things could happen to him if he was discovered. “Coast clear?” Otto said as he stood behind me.“Looks like it.”“Then let’s go. I wanna be home by lunch.” He grabbed the door handle and slid it open about three feet. I jumped down, scanning the area for people. There seemed no one about. Suz and Rory came to the door and I helped them out. Otto jumped out and the two of us assisted Dad in climbing down. He wore the clothes that disguised him when we first escaped. Even with my repairs, he wasn’t quite right. Once we got him home we could further fix his ails.We hurried along, leaving the remnants of town behind. Ever watchful for the authorities or some citizen that thought we were committing wrongdoing. Grandma and Grandpa’s farm was roughly five miles away and we couldn’t get there fast enough. Dad was doing his best to hurry, but the bullets had damaged some of the servos and actuators in his legs. The rest of us packed tightly around him, attempting to shield him from curious eyes. The journey took over an hour. As we finally turned onto the long dusty driveway, I was relieved to see the old farm house still standing. All around tall fields of corn stretched skyward. The drought was finally over. I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into a sweet juicy ear of corn so expertly prepared by Grandma. The air was calm, hardly even a bird chirping as we walked the long drive. “It’s good to be home,” Rory said, trudging along. “I’m so tired I could sleep for a week!”“Me too,” Suz replied.“When we get there, I’ll call my house…Oh, I’m gonna be in such trouble!” Otto added.“I’ll try to help you out on that, Otto,” Dad stopped for a moment to rest. “You’re an adult and can do what you want. Granted you might’ve wanted to tell your parents first.”“We didn’t tell Grandma and Grandpa,” Rory piped up. “Are we gonna get in trouble?”Dad looked at Rory. “Pretty sure all of us are going to get a firm talking to.”“That equates to,” Suz said, “all of us getting in trouble.”“Even you, Dad?” Rory replied.“Yes, even me. But know that it will be worth it since we stopped another war.” He lifted his head slightly and carried on, the rest of us doing our best to help him along. As we neared the farmhouse, the front door opened and Grandpa stepped out. “My, God, where have you been?” The old man hurried down the steps.“We went to the Inner States to rescue Suz and stop a war,” I announced, “Dad killed all the battle bots.”“What?”“Abe,” said Dad in a tired tone. “Servidyne had gone totally corrupt. They were building battle bots to try and take over again.”“Why? How?”“I think the powers-that-be at Servidyne wanted more and more money. Greed overcame them and they forgot just how beautiful of a world they’d made. The bots were programmed with malicious code, overriding Asimov’s laws.”“We watched a bot hurt a human,” Suz added. “It was horrible.”“Oh, dear, not good. How did you stop them?”“While working at Servidyne, I had a feeling something like that was going to happen, so I wrote a virus program which would infect every bot carrying the bad code and render them inoperable. When Jonah and Rory built me, and put in the data sticks, they uploaded me with the virus.”“How did it not affect you?”“My programming was pure, the virus had no reason to attack. But it made me a carrier, so I could infect those who did. The hardest part was getting into Servidyne to upload it to the mainframe. Once I did that, all of the battle bots and some of the service bots died.”“And you think that’s the reason someone killed you?”“Fairly confident.”“Will the Inner State stabilize? Or will there be war coming to us?”“I think there’s enough stability it should give the Inner States time to sort everything out and get rid of those who caused this problem. The virus not only infected the cores, but every sub-system. There’s no way they can fix the bots, all have to be destroyed and new ones built. I can’t see Servidyne being able to wage war anytime soon.”“That’ll cost billions!”Dad nodded. “Exactly. And the mainframe will have to be rebuilt too.”“That’ll take years.”“I hope so.”I glanced up to see the front door opening, Grandma appeared. “Children!” she cried, rushing to our sides. “Where on earth have you been?”“Long story, Grandma,” I replied. “But we’re so glad to be home.”“I’ll have to make more for supper, I wasn’t expecting you.”“Grandma, you could make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner and I’d be happy.”She kissed me on the top of the head. “We can do better than that.”“Jonah!” a male vice called from a distance. “Jonah! Jonah!”I looked toward the field bordering the two properties and saw Dagwood on a tractor. He seemed to be going at top speed, every bump nearly sending him flying out of the seat. A cloud of dust billowed from behind the huge churning wheels.“Jonah!” He was driving like a mad man. “Jonah!”The tractor crossed the empty field and roared toward us. I hoped he had brakes on the thing. Grandpa had told me that tractor’s didn’t have very good brakes and weren’t good at stopping on hills. Fortunately we were standing on level ground.“Jonah!” Dagwood jammed the machine into a lower gear, grinding it in the process. Within three yards, he’d stopped and leaped from the seat. “Jonah!” The next thing I remember, I was tackled and embraced by my bear of a friend.“Jonah! You’re home!”I felt his grip starting to crunch my spine, my breath leaving me.“You’re home! You’re home! You’re home!” It was at that very moment, in the near instance of blacking out, I realized how much I missed my simple-minded best friend. He’d always been there for me, through thick and thin; his big smile and happy-go-lucky personality making the worst situation bearable. There is no other friend on this earth I’d cherish more than Dagwood Hogg.I was home, yes, home.
The End.
This is it folks, the LAST installment! On 1 March, it will be taken down in preparation for the release of Servo at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention.
Six days later, the filthy freight train pulled into Broken Bow. We anticipated having to make a jump for it, but were pleasantly surprised when it stopped. The sun was just coming up over the Great Plains; shining through the dusty haze of agriculture. Other than the fading clamor of the train finally coming to a stop, there was little noise in the sleepy town. I peered from a crack in the door, searching for any rail worker who might spot our disembarkation. The last thing we needed was to be caught and turned over to the authorities. I could imagine the surprise on their faces when we told them of our outlandish adventure in the Inner States. My biggest fear was Dad. He was an unlicensed bot, and bad things could happen to him if he was discovered. “Coast clear?” Otto said as he stood behind me.“Looks like it.”“Then let’s go. I wanna be home by lunch.” He grabbed the door handle and slid it open about three feet. I jumped down, scanning the area for people. There seemed no one about. Suz and Rory came to the door and I helped them out. Otto jumped out and the two of us assisted Dad in climbing down. He wore the clothes that disguised him when we first escaped. Even with my repairs, he wasn’t quite right. Once we got him home we could further fix his ails.We hurried along, leaving the remnants of town behind. Ever watchful for the authorities or some citizen that thought we were committing wrongdoing. Grandma and Grandpa’s farm was roughly five miles away and we couldn’t get there fast enough. Dad was doing his best to hurry, but the bullets had damaged some of the servos and actuators in his legs. The rest of us packed tightly around him, attempting to shield him from curious eyes. The journey took over an hour. As we finally turned onto the long dusty driveway, I was relieved to see the old farm house still standing. All around tall fields of corn stretched skyward. The drought was finally over. I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into a sweet juicy ear of corn so expertly prepared by Grandma. The air was calm, hardly even a bird chirping as we walked the long drive. “It’s good to be home,” Rory said, trudging along. “I’m so tired I could sleep for a week!”“Me too,” Suz replied.“When we get there, I’ll call my house…Oh, I’m gonna be in such trouble!” Otto added.“I’ll try to help you out on that, Otto,” Dad stopped for a moment to rest. “You’re an adult and can do what you want. Granted you might’ve wanted to tell your parents first.”“We didn’t tell Grandma and Grandpa,” Rory piped up. “Are we gonna get in trouble?”Dad looked at Rory. “Pretty sure all of us are going to get a firm talking to.”“That equates to,” Suz said, “all of us getting in trouble.”“Even you, Dad?” Rory replied.“Yes, even me. But know that it will be worth it since we stopped another war.” He lifted his head slightly and carried on, the rest of us doing our best to help him along. As we neared the farmhouse, the front door opened and Grandpa stepped out. “My, God, where have you been?” The old man hurried down the steps.“We went to the Inner States to rescue Suz and stop a war,” I announced, “Dad killed all the battle bots.”“What?”“Abe,” said Dad in a tired tone. “Servidyne had gone totally corrupt. They were building battle bots to try and take over again.”“Why? How?”“I think the powers-that-be at Servidyne wanted more and more money. Greed overcame them and they forgot just how beautiful of a world they’d made. The bots were programmed with malicious code, overriding Asimov’s laws.”“We watched a bot hurt a human,” Suz added. “It was horrible.”“Oh, dear, not good. How did you stop them?”“While working at Servidyne, I had a feeling something like that was going to happen, so I wrote a virus program which would infect every bot carrying the bad code and render them inoperable. When Jonah and Rory built me, and put in the data sticks, they uploaded me with the virus.”“How did it not affect you?”“My programming was pure, the virus had no reason to attack. But it made me a carrier, so I could infect those who did. The hardest part was getting into Servidyne to upload it to the mainframe. Once I did that, all of the battle bots and some of the service bots died.”“And you think that’s the reason someone killed you?”“Fairly confident.”“Will the Inner State stabilize? Or will there be war coming to us?”“I think there’s enough stability it should give the Inner States time to sort everything out and get rid of those who caused this problem. The virus not only infected the cores, but every sub-system. There’s no way they can fix the bots, all have to be destroyed and new ones built. I can’t see Servidyne being able to wage war anytime soon.”“That’ll cost billions!”Dad nodded. “Exactly. And the mainframe will have to be rebuilt too.”“That’ll take years.”“I hope so.”I glanced up to see the front door opening, Grandma appeared. “Children!” she cried, rushing to our sides. “Where on earth have you been?”“Long story, Grandma,” I replied. “But we’re so glad to be home.”“I’ll have to make more for supper, I wasn’t expecting you.”“Grandma, you could make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner and I’d be happy.”She kissed me on the top of the head. “We can do better than that.”“Jonah!” a male vice called from a distance. “Jonah! Jonah!”I looked toward the field bordering the two properties and saw Dagwood on a tractor. He seemed to be going at top speed, every bump nearly sending him flying out of the seat. A cloud of dust billowed from behind the huge churning wheels.“Jonah!” He was driving like a mad man. “Jonah!”The tractor crossed the empty field and roared toward us. I hoped he had brakes on the thing. Grandpa had told me that tractor’s didn’t have very good brakes and weren’t good at stopping on hills. Fortunately we were standing on level ground.“Jonah!” Dagwood jammed the machine into a lower gear, grinding it in the process. Within three yards, he’d stopped and leaped from the seat. “Jonah!” The next thing I remember, I was tackled and embraced by my bear of a friend.“Jonah! You’re home!”I felt his grip starting to crunch my spine, my breath leaving me.“You’re home! You’re home! You’re home!” It was at that very moment, in the near instance of blacking out, I realized how much I missed my simple-minded best friend. He’d always been there for me, through thick and thin; his big smile and happy-go-lucky personality making the worst situation bearable. There is no other friend on this earth I’d cherish more than Dagwood Hogg.I was home, yes, home.
The End.
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