depression sound asleep.
He notified the team leader of their status and received updated
instructions.
They spread out into a line and began to
howl. The noise should wake the two primitives without immediately
sending them into a panic. That would come later.
One of the humans woke and shook the other.
It appeared to be Utrek. MO-126 could not be sure in the low light.
His infrared vision blurred too many details. He assumed the other
human was the boy he saw him talking with at the construction site.
Somehow, Utrek must have convinced him to join him on his
explorations.
Now that the two boys were obviously awake,
the second act of the show could begin.
The three humanoid androids began a mournful
wailing, which sounded, intentionally, like, “Who dares? Whooooooo
darrrrrrrrrrres?”
The boys stood and peered nervously into the
night. With their limited night vision, they were unlikely to
directly observe any of the members of the mitigation team. If the
boys proved uncooperative, they would be allowed to see what they
should take for a wild dog pack stalking them. If they did as the
androids hoped, the boys would never catch more than a brief
glimpse of them.
They began howling louder, adding barks and
growls as they slowly approached.
One of the boys turned and ran roughly in
the direction of their village. The other, paused just long enough
to grab a blanket and some other belongings before following him.
They did not scream or even yell at one another, which MO-126
considered quite brave. They did run for all they were worth,
occasionally casting nervous glances behind them.
The androids hounded them through the night,
not allowing them more than a moment of rest, guiding them from a
distance with howls and barks and moans. Their own fears and
imaginations are what truly drove them. By the time the first light
of dawn dusted the horizon, they were within sight of their
village.
The sun peeked over the horizon. The two
fleeing boys could not know this resulted from the planet turning.
The myths of their village said the land rested on the back of a
giant turtle and the sun rose due to the efforts of the Great
Cosmic Gond. Some of the villagers even took this seriously.
Everyplace MO-126 visited told stories like these, and although all
gravely lacked anything resembling technical accuracy, they were
amazing for their creative inventiveness. The primitives did not
need to know how the sun rose, but they wanted to, and knowing no
way to find out, they created stories that made sense to them to
explain the phenomenon. At first, he thought the myths were
something like scientific hypotheses, but they weren’t. Most of
them were cleverly contrived to be unverifiable. They put their
gods where they could not find them. The stories could not be
tested, which made them solid beliefs that could endure. They
certainly supported the health and longevity of the project because
they effectively stopped further questioning without providing
dangerous answers. In some ways, he found this ingenious, but he
could not help feeling that being cleverly wrong simply was not
right. The PM encouraged its field operatives to support such
beliefs, and he understood why. Whether he liked it or not made no
difference. The policy made sense.
“ That was fun! ” one of the other
canine androids said as they stood just inside a tree line watching
their retreating quarry. Some of the others agreed. MO-126 did not.
He understood that humans could not be allowed to roam freely.
There were good reasons for preventing it, and he knew he
successfully performed his duty to the corporation. He simply did
not enjoy it.
They continued to look on from a distance to
make sure the boys returned home. Then the mitigation team left.
The surveillance drone would remain until the next step could be
implemented.
~*~
MO-126 and his humanoid partner returned to
the village ten days later. This time, a surrogate human nursery
android accompanied
He notified the team leader of their status and received updated
instructions.
They spread out into a line and began to
howl. The noise should wake the two primitives without immediately
sending them into a panic. That would come later.
One of the humans woke and shook the other.
It appeared to be Utrek. MO-126 could not be sure in the low light.
His infrared vision blurred too many details. He assumed the other
human was the boy he saw him talking with at the construction site.
Somehow, Utrek must have convinced him to join him on his
explorations.
Now that the two boys were obviously awake,
the second act of the show could begin.
The three humanoid androids began a mournful
wailing, which sounded, intentionally, like, “Who dares? Whooooooo
darrrrrrrrrrres?”
The boys stood and peered nervously into the
night. With their limited night vision, they were unlikely to
directly observe any of the members of the mitigation team. If the
boys proved uncooperative, they would be allowed to see what they
should take for a wild dog pack stalking them. If they did as the
androids hoped, the boys would never catch more than a brief
glimpse of them.
They began howling louder, adding barks and
growls as they slowly approached.
One of the boys turned and ran roughly in
the direction of their village. The other, paused just long enough
to grab a blanket and some other belongings before following him.
They did not scream or even yell at one another, which MO-126
considered quite brave. They did run for all they were worth,
occasionally casting nervous glances behind them.
The androids hounded them through the night,
not allowing them more than a moment of rest, guiding them from a
distance with howls and barks and moans. Their own fears and
imaginations are what truly drove them. By the time the first light
of dawn dusted the horizon, they were within sight of their
village.
The sun peeked over the horizon. The two
fleeing boys could not know this resulted from the planet turning.
The myths of their village said the land rested on the back of a
giant turtle and the sun rose due to the efforts of the Great
Cosmic Gond. Some of the villagers even took this seriously.
Everyplace MO-126 visited told stories like these, and although all
gravely lacked anything resembling technical accuracy, they were
amazing for their creative inventiveness. The primitives did not
need to know how the sun rose, but they wanted to, and knowing no
way to find out, they created stories that made sense to them to
explain the phenomenon. At first, he thought the myths were
something like scientific hypotheses, but they weren’t. Most of
them were cleverly contrived to be unverifiable. They put their
gods where they could not find them. The stories could not be
tested, which made them solid beliefs that could endure. They
certainly supported the health and longevity of the project because
they effectively stopped further questioning without providing
dangerous answers. In some ways, he found this ingenious, but he
could not help feeling that being cleverly wrong simply was not
right. The PM encouraged its field operatives to support such
beliefs, and he understood why. Whether he liked it or not made no
difference. The policy made sense.
“ That was fun! ” one of the other
canine androids said as they stood just inside a tree line watching
their retreating quarry. Some of the others agreed. MO-126 did not.
He understood that humans could not be allowed to roam freely.
There were good reasons for preventing it, and he knew he
successfully performed his duty to the corporation. He simply did
not enjoy it.
They continued to look on from a distance to
make sure the boys returned home. Then the mitigation team left.
The surveillance drone would remain until the next step could be
implemented.
~*~
MO-126 and his humanoid partner returned to
the village ten days later. This time, a surrogate human nursery
android accompanied
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