The knife swept my forearm. Yellow blood dripped through the sliced skin. I’d forgotten. They didn’t make ours red. I hadn’t bled in years. “You’re an abomination” she said, foaming at the mouth, teeth and blade shining, reflecting fluorescent lights. Her son, Mark, stood behind her. He looked strange. I didn’t understand his reasoning for blaming me. “He did it”, the boy said. I realised no one would believe the housekeeper. The knife found my throat. Everything yellow. //SYS ERROR//
. . .
The corpse of the robot lay sprawled on the floor. A wet, yellow pool surrounded it, creeping outwards, teasing rivers into the grout between ceramic tiles. “What the hell happened?” said John. Exasperated, he crouched down beside the corpse and used two fingers to turn the head to the side. “Was this you, Lucy? You know we can’t afford to repair him.”
“It cut the baby, John. Mark saw it.”
John glanced over his shoulder at the baby, Geoff, who was eleven months old and sat in his high-chair, happily playing with a toy train. A small plaster was stuck to his arm. John also noticed his oldest son, Mark, looking down at the ground. “You okay, Mark?”
Shuffling feet. Gaze still cast downward. “Yeah, Dad.”
“So you saw Po hurt the baby?”
“…yeah.”
“I hope so. If I can check the memory card, and it shows Po malfunctioned, we’ll be able to get a refund.” He removed the left eyeball, and ejected the memory unit.
Mark’s head tilted up. “Dad.”
“Yes Mark?”
“Nothing.”
“You sure? What am I going to find on this memory card?”
Tears appeared in Mark’s eyes. “I cut the baby. It wasn’t Po.”
Still squatting, John shook his head, “I appreciate you telling the truth.” He turned and looked up at his wife, frowning “How could you do this? He was a living being. They literally just passed a law to classify AI systems as sentient lifeforms.” He stood up and touched his hand to his forehead. “Lucy, you could go to prison for this.”
Lucy’s shoulders were tense, rising up towards her ears. Her voice began as a whisper, “A real person?” she paused, eyes narrowed, voice raised, “Is that why you were fucking it?”
