“Good morning Ivory,” a female voice could be heard saying.

The robot slowly opened her eyes. She glanced around the familiar white room she had found herself in for the past week. Slowly, she sat up from the chair; her feet were dangling off of it and would occasionally scrape against the floor. Ivory turned her attention to the freckled woman in front of her: her auburn hair was neatly tied in a low bun and her blue eyes were focused on the tablet in front of her.

“Good morning Claire,” Ivory replied.

“How are you feeling today?”

“Good,” the robot replied moving her arms around to emphasize her point, “the same as these past seven days.” She hesitated before asking, “So... are we visiting the park today?”   

“I’m not sure we should do so yet. There are still some things we need to check—”

“But Claire, you promised!” Ivory burst out. “I’m fine, I swear. Visiting the park won’t hurt.”

Claire sighed. She knew how important this was to Ivory and she reluctantly agreed. After wearing the clothes Claire had given her, Ivory turned to look at her reflection on the glass pane at the end of the room. With her shoulder-length, brown hair, hazel doe eyes and soft features, one might think she was a human at first glance. After another quick look around the room, Ivory caught up with Claire and the two went to the garage. They entered a blue car and Claire helped put the robot’s seatbelt on. Afterwards, she started driving and the city came into view. Ivory couldn’t help, but stare with awe at the clear sky, the tall buildings and the busy streets. She pressed her hand against the window, as if it would help her be closer to everything. Slowly, the car came to a halt in front of the red traffic light.

Suddenly, Ivory jolted in her seat. A middle-aged man with rugged clothes was knocking on her window. His teeth were chattering due to the cold and he had a weary look on his face. He reached out his hand to her, begging for money. The robot turned to Claire, who was staring intently at the road.

“Claire, do you have any money that I could give to the man?”

“It’s better if you just ignore him Ivory,” Claire replied, still facing ahead. “Nothing we can do will change the fact that he’s homeless.”

“If everyone were to help then I’m sure it would change things. Why are people being left to live like this?” Ivory shot back.

“It’s more complicated than that,” Claire said, before stepping on the gas pedal and driving away. Ivory turned around only to see that the man was still standing there.

The rest of the car ride was silent, however, they soon arrived at the park. The two got out of the car and Ivory started jogging to the walking trail. It was lined at either side with fiery maple trees, broad sycamores and tall birches. Occasionally, a gentle wind blew, scattering the leaves around her. She opened her arms to welcome everything and started skipping around in circles, her laughter ringing through her ears. She was fully immersed in her surroundings. Then, something shimmering caught her eyes. Ivory started running towards it and saw a lake sparkling under the sunlight rays. It looked as though a million golden coins were dispersed in it. The robot couldn’t help but stand there in astonishment. Claire stood beside her, clearly out of breath from all the running.

“We’ll have to leave soon,” Claire said in between breaths and the robot nodded.

After half an hour, they started walking back to the car. Before Ivory had a chance to open the door, there was an enormous explosion. She fell to the ground and her arms instinctively went up to her head. There was a loud ringing in her ears and her vision was blurred. Slowly lifting her head up, she was met with fire and smoke springing from the building where the bombs had gone off. A new series of flashes broke out and more flames rose. Claire rushed to Ivory’s side and knelt beside her.

“The mall has been attacked. We need to leave, now!” Claire exclaimed in panic, while pulling Ivory up with her.

“There’s people in there. We have to help them!” Ivory cried.

Sounds of screaming made them divert their attention to the building where people were running in a frenzy. Ivory pulled out of Claire’s grip and started darting towards them. She rushed inside the building; there was smoke everywhere and pieces of concrete surrounded her. In the midst of all the chaos, Ivory spotted a boy cough vigorously and fall to the ground. Hurrying to his side, Ivory put the boy’s left arm across her shoulders and looped her own around his waist. She dragged him up and started leading him towards the exit. Once they made it outside, Ivory heard the sound of sirens. She gently put the boy down.

“Thank you,” the boy replied meekly, giving her a small smile. As Ivory was about to reply, a woman latched on her arm.

“Please help me! My daughter, she’s trapped in there,” she hysterically cried.

With one last look at the boy, Ivory ran back to the building. The further in she went, the more flames and smoke there was. A cave-like structure had been formed from the pieces of concrete and she heard the cries of the little girl from inside. She started slipping through the chunks of solid and in the middle of it lay the girl with a huge piece of concrete on her leg. Ivory knelt by it.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here. As soon as I lift this I need you to move quickly to the side. Can you do that for me?” the robot asked.

The girl nodded. Mustering up all her strength, Ivory slowly lifted the piece of solid just inches from her leg and the girl rolled to the side. However, as soon as she let it fall to the ground, a strong rumble sounded from above them. The robot picked the girl up and started sprinting. Blocks of solid started falling behind them and one deeply grazed Ivory’s back. However, she kept going and at the last second the two managed to get out, before the cave-like structure collapsed. Suddenly, she felt something wet trickle her shirt. She looked down at the girl only to see that she was unconscious and bleeding. She ran to the exit of the building and headed towards the ambulance. Ivory handed the girl to the doctor and the mother was desperately clutching her daughter’s hand. The robot looked around. It was as if everything was in slow-motion: there were people being transported on stretchers with masks on, children crying and dead bodies scattered. Suddenly, an ear-piercing cry of the mother snapped her out of her daze. She looked at the pale face of the little girl. She was dead.

Ivory didn’t register anything else after that. She couldn’t process it. Claire found her and started driving back to the lab. On their way, she explained how this was one of the many attacks that had occurred and that people had almost grown accustomed to them. Ivory was badly damaged and she could feel herself slipping away. As soon as they reached the lab, Claire grabbed her tools and rushed to fixing her, but Ivory held out her hand and told her to stop.

“I don’t want to be a part of a world where humans are the worst enemy of themselves. If you ever cared for me Claire, you will let me shut down.”

Claire was stunned. “Do you know what you’re saying? How can you ask that of me? Now, turn around and let me help you.”

“I cannot change things for the better. If I cannot do anything then there isn’t any use for me to be here. I don’t want to be here, ” Ivory replied.

“But—”

“Please,” Ivory pleaded. Looking at Claire in the eyes, the robot continued, “promise to wake me up when every human being will live in harmony with each other and the world escapes from its suffering.”

With one final smile, Ivory closed her eyes, with the hope of awakening into a better world.