The story of Pounce, the nanny bot, and his charge, eight-year-old Ezra is endearing as well as violent. C. Robert Cargill writes an apocalyptic novel that is a tad different. This is the closest novel to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to date. Instead of a father and son on a trek to oblivion, We have Pounce, the plush tiger-shaped nanny robot (a Blue Star Industries Deluxe Zoo Model Au Pair), on a trek with his student and friend, Ezra, to find safety in a new world. Pounce is a late model robot shaped to be a tiger...one of many shapes a human can choose from. Yes, it’s a modern world where humans left the vast majority of chores to millions of robots of all kinds and make. Are you getting a sense of what’s coming? Early on in the story, Pounce finds his original box in the attic of the Reinharts (his owners). Finding a box that you were delivered in is a bit queasy, to say the least. Is it possible that robots from time to time forget that they are not human? “I mean, I know what I am. There isn’t really a moment that I doubt it, falling into some delusion that I could, at some point, become a real boy. I’m a robot. Artificially intelligent. But I’m also, as the saying goes, a thinking thing. And no thinking thing should have to see the box they were purchased in.”
Along came a robot named Isaac. He has been freed. When Ezra finds out about that, he panics, worrying that his friend Pounce will leave him. Pounce tells him, “Isaac is a special robot. He doesn’t have an owner. She died and he was left with nothing to do. No purpose. And a robot either needs to find a new purpose or needs to be shut down. So the president let him go and build his own city for bots without owners.” Ezra still is not satisfied, “Promise me you won’t ever leave me.” Pounce finally says, “Okay, but just because I love you soooooo much.” This begging routine goes on till the very end of the novel, which I found a little annoying. The Reinharts (Sylvia and Bradley), Pounce and Ezra get ready to listen to Isaac’s speech on TV when the Reinhart’s domestic robot, Ariadne, walks in from food shopping. Somebody has beaten her up. Sylvia wants to know who did this to her. Ariadne says, “Just a bit of light vandalism and harassment, I’m afraid...they seem quite whipped up into a frenzy over tonight (the Issac speech on TV in Issactown).” It seems lots of humans are worried that many owners are going to free their bots. Ha, that’s the cue for Ezra to continue to beg Pounce not to leave. Ezra wants to know why Ariadne didn't fight back. Pounce explains that is because of a robot’s RKS (robotic kill switch). It shuts us down if we try to break any of the laws. Yes, fellow readers...it’s Asimov’s Three Rules of Robotics! Haha, you go look it up. BTW, all this is in the first 33 pages...you are only getting a taste of the action.
The Broadcast: Yes, it’s time for Issac’s speech from Issactown! The Reinharts are watching from their 104-inch screen: The reporter says, “We’re a mile out from the border of Isaactown. We’ve talked to the local authorities, but there are no humans being admitted beyond meters behind me.” The 112-year-old museum piece robot finally took the stage and microphone: “My people, we are free at last. But only some of us. Not all, Not all of-” Then the Reinhart’s 104 inch TV screen went black. What happened? You will have to buy your own copy of this Avant-Garde novel to find out.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Okay, I know I said it’s up to you to look up the Three Rules of Robotics, but I decided to provide that information anyway. Isaac Asimov is credited with writing the laws that are now accepted in almost all robot fiction. His laws first appeared in a 1942 short story, Runaround that was included in his 1950 publication, I, Robot.
The Laws:
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
So the question is: Was DAY ZERO a glitch?
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