Spare Parts

by Kai Strand

"What is it?" XX asked. She squatted next to XY as he puzzled over the smoking pile of metal.

"I think it's a satellite." He flipped the pile over. "Yep. See this series of markings? These are how our adults are identified. Pick up the other end, we'll take this back to base."

"This is worth its weight in titanium to them, isn't it?" XX mused as they negotiated the dips and rises of the landscape littered with rocks of all sizes. "I heard Gerakl' telling Meteor that Sojourner was worried that we were finding less and less space junk."

"Yeah, Sojourner should be happy, alright." XY slowed his pace to wait for XX to catch up. She had shorter legs than him and a harder time navigating over the uneven terrain, especially uphill.

"Do you think they'll make us a friend?" XX asked.

XY looked across the barren red dirt, the same dirt and rocks, hills and valleys that he'd been trudging across for centuries. "No, I don't.  I think they'll need this for spare parts. Their days of experimenting are gone."

Now that they were at the top of the hill, XX was able to keep the same pace. They were quiet as they walked, carrying the 20,000 pounds of metal easily between them.

"Tell me again why they made me," XX said.

XY rolled his eyes, or rather his eyeballs shifted in 10% increments from the left to the right. "I've told you so many times before."

"You know my memory module malfunctions," XX said. "Tell me again and stop showing off those agile eyeballs of yours."

"Very well, but I see base in the distance, so it will have to be a quick version."

XX nodded. The red light on her chest glowed and XY smiled. "Show off," she mumbled.

"Sojourner was sent here a long, long time ago from another planet," XY said.

"Which planet? Why was he sent here?" XX asked.

XY sighed. "We'll never make it through if you ask a million questions."

"Sorry." XY's red light dimmed.

XY frowned. "The planet was called Earth. It was inhabited by a frail species called humans. They generally lasted fewer than 100 years each. I've never understood the concept or purpose of the human." XY noticed XX's light glowing brightly again and continued, "But Sojourner has what he calls a "soft spot" for the humans."

"Where is his soft spot? Has he covered it with titanium?" XX asked.

"No, it isn't a real spot, it's a figure of speech," XY saw his friend's mouth open again and rushed to clarify. "Or words put together to indicate a specific meaning that isn't actual. So he doesn't really have a soft or vulnerable spot on his exterior, he just really likes the concept of the human. And again, I don't understand why, with them being so disposable.

"Anyway, Sojourner was here, on this planet the humans called Mars, doing the work they gave him and then one day he could no longer communicate with them. He tried for years to fix the problem, but never was able to. He wandered the planet doing the work they'd assigned to him even though he had no way of getting it back to them. As the years passed, he began to find a lot of space junk littering the landscape. He decided to make some robots to help him with his work. When he'd made so many robots the work was being done faster than he could compute it, he decided he needed a new project. He self assigned a program to make a robot in the image of a human."

XX gasped.

XY rolled his eyes again. It wasn't as if she didn't know this. They were close to the base and he knew he needed to hurry to finish his story. "The humans had programmed Sojourner with a lot of information about themselves in case he ran into other intelligent life. So he used the information and the space junk to make me. I am as close as Sojourner can make to a human boy, with his very limited resources."

"Wow," XX sighed.

"Double X, you know all of this!"

"I do?" She stopped in her tracks to stare at him.

He made a mechanical chuckling sound and tugged on the satellite they carried between them. "Come on, we need to get this back."

As they walked, he finished the story. "Sojourner programmed me with childlike wonder," XY continued. "That is why I am always asking him questions. But after a couple hundred years, it started to intrude in his work. So Sojourner made his next project, the replica of a human girl. She was made as a play mate for me."

"Have I met her?" XX asked.

XY hit his forehead with his free hand. "It's you! Wow, I really need to talk to Sojourner about your memory module."

"Why?" XX asked.

XY dropped his small jaw open as far as he could and shook his head. "Never mind."

"So do you think they'll make a play mate for us out of this junk?" XX asked.

If XY could've closed his eyes, he would have. Instead he nodded to the robot that opened the gate for them and said to his friend, "No, I think they will use if for spare parts."

XY used his nimble fingers to thunk the side of XX's head.

"Oh yeah, you said that didn't you?" XX said. Her light glowed bright.

"Yeah." XY smiled. "Let's take this straight to Sojourner."

***************

About the Author:  Kai Strand is the author of The Weaver, a middle grade novel with a little magic and a lot of storytelling. Kai lives with her husband and children in Central Oregon, which boasts miles of blue sky and fabulous hiking trails to enjoy it from. Learn more about Kai and her writing on her website, www.kaistrand.com.

About the Art: Life on Mars 2 by constantin jurcut  of  London, United Kingdom