Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

“Today Brian”

“Why not it’s a good day to be born”

“He’ll like us won’t he”

“Of course didn’t we programme him to, even in this godforsaken place we need someone to depend on us, anyway in a year when the survey’s over we can dismantle him and take him with us to the next planet, he’s already set up to behave as a human child would in this kind of environment and it’s a lot simpler and safer than having a real one, we can study his reactions and he can correlate and write the development reports as well, so he’ll save us time and he can help us in this study of what would have happened to a real child, if it died would we know what killed it, and how to avoid it next time, come on let’s do it, hey what shall we call him”

“well it says tomeg 2000/00407 on the box so let’s call him tommy, that sounds ok”

“fine with me doesn’t he look cute a lot better than the last ones, the omegas were real cold with all those antennae and wheels, these ones with the body forms and arty skin win my vote”

“and all that hair, he even has eyes that cry, maybe being on gajira for a year won’t be so bad after all, look here he comes”

There was a soft hissing as the boy sat up, opened his eyes and looked around, he was blonde, with green eyes. He resembled an average eight year old. He blinked.

“Who are you”

“Doctors Ruth and Tony Powell, welcome to survey planet 2001 gajira, we’ll be here for a year surveying and collecting info for the people back on earth. If we’re successful we should start colonizing in eighteen months. If not we move on to the next planet, do the same thing there, then keep going”

“how long have you two been doing this and why am I here”

“oh I’d say eight, nine years and you’re here because we need a child simulant, as sooner or later people who come here will want to have children and we need to find out what the effects will be on them”

“oh really, are there any harmful life organisms, hostile environment, uncontrollable animal lifeforms”

“none so far, the air’s breathable, high in carbon but not human harmful, plenty of water, large land masses, flora and fauna some edible, none have tried to eat us, not yet anyway, no humanoid or other intelligent lifeforms apart from some snake-like fish that fly from water-hole to water-hole, but they’re non-communicable and are not a threatening lifeform so it’s just the three of us for the time being”

“what do I do then”

“just act like a child enjoy the environment write reports which we’ll send back to earth. We’ll ask you to help us with a project here and there but apart from that you’re on your own”

“what am I called, what do I call you two”

“you’re called tommy, you can call us dad, mum, ruth or tony ok”

“ok, can I go play now”

“sure, don’t forget to print a report on everything you do”

“I will, bye, see you later”.

“Brian, Tommy, come on we’re going to green island to check out the soil for vegetable planting, then we have to go to north 23”

The came jogging over, Brian climbed in beside Ruth, Tommy got into the back,

“Why do you call him Brian”

“that’s his name Tom, Tony Brian Powell”

“what is my name”

“Tommy”

“what else, don’t I have another name”

“why, we’ll only have you for a year, we’ll see how you work out”

“what happens in a year if I don’t work out”

“we’ll talk about it in a year”

“no now, what will you do”

“hell Brian, did you programme him to be so aggressive”

“I can fix it when we get back”

“what if I don’t want to be fixed”

“later Tommy, we have work to do ok”

“ok”

They landed climbed out taking the soil examining equipment with them, Tommy brought up the rear. if they had turned around they would have seen the look on his face, shock then quiet determination.

“Dad, can I go play, this is boring”

“ok don’t go far, this island is large but the land edges slope down to the water, be careful not to fall in ok”

“affirmative”.

They were bent over putting a soil sample into the machine when there was a loud splash then a scream, they both jumped up and ran to see what had happened, they could see a part of the edge had given way,

“damn I told him to be careful, can you see him”

“no let’s split up, maybe we can salvage him or repair him before we talk about programming anew one, hell we only had him two days Tony”

“ok you go left I’ll go right”.

Tommy came out of the bushes behind Brian, it had been simple to set up the catapult using a tree branch and a large rock, after all they had programmed him to be versatile, he picked up a fallen banch we’ll see who gets turned off in a year, he patted the last handful of dirt down over Ruth it was a pity such a waste, she’d had such lovely hair, maybe he could find something back at the research center, there had to be something in all those boxes of equipment.

“This is usa houston calling research center gajira 2001, come in please doctor ruth powell doctor brian powell come in do you read me”

there was a gasping laugh, then,

“who did you say was calling I was just playing with the kids”

“kids, who is this”

“I could ask the same of you, I’m doctor ruth powell, over”

“I’m commander ben reynolds come for your year end report, we got a new planet for you, hope you got good news for us”

“we sure have, come on down, I’ll introduce you to our children, they’re so cute obedient and polite, a real help, I can’t wait for you to meet Tommy and Marie, real intelligent I couldn’t get better ones if I’d built them myself”.