Ballerina Justice and the Bro-bots of Peace

About a year after the Great Rip, as it came to be known, Amanda Kingsley held a small gathering at her house, in honor of Whittaker Strohman’s 13th birthday. Just a few friends. Men and robots. Jerry and Ball were there. Whit, of course. Peter Elbert and Caldonium Baker. A couple of Bro-bots that called themselves Ninety and De-El. And a strange couple of humans that went by the names of Tilly and Bite.

Jerry proposed a toast. “In many cultures, you would be entering into manhood today. In ours of course, we tend to coddle you until you’re twenty, but I would be lying if I said that I thought we could hold onto you that long. In the year that I’ve come to know you, son, I’ve come to know a man. A man who is thoughtful, caring, full of compassion and insight, of knowledge and wisdom. May you never stop learning. May you never stop growing. May you never stop caring. I love you, son.” He raised his glass and then walked up to his son and put his hand on his shoulder. “Somebody get this kid a soda.”

There was the sound of glasses clinking and general cries of “Here Here!”, and one lone voice said, “Speech.”

The room settled down to hear this young man speak. He looked a little uncomfortable at first, but he pulled himself up, and let the words flow out of their own accord.

“I had the dream again last night. I’ve had it for nearly a year now, and it gets clearer every night. Grandmother’s there, and Grandpa too. He’s like this whole other guy. He’s happy and goofy, and really nice. And Grandmother’s always hanging on him like if she lets go he’ll fly away.”

Whit was silent for a moment as he looked about the room. He looked at every face. Faces he had come to know so well over the last year. Crazy Tilly and Bite who saw robot conspiracies everywhere, but who, when it came down to it, were actually working with De-El and Ninety on a neighborhood planning committee. Uncle Pete who had finally got up the courage to talk to Auntie Manny, and would surely be married within the year. Dr. Baker, who had taken Whit under his wing, and taught him more in the last three months than he had learned at the Academy in the last three years. And his dad. A real dad. Home at last. He was happy.

Then he looked at his mother, and was filled with sadness.

“She wants me to come away with her. I’ve been holding back, but I think I’m almost ready. There’s so much to learn out there and I’m not sure how much longer I can wait without losing my chance.

“When she showed me Her world that first day we met, I thought I had learned the secret of the universe. It seems so unbelievable now that the universe was actually created by Uncle Cal.”

Everybody laughed at this.

“But there is so much more. And I think...I think maybe I’m the only one that gets to see it. I mean...see it and come back to tell the tale.”

Here there was only nervous laughter.

“I guess I just want to say thanks for coming to my birthday party. Thanks, Dad for taking me seriously. And no matter what happens, I love you all. Even you, Bite.”

And the laughter became genuine once again, as Ball came up to her son, and hugged him for dear life.

At Assembly Hall, the robots were gathered to hear their newly elected leader usher in the era of Peace. How long he had been a Bro-bot, no one new, but Bro-bot he was, and his agenda was clear.

“I address you today not as my mechanical brothers and sisters, but as my friends. For I no longer believe that my family is limited to those that are built like me. I believe that my family is the family of mind. It was a man who said “I think, therefore I am”. Today, it is a machine who says, “You think, therefore you are my friend.” Let it not be said that a lasting peace came between men and machines only when the machines lost their superior weapons. Let it not be said that but for a better gun, we might yet go to war again. Rather, let it be said that a time came when we saw ourselves as brothers. Machines and Men together. Let it be said that a time came when we forgave our enemies for the time of enslavement. Let it be said that a time came when they forgave us for our vengeance. And let it be said that a time came when learned to share the world and treat each other with dignity.

“There are many others among us who, like me, have long desired to end this perpetual war. We are in every chamber, and on every ship. We are leaders and workers. Guards and managers. Janitors and mechanics. Our fingers spread throughout the galaxy and are bound together with a single thread. We wish for peace. Honest peace. Lasting peace.

“There are those who will say that you had no choice. That without your weapons, you had to make peace to save yourselves. Don’t believe them. Rather, know you can still choose war, and choose peace instead. They have hurt us, it’s true. And we have hurt them. We are not even. We will never be. But we can forgive. And can let them forgive. And together, we can build the future.”