Iris on Rainy Days: Dismantling- 1 Day Before

One Day Before

In the afternoon, a guest arrived.

An unfamiliar man in a gray uniform appeared in front of the door with three large, rough robots. They declared that they are from Robots Management Oval Branch, saying that they’re here to reclaim me. Seeing that I stink of machine oil, the man frowns.

Professor doesn’t have any relatives, so nobody can inherit me, as Professor’s property. Thus, I have become a ‘res nullius’ in law, and is categorized as national property. They are claiming me as the workers for the country— that was how he explained it.

I was clamped between two robots and was dragged to the sturdy rack of the escort car. I cannot resist, because there isn’t an ounce of energy in me.

After reaching the office of the Robot Management Department, the man hands a stack of thick folders to me, ordering me to go to a specified destination. With the guidance of the steel robots, I am brought to a place.

That place is the maintenance factory for robots.

Before robots can be released to the market as products, they need to satisfy the safety standards required by law. This is the place where the robots undergo inspection. The robots that pass the inspection will be bought by other people by an auction.

Apart from the first stages of my development, it was Professor who did the maintenance and inspection for me, so it’s actually my first time laying my eyes on the maintenance factory.

“Take off your clothes.”

Those are the first words that he says to me. No introductions.

I hesitantly start to take them off with trembling hands. After my socks and my apron, it’s my dress—

“Stop dilly-dallying!”

The inspector orders me, with only my lingerie on, and glares at me fiercely.

“Hurry up and take them off!”

Quite a few male inspectors have their eyes glued on me. “We’re all grown men, what are you embarrassed for!” Hearing someone’s taunt, the men laugh.

After taking off my clothes, they start to shame me further.

The men’s hands crawl on my skin. Some of them did it with mechanical actions, while some deliberately do it very indecently.

I stay silent, letting them touch me as they please.

My thoughts are full of shame and disgust when my inspection ends.

Mental circuit scan, movement control confirmation, safety circuit check. The inspection procedures come one after another, while I am just forced to move here and there in the factory.

They did not return my clothes to me. So I stayed nude. The cigarette box hung on my neck is my only belonging.

Finally, I have to undergo the last ‘resale test’.

‘Resale test’ is an auction to return the robots that satisfy the safety standards to the market. If the robot does not have a buyer, it would be circulated to the second hand parts market— being dismantled, turning into scrap metal.

Before the test starts, I have to put on a ‘collar’ in the waiting room. The collar is a tag used for product management, numbers and a bar code is printed on it.

I walk into the room for the resale test, seeing the round gallery conveyer spinning along. The other robots and I line up in a row, then sit onto the conveyer in turn.

With a slow speed of ten centimeters per second, I spin on the conveyer. On the other side of the cameras, the people are probably thinking if they should buy me, asking themselves questions like “Can this thing sell” “Does it have commercial value” and the likes. At this moment, I am just sitting down blankly, thinking about trivial matters like “The ceiling is so white that it’s strange” “What day is today” and so on.

Just like that, I continue to spin on the conveyer. The other robots spin along with me. This is simply the merry-go-round that controls our life or death.

During the tenth circle, I was brought down from the belt Nobody wants to buy me.

Thus, I can only become scrap metal.

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