Robot and a Butterfly

Even though the robot stood in the farthest corner of the science exhibition, crowd of people was always surrounding him. In spacious hall there were plenty of other technical miracles, but none of them were as succesfull as the robot. Visitors, kids and adults alike, after making a tour around the hall, would always return to him and couldn‘t take their eyes off clumsy iron arms, huge square head and calmly shining orange eye.

Moving his arms and turning his head was not the only thing the robot could do; he could also answer questions – not all of them, of course, but the ones which were numbered and written in a tablet hanging next to the robot. Visitors of the exhibition would read the questions and then ask the robot.

“What is your name?” was the first question. “My name is DonDon”, robot would answer in thick voice.

“Where is your homeland?”, they would ask the question number 2. “My homeland is the laboratory”, the answer would ring through the entire hall. “What are you doing now?” third question would follow previous one. “Right now I am answering not very smart questions,” the robot would answer and let out a smug programmed laughter. “Ha ha ha!”

The crowd would also start laughing after such a witty answer, and after calming down they would ask the next question. “What do you like and hate the most?” “I like machine oil the best and I hate ice-cream with apricot jam the most.” People would burst into laughter once again and after checking the tablet they would ask the fifth question. “What is the future of the robots?” “The future of the robots has the widest perspectives!”. “And what are you planning to do yourself?” “I must complete everything that has been programmed.”

The last question would come eventually – “What would you say to us, visitors of the exhibition?”. “I wish you good health and success in personal life,” the robot would shout and stomp his foot with such vigor that floor of the hall would shake.

Even more visitors would gather around him after that stomp and they would ask the same written and numbered questions again and again. The untiring robot would answer them all again, laughing, stomping his foot, waving his arms or winking the orange eye where needed.

“What a chap! Whole program is running without a hitch! He really has the widest perspectives,” adults would praise the robot, and mesmerized children would sit on the floor next to robot’s feet and would have stayed there all day and night if only their parents had let them.

“Come on, come on, enough of this gawking,” mothers would try to pull their kids away. “Let’s go, I’ll buy you ice-cream with jam.” “We don’t want ice-cream! We want machine oil,” kids would copy the robot, and he would send leaving children a conspiratorial wink and wave them goodbye.

At nigh the exhibition hall would be empty and eerie. DonDon would stand there unmoving until the morning came, remembering the events and praises of the visitors of the previous day, and his iron heart would flutter because of the pride. He looked down on the other showpieces which were not nearly as famous as he was and didn’t get a hundredth part of the compliments DonDon received.

A new day would come, the door of the hall would open with a bang and new visitors would rush in. They always asked the same numbered question and always praised robot to no end.

And then the night would come again, and everything would have gone like always, hadn’t a small night butterfly flown inside through an open window. The shining of the orange eye attracted her. In the dark it was shining brighter than it did in the day.
Butterfly landed on the cheek of the robot and softly grazed the glass eye. “What a cold little flame,” she muttered in disappointment. That’s not a flame, that’s my eye, the robot wanted to tell the simpleton, but he could only say the answer No. 1.

“My name is DonDon.”

“Oh, is that so?” the butterfly perked up now that such a big and strong creature was talking to her. “I am night butterfly, they call me Luna.”

“My homeland is the laboratory,” the robot said the only thing he could.

“Laboratory… It must be a wonderful land, right?” Luna wiggled her long tendril. “I was born on a blooming linden. Have you ever seen a blooming linden?”

“Right now I am answering not very smart questions,” robot snapped and laughed cruelly, “Ha ha ha!”

The butterfly was so ashamed that even her wings dimmed. “Forgive me”, she whispered. “I really am very foolish. I was only born day before yesterday and no one explained me anything about this world yet. I was just taught how to hide from nocturnal birds and bats. Especially bats…”

“I like machine oil the best and I hate ice-cream with apricot jam the most.”. “And I,” said Luna quickly, “I like tree leaves the most. I have never tried machine oil in my whole life… Would you like to try linden leaf? I could bring you one in a second."

It wouldn’t hurt to try it once, the robot wanted to tell the butterfly, but what came out was answer No. 5. “The future of the robots has the widest perspectives!”

Luna felt awfully ashamed once again. “What big words you are using,” she sighed. “I’m telling you; in that cramped cocoon I was separated from whole world and stayed very uneducated.

“I must complete everything that has been programmed,” DonDon kept going.

“And I have to go now,” the butterfly hustled up. “So long, DonDony!”

“I wish you good health and success in personal life,” the robot repeated again and stomped his foot.

“Thank you,” the butterfly felt truly grateful. She brushed against the cheek of the robot lightly and flew out of the window.

The robot watched her with his orange eye and got lost in his thoughts. She is completely different from those visitors of the exhibition. And very weird, too. She kept asking those silly, unnumbered questions as if trying to mess up my answers! And she didn’t even compliment me once, what a shameless prat!.. But how soft her wings were, how sweet her whisper was… , robot drifted into the dreamland. And when she said goodbye, she called me DonDony!

The robot got so carried away that he didn’t even notice the hall door open and new visitors come. He even missed two first questions and answered the third one from the end. “Ha ha ha… Right now I am answering not very smart questions.”

“He is mocking us,” one greatly arrogant visitor became offended and hurried to the head technician.

But robot managed to get himself together by then and answered the rest of the questions smoothly. For that he got lots of commendations again. “He’s doing great job… He will surely have great future…”

It’s a pity that Luna can’t hear this praise, the robot thought, if she knew how great I am, she would like me even more!.. I wonder if she will come tonight. But what if… what if a bat got her? The robot became worried with all of his iron hear, which has never happened before.

***

But the butterfly came. “I will only rest on your shoulder for a little bit, okay? It’s so safe and cozy here… ” she whispered.

The wave of tenderness rolled over the iron chest of the robot. “My name is DonDon,” he said.

“I didn’t forget your name,” Luna muttered with affection. “So, do you have any brothers or sisters?”

The robot wanted to tell her that he was alone, all alone in this hall, in this city, but he could only say the answer No. 2. “My homeland is the laboratory.”

“You already said that,” the butterfly reminded him. “Why are you repeating the same thing over and over again? Don’t you get bored?.. But I have to go, I’m very hungry. I didn’t have anything in my mouth since yesterday, that predator bat keeps circling around my linden… See you later, DonDony!

She brushed against his cheek again and disappeared behind the dark window. DonDon gazed after her for a long while and his eye was twinkling like never before.

She will be back soon! His iron hear was singing. She became attached to me; she will come back and nestle down on my shoulder. Oh, how I wish this night never ended!.. Then maybe I could learn other, not programmed words, I would thank her for her soft wings and I would tell her that she is the only one to me in this whole world, my Luna…

His orange eye never wandered away from the window, not even once – that’s how impatiently the robot was waiting for the butterfly to return.

She did come back; but something was not right. She bolted inside and pressed against robot’s chest like crazy. “He’s after me! DonDon, he’s chasing me!..” The butterfly screamed in screeching voice. And really – the robot caught a glimpse of something behind the window and a sinister silhouette of a bat glided in.

“Don’t let him have me!” Luna pressed even closed to the robot. “He will catch me, he will eat me…”

The robot straightened up courageously and wanted to tell her that she has got nothing to be afraid of; he is the most powerful in the whole exhibition and no one would dare to touch her, but what came out was... “My name is DonDon.”

The bat flew around the robot and spotted the little creature eventually. “Save me, DonDony!” the butterfly begged silently.

Get away from here! The robot wanted to shout, but once again said the only thing he could. “My homeland is the laboratory.”

The bat attacked the little butterfly, but didn’t have time to devour her completely. She fell to the ground and rolled behind robot’s feet.

“My wing!” she moaned after dissatisfied bat flew back out the window. “My wing was ripped of!.. Oh DonDon, why didn’t you protect me?”

“Right now I am answering not very smart questions,” the robot blurted out and laughed mockingly “Ha ha ha!”

He felt shiver running down his whole body because of his answer, but there was nothing he could do.

The butterfly was struggling on the floor with her only wing, desiring only one thing – to rise and return to her linden before the morning came. But she was spinning in one spot like a humming top.

“If only you knew how much it hurts…” she sobbed.

“I like machine oil the best and I hate ice-cream with apricot jam the most!” was the answer she got.

“What did you say?” Luna couldn’t believe her ears. “Don’t you feel any pity for me?..”

“The future of the robots has the widest perspectives!”

“How cruel… and heartless you are…” the butterfly whispered with weakening voice.

“I must complete everything that has been programmed!”

The butterfly was barely moving by now. Just once more she managed to raise her wing and let it slowly fall down – to never raise it again.

“Goodbye, DonDony...” It was her last words.

“I wish you good health and success in personal life!” The robot practically yelled and stomped his foot so hard that whole floor shook.

There was dead silence in the hall. Luna was lying dead next to his feet.

***

The dawn was breaking. Hall door opened, curious visitors rushed in just like always. And of course, they all surrounded the robot immediately.

“What is your name?” the question No. 1 was spoken.
She used to call me DonDony…, the robot remembered with sorrow. No one will call me that ever again!

“Where is your homeland?” second question followed, even thought no answer came for the first one.
She said that her homeland was linden…I have never seen a linden or their sunny blossoms before… Tears were choking the robot.

He didn’t answer the third, the fourth, not a single question that followed, he didn’t wink, wave his arms or even stomp his foot.

The head technician was called again. He thumped robot’s chest, checked the screws and commanded: “Speak already, will you! What’s the future of the robots?”

“Lin… de…” the robot stuttered, and something broke in his chest.

“Oh well… Seems like our robot got out of order. And the program was running so smoothly!.. We’ll probably have to recycle him or something…”

White cloth was brought in and the robot was covered. A little table was hanged nearby, saying ‘malfunctioning’.

***

Under the cloth there was grave silence. But at night, when wind danced inside through the open window carrying the smell of blooming lindens and the sound of softly whispering leaves, a dull, broken voice from under the cloth could be heard, as if someone was learning to speak their first words – “Lu…u…na… Lind…den… P…Pa…Pain…”