“And here's your birthday present.” Mai placed a silver box the size of a fat pack of playing cards in the palm of Kochi's hand. Made of metal and polished to a high shine, there didn't seem to be any way to open it. Apart from a lens and a couple of lights on one end, the whole thing was completely seamless.
Kochi held it up in front of her face. “What is it?”
“I'll show you,” said Mai. They tapped the top of the box. A line of light encircled an invisible button, and with a high-pitched byuuuuuu sound the little box came to life.
Sprouting metal chicken legs it stood up in Kochi's hand, stumpy little wings opening out either side to help it balance. The end with the lens and lights lifted up above the body so it could turn and move about, as the body seemed to shuck inward, making it thicker down the middle and even more bird-like. Looking around to see where it was, the little bot turned to look up at Kochi.
“Oh wow!” said Kochi, bringing it even closer to her face. Unsure about the big giant head bearing down upon it, the little bot took a half step back.
“It's an old tech mech I found at the farm. We use them for crop analysis, stuff like that. I got Bex Bowman to help make him autonomous.”
“Him?”
“Yeah. That's what he presents as so that's what I've been going with.”
“Brilliant,” said Kochi. She reached out to boop the little bot on the nose it didn't have.
A triangle of green light appeared out the middle of the bot's face. With a quick up and down it scanned Kochi's finger, catching her in the eyes as it did so. Kochi flinched, squeezing her eyes tight shut as Mai laughed.
“He likes to scan things. No idea why? We turned that part of his programming off. Don't worry though, his laser won't do you any harm. It's far too weak for that.”
“Good to know,” said Kochi, blinking rapidly. There was a squiggly coloured line dancing on her eyeball, but every time she tried to look at it it ran away.
“And you won't have to worry about keeping him charged either. He's got his own in-built solar system. Show her Bebo!”
The silver bot gave an excited little bounce. Leaning forward it opened up two solar panels on its back, showing them off proudly before putting them away again.
“Bebo?”
“Yeah. That's his name, on account of the noise he makes.”
“Bee-bo,” bleeped Bebo, taking a step closer to Kochi.
I wrote a litte bot for In The Valley Of The Wind, a companion for Kochi on her travels. I really hope it gets published some day, so people can get to know Bebo a little better. He's adorable. 🥰🤖
#Solarpunk #YA #LowStakes #SeekingRepresentation