LASO

[queeniegalore]

“Mum, I want to look at the robots.”

“Mmm,” Josie replied, distracted watching the little red kettle come to the boil, one finger poised over the switch to click it off before it got too hot for the coffee grounds. “Oh, Adam, wait a sec…”

“Mum.” He was insistent, little hand tugging at the hem of her blouse. “I can hear them coming, quick! Quick!”

Josie flicked off the kettle with a huff and drummed her nails on the dented metal of the sink for a moment, tap-tap-tap.

“Well, okay,” she decided, and spun to pick Adam up, his too-slight five-year-old form somehow both bony and insubstantial in her arms. It was like holding a featherless bird, or a warm, soft, skeleton.

“Yes!”

He clutched at her neck as she crossed the room.  Her older, less sensitive ears could hear them now, marching along the hall outside. Coming closer. Adam bounced gently in her hold as she activated the translucent panel in the door. 

They watched the robots coming.

Androids, officially, Locomotive Android Supervision Operatives, or LASOs. They marched through the halls in loose formation, about a dozen, gazing around with curiosity, eyes a soft, lambent violet. One lagged a little behind, looking with interest at the carpet, the light fixtures, the doors – most with their observation panels closed, silent and locked up.

“They’re here!” Adam whispered in excitement, and Josie nodded, and thought of her coffee, and shrunk away, instinctively, from those bright, inquisitive, inhuman eyes.