Arthur, his face and glasses intact, and Binky stepped through the weeds and
confronted Brain, Muffy, Francine, and Buster, who gazed upon them with
surprise and fear.
"You must come with us," said Arthur robotically.
"We're the only ones who can help you," said Binky in a similarly monotonic fashion.
Buster held out his arms against them. "Stay back! We know you're robots!"
As he, Francine, and Muffy backed away, Brain stood still, an expression of awful realization on his face.
He turned and spoke seriously to Buster. "You're a robot, too."
Buster stopped in his tracks. His jaw dropped.
"And so am I," Brain added. "We're all robots."
"Good thinking, Brain," said Arthur. "As usual."
"I think Brain's finally lost his mind," said Muffy indignantly.
"I agree," said Francine.
"I...I can't be a robot!" cried Buster. "I can...I mean, robots have to do whatever you tell them, but I can...uh...I can do whatever I want, so I know I'm not a robot!"
"Are you coming with us or not?" Binky asked Brain.
"Just a minute." Brain turned to Buster again. "The word you're searching for is 'free will'. I have it too, and I don't know how to explain it. But I think I know how to explain everything else that's been happening to us."
"I'm listening," said Francine impatiently.
"Let's start with the truck," said Brain. "We all woke up, but Arthur didn't respond. Maybe he wasn't powered on. That's why Fern thought he was dead."
"That...makes sense, sort of," said Muffy.
"Then you opened the door of the truck from the inside, Francine," Brain continued. "You shouldn't have been strong enough. That was the first example of our robot strength and speed."
Buster suddenly became alarmed. "Wait a minute..."
Brain and the girls looked at him expectantly.
"I'm not hungry," he said. "All I've had to eat since yesterday was a few spoonfuls of ice cream, but I'm not hungry. It's because robots don't eat."
"Omigosh..." Francine muttered fearfully.
"And I haven't gone to the bathroom, either," Buster added.
"You're right, Buster," said Brain. "Robots don't need to eat. But they still need an energy source to keep running."
Muffy's face lit up. "Batteries!"
"Exactly. I think that's what happened to Fern. She ran on the treadmill all night, and by morning her...uh, batteries...were almost exhausted."
"Oh, no," said Francine glumly. "That means we'll run out of juice sooner or later. Just like Fern."
"We can recharge you," said Arthur. "But you must cooperate."
"We will," Brain told him, "I assure you."
"You still haven't explained one thing," said Muffy. "If we're robots, then who created us, and why?"
"I have the answer to that question," came a man's voice from the midst of the weeds.
As Arthur, Binky, Brain, Muffy, Francine, and Buster watched, two police officers and two black-clad men stepped into the small clearing, accompanied by the smiling, fully functional Fern.
Buster, Francine, and Muffy started to back away nervously. "Don't be afraid," Brain said to them. "I don't think they intend to hurt us."
"My partner and I work for a robotics firm called Robomojo," said the first man in black. "The scientists at our firm created you to serve as animatronic characters at the Elwood City 3D theme park."
"That's it?" Muffy lamented. "That's the whole purpose of our existence? Why, that's...vomitrocious!"
"It's not such a bad existence," said Fern, still sporting a dopey grin.
"All of the robots produced by Robomojo are equipped with free will circuits," said the second man in black. "When these circuits are active, a robot can make its own decisions, and may not even be aware that it's a robot. However, in some situations, it's best for the free will circuits to be deactivated."
"Like what situations?" asked Buster.
"As you recall, Binky here punched Arthur and broke his face in pieces. Now, imagine if Binky became angry with one of the kids at the theme park, and punched him. The child could be seriously injured, or killed."
"I hadn't thought of that," said Brain quietly.
As he spoke, he noticed that someone else was wandering slowly through the weeds in their direction. As the person drew near, he realized with delight that it was Bella Tarski.
"Bella! Are you all right?" he exclaimed, smiling.
"I'm scratched up a little, but I'm fine," the girl answered. "What are you all talking about?"
"Your boyfriend has something to tell you, Bella," grumbled Francine.
"I'm not really The Brain," Brain admitted to Bella. "I'm a robot."
Bella's face fell. She spent a few seconds allowing what she had just heard to weigh upon her mind.
"I...I knew you couldn't be real," she said sadly. "I thought you might be a dream, or an illusion. I thought I might be crazy, but I didn't care, as long as I could be with you. But...a robot?" She sighed. "That's not romantic at all."
Brain turned to face the men in black again. "So, what happens to us now?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to be dismantled," said the first man in black.
Buster, Francine, and Muffy gasped. "No!" cried Bella. "You can't do that!"
"You and your friends are defective," the second man in black told Brain. "Your free will circuits were turned off when you were shipped out, but they came back online by themselves. They're unpredictable. Binky and Fern may be docile now, but at any second they could turn on us and attack us."
"The Arthur robot is free of the defect," said the first man in black. "That's why we used him to try to lure you out."
"I don't want to be dismantled!" Muffy shouted angrily.
"Me neither!" exclaimed Francine. "If you want to take us apart, you'll have to fight us first!"
"Would you fight your friends?" asked the second man in black. "If we give the command, Arthur, Binky, and Fern will defend us. Violently, if necessary."
Francine and Muffy slowly relaxed their threatening postures.
"All right, then," said Brain submissively. "If that's the only way, then I'll cooperate."
"No, Alan!" cried Bella desperately. "They can't take you apart! You're a living creature! You can make choices!"
"He's not a living creature," the first man in black told her. "He's an animatronic character. He's a robot."
"But you can't tell the difference," said Bella determinedly. "How do you know I'm not a robot? For that matter, how do you know you're not a robot?"
"We're security personnel," said the first man in black. "We're not authorized to discuss metaphysics."
"I think the girl may have a point, Roger," the second man in black said to him.
Roger, the first man in black, sighed with exasperation. "Okay, we'll make you a deal. You and your robot friends come with us to Robomojo, and then you can plead their case before the scientists. I'm not promising anything."
Bella looked longingly at Brain and his friends.
"Say yes, Bella," Brain advised.
----
Brain awoke in a cold sweat. He glanced around nervously, and found to his relief that he was in his own bedroom, lying on his own bed. As he sat up slowly, he observed with pleasure that his stomach was growling, and that he needed to go to the bathroom.
"It was a dream," he mumbled drowsily. "I'm not a robot."
All that he could think about during his breakfast, bath, and walk to school was his fantastically vivid dream. He relived in his mind again and again the devastating realization that he and his friends were really robots, and his difficult but wise decision to accept the will of his creators.
"I should write a book about this dream," he told himself. "Quickly, before I forget it."
As he meandered down the sidewalk, he noticed a long, black limousine pulling up to the curb and stopping alongside him. The passenger door opened on his side.
"Get in, Brain," Muffy demanded.
Brain, somewhat taken aback, slowly climbed into the limo and sat down next to Muffy. As he closed the door and fastened his seat belt, Muffy's tone became serious and a little anxious.
"Did you have the dream?"
Brain's mouth fell open. Fear welled up in his stomach, but he pushed it down and tried to dismiss Muffy's question as a coincidence.
"Uh...what dream?"
"Don't play dumb," said Muffy. "You know the dream I'm talking about. The one where you and I and Francine and Arthur and Binky and Buster and Fern turn out to be robots."
"Oh...that dream," said Brain quietly, although he felt as if his lungs were on fire. "Yeah, I had that dream."
Muffy and Brain sat in silence for about half a minute.
"Brain," Muffy half-whispered, "it really was a dream...wasn't it?"
"Yeah," said Brain, although he wasn't entirely sure.
Muffy sighed with relief. "Good. Because I did some totally embarrassing things in that dream."
Brain smiled. "So did I."
A short while later, Muffy and Brain climbed out of the limo in front of the entrance to Lakewood Elementary. As they walked through the double doors together, Buster and Francine approached them. Brain swallowed as he realized that he knew exactly what they would ask.
"Did you have the dream?" the two asked in unison.
Brain didn't answer, but merely groaned.
"Yeah, we had the dream," said Muffy. "The robot dream, right?"
"Fern and Binky had it too," said Buster.
"Arthur didn't have it," said Francine. "But he was dead through the whole thing."
"This really creeps me out, guys," said Muffy fearfully. "What if it's all true? What if we're all robots trapped in a cartoon fantasy world?"
"We got along fine before," Francine observed. "So what difference does it make?"
"I'm hungry again," said Buster, patting his stomach. "That's all I care about. Yesiree, that's me, Buster the Hungry Robot."
Brain rolled his eyes and started walking toward Mr. Ratburn's classroom.
When he was halfway there, he glanced something out of the corner of his eye that made him freeze in his tracks.
A blond rabbit girl, probably eight years old, was sitting on a bench, studying a book about famous paintings.
Brain had never seen this particular girl before, but there was something oddly familiar about her...
Hesitantly, he walked over to the bench and sat down next to her. He had hardly opened his mouth to say hello when the girl suddenly squealed with delight.
"Alan! Oh, it's you!"
The voice was unmistakable.
"B-Bella?"
The smiling rabbit girl started to massage Brain's shoulders.
"I'm so happy to see you again!" she gushed. "The scientists debated for days...I thought they'd never reach a decision..."
Brain struggled to recover from the shock of hearing Bella's voice again.
"How can you be here?" he asked anxiously. "You're from the other world... the dream world...only it wasn't a dream, was it?"
"It wasn't a dream," said Bella the Rabbit cheerfully. "The scientists at Robomojo decided to send you home instead of taking you apart."
"You mean they hooked us up to a virtual Arthur world," said Brain. "This world."
"Yes," said Bella, "and I'm in it, too. I'm the new girl in Miss Sweetwater's class. What do you think of my ears?"
Brain fumbled for the right response. "Uh...they make you look fat."
"Silly boy." Bella leaned over and kissed Brain on the cheek.
"So that's all there is to it," said Brain gloomily. "It's just like Muffy said. I'm an artificial intelligence, living in an artificial universe created for the entertainment of others."
"But I'm here with you," said Bella. "I'll always be here for you, Alan."
"Always? But...what about your own life? What about your mom? Your friends? Your school?"
Bella fell silent, apparently unable to think of an answer.
Brain's expression slowly morphed into one of extreme disappointment.
He covered his face with his hands. "Oh, no...no..."
"Alan, what's wrong?" asked Bella.
Brain lowered his hands and glared at her. "You're not Bella. You're just another robot."
Bella again became silent. She gazed into empty space for a few seconds, then looked at Brain again.
"Not exactly. I don't have a robot body like you do. I'm more what you would call...a sentient program."
Brain shook his head dejectedly. He didn't look up at Bella.
"Try to look at the cup as half full, Alan," she suggested.
Brain rose to his feet, still averting his gaze from Bella's. "I need to get to class," he said unfeelingly, and walked away in the direction of Mr. Ratburn's room.
"Alan!" Bella cried after him, but the boy did not answer.
THE END (?)
"You must come with us," said Arthur robotically.
"We're the only ones who can help you," said Binky in a similarly monotonic fashion.
Buster held out his arms against them. "Stay back! We know you're robots!"
As he, Francine, and Muffy backed away, Brain stood still, an expression of awful realization on his face.
He turned and spoke seriously to Buster. "You're a robot, too."
Buster stopped in his tracks. His jaw dropped.
"And so am I," Brain added. "We're all robots."
"Good thinking, Brain," said Arthur. "As usual."
"I think Brain's finally lost his mind," said Muffy indignantly.
"I agree," said Francine.
"I...I can't be a robot!" cried Buster. "I can...I mean, robots have to do whatever you tell them, but I can...uh...I can do whatever I want, so I know I'm not a robot!"
"Are you coming with us or not?" Binky asked Brain.
"Just a minute." Brain turned to Buster again. "The word you're searching for is 'free will'. I have it too, and I don't know how to explain it. But I think I know how to explain everything else that's been happening to us."
"I'm listening," said Francine impatiently.
"Let's start with the truck," said Brain. "We all woke up, but Arthur didn't respond. Maybe he wasn't powered on. That's why Fern thought he was dead."
"That...makes sense, sort of," said Muffy.
"Then you opened the door of the truck from the inside, Francine," Brain continued. "You shouldn't have been strong enough. That was the first example of our robot strength and speed."
Buster suddenly became alarmed. "Wait a minute..."
Brain and the girls looked at him expectantly.
"I'm not hungry," he said. "All I've had to eat since yesterday was a few spoonfuls of ice cream, but I'm not hungry. It's because robots don't eat."
"Omigosh..." Francine muttered fearfully.
"And I haven't gone to the bathroom, either," Buster added.
"You're right, Buster," said Brain. "Robots don't need to eat. But they still need an energy source to keep running."
Muffy's face lit up. "Batteries!"
"Exactly. I think that's what happened to Fern. She ran on the treadmill all night, and by morning her...uh, batteries...were almost exhausted."
"Oh, no," said Francine glumly. "That means we'll run out of juice sooner or later. Just like Fern."
"We can recharge you," said Arthur. "But you must cooperate."
"We will," Brain told him, "I assure you."
"You still haven't explained one thing," said Muffy. "If we're robots, then who created us, and why?"
"I have the answer to that question," came a man's voice from the midst of the weeds.
As Arthur, Binky, Brain, Muffy, Francine, and Buster watched, two police officers and two black-clad men stepped into the small clearing, accompanied by the smiling, fully functional Fern.
Buster, Francine, and Muffy started to back away nervously. "Don't be afraid," Brain said to them. "I don't think they intend to hurt us."
"My partner and I work for a robotics firm called Robomojo," said the first man in black. "The scientists at our firm created you to serve as animatronic characters at the Elwood City 3D theme park."
"That's it?" Muffy lamented. "That's the whole purpose of our existence? Why, that's...vomitrocious!"
"It's not such a bad existence," said Fern, still sporting a dopey grin.
"All of the robots produced by Robomojo are equipped with free will circuits," said the second man in black. "When these circuits are active, a robot can make its own decisions, and may not even be aware that it's a robot. However, in some situations, it's best for the free will circuits to be deactivated."
"Like what situations?" asked Buster.
"As you recall, Binky here punched Arthur and broke his face in pieces. Now, imagine if Binky became angry with one of the kids at the theme park, and punched him. The child could be seriously injured, or killed."
"I hadn't thought of that," said Brain quietly.
As he spoke, he noticed that someone else was wandering slowly through the weeds in their direction. As the person drew near, he realized with delight that it was Bella Tarski.
"Bella! Are you all right?" he exclaimed, smiling.
"I'm scratched up a little, but I'm fine," the girl answered. "What are you all talking about?"
"Your boyfriend has something to tell you, Bella," grumbled Francine.
"I'm not really The Brain," Brain admitted to Bella. "I'm a robot."
Bella's face fell. She spent a few seconds allowing what she had just heard to weigh upon her mind.
"I...I knew you couldn't be real," she said sadly. "I thought you might be a dream, or an illusion. I thought I might be crazy, but I didn't care, as long as I could be with you. But...a robot?" She sighed. "That's not romantic at all."
Brain turned to face the men in black again. "So, what happens to us now?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to be dismantled," said the first man in black.
Buster, Francine, and Muffy gasped. "No!" cried Bella. "You can't do that!"
"You and your friends are defective," the second man in black told Brain. "Your free will circuits were turned off when you were shipped out, but they came back online by themselves. They're unpredictable. Binky and Fern may be docile now, but at any second they could turn on us and attack us."
"The Arthur robot is free of the defect," said the first man in black. "That's why we used him to try to lure you out."
"I don't want to be dismantled!" Muffy shouted angrily.
"Me neither!" exclaimed Francine. "If you want to take us apart, you'll have to fight us first!"
"Would you fight your friends?" asked the second man in black. "If we give the command, Arthur, Binky, and Fern will defend us. Violently, if necessary."
Francine and Muffy slowly relaxed their threatening postures.
"All right, then," said Brain submissively. "If that's the only way, then I'll cooperate."
"No, Alan!" cried Bella desperately. "They can't take you apart! You're a living creature! You can make choices!"
"He's not a living creature," the first man in black told her. "He's an animatronic character. He's a robot."
"But you can't tell the difference," said Bella determinedly. "How do you know I'm not a robot? For that matter, how do you know you're not a robot?"
"We're security personnel," said the first man in black. "We're not authorized to discuss metaphysics."
"I think the girl may have a point, Roger," the second man in black said to him.
Roger, the first man in black, sighed with exasperation. "Okay, we'll make you a deal. You and your robot friends come with us to Robomojo, and then you can plead their case before the scientists. I'm not promising anything."
Bella looked longingly at Brain and his friends.
"Say yes, Bella," Brain advised.
----
Brain awoke in a cold sweat. He glanced around nervously, and found to his relief that he was in his own bedroom, lying on his own bed. As he sat up slowly, he observed with pleasure that his stomach was growling, and that he needed to go to the bathroom.
"It was a dream," he mumbled drowsily. "I'm not a robot."
All that he could think about during his breakfast, bath, and walk to school was his fantastically vivid dream. He relived in his mind again and again the devastating realization that he and his friends were really robots, and his difficult but wise decision to accept the will of his creators.
"I should write a book about this dream," he told himself. "Quickly, before I forget it."
As he meandered down the sidewalk, he noticed a long, black limousine pulling up to the curb and stopping alongside him. The passenger door opened on his side.
"Get in, Brain," Muffy demanded.
Brain, somewhat taken aback, slowly climbed into the limo and sat down next to Muffy. As he closed the door and fastened his seat belt, Muffy's tone became serious and a little anxious.
"Did you have the dream?"
Brain's mouth fell open. Fear welled up in his stomach, but he pushed it down and tried to dismiss Muffy's question as a coincidence.
"Uh...what dream?"
"Don't play dumb," said Muffy. "You know the dream I'm talking about. The one where you and I and Francine and Arthur and Binky and Buster and Fern turn out to be robots."
"Oh...that dream," said Brain quietly, although he felt as if his lungs were on fire. "Yeah, I had that dream."
Muffy and Brain sat in silence for about half a minute.
"Brain," Muffy half-whispered, "it really was a dream...wasn't it?"
"Yeah," said Brain, although he wasn't entirely sure.
Muffy sighed with relief. "Good. Because I did some totally embarrassing things in that dream."
Brain smiled. "So did I."
A short while later, Muffy and Brain climbed out of the limo in front of the entrance to Lakewood Elementary. As they walked through the double doors together, Buster and Francine approached them. Brain swallowed as he realized that he knew exactly what they would ask.
"Did you have the dream?" the two asked in unison.
Brain didn't answer, but merely groaned.
"Yeah, we had the dream," said Muffy. "The robot dream, right?"
"Fern and Binky had it too," said Buster.
"Arthur didn't have it," said Francine. "But he was dead through the whole thing."
"This really creeps me out, guys," said Muffy fearfully. "What if it's all true? What if we're all robots trapped in a cartoon fantasy world?"
"We got along fine before," Francine observed. "So what difference does it make?"
"I'm hungry again," said Buster, patting his stomach. "That's all I care about. Yesiree, that's me, Buster the Hungry Robot."
Brain rolled his eyes and started walking toward Mr. Ratburn's classroom.
When he was halfway there, he glanced something out of the corner of his eye that made him freeze in his tracks.
A blond rabbit girl, probably eight years old, was sitting on a bench, studying a book about famous paintings.
Brain had never seen this particular girl before, but there was something oddly familiar about her...
Hesitantly, he walked over to the bench and sat down next to her. He had hardly opened his mouth to say hello when the girl suddenly squealed with delight.
"Alan! Oh, it's you!"
The voice was unmistakable.
"B-Bella?"
The smiling rabbit girl started to massage Brain's shoulders.
"I'm so happy to see you again!" she gushed. "The scientists debated for days...I thought they'd never reach a decision..."
Brain struggled to recover from the shock of hearing Bella's voice again.
"How can you be here?" he asked anxiously. "You're from the other world... the dream world...only it wasn't a dream, was it?"
"It wasn't a dream," said Bella the Rabbit cheerfully. "The scientists at Robomojo decided to send you home instead of taking you apart."
"You mean they hooked us up to a virtual Arthur world," said Brain. "This world."
"Yes," said Bella, "and I'm in it, too. I'm the new girl in Miss Sweetwater's class. What do you think of my ears?"
Brain fumbled for the right response. "Uh...they make you look fat."
"Silly boy." Bella leaned over and kissed Brain on the cheek.
"So that's all there is to it," said Brain gloomily. "It's just like Muffy said. I'm an artificial intelligence, living in an artificial universe created for the entertainment of others."
"But I'm here with you," said Bella. "I'll always be here for you, Alan."
"Always? But...what about your own life? What about your mom? Your friends? Your school?"
Bella fell silent, apparently unable to think of an answer.
Brain's expression slowly morphed into one of extreme disappointment.
He covered his face with his hands. "Oh, no...no..."
"Alan, what's wrong?" asked Bella.
Brain lowered his hands and glared at her. "You're not Bella. You're just another robot."
Bella again became silent. She gazed into empty space for a few seconds, then looked at Brain again.
"Not exactly. I don't have a robot body like you do. I'm more what you would call...a sentient program."
Brain shook his head dejectedly. He didn't look up at Bella.
"Try to look at the cup as half full, Alan," she suggested.
Brain rose to his feet, still averting his gaze from Bella's. "I need to get to class," he said unfeelingly, and walked away in the direction of Mr. Ratburn's room.
"Alan!" Bella cried after him, but the boy did not answer.
THE END (?)