Free Machines of Eden by Shad Callister

room that stank of metal and
grease, filled with boxes and spools of industrial cable. There was
a nest of filthy blankets in a corner, and two doorways leading to
darkened areas beyond.
    “ This is home. If she
finds it, we both die.” The man considered what he had said
carefully, and then added, “So don’t tell her.”
    “ Thanks again. She had me
settled ,” John said.
    “ She settles everybody.” A
head bob. “Eventually.”
    “ What’s your
handle?”
    “ Nut.”
    John’s mouth twitched at
the corners. “Is that b ecause you’re
crazy, or because you like dry -roasted peanuts?”
    A slow smile. “Both. Food?
Gotcha food?”
    “ Fresh
out . Sorry. I’ll
bring some next time.”
    “ There won’t be a next
time,” Nut sighed.
    “ There’s always a next
time ,” John said. “ Are you the only other person
here?”
    “ Dunno. Were others. Maybe
one left. Maybe. Dunno.”
    “ How did you come
here?”
    Nut blinked in suspicion and began to
back away . “Why ya wanna know? She tell ya
ta ask me? Huh? Did she?”
    “ Relax. I just don’t know
how I got here. I
woke up on the beach a few hours
ago .”
    The man seemed to calm
down. “Workers , dumb islanders
mostly . All gone now. Long gone. Like the
boss. Left me, though , cuz I know
‘lectrician work . Still here. But she’ll
get me. Eventually. Five months.” He paused, concentrating, then
added, “Maybe six months. Maybe five. Dunno.”
    “ You’ve been here five
months?” John asked.
    “ No, empty-head.” Nut tapped his temple
with a dirty finger. “Five months until dark. Better listen to me,
or you’ll go before me.”
    “ How long have you been
here, then?”
    “ Too long.”
    Son of a – “ Hey! Listen to me ,” John told
the semi-coherent man in front of him . “ Why are
you here?”
    “ Nuthin’, no more.
Obsolete. What she called me. Said on the file,
obsolete.”
    John stared at Nut. The man was clearly hanging on by his
fingernails. It wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge, if he
hadn’t fallen already. The mind could only take so much, and Nut
had reached his limit.
    Not like the machines.
Never like the machines. Got to love the bots for that. They don’t
snap. When they go bad, it makes sense all the way. Their insanity
is sane. They get unbalanced, but they still make a creepy kind of
sense. Like that quartermaster bot at Nova Base that decided the
boys weren't shaving close enough for regulations, and decided to
do something about the problem.
    “ Look, Nut. She can’t get
us here, right?”
    Nut shook his head, hair
whipping from side to side. “Nep, nep. Not here.”
    “ So we’re safe for now,
right? We can talk?”
    “ Yep. Gotcha
food?”
    John drew a breath. “No. I already told you that.”
    “ Know you did. Think I
wasn’t listening. I can see clearly. You think that about me. That
I don’t listen. But I do.”
    John stared at the little man, uneasy. Nut’s voice was taking on a
hurried, frantic tone, and he was using larger sentences that ran
together.
    “ – point is, hero, that
we’re dying. Already, both of us dying. What of, what from? Not
gas, not bots--hunger! And you didn’t bring food, so are we safe
here, hmm? Ask her . She’s got it all calculated, see. The exact calorie count
we need to stay alive --
k now what she does?”
    John shook his head.
    “ She gives you exactly one
calorie less than what you need! Smart! Smartsmartsmart! So you
starve so slow you don’t even know it! She’s got it all figured
out!”
    Nut was rocking back and
forth on his heels, hands clasped around his knees. “Say you need
an even two grand calories a day. Well, she makes sure you don’t
get but a thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine!” He darted a
triumphant look at the ceiling. “Got to be smart! I’m smarter than she
thinks. Know what I do? I get extra calories!” Nut was almost in
paroxysms of joy. Crafty glee shone from his eyes. “ Know what I
do?”
    “ Tell me.”
    “