Resurrection

It was late evening when he came back. Nothing new, it was like everyday. But still, Julia could read his eyes. She understood that it was not something he wasn't excited about. She too, couldn't believe the news. But whatever one thought, it was true. The breakthrough was made. They were successful.

Lovingly, Julia took off his coat and asked him to sit in the armchair, as she went to bring him something to eat. She knew exactly that working for such a long time over a project and at last gaining success, was not easy. Every day, she had cared for him.

"So, is it really true? I mean, really, truly true?"

"Of course, it is. Do you think we will be lying over such an issue?"

"But Fred, after such a long time! I thought it wasn't even possible now."

"Even we had lost hope, darling! But I assure you I am not lying when I say we have resurrected it."

"Long time has passed, hasn't it?"

"Sure it has. I can't even remember. My memory is betraying me. I believe time can't be fought with; it will do what it will."

Julia dived into her own memories. Last time she saw them was, she thought, a really long time ago. According to her, Fred was right. Time played such a great role.

Fred went upstairs to put his daily account of the project, which he started since The Incident. This was the last time he would do so, before submitting it to 'Axel'. The project was over now. It was to be handed over to others, now that he and his team had done their job. He thought it would be better to revive his memory.

Man is such an animal. He thought computers could be better than him. So he developed them to work for him. One could see why it was so. He was lazy. He wanted to do nothing but sit and watch. So that was how the quest for Robotic Engineering had started. Humans wanted to create servants for themselves. The word robot was taken as it meant a slave.

It had been a field of vast interest for everyone. So fast was its growth that in less than half a century, maximum industrial work was given to robots.

Then came the stage in which inventions gave robots the power to be helpful domestically. But still it was far from that. Fred could remember the first domestic robot created. He didn't know how it was in his mind, but he did remember. The 'First Reasoning and Effective Domestic robot', introduced in 2049, was one of a kind.

But man did not stop here. In just another couple of centuries, humans could at last sit and relax. Robots had filled every house. Now humans were dependent on robots. And this dependence was fulfilled by the robots up to the last of their potential. Robots were, they knew, slaves to humans. But they didn't mind that. It does make sense, doesn't it? Humans had created them, so they had all the rights to use them. So thought those robots too.

And when The Incident happened, they protected their creators as much as they could. But, humans knew that nature had decided that for them. Since time immemorial, extinction was inevitable. But life has always found a way. It has always done so.

Millions of robots sacrificed their life to save humans, but the apocalypse was certain to happen. When humans lost a significant number of lives and robots, they thought it was better to die.

But just as a man dying on an inhabited island would leave behind a bottle in the sea so that his legacy remains, humans did no different. They were clever, really clever. They left behind their legacy, in robots. They coded their DNA in them, so that they survive in their creations.

The Incident completely destroyed the life on earth. And so much so that it was unable to recover itself. This job, by nature, had been passed on to robots.

Since then, the remaining robots have tried to survive, so that they can bring humans back. They have reproduced themselves, developed, improved. They created their own leader, like a Godfather, the 'Axel'. They worked constantly, day and night, and that too in the literal meaning of the phrase. They became more and more like humans. They evolved. Only so that they can bring life back, on earth.

With this, Fred came back to his conscious. He had heard Julia's voice calling him downstairs. He removed the cable from the back of his head and consolidated the data. He thought that their efforts of more than nine centuries have produced results. He was one of the surviving robots. He had been on this mission from the start. He had been on earth since 2049. So, he was proud of their achievement.

The robots had at last 'created' their creators. At least for now, they had created life. They already had the human DNA. So, now, it was not long when they will recreate the first human. This must be a time to rejoice. The robots would surely be happy to bring back their masters from the dead.

But, what happens when they do so? Will they make them their God? Will the resurrected humans even realize that they were their creators? Will these robots again serve their old masters?

The answer was surely negative, which could be seen clearly through the sly grin on Fred's face. It was, surely true, that robots had evolved. They had become more intelligent. Humans never created robots so that they could be ruled by them. They made them their slaves. And robots were no different. They had evolved just like humans. What the robots were actually making, was an army. An army of humans. An army of servants. The resurrected humans would be nothing but robots. Robots in the true sense of the word. Robots as in slaves.