I, Willhelm

Within a few years other potential markets began to be explored. Union after union began to bend as various leaders within the organisations discovered that a long-lost relative had left them a small fortune. A deal was reached; surgeons would have robot assistants, nurses were pushed out, trainee surgeons found it harder and harder to train. The private sector had a boom. Thousands of people lost their jobs, unemployment slowly crept up. It was all going well; that is, until the RBH incident.

The robot was experienced. It had been working as an assistant for over three years, the hospital had made a fortune cutting down the cost of human hires and increasing the amount of surgeries they were able to perform. Corners began to be cut, policies loosened, and before long nurses found themselves with robot assistants and a decreasing amount of human colleagues. The unions were contacted, and more people discovered houses left to them from long dead relatives. Nothing was done, whistleblowers had their work loads tripled, and eventually the message was received; this was happening. Soon the recovery wards were filled with the rubber padded steps of metal feet. The wards were cleaner, more efficient, patients were discharged on time - something which previously never happened - and rates of infection and complaints plummeted. The hospital administrators were ecstatic. There were the occasional problems, patients that outright refused to be treated by robots and insisted on humans. The hospital administrators solved this problem by keeping only the most uncaring and incompetent nurses. Within a year or two it was rare for anyone to ask for human care.

Then one of the robots broke.

The headlines ran for weeks. Rampage robot horror at RBH. Did hospital cost saving measures cause robot meltdown? To make it worse, other than the shaky footage that had been leaked online, no more information was being released by the hospital. The newspapers knew that women on the maternity ward had been injured, one of the human nurses had almost certainly died, and that a robot had been the cause.

The obvious scape goat was the robot. Except they couldn’t do that, since it meant that they would have to hire more human staff, and the few nurses that had remained in the profession could now command hourly rates that were almost triple their previous salary. A nurse had been killed, three women severely injured, and a baby was currently in the ICU. Someone had to take the fall. Unsure how to deal with the PR nightmare and potential lawsuits, the the hospital administrators behaved in a way that would soon be nicknamed in PR circles as “doing an RBH”, or in other words, a fuckup of cosmic proportions.

First, none of the families were allowed to see the women who had been injured. The excuse given to the familes was that the robot had had managed to leak toxic fluid onto them during the attack. The rumour mill went wild. Within hours talk of a radioactive leak from the robot was spread on social media and Aphelion Robotics was forced to make a statement that their robots did not have any radioactive parts, nor would they have had access to anything of the kind in the hospital. For a week the rumour mill swirled. After six days Aphelion Robotics contacted the RBH to offer their PR and legal services. Within the last week they had over 6 million pounds of orders canceled, despite the hefty cancelation fee. Their stock had plummeted, and Eli had left his Swiss chalet to handle the matter as quickly as possible.

Then a new story broke.

Robot victim jumps from window of RBH?

Pregnant woman newest robot victim?

Is a new robot on a rampage?

Twenty minutes later a private helicopter landed on the roof of the RBH where Eli Munt was led by staff inside. While in the elevator, screams were suddenly heard from outside. The four robot security guards had restrained two men who had attempted to push past them, holding them firmly until police arrived. Terrified for their wives and girlfriends, the two men, Damien Blackmoor, and Harvey Mackle attacked them which large rocks that had decorated the front entrance flower beds. Damien was a recently retired marine, and Harvey a bouncer for local pub famous for it’s brawls. They knew were to hit and how to take a hit. Impaired by the directive to never harm a human, the robots were unable to defend themselves to their full capacity. Not that they could have done anything. A fight against one human would have been easy, but against a baying mob of scared relatives, gutter journalists and incensed locals, the robots were smashed into lumps of wire and metal. Damien and Harvey stormed the hospital with the mob behind them and made their way to the maternity unit. When the doors wouldn’t open for them they swarmed against it until the hinges snapped under the force. As soon as they were in they both screamed for their partners, Harvey’s girlfriend responded. Damien’s did not.

A dozen camera’s filmed as Damien threw the last remaining robots in the ward through the shattered window. They smashed onto the stained pavement outside where a barrier had been set up with yellow tape everywhere. Once he had finished Damien leant against the window frame and stared down at the four storey drop. At the foot of the bed next to him he noticed Evalyn’s slippers and her bag hanging open, a sketchbook peeking out that she had intended to fill with pictures of their baby girl.

Aphelion Robotics stock price plummeted.

Three years later the RBH case was settled out of court. While the amounts were never disclosed - as per the settlement agreement - it was heavily implied that it was in the hundreds of millions. None of the families of the victims every had to work again, and for a few of them, their children were comfortable all their lives too.

Eventually a story was agreed upon. It had not been the fault of Aphelion robotic; the robot had been tampered with, and as a result it had failed. The story was that the robot had quite literally spun out of control, and in the crowded maternity ward, this had resulted in the tragedy. Nurse Lucida Baptiste who had died in the ‘accident’ was heavily implied to have been the person who had tampered with the robot. Her younger brother and sister, who she had supported entirely on her own for the least decade were in no position to say anything public, as neither of them had been born in the UK and were being threatened with eviction from Lucida’s flat. The few charities that initially agreed to help them fight deportation suddenly retracted their offer after a few weeks.

They were deported back to Trinidad eight months after the death of their sister.

After the RHB event Aphelion robotics introduced a new service. A 24/7 human observer that would monitor all robots which where in use in public spaces and have the ability to trigger a kill switch if they deemed it necessary. No qualifications were required, applications poured in, many of them former nurses. Empty shopping centres were purchased and refurbished to house the observers which required, sleeping, eating and washing facilities. The cost of running skyrocketed.

Under increasing pressure to increase profits to previous amounts, Eli tried to persuade various MP’s and members of parliament that the robots should be required by law in positions where a human life would be placed in too much risk. This would include teaching, driving and nursing. Homes in Spain, Italy and Malta were bought, but nobody was willing publicly back the company that had made the RBH robot. More dinners at private and expensive locations were provided. In person several party leaders pledged their support, but still refused to do so publicly. To boost public perception the robots were all redesigned and each MP was provided with a robot to be their personal aid. Without realising, every single press meeting, interview and picture taken at Westminster had a robot in the background. What had previously been frightening became familiar. Slowly the tide began to turn for the company and profits steadily increased.