IRIS

Outside the wind howls and a desolate rattle resounds as sand is swooped up and thrown against the old barns’ wooden walls. Spider webs gleam in the moon trickling in through cracks and holes. The floorboards moan around IRIS. An undiscernible whisper is caught in a draft.

He winds a clock on his chest, turning the rusting gears with his metal finger and sets a timer. Then taps his wrist checking how much battery he has left. A dull, red light flashes, not strong enough to push the surrounding darkness off it. Low battery.

Footsteps materialize and vanish amongst the shadows. What sounds like a shrill voice travels through the air, yet it is believed humans have been extinct for the last five years. They were gone even before Dr. Llosa created him. Intelligent Robotic Integrated System, or IRIS. His sole purpose, or as the doctor used to say, “Your soul purpose, is to find more humans. Alive!” IRIS was built with one large cyclops like eye in the middle of its tin face, capable of seeing infrared.

In the corner of the barn his flickering scan picks up a heat signature not belonging to any human or animal. But a ghost. A phenomenon known as a haunting. Not something intended by the Doctor, who died two years ago. Her essence has remained bound to the old place. But not just hers, there are also the memories of an old farmer entwined with the creation of the barn, built by his own hand.

Like his creator, IRIS is stuck, unable to travel and fulfill his mission of finding more humans because of his dying battery. He wobbles, sways side to side.

IRIS has been studying these supernatural sightings and has realized that what most people refer to as the soul, is simply an amalgamation of memory and emotion. Capsulated by an electromagnetic field.

The brain animates the body using small pulses of electricity, generated by emotions. The stronger the sentiment the more electricity is produced. These events when a human is under intense psychological tension, whether it be sad, happy, or mad, bind magnetically to particles in the air. So, a ghost is simply a memory captured in time, repeating itself. This energy can be harnessed and redirected into IRIS, only through direct contact.

IRIS drags a table to the middle of the barn and sets a cup, filled with Dr. Llosa’s favorite drink. Around him footsteps get louder. The wind outside picks up and swings the barn doors open. They wail on their squeaky hinges. He places tools used in his own creation on the table. A wrench, screwdrivers of different sizes, a saw. Each item feeling heavier in his grasp. His legs slurring along behind him as his battery continues to decrease. He grabs a chair and places it in the middle of the barn and sits on it. The world around him becoming dimmer and suddenly his own head is too heavy to lift. The timer goes off. Beeping. Marking the exact second the process of his existence began.

The apparition begins to materialize a little more clearly now. A vivid recollection so emotionally charged it interacts with the things before it. The ghost becoming stronger as it comes in contact with matter, thus able to deliver more charge to IRIS’s battery. It is the memory of his creation that he is watching unfold before him.

Doctor Llosa bumps into the table, the tools rattling. She takes a sip from the cup but the drink spills to the floor and splashes droplets onto the robot’s leg. IRIS is beginning to shut down. “Oh yeah. That’s the good stuff,” the doctor says, gulping and coughing. Her voice sounds distant and cold. A crisp curve on the way the words are pronounced. The doctor takes the tools in her hand and the objects float. And intermingled are the memories of the farmer who inhabited the barn before. But his energy is so sharply intertwined with the structural matter of the environment, that his essence refuses to leave. IRIS is careful not to charge himself with such a magnetized memory lest he be bound to the barn forever.

The doctor finishes the last phantom touches on IRIS. Everything stills as IRIS begins to power off and darkness begins closing its grasp on him.

The doctor hugs hum. The Embrace is both warm and cold. Familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The light on his wrist begins to flash a neon green. His battery fully charged he begins repowering.

IRIS remains in the embrace of the memory of his creator. The warmth and electricity feel good. He wants to pull free but he stays in the hug. His body starts to magnetize. He fights to break from the bond. But it hurts to be pulled away from Doctor Llosa. From the barn. But finally, he pulls free.

He exits and looks across the vast fields surrounding the old wooden place. And feels the electricity, the memories, an essence flow throughout his body. Both holding him back and propelling him foreword. He takes a step into the uncertainty and doesn’t look back, ready to fulfil his soul purpose.