That morning, Chippy’s hard drive spun and spun, bringing his servo motors to life again. His tracks, rolling lazily down the hall, transported him to the coffee pot. He blinked and blinked while trying to get visual focus on what his computer bank called “ITEM 001″, commonly referred to as coffee. It was time to brew, as airman Davidson would soon come slamming down the hallway and demand coffee from the robot. He always demands coffee. Almost every morning, airman Davidson would walk in, plop down, bleary eyed and filthy faced, shouting “Chippy, gimmie some coffee you rusty rust bucket, you.” Like every other morning, Chippy’s software would cause him to employ his voice modulator synthesizer to say “MISUNDERSTOOD”. Davidson eventually remembers to speak Chippy language at the machine. “I mean item zero zero one, you pile of transistors.” “MISUNDERSTOOD” said Chippy again, rewarding Davidson for his total lack of wit.
Chippy knows that he is loved by his owners. His creator, Dave the Engineer, gave him a sassback chip that helps him deal with the joys and challenges of being a morning show producer. He’s been programed to serve by playing items and printing reports with his noisy dot matrix printer. His creator did not give him grease fittings. He is noisy. But airman Davidson and airman Barnes (known in his programming as D-B 1 and 2, respectively) are grateful to have him around. He needs nothing but to be needed.
“Thanks for the coffee, Chippy.”
Chippy’s smile LED’s ignite.
Airman Barnes ignites, too. “Print out the news. I need it.”
Chippy’s noisy dot matrix printer kicks into high gear. The humans cover their ears until the news is printed.
Soon it will be read to the world.
