A short piece. This is the second draft, it's not quite finished and there will definitely be more about Path.

Enjoy!

Path

The white corridors of Tranquility City are filled with happy faces, mothers carrying babies and gossiping, people of all ages crowded around tables in the food court talking loudly and drinking oil or other necessary fluids. Sophie wanders, looking out of windows at the dusty barren lunar landscape, she takes a deep fresh breath at the entrance to one of the many park areas in the complex where trees grow almost to the protective dome and grass is greener than any seen on Earth - knowing that it is genetically altered to produce chlorophyll at a higher rate and thereby pump out subtly more oxygen doesn't, for Sophie, detract from the vividly pleasant colourful effect. In a field she spots a father teaching a young girl how to play football and a couple to her right picnicking beside the lake discuss a new paper on the effects of solar flare radiation. It is all so perfectly normal that it takes Sophie some time to notice how every person she sees is made of a soft silver metal with faintly glowing patches at knees, elbows, shoulders and sharp blue eyes, the chest panels which protect their central processors are proudly highlighted in ceramic white, they are all robots.

Closing her eyes tightly (though it blocks out nothing) Sophie thinks, No humans, only P.A.T.H. robots living as people. I am asleep and this is nothing more than a dream. As the words run through her mind she lifts out of her body to float above the city, thereby proving it to be true. Viewing the entirely of her life's work from above almost overpowers her, she takes a moment to watch individuals as they move and everything from the dull corridors to the eclectically bright houses, laboratories and communal places and open herself to the possibility that even if this is a dream it shows her world in an amazing light. Another heartbeat passes and a robot joins her at the top of the dome, loose and unformed he smiles, "Are they not beautiful Dr Peters?"

Waking up to the abrasive intercom blaring is not exactly ideal. Sophie grumbles as she answers and her assistant's voice comes through, "Dr Peters, we're ready to begin powering up P.A.T.H. 1 when you arrive." Thanking him she ends the call and begins her morning routine.

The main laboratory is empty when Sophie strides in. Taken somewhat aback she peeks through the glass brick walls to her left and right hoping there will be someone in one of the side workstations, finding them empty she continues through the main room into her own lab feeling a little like the last person to the party.

As she cracks the door open and steps through a call goes out from somewhere near her desk at the far end of the room, though it's so filled with people that she almost can't make her assistant out. "Dr Peters! We invited everyone who was involved in the project for the start up, I hope you don't mind."

"Of course, Brian." She laughs and addresses the room. "You've all worked so hard on this, you deserve to see what the man we've made is like."

The crowd parts to give her the first glimpse of P.A.T.H. 1 seated in her own desk chair at the centre of the room. He looks nothing less than resplendent, silver and white somehow duller than the robots of her dream but no less exciting for all that. He could be sleeping, she thinks, and in a moment those black eyes will light up when he wakes. The robot is already hooked into power supplies and measuring equipment, she takes a few moments to check the monitors and concludes that everything has been done for her, all that's left is to flip the metaphorical switch. "Well, shall we do this?" Her co-workers almost cheer in response. She types the final line of code to initialise P.A.T.H. 1's systems and gently, with breath held, presses enter.

Instantly her robot's shoulders, elbows and knees begin to glow, there is a faint whirr like first time a newly built computer is switched on, but his eyes remain black. Sophie lets out the breath in a rush, a hundred thoughts haring through her mind. An efficient scan through the monitors shows nothing out of the ordinary.

"Brian, is the magnetic lock sealed?" She asks.

At his affirmative she types the code to unlock it and snatches up a tool from the work surface beside Path, using it to adeptly slip the ceramic panel from his chest plate. Inside the circuitry is all in order and she is beginning to consider taking off the face panel to see if the 'eye' LEDs are connected properly when they spark and light on their own.

"Good morning, Dr Peters." P.A.T.H. 1 murmurs softly.

A real cheer runs through the room this time, as well as many pats on the back and much shaking of hands. Sophie beams at the robot. "Good morning Path. Do you know where you are?"

"Yes Dr Peters, I am in laboratory 26 of the international lunar city Tranquility. It is 9:14 am Tranquility Standard Time and 4:14 pm Greenwich Mean Time. All systems are functioning normally. Would you like to begin preliminary testing?"

"Thank you Path, we would." Sophie responds with a viral smile.

Over the course of the day Path is tested on everything from standing up and walking through basic arithmetic to threading a needle and advanced theoretical physics. He surpasses all their expectations and by sunset every member of the Bio-Robotic Engineering staff are congratulating themselves on a job superbly done (and checking their inboxes for Nobel Prize nominations). A party is, of course, started in the main lab though it quickly becomes populated with partners, friends, scientists and engineers working on other projects and even a few of the city's children who come mostly to see the living robot (as they are kindly yet flatly refused to join in the increasingly alcohol driven antics of the adults). To Sophie's surprise most people seem content to simply enter the back lab to look at Path or, in the case of the children, to be introduced to him and hear their names coming back in his ever-calm tones, then leave to re-join the party.

Sophie herself can't keep away from him. She celebrated for a short time but once Brian had gotten bored of showing Path off she felt it was best to stay with him in case of accidents - it wouldn't do much good for the officials to arrive tomorrow and find that the amazing robot they had heard to much about had had champagne spilled into his internals by a curious chemist or something and was no longer in working order.

"Dr Peters?" Path asks clearly yet lightly, as though he is aware of drawing her out of reverie.

"Hmm, yes?"

He hesitates a moment and in the pause she focuses her full attention on him, noting for the first time that he looks more real than her dream robots could ever have been.

"Why do your co-workers seem so intent on poisoning themselves?"

The question is posed with more curiosity than Sophie thought his voice capable of. She steps up to the monitors Path is connected to overnight for continued measurements, idling her eyes over them as she considers her response. "You mean the alcohol I presume?"

"Yes, Dr Peters. I have noticed a marked lessening of motor control and what appears to be decreased cognitive processing in Dr Brian Gentry over the last fifty minutes yet he continues to imbibe alcoholic fluids."

"Hmm, well," Sophie notes a slight increase in power consumption of Path's brain over the last fifty minutes. "It's something that people do to help control their moods. Alcohol affects human brain chemistry by releasing endorphins (among other things) it is also a relaxant and reduces inhibitions, which in turn allows you to communicate with a little more ease and be less concerned about things, as well as making you feel good - in some cases, such as this evening, it reminds us that we have achieved something worth celebrating, champagne is particularly good for that."

Path nodded. "I understand the biological response to alcohol and the studies into its psychological impact, however I do not understand why people will continue to voluntarily drink when it is clearly, despite short term pleasant side-effects, in the long run very damaging."

"I suppose, most commonly, we do it because none of us are very sure that we have a long-run." The robot tilts his head a little to the side, clearly signalling confusion. "To put it bluntly, my dear, we're all afraid of dying so we choose to enjoy the time we have even if that means potentially shortening it." At this Path's brain activity increases sharply enough to draw Sophie's eyes back to the monitor.

"Thank you for clarifying, Dr Peters." He is silent for a time.

Sophie watches him, his power consumption is still high and he seems to be in deep thought. "Path, do you understand what I have just told you?"

"I... believe so." A hesitation, then his eyes brighten a degree, something Sophie is beginning to suspect is his equivalent of a smile. "The acknowledgement of death's inevitability, even in light of myself, causes little pause since I cannot fear. However, it highlights the subjectively greater inference of your words - I have a lot to learn."

A sudden idea strikes Sophie, she leaves Path's side and crosses the room to her bookshelf where she pulls out a book of poetry. Path's eyes follow her. Sophie scans though the book slowly, trying to find just the right one. At last, she gives it to him open on a poem and asks him, “Will you read it?”

She had not meant that he should read it aloud but he does, his smooth voice flowing beautifully over the text;

"That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see'st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west;

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,

Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.

This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well, which thou must leave ere long."

"Thank you, Path." Sophie smiles. "And what do you think of it?"

"William Shakespeare’s Sonnet number 73, it is one of his most famous – "

Waving her hand Sophie stops him. "Path, I’m sorry, let me clarify. What does the poem mean to you personally?"

His eyes glow, "It is beautiful Dr Peters."