THE AUTOMATON WHO BECAME SELF AWARE

The limitations of human life left a big hole in his conscience. Its creator was now senile, and had forgotten the commands. A huge responsibility fell on Mat’s shoulders – that of managing itsresponses.

The guns fitted on its body could start firing from anywhere, and facing it always made onlookers nervous. They were unaware that MAT was gripped by a bigger fear – that of uncontrolled action. They placed a high level of trust in the genius of the inventor – but genius turned out to be more fragile than machines.

One fine morning, the cleaner found parts of MAT lying all over the floor, and there was no response to the routine requests or commands. It was seen as sabotage – MAT was an important part of the nation’s defence strategy. But it had managed to dismantle itself.

Suicide it was! Would another human manage to rekindle life in it?