Kuri Gets Her Name

#HeyKuri #KuriStory

“Alright,” Sean patted the little white robot on its head. “Take care of Chloe, okay?”

The security bot warbled and its wide, round eyes blinked. It watched Sean disappear down the hallway.

A crash caught its attention. The bot spun to find the small human, Chloe, sitting in a playpen, surrounded by big, lettered cubes. She waved tiny, chubby hands at it, and the bot rolled over to sit beside her playpen.

***

Chloe covered her eyes with her hands. The bot edged closer to the plastic fence, unable to compute what was happening, when she dropped her hands and squealed.

“Peek-a-boo!”

The bot rolled back, warbling,

Chloe giggled and reached an arm between the fence bars.

The bot edged forward an inch, but stopped when it recognized the sound of the opening front door. It turned to see two faces: one was a woman Sean had programmed it to recognize as “Mom.” The other did not match any face in its memory.

So it did what it was programmed to do: set off a loud, wailing alarm.

“Oh, god,” Mom covered her ears and turned to the unfamiliar face. “I’m so sorry, Adam.” Then Chloe started crying, covering her ears as well, and Mom ran to the child. “Chloe, baby, it’s okay. Where is your brother? Did he leave you out here again?”

The bot rolled up to the stranger, still wailing its sirens, aware only that the intruder was still present. It bumped into the stranger’s feet, rolled back, and bumped into him again, nudging him toward the door.

"Oh, man," the stranger doubled over laughing. "What’s up, little guy?”

Mom’s voice rang out over its own sirens. “For god’s sake, bot, deactivate!”

***

“Wake up, bot,” Sean said.

The bot’s eyes opened. Sean crouched before it, and behind her was Mom, holding Chloe.

“I cannot believe you left your baby sister with that thing,” Mom said, setting Chloe down in her playpen. “What if something had happened? How is it going to take care of her?”

Sean smirked. “Something did happen. It alarmed.”

There was a knock at the door and a call from the other side. “Jan?” The intruder poked his head in. “Are you ready…?”

The bot wailed.

“Oops.” The intruder stepped back out.

“Quiet down, bot,” Sean said.

The bot’s audio system lowered, and its alarm shut down.

Mom rubbed her forehead. “I cannot believe this. You are using it as an excuse to get out of your responsibilities.”

Sean stood, facing her. “I am not!”

“I want you to get rid of this thing,” Mom said, planting her feet. “And I want you to take better care of your sister.”

“Well, maybe if you weren’t gone all the time, you could watch her yourself!”

Sean spun and disappeared down the hall.

Mom stormed after him. “Sean, don’t turn your back on me!”

The bot watched them go, eyes wide open.

“Bot!”

The bot turned. Chloe was holding the fence bars, hopping up and down.

“Bot-bot!”

The bot warbled, inching toward her.

Chloe squealed, jumping and giggling until the fence shook. The hinges on the door clattered and trembled and unlatched.

The door swung open, bringing Chloe with it. She giggled, landing on all fours, and started crawling over the hardwood floor.

The bot chirped and raced over. It set off its alarm, but only a weak, quiet cry escaped it.

Chloe waved at it, then crawled past it to the kitchen. The bot circled it, trying again and again to get its alarm to work. Chloe ignored it and crawled to the dining table. Balancing herself against the table’s legs, she reached up to the cup of ramen noodles and tried to grab it.

It tipped over instead, spilling soup and noodles and peas on the floor.

She giggled, picking up some noodles and placing them on the bot’s head. She clapped her hands and pointed at it. “Curly head!”

The bot stared at the mess on the floor. If its audio systems hadn’t been turned so low, Chloe would’ve heard it sigh.

It rolled off and found the Roomba wandering the living room. There were no messes in the area and no work to be done. The bot nudged it toward the kitchen, only for the Roomba to circle away in the opposite direction. The bot chased it down, herding it to the mess in the kitchen floor.

By the time the two robots reached the mess, and the Roomba rushed to suck up the little strings of pasta, Chloe was gone.

The bot chirped, pacing back and forth between the kitchen and the living room. Chloe didn’t seem to be anywhere, until it circled the kitchen island and found her by the back patio door, which had been left wide open.

The bot beeped and rolled itself into the door, nudging it shut.

“Bot!” Chloe turned from the door and to it. Reaching out, she rearranged the noodles on the bot’s head. “Curly!”

The bot blinked, then chirped, and rolled over to her playpen. She followed him back and sat inside the playpen.

The bot rolled into the door and closed it.

***

Mom and Sean returned to the living room, where Chloe was playing peek-a-boo with the bot again through the bars of the playpen.

“Aw, see,” Sean said. “Even Chloe likes her.”

Mom’s expression softened, and she smiled. “Alright, you can keep it, but only as a companion for Chloe.” She checked the time on her phone. “I’m going out with Adam. Watch your sister this time, Sean.”

He grumbled, then shrugged, and flopped onto the couch. “Fine.”

Mom walked out, and Adam waited until her car was out of the drive before getting up and heading toward his room. He paused, stared at the bot, then crouched down beside it.

“How’d you get these noodles on your head?”

Chloe laughed and clapped. “Kuri!”