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Once Six realized one Roomba wasn’t enough for every floor of the manor, they seemed to take the place over. Roombas flooded the halls and rooms, their soft whir a constant, along with the over present hum of the manor itself. Some had seemed to take to following particular residents. Rabbit always had a flock of them behind her. The floors had never been cleaner.
And after a while, they started to change. Spine suspected that it was from the blue matter that trailed up from the labs. Not that it explained how some of them grew legs, but at least someone finally cleaned the cobwebs off the ceiling. Even if they unnerved many of the newer workers. But Hatchworth was always there to look after them as they skittered around like spiders. Leaving cleanliness in their wake instead of flies and webs.
Others changed in less obvious ways, and they all seemed to grow their own personalities. Something none of them could explain, not that anyone put much effort into it either. It was hardly a problem. Save the Roomba that wanted to live in the microwave. Spine still wasn’t sure how they got in there. He suspected Zer0 was trying to be nice, but he had to keep checking the kitchen to make sure no one accidentally thought they were just a large microwave plate. No one wanted that.
For the most part, Spine let the Roombas do their thing. Not that he didn’t have a bag of chips in his room for when they came curiously wandering in. But don’t tell Rabbit she’d never let him live it down.
They had their work to do, and he had his. Just programming new music wouldn’t give him that human touch.
Walking down the hall to the music room, Spine stopped when he found a Roomba propped up against a wall. It was whirring and struggling. Must have run into something and gotten stuck, assumed Spine, as he bent down to help the little machine.
“Don’t think you’ll get much accomplished tilted like that, buddy. Let’s get you straightened out.” Picking up the Roomba, he quickly checked they hadn’t been damaged. “Something must have hit you pretty hard to get you to tilt like that. Be careful, now.”
Once the Roomba was righted, he gave it a small little pat. “There you go. Now go on. I’ve got work to do too. Take care now.” And without much thought on it, Spine went on to practice a new setlist. Always something to do.
With so many strange things happening in the manor that one tilted Roomba was hardly worth remembering, until he saw them again, stuck on another wall. “Huh, got stuck again?” He asked as he bent down to help.
This time, when he sat the Roomba to rights, it let out a soft beep. Almost as if pouting before bumping into his leg.
“Hey now, what’s all this about? I’m trying to help you. You don’t want to be stuck on a wall forever, do you?” He asked, sitting back more on his heels.
Another beep and the Roomba backed off. Only to bump into the wall again. But instead of turning and going another way as they should have, the gears turned harder and, slowly, they started to crawl their way up the wall.
Spine sat and watched them a moment, trying to piece it together. Did they want to climb the walls like some of the spider like Roombas? “I don’t think you’re going to be able to drive on the walls, bud. The others grew legs.”
Another beep. So that was wrong. Sighing, Spine sat back on the floor. “I’m not real sure what you’re trying to do here.” Watching them a little longer, eventually, they got up as far as they could manage and got themselves properly stuck, almost completely against the wall.
If a Roomba wanted to live in the microwave, a Roomba wanting to lean on a wall was hardly a problem. Though that didn’t seem like it would be fun in the long term, stuck in place forever.
“If that’s how you want to be, buddy, I guess I’ll leave ya to it. Sorry for movin’ you earlier.” When he made to stand, another distressed beep. He frowned. Wasn’t this what the Roomba wanted? Leaning over again, he tried to figure it out.
They didn’t want to drive up the wall or just be leaned up against it. And they didn’t want to be upright, either. Humming softly, Spine carefully tilted the Roomba so it was standing up totally on their side. The Roomba seemed to cheer with all the beeping.
The Spine grinned widely when he figured it out. They didn’t want the wall. They just wanted to be upright. Or what was upright, to them. He couldn’t fault them for that. Only, when he let them go, they fell over with a soft clatter.
“Ah, figures.” With a sigh, he helped the Roomba right themselves again. “I think you’re going to have to practice your balance.” Holding them up, he was surprised they were able to move. Keeping his hand gently around the Roomba, he let them roll around the carpet around him.
“There you go! You’re getting it!” He praised them as he guided them to do a lap around where he sat. Very gently, he let go of the Roomba, so they could go it alone. Only to fall down again and let out a long distressed beeping.
“Darn it! Come on, we can try again.” Lifting the Roomba carefully, he guided them to try again. Spine spent the rest of his day trying to help the poor Roomba learn their balance. But they couldn’t go more than a foot on their own before falling over.
They were starting to power down, and he was running low on water. “Come on. Let’s get you to a charging dock.” Picking up the Roomba, he carried them carefully, making sure to hold them the right way up.
“We can try again after you’ve had a good rest. I’m sure you’ll get there before you know it.”
Sitting the Roomba down, he felt a little bad that he couldn’t place them upright on the charger. He’d have to find a way to help them with that. But they had to get them upright first. “Rest up. You’ll feel better fully charged.” Another gentle pat and he headed off to fill his boiler and ponder. There had to be something he could do. The others were able to do as they pleased. It was only fair.
Come morning, Spine came out of the labs with a box in hand and a wide grin on his face. It was a good thing robots didn’t need to sleep. If they worked for little humans, he didn’t know why they couldn’t work for little robots too.
He found the Roomba stuck on the wall again and chuckled. “Good to see you don’t give up, friendo! I’ve got you a little something.”
Kneeling down, he showed the Roomba the box. Something that made them beep with worry.
“Don’t worry, there’s something for you in the box. I think this will help keep you right side up.” Opening up the box. He showed them a contraption that looked a bit like a tiny harness with wheels on the sides.
“Kids use training wheels on their bikes when they’re learning to ride them. I thought they might help you get comfortable and balanced.”
The beeping kept changing pitch. Spine wasn’t sure if they were excited or nervous. Or maybe they didn’t know either.
Sitting the training wheels down, he helped the Roomba tilt up all the way and roll into the contraption. It was just slightly big so they had support but could move freshly when they learned their balance and wrapped all around them so they could go any way they’d like.
Once the Roomba was fully in place, Spine beamed happily and leaned back again to admire the work. “Looks good, buddy. You’ll be rolling on your own before you know it!” He proudly exclaimed.
The hall filled with happy beeps as the Roomba rolled around freely, bouncing a little as they tried to keep upright. Around Spine they spun, bumping him affectionately before rushing down the hall to explore.
“Good job, pal. Keep on truckin’,” he chuckled to himself as Spine went off to make sure Rabbit hadn’t eaten all the Moonpies again.