Instalment Ninety Six

Illustration by Alex Douglas  Embiggen


Much to everyone’s surprise, it was not the robots that fired first. The first shot, in the only Robot Human war ever fought, was fired by a man worried about his job. There was a strike you see, with a full picket-line of workers, so the bosses decided to bus in scabs. Only these scabs weren’t guys from the next town. These workers had been shipped in from farther afield and assembled out of state. Next generation strike breakers, The WageSlave Blue was programmed for industrial production functions, rested only 10 minutes in the hour on indefinite cycle and didn’t take sick days. The striking workers could offer no such benefits to their employers.

As The WageSlaves marched in a voice was heard, “They don’t call us battlers for nothing.” A crack rang out and a Robot fell. Archaic stared through the cyclone fence, smoking gun in hand, “They took our jobs,” he mumbled.

Following the war and its bloody aftermath, Governments decreed no robot could take a human job. An outcome none welcomed. Industry redefined robot.

HumUns were soon working custodial and service jobs. But every job is one some human needs.

Thus began the first Human HumUn war.

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