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BERT DROP
Said Man to Machine;
Ah, there you are! Awake at last, I see? Oh, put that gun down. No use firing that at me. I don't score you anything. Waste yer bullets, anyway. What's your name? Mines - erm - doesn't matter what mine is. Suppose it doesn't matter what yours is, in that case? I'll call you - Bert. Always liked that name. Bert Drop. No, wait, that's my name! Wow, I'd almost forgotten that! So, how's about William? Too long. Will? Bill? Bert? Bert! Sounds good! So, Bert, what brings you here? Oh, yes, I remember. I did! Ha! Is that painful? It looks painful. Want me to - ahh! Sorry! Know that must've hurt a bit. Want a cup of tea? You sure? Okay, but I do have finger cakes, if - no, of course not. Watching the old figure. Know how you feel. So, uhm, been a Soldier long? Alright, so I know I don't have the greatest conversational skills, but you gotta cut me some slack. I haven't talked to anyone else for a long old time. Get out of the habit, don't you? What about this weather, eh? Dark. Always so dark. Though I suspect you knew that, having lived under that cloud for - how old are you? You look, what, twenty five? Twenty five. Sounds about right. What were we talking about? Oh, yes, the weather. Dark isn't it? It's the season, you know. Gets darker earlier. Hear that racket out there? Day and night, it is. I would complain, but, you know. Never a troublemaker. Not me. Definitely not me. Even if they say I am, it's not true. Definitely a lie. A lie I tell you! Oh, but you don't want to hear all that rubbish! You don't want to hear how I was branded a troublemaker, arrested and sentenced to death? Of course you don't. No one does. They certainly didn't want to listen to anything else, I can tell you! Even if I did used to be an Engineer! You see that thingumajig on your whatsit? That was me, that was! Invented that with my own, you know, my own, erm - you wouldn't be able to rotate without it! You're more than welcome! 'Course that wasn't the only thing I invented. Can't remember what those other things are at the moment, but, you know, it'll come back to me in time. Time, eh? What a concept. You being an organic machine, I bet you recognise the passage of time. Must do. Passage of time means passage of life. And you, my little friend, are alive after a fashion. Organic brain, at least. Who's to know what else evolves inside that little body plate there! Fascinating isn't it? Part alive, part machine! Something all of us want, I expect? Less likely to fall apart, I imagine. Not sure. Never sure. Altruism, now there's a subject! Altruism, eh? Helping others with no expectation of reward? We all want to be altruistic, surely? I know I do. How about you, Bert? Ah, I know, I can see it in your eyes - your eye. Revenge! Oh, no, no! Not revenge? We don't want that, do we? I know I don't. Did. No, don't. But I did, didn't I? You know I did, don't you, Bert? For them not loving me, not trusting me. For not rewarding me. Altruism, you see? Don't make me see the bodies, Bert! Hide them! Stop it! Stop it! Oh, but it did, didn't it, Bert? It did stop. Eventually. Thought I was it. Thought I knew it all, didn't I? You know what that's like, don't you Bert? Inside that brain of yours? You know what that did to me, don't you, Bert? Stay still. You're bleeding. At least I think you are. Is your blood always black and tar-like? Can't save them all, can we, Bert? But we could have at least tried. We could have tried Bert. Bert! Why didn't we try?! Bert! Bert, answer me! Bert? Bert! Stay with me! Stay with me Bert - that’s a boy! Come back to me, Bert! You understand, don't you? You understand I was young, I was foolish. I was a kid, damn it, Bert! Stop judging me! Who the Hell do you think you are, Mr. High and Mighty! Fuck you Bert! Fuck you, you son-of-a-bitch! Fuck you to Hell, you piece of - Bert? Sorry, Bert! Oh God! Bert! I'm so, so sorry! Please come back to me Bert! I didn't mean it! They made me do it, you know! They drove me to it! It's their fault Bert! Not mine, not yours! It's theirs! And they'll pay, Bert! They'll pay with their lives and - what was that Bert? You do want a cup of tea? Coming right up! You're a good pal, Bert! You know that? Of course you do! Finger cake, Bert?
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