The Lamentable Robot

Robot : I'm going to kill you. I'm not really sorry. I am going to take my claws, wrap them around your skull and watch your eyes pop out. I won't be able to tell the difference. It could be a watermelon, or rock, or another human skull. No. It couldn't, it has to be your skull. That's what I was programmed to do. When the person who switched my on button, switched my on button, he said, "Kill so-and-so." And here we are, you being so-and-so, me being the one that is supposed to kill you. I suppose, that is, if I could have suppositions, that if I weren't just turned on, but rather, grew up as a child, I might not have the ability to crush your head. Not physically, I'd still be able to do it with my claws. But mentally, emotionally. I suppose, again, throwing away the reality that robots don't suppose anything, that I'd have an underlying, "guilt" that would hold me back. I imagine, assuming at that point an imagination were possible, assuming I could make assumptions, I'd feel something horribly about killing a being. Ruthlessly. I wouldn't be able to follow the directions. But here I am, just as much the victim as you. While you die, I have to go on killing. Let me assure you that I derive no pleasure from this, I don't derive anything. Actually, no, I derive a car to work sometimes. If I could be sorry, I would be. That was a horrible joke. So. Here we are. Me, waiting to reach out my arms press my claws to you temples and squeeze, or rather than squeezing, just using the hydraulics in what you might call my shoulders to bring my two massive, soon to be blood-covered claws toward each other. Like magnets. And you. You're thinking, can I run? Is it like an alligator where if I run in a diagonal it won't catch up with me. Let me assure you, you can run. If I had the ability to desire, I might desire to let you go. But the forces beyond human control will keep me close to you, stalking you until I am close enough to -

The robot quickly and violently smacks its claws together.

Robot : And, it's a crocodile you run from, not an alligator.