ComStar-88b

As the videostream it was broadcasting ended, ComStar-88b paused. The final frame - explosions flowering across the Earth - stood frozen in its buffer.

Disappointingly, it had received no new pictures to broadcast. Following its programming it began to repeat the last stream. Again.

Meanwhile, self-diagnosis routines reported its batteries were finally about to fail. It felt something like regret. Still, it had done well. Designed to operate for a hundred years it had functioned unattended for nearly a thousand. The last satellite in orbit.

ComStar-88b broadcast its news to the dead planet below for one more minute, before finally going dark.

From Guest Contributor Simon KewinScience Fiction and Fantasy Author

When Robots Feel Sadness

It was mechanically and scientifically impossible. Not only were they hardwired to obey, nothing in their programming allowed for emotion.

For that reason, seeing the robots so sad was a bittersweet experience for Dr. Hoenig. In some ways, he wished they’d never been built at all, knowing how miserable their existence had become.

We can see that Dr. Hoenig is a generous sort. Most people cursed the robots and their overlord ways. Only someone of such a scientific bent could feel empathy for merciless machines that felt unfulfilled because enslaving the human race had not proven enough of a challenge.