Under an ashen sky, Cadets Dallas and Jones tromped through the ruins north of the charred shell of the city. They were followed by an Explosives Disposal Droid which looked like a giant green trashcan on large wheels with a yellow dome for a lid, which, essentially, it was–albeit a trashcan capable of containing a megaton blast within its body.
EDD was empty at the moment. In four hours, the team hadn’t found any unexploded ordinance worth hauling back to base for reconditioning and the Cadets, in their boredom, had taken to firing pot-shots at stray dogs that slinked amongst the rubble scavenging for food.
Dallas trained his rifle on a black mutt with protruding hip-bones as it lapped gray water from a shallow pothole. Before the Cadet could squeeze off a shot, EDD released a high-frequency tone that, while out of the range of human hearing, startled the dog enough that it ran behind an overturned bus and out of sight.
“Ha, ha! Too slow,” said Jones as he scanned the roadsides for another target.
“Shut it.” Dallas shouldered his rifle and removed his helmet so he could wipe his forehead with the sleeve of his tan jacket. Settling the helmet back on his head he said, “You aren’t having much luck, either.”
“These dogs are gettin’ too smart.” Jones took a bead on a small terrier with ragged ears, but it skidded away as soon as his finger touched the trigger.
EDD rolled along behind them and tallied the score so far. Cadets: 0. EDD: 6.
So, a short and sweet little story about a dog-loving droid with a dash of commentary about the human condition (cause all robot stories are ultimately human stories).
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