An inhuman creature
Автор: РЫБАК АЛЕВТИНА ВИТАЛЬЕВНА | RYBAK ALEVTINA

Again a routine day, again my hated job with an eternally dissatisfied boss, which I go to every day. The only outlet for me was to create something new. I didn't think that if I went to study for a master of technological sciences, everything would be the same as it is now. My work was never taken seriously, and when I did something really valuable and useful for people, I was always ignored, calling my work frivolous or useless. Although my close people around, and I myself did not think so. On a cold rainy evening after work, I was returning home when my project, LFE.798, which I had been working on for 6 years, was rejected again. It took me 6 years to recreate an artificial intelligence that has all the human qualities. He has absolutely no flaws.  He can help physically and psychologically. A robot can protect, can talk about any topic, can understand how to help a person in a particular problem. He will easily sit with the child as a nanny, in the absence of parents, clean the house, go to the store, wash the dishes, knit a sweater. Artificial intelligence also has the ability to train a person of any age from scratch, it has its own memory, a kind of "brain". The robot, in turn, learns and remembers information all the time in order to use it for good. Special mechanisms were built into him, capable of behaving like a real person: he shows emotions, works, develops himself, like us. Externally, he was almost indistinguishable from a human: skin, body parts, hair, eyes - everything was projected as much as possible for a human.  My colleagues didn't like it, since it could cause harm and somehow fail, but I knew and was sure that this would not happen. I really wanted to prove to them that I had really succeeded in something that could help a person in all areas of his life. I spent 6 years developing this colossal project and what was my disappointment when I was told that it was worthless and everything was in vain. I came home without even having time to eat and drink anything after a hard day's work, I just lay down on the bed with my clothes on and fell asleep.
I woke up in an icy sweat, I had a nightmare that my LFE.798 project was out of order and now it intends to destroy all of humanity and our entire universe. It was 07:07 on the clock, looking out the window, I realized that something was wrong. Initially, I thought it was my imagination when I looked at the date of the watch. Convulsively, I took another look at the date of today, it said 06/04/2100. At first it seemed to me that the clock was just out of order, because it couldn't be, I couldn't, I couldn't sleep for so long, I think I'm still asleep. Hitting myself in the face, I realized that I was not in a dream, but very much in reality. Am I in the future? Sitting on the floor with my head in my hands, I couldn't make sure that this was possible. Looking out the window, I froze and couldn't believe my eyes. The world was transformed: iron machines were flying in the sky, and robots were walking below, I was seriously scared. Quickly running out into the entrance to the landing, I was met not by a human concierge, but guess who, a concierge robot. I was seized with panic, it seemed that I still could not wake up and that I was still in my nightmare, and when I woke up, everything would be the same as it was before. The concierge greeted me politely and, seeing my worried look, asked if everything was okay and if I needed help. All I asked him was what year it was, the robot said in an almost human voice: "It's 2100, the 4th day, the month of June!" and smiled at me. I ran out into the street in shock, still not understanding what was going on. There are iron cars flying in the sky, and a robot meets me on the landing. I thought I was slowly going crazy. When I went outside, I was even more surprised. Humans and robots have become, as it were, one whole, one nation. They helped each other, as if the robot was not some kind of project at all, but a real person with the same capabilities and feelings as we humans. I found one of them, instead of a "human" janitor, carefully removing garbage from the roads, how other robots water flower beds by the roads, cut bushes, mow grass, how they decorate the city on the eve of the holiday, how they build huge houses without making efforts that people could not build in my 2023 year.  I was even more surprised by how the robot and the human walked hand in hand, talking about something and bursting into ringing laughter, which made me smile. When I reached the street I knew, I ran into the nearest store, discovering on my way how these "inhuman" creatures help people in everything: if you need help, you don't know how to get where you need to go - he will show; if you need to carry heavy bags - he will help; if you suddenly it has become unwell - he will do everything possible to save your life. I was even more impressed by the flying iron machines in the sky. Of course, from time to time I thought that flying cars would appear in the sky one day, but I did not think that I would ever see such a sight in person. Noticing how one of the cars was flying to the ground, he immediately ran up to take a closer look. In fact, it looked like an airplane, only it looks like a car with two seats in the cabin. The news in the store showed how robots work together with scientists, creating things that I could not even imagine. Everywhere on the streets there were electronic signs on skyscrapers with the inscription: "Robot NHO.567 and scientist Morris McClaren created a cure for cancer and saved about 500 thousand lives." I was pleasantly surprised. After all, how many people have been struck by such a disease as cancer, I thought that we would never be able to overcome this disease at all. It was as if I had entered a parallel universe: robots that cooperate with people, flying iron machines in the sky, huge skyscrapers at every turn. 

I was walking and looking around, I was so carried away by what I saw that I ran into a girl on my way. I immediately apologized and we started a small dialogue.
- How long ago did these intelligent iron creatures appear? - I asked.
- One guy who worked in the field of technological sciences created a smart robot, but recently the guy disappeared without receiving a prize for his work. After his disappearance, according to rumors, one of his colleagues began to promote the idea and so a new nation of humanity was born," the stranger replied and hurriedly moved on.
 It dawned on me, so that guy was me? And it turns out that my work was really taken seriously and still moved forward. All my 6 years of work were not in vain. But in an instant, my world swam, I had the feeling that I was losing consciousness and was about to faint. And so it happened. After a while, I wake up and realize that I am in my bed. His hand immediately reached for his watch. The date appeared on the clock: 06/04/2023, everything was actually a dream… All these robots, flying cars, the year 2100, did I dream all this?