The Robot and the Weight of the Bed by Naoki Sanjugo
Copyright © 2014 Shelley Marshall
ISBN 9781311560513
The Robot and the Weight of the Bed
Chapter 1
“Do you really love me...deep in your heart?” Shuntaro Natsumi quietly asked his wife. His face and voice were exhausted by the illness he was battling. He worked as the lead engineer in the Robotics Department at KK Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works.
“Not again,” she thought, “Why is this sick man so persistent?”
From a corner of her face hiding her knitted brow, the wife said, “Yes. Yes, I love you.”
The wife’s cheeks with faintly glistening golden downy hair glowed like fresh fruits. The voluptuousness of her hips appeared as graceful lines that smoothly burst into legs.
“If I die...You won’t stay single.”
The wife recalled the frenzied...before and during his illness, and her skin went cold and pale. His skin no longer with any feeling of fat was loose. Only his eyes had a strange light and heat, and his breath smelled slightly odd. He was like an animal...she recalled, and the loathing crawled in her skin like fuzzy caterpillars. But when she remembered that time without the face of the husband she should detest, the torrid lust in her veins drained away.
“No,” the wife answered, but fleetingly thought, “If you do die, the sooner the better. I’m tired of being a nurse.” In the next instant, she thought, “I’m still young and attractive....” She gazed at her hands side by side and said, “They’re so rough.” While saying this, memories flashed in her mind shimmering as if reflected by a broken mirror of the men she had tempted, a colleague of her husband who comically courted her, a section manager at the company who grabbed her hands, a drunk male relative who tried to kiss her.
“I am dying...if you desire a man...”
“Stop talking like that!” said the wife who slipped her hand under the blanket covering her husband to clutch his fingers.
“Don’t think about things like that. Hurry and get well.”
The tired eyes of the husband gazed toward the door of the room.
“Well, the robot.”
Without turning, the wife said, “Hurry and get well, and it will be our possession.”
“I think that Robot No. 3 is me.”
Shuntaro squeezed his wife’s fingers as a sign of love.
“That’s awful. What are you thinking? Sleep now.”
The wife pulled out her hand.
“I created an exclusive design for that,” said the husband.
“I hate it. Stop.”
The wife rose from the chair and looked toward the door. An elaborate, lightweight metallic robot, a robot for stopping intruders, stood frozen beside the door. The robot dressed in blue clothes, starting with its gloves, in the latest styles of 1936 Paris. Its looks were favored by the ladies of Paris. It watched the wife.
Chapter 2
Shuntaro sat up in bed. The dim shadow of death oozing from the moist areas surrounding the missing eyes and eyelids, the sharp cheekbones, and the fat protruding vein at the temple were uncannily imprinted on the mint green electric blanket.
The aluminum alloy robot with a body and skin affixed with rubber skillfully dyed to be identical stood naked beside the bed. He was Shuntaro’s research object to show how closely can a robot resemble a human. Thick and thin rubber with various degrees of hardness and softness ingeniously covered the aluminum support. His eyes rotate, eyelids open and close, mouth emits sounds, and walks and grabs objects. These actions barely differed at all from those of people.
As an omen before his illness, when his body felt strange and Shuntaro applied electricity to the dyed membrane on the rubber, his own body trembled. When he did the same for his wife, she said, “It’s just like a person. It feels warm, even the robot’s hand,” and looked flirtatiously at Shuntaro.
“If it were your lover?”
“That would be nice,” the wife said and caught a glimpse of the beautiful but expressionless face of the robot.
“It is inadequate as a partner in love, but as a partner in everything else, it surpasses everyone.”
“Could it make love?”
“It's simple. I could insert bearings to allow free motion.”
The wife stared at Shuntaro’s face. He had fallen ill just before he could finish the part of the special device that would become the torso. Now, he’s about to finish it.
Cold-flashed bearings engage appropriately to enable smooth motion forward and backward, and to the left and to the right. Copper wires conduct electricity. A rubber pouch fills with fluid. Nickel plates are installed to apply pressure to the pouch from above and below. Three buttons are placed in the lower part of the robot’s back to appropriately manipulate these parts.
Sometimes a crazed, vacant look gleamed from Shuntaro’s eyes while he breathed heavily with his mouth slightly open. He used tweezers to adjust induction wires, twist switches, and test the motions of the bearings. He then muttered, “This is the first gift.”
For a short time, he closed his eyes and rested from fatigue. Then he closed the lid of the torso section, and quietly lifted the robot. The legs were heavy, but Shuntaro placed the robot, which was as light as soft paulownia wood, on his side on the bed. Shuntaro drank some water from a pitcher, then placed the robot prone on his stomach and rang the bell beside the bed.
“Yes,” the nurse replied from the next room, and immediately opened the door and entered. Upon seeing the robot, she exclaimed, “Oh!” in a voice scolding the indiscretion of a patient who should be resting in bed. Shuntaro looked sternly at her and said, “Sit here,” pointing at the bed.
“Getting up is very hard on your body.”
Shuntaro said, “Sit here,” and got in the bed. The nurse covered him with the blanket.
“Please sit.”
“Just sit?” said the woman at the edge of the bed. Shuntaro nodded, then looked at the robot. At the same time, the nurse lowered herself onto the bed, the robot with both hands outstretched grabbed the end of the bed with his right hand and the lower blanket with his left hand. While holding the blanket and applying a grabbing force, gradually pulled Shuntaro’s body wrapped in the blanket closer— his right hand wrapped around the straw mattress to pull closer with a strong force in order to hold him with both hands.
“Good. Stand up,” said Shuntaro. When the nurse stood, the robot stopped functioning.
“Go over there.”
“That robot...“
“You can go.”
While fearing for Shuntaro’s mental well-being, the nurse said,
“Yes – but, don’t overexert yourself.“
“Yes. Yes.”
The nurse left. Lying on his back, Shuntaro stared for a short time, while continuously calculating in his head the distance from the door where the robot stood to the bed. “At the same time weight is added to the bed, the robot automatically starts to move and comes to the bed. Hmm, the springs under the bed.... Yes, the springs move rhythmically – after some count has elapsed, the robot will act. That’s good. The device is simple,” thought Shuntaro and muttered, “This is the second gift.”
Chapter 3
The wife dressed in a kimono lay on her side. The hem of her long undergarment hung down. While smoking a cigarette comfortably nestled in the cushion, she said, “I love you,” to the man.
Seeing in a glance the amusement in his eyes, she said, “More truthfully, I loved you.”
“Fall ill and the ability to love disappears—two misfortunes.”
“It’s your own
fault for getting sick. When the husband loses half of his capacity, it’s absurd for things to be the same only for the wife.”
The man reached his left hand behind the chair and held the wife’s neck.
The wife blew smoke in the man’s face, “Instead if you get well, I will love you as before.”
“What will I become then...”
“I don’t know.”
“There are two cases.”
“Really?” said the wife and pushed the man’s shoe with the tip of her left foot.
“One is to leave. The other is nothing changes.”
“Yes.”
“But which is it?”
“Thinking about the future, what will you do?”
“Well, to me, this is a big problem.”
“If you say goodbye, will the current situation change?”
“Somewhat.”
“In feelings.”
“Yes.”
“Well, change is good. Then it will be goodbye. So...please change.”
The wife faced and looked at the man.
“How will you change?”
“Well, quickly.”
“Can you change?”
“Well, is leaving a lie or the truth.”
“It will be the truth, so please change.”
The man tried to pull the wife’s neck closer. The wife grabbed his hand and said, “It’s no good, if you don’t change.”
Without speaking, the man took the wife’s left hand. The wife lying back said, “Can you change?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Well, after you’ve thought about it, does this love deserve that much consideration?” said the wife surrounded by the faint scent of perfume while smiling at the passionate eyes staring nearby.
“It does to me.”
The man put his strength into his hand.
“You’re inferior to the robot.”
“Inferior? Why?”
“A human can only think and is inferior. A robot only acts and does not think.”
“Because it’s a machine?”
“It’s happier than people.”
“The happiness of not being able to feel one’s own happiness does not exist in people.”
“People who truly feel happiness also truly feel sadness.”
“That is life.”
“Until the 1930s.”
“Forever.”
“Suzuki Kinsaku, you will study robots. A life to do what you want to do with no regrets.”
“Well, even if I leave now, will you feel nothing? Nothing at all?”
“After you go, one step later, the next man will come looking.”
“Then I will not go.”
The man poured his strength into his eyes and hands.
“The value of the human male is only the elevation of that passion.”
“The robot...”
The man felt passion filling his veins. While slowly leaning on the cushion to push herself closer to the man’s face, the wife said, “A robot with its own will would be good, and a man to teach ways other than self-will would also be good. Since Shuntaro created the robot, my feminine sensibilities have doubled. ”
The wife laughed cheerfully and gazed into man’s eyes.
Chapter 4
“I want this bed to be only for you and me,” said Shuntaro with sunken eyes and a feeble expression.
“Yes.”
“This place alone, you must never defile.”
“I promise.”
“Okay...well, please take care of this robot. Think of him as me.”
“It is exquisite, isn’t it.”
A woman should be amazed by the ability to experience with a machine the feel of skin, body heat, amazing functions, and fascinating stimulation produced by minute quantities of electricity.
“I am a mechanical engineer, but I applied research on physiology only to this robot.”
“Yes, it appears so.”
“At the same time, I can believe in the mystery of the soul.”
“The soul?”
“If you cannot love the robot, he will retaliate against you.”
“That robot will...”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He will kill you.”
The wife said nothing, but in her heart she hated and despised this persistent love. She softly spoke one word, “Oh.”
“I only have two or three days left, but I want to give you only to Robot No. 3 who holds my mind.”
“This again. I understand.”
“Tell me again so I can understand it too. You can't live alone because...”
“Because loving the robot would be better.”
A curtain hung down over the half closed window and onto half of the bed. The cloth on the walls, the Chinese rug on the walnut floor, the large stand, and the white marble dressing table all sank into gloom. The wife wondered fleetingly, “If anyone, perhaps a visitor to comfort the infirm, would come,” and reflected on the clever but odd sensibilities of the robot, which differed from those of humans.
“The robot has a soul,” muttered Shuntaro.
“Are you jealous?”
“The robot will serve you or destroy you.”
“Really?” answered the wife only in words.
Then the thought of a comparison of a mechanical robot to a new lover seared her brain. The wife glanced at her watch and said, “It’s 4 already. Time for your medicine,” but thought, “Where are you? It’s time.”
“Be careful that the intruder-prevention robot doesn't hurt you. Okay?”
As she answered, “Okay,” the nurse knocked and entered.
Chapter 5
“In fact, it’s ingenious. Not the least bit different from a person,” admired the mourners who had come to the funeral, as they clasped the robot’s hand and patted its cheek.
“Should it be praised or belittled? Religion has many ways to help people, but, inexplicably, many have suffered or were lost. The advantages and disadvantages of scientific advances are unknown. “
“Clearly, the work of people was stolen by robots.”
The crowded room filled with the conversations of people leaning against the chairs lining the walls while smoke enveloped the room.
“Important scientific discoveries will certainly rock social and economic foundations. The development of rayon puts pressure on raw silk. The low manufacturing costs of raw silk affect cotton thread. In the near future, rayon will have a big problem because of artificial wool. This happens often.”
“In the United States, portable robots seem to be a success.”
“There is one that’s about a square foot with the same functions as this robot. The robot is built from composite light metal supports with small wheels attached. It picks up luggage, moves, specifies a location, measures distances, and moves at a constant angle or along a curve. At the location of the measured distance, the robot can go left or right. Thus, using it is safe and accurate.”
“A box that walks independently is great.”
“That’s a modern scene. Exclusive roads can be built for robots. If someone enters the road, he’ll go flying.”
“That era has arrived.”
“Even in Japan, most electric taxis will probably be robots.”
“I rode in one. I put in 50 cents and the door opened. The only problem is it can’t go to places it doesn’t know about. After electric touch sensors are created, there will be absolutely no more worrying about crashes.”
“Robots work in government and will work in all industries. People will stand aside and only receive distributions.”
“That will probably happen. With any other method, only the unemployed will increase.”
“But, Ma'am,” said one person quietly, “You...have this robot.”
“Yes, I do.”
“So...one has been made. Will it be sold?”
“This is probably fine for a person like you who has lost her love. A robo
t can’t plot a revolt.”
“On the other hand, if I strolled with one, even through Ginza, everyone would probably be disgusted if its face resembled that of a popular actress.”
“I would create new models of beautiful women. One would have large eyes, another with small eyes. She would have a face in front and in back.”
“Anyhow, human women are the same from any side. Not very interesting. I’ll be accompanied by one with three noses.”
“If it’s a robot, the wife won’t get jealous.”
“On the other hand, your wife will love a male robot. Alas, the age of the destruction of humanity has finally arrived.”
“Artificial conception will become compulsory.”