Merciful Bounty
by Andres Diaz
©2019
The planet Ryban
Messier 81 galaxy
Mid Thirty First Century C.E.
“Name?” asked a robot that Raven felt looked extremely bored, which was extremely weird because its face only had two eyes and a slit for a mouth.
“Raven Venetrix,” she answered.
“Any relation to Raven Underwood?” the robot asked.
“That’s my birth name,” Raven answered.
“My name upon activation was BT-DL5. Then someone started calling me BLT, whatever that is and the name stuck,” the robot complained.
“So where can I find your boss?” asked Raven.
“How the hell should I know? You think I like being here?” asked the robot.
Raven was about to say something when she heard a door open to her left. She looked and saw a drunken, middle aged man stumble through the doorway. He lifted his head up and when he saw her, exclaimed,
“Oh, shit!”
He tried to go back through the doorway but Raven was faster. She grabbed him and spun him into the lobby. Knocking him face down into the ground, Raven slapped cuffs on him and dragged him to his feet.
“You bitch! Do you know how hard my life has been since you’ve been on my tail?” the man asked.
“It’s not as hard as being discriminated against because you’re a male to female, transgender black woman like me,” Raven responded as she began to push the man towards the front door. Then she stopped and thought for a moment. She let go of the man, who stood swaying unsteadily.
Walking over to the robot she stuck a magnetic charge to his chest.
“It’ll blow as soon as I cross the doorway,” Raven said. She grabbed her bounty and as they were exiting the doorway, Raven heard the robot call out to her,
“I love you.”
There was an explosion and the robot was no more.
THE END
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