Bradley

The men from U.S mechanics were remorseless in their task, they stormed the house in a manner that was akin to military in its faultless execution. Bradley merely stood on the grass he had neatly trimmed as the men from the company surrounded him, circling him like a wild animal almost awaiting some sudden violent movement.

Bradley scanned them in an effort to identify who they were but although the logo they wore on the lapels of their jackets was as familiar as his own serial number, the faces were unknown to

him. Bradley remembered cocking his head slightly to one side, "Who are you, has Mr Cale authorised your presence on his property?"

The first man turned to the second in brief puzzlement, he shrugged briefly and in an instant dropped his hand onto a pouch on his belt. In a sudden swift movement he brought it back up with a small silver disk locked tightly between his fingers.

With another sudden movement he brought his other hand across its surface and knocked a small raised switch on its surface that was almost invisible to the untrained eye.

In a gentle motion he tossed it underarm towards Bradley and it began to sail downwards towards the verdant green at his feet. Bradley moved like lightning, his metal arm snaking down towards the disk and snatching it quickly from its descent. He held it in the palm of his hand.

"Do you want to play?" he asked.

The man shook his head slowly, "not today Bradley". Suddenly Bradley's body stiffened, his head slammed back against his metal shoulders and his entire frame began to shudder. A small sound began to rise from his vocal circuitry which slowly began to rise in pitch till it formed a scream that was almost akin to a child's.

Bradley crashed down onto one knee, his body jerking back and forth in spasm. "It was only...a...mistake", he said slowly before pitching forward onto the surface of the ground.

Even as his physical functions died, Bradley was still aware that his senses were still in operation. Above him he could hear voices in raised chatter, "Move quick, get that restraining collar in place. We need him safe before we can start stripping him". The other voice spoke a little quicker with a more nervous air "You sure that inhibitor was primed properly? I don't want him getting ideas before we're ready."

Bradley became briefly aware of a sensation against his rear neck plate as a restraining collar was slammed roughly into place. "It's done" said the voice of the first man.

Bradley was unable to move. He ran an emergency internal diagnostic only to find that although all his systems were operational, an authorised U.S Mechanical device was blocking access to his motion control units.

Slowly Bradley felt his subsequent systems shut down and the next thing he was aware of, was the darkness of the packing crate.

The image faded from memory and Bradley was once again locked in the present. A present that had remained static ever since the day his partially blinded systems had come back online in the crate.

Maybe one day someone would come to free him, maybe one day someone would come forth and unlock the crate and piece him back together allowing him to make amends for his mistake.

However until that day all Bradley could do was wait...