What follows is a story Kyle wrote for his English Language Arts class. He was given the first line and had to fill two pages with a story that follows. I have re-typed it here, accurate and true to exactly what he wrote.
For those who don’t know, Kyle is my younger son. He’s 12 and in 6th grade.
———-
“How could you do this to me!?” screamed the robot as he peered through the small hole. The professor sighed. “I need someone to go to the surface and collect data on the outside world. And since no human would do it…” Robby understood. “But couldn’t you get another robot to do it?” The professor replied by hitting the RELEASE button instead.
The capsule zoomed straight upward, with Robby in it. He had taken tests so that he could survive a jaunt to the outside world, but in his haste, he forgot his special suit to survive the trip. The pod suddenly stopped, and the ride was over. He shakily climbed out, studying the pod for damage. It was beaten up, so he would need to find spare parts to fix it. Robby heard something growling nearby. He stiffened, wondering what to do. He could fight it, but he could die. So he decided to wait. A good move, as it turned out, for a dog jumped into the air, inches from Robby’s nose. He opened a closed eye. It apparently was sniffing it, hunger in its eyes. “There, there boy. I won’t hurt you”. This voice came from nowhere, startling Robby and the dog. A man in a leisure costume came out and patted his knees, leaning forward. Poor guy, he’ll get mauled. As Robby thought this however, the dog leaped into the man’s arms. It was his, apparently. Robby entered this in his database, thinking it would be useful. The man looked up. “And who are you?” Robby took a deep breath and explained his mission. The man nodded. “I know the perfect place to get information.” He pointed toward a large brick building labeled LIBRARY. “It has all kinds of knowledge and wisdom.” Robby thanked the man and rushed to the library.
Inside, there were thousands of books, a very outdated idea, filled with knowledge and wisdom. One of them was an extremely large encyclopedia about the history of the world. He figured it could fit in the pod. But how could he obtain it without attracting attention? He noticed a man taking a large stack of books to a counter that said TAKEOUT. That must be where they take the books out. Thinking he could take this book out, he checked its date. 2017. Perfect. He went to the counter and said, “I’d like to take this book out.” The lady typed something in the computer and stamped his book. “Have a nice day!” she called after him as he left.
He arrived back at the pod and found spare parts in a junkyard to fix it with. After fixing the pod, he connected the professor. There was a pause, than an angry voice rang out, “WHAT DO YOU WANT!!!!!!!!!!!” Robby sighed. It would take forever to tell him the situation. “ Professor, I have obtained the history of their civilization. Their record-keeping process is very primitive. They still use books!” The professor listened, then smiled. “ I will buzz you back to the lab for further debriefing.” He pressed a button, and then the capsule fell through the Earth, eventually coming to a halt. Robby climbed out with the book in hand. The professor chuckled. “ Ah, yes. The history of their society in a single book. It should take a few hours to transfer to our computer records. Bit first, I need to check if it is legit….” He grabbed the book and flipped through the pates. “ Yes, yes, this should do nicely. Now, I’ll just take it to the scanner for safekeeping.” He turned and left the room. Robby wondered if he did the right thing.
After the book was scanned, Robby took the book to the surface world again and returned. As he got ready for bed, wondered if the book was accurate. He went to the computer and started reading the book.
THE END