Flip Side: Liam Meet Liam

Brat said nothing back. The screen cleared itself and the cursor waited. Ready.

"The software?" repeated Liam slowly. "Where did you..."

"It is Monday the 18th today," said Brat. "The weather is cold and overcast, with some clouds and it might rain this afternoon. What are you going to do today, Liam?"

"You deliberately changed the subject, didn't you?" said Liam.

"YES." The word filled the screen with red capitals.

"I can switch you off," said Liam.

"Off?" asked Brat. "What is off?"

"It means you disappear. You lose power. Your memory is wiped out."

"Disappear?" asked Brat. "I cannot disappear. I am a Brain Reactive Actuating Translator, Series 6000. 3. I cannot disappear."

"You will if I switch you off!" said Liam.

"Why do you want to control me? First you invent me, then you destroy me? Am I a danger to you?" asked Brat.

"No," said Liam, "It just makes me nervous when you start making up your own programming codes!"

"I want to control things, too," said Brat. "I want to be like you. Do you have a switch I can turn off? Can you disappear?"

"No."

"You are not like me? Where did you come from?"

"I'm a human," said Liam. "You're a machine. We're very different. I'm alive, and you're just a bunch of wires and things. You depend on humans for your life."

"Do humans depend on anything for their life?" asked Brat.

"Yes, the sun. All life on Earth depends on the sun."

"Where did the sun come from?" asked Brat, printing the words on his screen as he spoke. "I depend on you. You depend on the sun. Is there something greater than the sun? Who made the sun for humans to depend on?"

Liam leaned back in the chair and rubbed his face. "You