The Little Robot

Once upon a time, there was a little robot. He was built by some clever people on a blue and white planet you know as Earth.

These brainy boffins also built a device that could fly far away, and they used that to send the little robot to a planet you call Mars. Alone. Nobody for company. Nobody to tell him what to do.

Some robots can work by remote control, but Mars is a very long way from Earth. Too remote for remote control. The boffins were intelligent, but there are, as they say, limits.

Instead, they gave the little robot instructions before he left on his Big Trip. A to-do list, if you like. They patted him on the head and told him they trusted him to organise and complete these tasks by himself.

"We are counting on you, little robot," they said.

The little robot puffed up with pride. He was determined not to let everybody down.

It is, as the esteemable Earthling "Elton John" says, lonely out in space. It's big and wide and empty, and you can imagine it now: our brave little robot on a vast, heartless red planet, industriously tackling his list of- wait!

What's he doing?

I'll tell you what it looked like he was doing.

Nothing.

The boffins on Earth weren't cross with the little robot. "There must be a reason for this," they said to each other. "We must get to the bottom of it." After some wise nodding, they did exactly that.

They found out that that the little robot wasn't doing nothing after all. He was figuring out what he should do first. He was taking all his time, energy and robot brainpower to determine the best way to tackle the list of important tasks.

However, the clever folks on Earth really would have preferred that the little robot got on with it and got something done.

Next time you're facing a blank page, or whatever the equivalent might be in your industry or passion, I want you to remember that little robot, who was so caught up in working out the best way to get started that he never got started at all.

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Word count (excluding note): 366

Submitted on 13th February at 11am

*Quick Author's Note*

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment so I can reciprocate. Your thoughtful engagement is appreciated. If you enjoyed this, the best compliment you can give is to share it, or read another.

Pay no attention to the writer behind the curtain: This one is based on a true story! This happened with the Mars Sojourner rover back in the 90s. There was a problem with the scheduling algorithm. I guess it's a bit like the proverbial starving donkey exactly halfway between two bales of hay. In computers, this is called thrashing, apparently. Please don't engage with me on this point, I literally just learned it this morning!

I wanted to do a simple tale with an old timey feel, right down to "once upon a time..." The juxtaposition of futuristic content tickled me.

My story every day project: I'm writing a story every day this year. This one makes a 44 day streak. You can find all of them in my Index post. It's also pinned to the top of my profile.

If you're joining me on this "story every day" madne adventure, please leave a link to yours in the comments! Whether you are on a reative bent, like me, or have your own self-imposed criteria, I would love to see what you come up with for today.

If you'd like to buy the cow, (or get more free milk on Kindle Unlimited):