Baby Bear

Despite their vibrancy, the forests of Ganymede held little life or hope for the vat-grown lumberjacks born only to harvest them. While these workers were biologically “programmed” not to think critically or experience strong emotions, many were still felt discontented with their meaningless existence. By the mid twenty-third century, around the same point that the artificial humans were first mass produced, a new robot model, the B4-3r, was designed and built to assist the artificial humans. Of course, records show that these robots soon began to glitch and “evolve,” to the extent that one of them even became so deeply attached to its assigned workers that it destroyed its colony and escaped with them into the forest. What isn’t recorded is what happened to them afterwards. Years of wandering and living off the land changed the artificial humans into something a little more natural. They learned how to laugh and play and their bonds with each other and their B4-3r grew stronger.

It wouldn’t last forever, though. Eventually, lacking the proper maintenance normally carried out by automated machinery, the B4-3r broke down and shut off forever. The humans mourned the loss of their caretaker, but remembering what she had taught them, decided to disassemble her and use her parts to construct a “child” born of her essence. Thus, “Little Chonk” was created, a happy, energetic robot companion. Little Chonk was fascinated by his builders and the world around him. He loved nature, and was often seen running through the trees, servos whirring as he chased after a butterfly or a chipmunk, or basking in the distant sun, from which he received energy. While the pain of the B4-3r’s loss wasn’t gone, Little Chonk brought a new joy to her humans’ hearts as the carrier of her legacy.