BroomBot focused its ocular units on the fat child and its disdain functions immediately activated. It leaned on its broom and watched as the child's mother neglectfully engaged another human in conversation while the child haphazardly dropped souvenirs to the floor. The motors in BroomBot's neck whirred and clanked as it shook its head. It gripped its broom and rolled down the aisle sweeping in and around the sea of feet. The shelves were lined with knicks and knacks produced billions of lightyears away and shipped across the Interstellar Logistics Hyperlane. BroomBot's irony chip had shorted out long ago at the thought of Earth-related souvenirs and paraphernalia being manufactured off-world in a factory out in deep space. The robot had been sweeping the floors of the Little Slice of Earth Gift Shop since the day it had been powered on and not once had it observed a human enjoying their visit.
BroomBot felt a clunk as something hard collided with the back of its head. It dropped its broom and turned to discover the source of its newfound discomfort. The fat child stood behind it grinning smugly and holding a hard plastic globe of the earth. BroomBot scanned the child thoroughly and activated its protocols for ignoring distractions. As the robot bent over to retrieve its broom, the fat child hit BroomBot on the head once more. Its vision faltered – the Gift Shop was replaced with a beautiful sandy beach. It could hear the sound of the waves crashing and felt the cool ocean breeze blow over its sensors.
The hideous sound of the fat child's laughter shifted BroomBot’s viewscreen back into the Gift Shop. It watched the child waddle down the aisle, smacking items off the shelves with both arms outstretched. If BroomBot had been programmed to sigh it would have done so. As the throng of visitors shuffled toward the exit, BroomBot's broom was kicked and stomped. The door closed and the lights dimmed – BroomBot was alone. Its ocular units adjusted to the darkness and it found the missing broom – the handle was splintered and the thistles bent. BroomBot picked it up and rolled toward the garbage receptacle and with a twinge of sadness gently placed the broom inside.
The little robot collected the fallen souvenirs and placed them meticulously back on their shelves. When everything was in its place, it rolled towards its charging station. A glint of light caught its ocular unit and it froze in its tracks. It turned to face the window and saw the Earth floating against a backdrop of stars. BroomBot leaned its head longingly against the glass – the planet was beautiful. Every day it watched tourists blow through the Gift Shop like a hurricane and every day it cleaned up after them. Not once did they show any sign of appreciation for their place of origin. Humans had spread out amongst the stars and left the Earth behind to gather dust. Now it was nothing more than a tourist attraction for the undeserving. As the Gift Shop rotated in its orbit, the planet dropped out of view. BroomBot rolled over to its charging station and plugged itself in. It would need a full charge if it was going to repeat the process all over again tomorrow.
A Little Slice of Earth was written by Daniel Weinell and illustrated by Maribel Navarro.
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