text: With bright blue eyes and a pronounced chin, the man in the grey suit sported a handsome smile as he removed the hat from his head extending his arm, “Hey there, Gustaf Olrog, I work for the government.” And before there was even a moment to respond to the man he made his presence known as he made his way through the doorway handing over his hat and there I stood quite shocked for a moment over the curious man looking around my home, through shelves but before he could make his way to the living room I took a step in front of him and said “Well, so what? Does working for the government mean that you can just barge in wherever you want!?” “Oh but you looked at me so invitingly, I suppose I may have jumped to conclusions, although I do smell some coffee brewing so if you don’t mind can I ask you for a cup?” “Mr. Olrog was it? I can give you a cup of coffee and all the damn semi skimmed milk in this house if you so want if you can explain yourself and this intrusion. I am quite offended by you simply shaking a hand to enter my home and now when I see it I’m even holding your hat...” “And that is why I made an assumption,” mr. Olrog said taking off his coat, “now as I said I work for the government. Specifically, the Unusual Robot Incident Unit, so perhaps you have heard of what we do? No need to answer that question so please put my hat on the hanger and give me a tour.” On closer inspection mr. Olrog appeared to be a quite well built man and his two piece suit drew attention to his broad shoulders and slim waist. It was quite enough to be able and put up a fight or even roughen up someone like me, and so I made way through the living room showing some of my antiques. The man seemed quite disinterested and sparsely commented on them or any of the books he inspected closer, didn’t read much he claimed. Although his interest in all bookshelves near the antiques and small knickknacks was somewhat contradicting this. The kitchen was somewhat less furnished and clean, a large wooden table with a large red table cloth covered most of it, and in the centre were already the can of coffee, some cookies, and coffee cheese. I looked through my cabinets for the nice cups with saucers, the one with small gnomes dancing on it. Of course I was looking to seem nice and quite bothersome with all the small things to show and talk about, perhaps backing away from the encounter, perhaps because the man hade made his way in so effortlessly. I poured us both some coffee and looked on as he took a healthy portion from the cheese and a single cookie that he ate immediately, he looked at me and smiled “I do appreciate the effort and for you to offer me this cheese is a rarity indeed!” “Indeed...” I muttered with a sigh drawing my cup far closer to my chest, “so then mr. Olrog you didn’t quite specify what you do?” “Oh I did quite well but I suppose you want me to explain the details.” “I do” I retorted angrily, “nothing big ever happens in these parts and never have I seen a government employee!” “Well, big things happen in big places” said mr. Olrog with a great smile, “so this is an unusual incident indeed. Now as I was saying before being interrupted, there is something strange that occurred in these parts. I received constant calls about this machine that ran loose, that came close to homes, especially those with families, almost as if the machine was peeking in through the windows. And now I must ask you, why would a machine do that? For what purpose would it serve something that lacks any sort of video equipment or cameras?” “I wouldn’t know” I hesitated, “But then again I don’t have a family so perhaps that is why I don’t know about this event at all.” “Yes, perhaps you are much like me, working away our lives until there is nothing left but a heap of bills and wrinkly fingers. No, I shall tell you about this machine, it is quite large, about your size in fact. It has a colour scheme much like those produced by Prosperos Musical Machines, if you have seen them. They are built as entertainers, playing mostly piano but some able to play flutes and string instruments. And I can see you are quite the musician yourself.” “Yes, I do own a lot of instruments, but I haven’t played them in a while. I got sick and my lungs aren’t quite the same, can still play the piano though, if only I owned one.” I said thinking of better days. Mr. Olrog nodded and frowned at the bitter coffee, “The machine wandering around does not only look for families you see, it also appears to search for musical instruments. And what the families have in common is just that, a piano and a group of people nearby. Quite what a stray machine would want to find to fulfil its duties.” “I suppose that would make sense, if it is broken or damages to roam around for an instrument and guests.” I said spilling some coffee all over my shirt as I attempted to drink it, “Dammit... So what is your point anyway, that I am alone and without a piano? Am I really the only lonely man in these parts?” “This coffee has been standing for a while, hasn’t it? Not too hot. And no, you are not the only one. But you are the only one missing in my report.” Mr. Olrog said reaching into his pocked, “Now, I wonder, with so many instruments in your house have you even thought of owning a musical machine to compensate for your disease? I would certainly do myself if only to hear the fine tunes once more in the comfort of my own home.” “I wouldn’t afford one” I mumbled, “I wouldn’t afford one. Besides I can still play and play for my guests.” “Would you mind playing for me?” “For you?” “Yes, play for me” said mr. Olrog standing up, “play for me on whatever instrument you wish.” We walked into the living room, me with the coffee-stained shirt and a violin and mr. Olrog with his hand in his pocked tilting his head as he looked at me. He gestured and nodded. And I began playing, and I was playing for a moment before the violin broke down in my hands. It broke down as if the wood had grown soft and I simply looked at it. I looked at it for quite a while then back to mr. Olrog who pulled out a small handgun, “The term you are looking for is memory plague, you have existed for nearly a century and your memory banks are full and here you stand in the rotting home of your last owner, taking his personality. All fragments of your mind is from previous owners that began replacing programming as the congested memory began deleting files, with such a congested system it can no longer decide which to keep and which are important. You are now decommissioned PM-2781, the last of your defective kind.