Supertoys in Other Seasons

Aldiss, Brian W. "Supertoys in Other Seasons." First published in Supertoys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of the Future. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2001. For publication updates, see http://www.brianwaldiss.com.

Sequel to "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," and "Supertoys When Winter Comes." The story starts in "Throwaway Town," with David "led by a large Fixer-Mixer; cf. and contrast B.A.'s "Who Can Replace a Man?" David is repaired, declares "The world has been big since my Mummy died," and asserts that he had a Mummy and wishes it be known that he is "not a machine" (23). The robots of Throwaway Town are developed briefly in this section, and with wry sympathy; there is a reference to "The chief computer" that scraps robots—perhaps with less sympathy (30). David's "Daddy," now much poorer, retrieves him from Throwaway Town; David asks him, "How can I not be human, Daddy? I'm not like the Dancing Devlins or other people I met in Throwaway. I feel happy or sad. I love people. Therefore I am human" (31). Henry takes David to the production floor where "He confronted a thousand Davids. All looking alike. All dressed alike. All standing alert and alike. All silent, staring ahead. A thousand replicants of himself. Unliving" (33-34). The Narrator tells us, "For the first time David really understood" that "This was what he was. A product. Only a product," a thought that, so to speak, kills David (34). His father and a friend give David a new and better brain and, after "He had been dead," they charge him up, give him a new Teddy, and see "if he would live again": after summer and winter, "Well, it's spring now," and David arises and tells of "a strange dream," his first. In the last line of the story, we're told "It"—and a richly ambiguous "It" this is—was almost human" (34-35). Note very well for questions of humanity and identity in the age of cybernetic reproduction. Cf. and contrast the "Throwaway Town" sequence in A.I., q.v. under Drama. For "product," see Robocop under Drama. (RDE, 11/07/01)