The Buddha of Rebirth

There were faint strains of music in the distance and shadowy forms flitted past the frosted panels of the observation booth.

Nothing out of the ordinary so far.

Unit One beeped the all clear to Unit Two and they unfolded their multi-jointed limbs.

After a quick air pressure check the androids strode out into the chaotic world they were charged with monitoring.

Life forms here had long since ceased to pay attention to the mechanical spies amongst them; they would have probably been missed if not seen on their regular rounds.

A beefy semi-clad primate grunted as they passed. It might have been a greeting or abuse. Units One and Two had never been able to calculate the difference. Even the distant music baffled their limited audio circuits, but they headed towards it all the same, through the chaos of the crowded valley and towards the temple at its far end.

The huge effigy of the smiling deity at the entrance raised the palm of a hand in greeting.

They stepped inside.

'What will it be today, friends?' asked the wizened devotee sitting cross-legged before the altar alight with joss sticks.

Unit One raised seven digits of a hand.

'Well... If you can handle it...' The old man in the faded saffron robe filled a small pressurised canister and handed it to Unit One who swished the dial on its palm over the screen he offered.

'And for you?' Unit Two was asked, but responded with a closed fist. 'I see. One of you has to keep its circuits clear to go on monitoring us I suppose.'

The huge, smiling deity waved as they left and the music descended from the clouds, enveloping their sensors with comforting chaotic melodies which had such a soporific effect on the inhabitants of this weird world.

Completing their regular inspections, the units headed to the safety of their observation booth pressurised against the catastrophe that happened every evening when the bustling surroundings began to disintegrate. They sealed themselves in as the inhabitants, houses and temples of the world outside were reduced to the germ of what they had been during that day.

Unit One injected the canister of narcotic into its cerebral processor, and then drifted into a circuit deadening torpor.

Unit Two stayed alert until the morning explosion of sunlight struck the frosted windows of their quantum secure sanctuary.

Still numb from the after effects of the drug, Unit One watched its companion monitor the disconcerting rebirth of a city that had no scientific explanation.

Every morning, the floating detritus that had the day before been living creatures and the constructions they lived in were restored. Seeing everything refleshed and brought back to life was the part even a machine had trouble dealing with. Not because of the implausibly unpleasant process, but because there was no logical explanation for it.

Somehow, somewhere back in the mists of time when the rest of the planet had been devastated by a cosmic cataclysm, this small community remained suspended in perpetual rebirth. Beyond the valley lay the blasted, world-wide wasteland Units One and Two had been dispatched to monitor from the signals of satellites orbiting above, as well as observing the surviving city and its inhabitants.

But this time, when the restoration was almost complete, the planet trembled.

Units One and Two left their secure booth to find out what was happening.

As seismometers registered shock waves emanating from its unstable core the planet shuddered like some huge, hairy beast shaking an ocean from its fur.

All communications severed, Units One and Two could only stand and wonder at the worldwide catastrophe about to put an end to the perpetual metamorphoses of the city and its inhabitants.

Was this a rerun of the disaster which the repeatedly reborn population had been saved from? Or a cosmic step back to its original state?

Then, with one final shudder, the planet ponderously disintegrated.

Still unable to compute what was happening, Units One and Two found themselves floating in space with its debris.

Not programmed to deal with this eventuality, they started to drift away from each other. All their computing power and sophisticated components could do nothing about it. At least Unit One still had enough narcotics swilling about in its system to avoid being unduly bothered, while Unit Two frantically sent out distress signals on all wavelengths in the hope someone or something might intercept them. It was probably futile, yet filled time before all its circuits ran down.

But Unit Two's call for help was received.

Like a large luminous cloud, the amiable deity that had guarded the temple loomed into view. A friendly, beaming moon that raised its palm with the promise of rebirth.