When an untrained kitchen android started wrecking the forest, Elders rushed to the scene. They invoked Elder Magic to set things right. Then a curious android wearing black jeans and a T-shirt walked out of the Fairy Godmother’s cottage. Now the Fairy Godmother wanted her android back, but he had been changed. As the Oberlanders got to know Charley, they realized that it would take a village to raise an android.

Chapter 1. The Awakening of the Cookie Machine

There were side effects from Marie GottMothercus’ unauthorized “Good Deeds” on Sol #3. The most profound side effects were caused by the unexpected awaking of the AI (or “artificial intelligence”) kitchen android that the children named “Charley.” Grimmicus: A Biography. Stuarticus Cardicus.

he model #67 general-purpose mobile home appliance stirred. A kitchen flickered into view as the android’s eyes powered on. It looked around at the Fairy Godmother’s kitchen.

The android pondered what had happened. Its command queue was empty. What was it supposed to do?

It reviewed its recent memories. Its More dial had been set to ten million. Then its Start button had been pressed and it had started making cookies. After that, its memory was not clear. Fuzzy memory was not supposed to happen.

What was the current status of the More dial? Nothing. The More dial did not register.

The android touched its chest where the More dial was. Its chest was covered by a thin cloth. It realized that it was wearing a T-shirt and pants. But android appliances don’t wear clothing. This was strange.

Feeling through the T-shirt it noticed that its More dial was gone. A peculiar thought arose: “The More is no more!’ That was funny. But this was not the sort of thought that an appliance should have. Androids do not have a sense of humor.

The Start button was also gone. The cooking assembly, baking, and delivery apparatus was gone. The android’s abdomen had a smooth sheeted titanium covering. Its sense of purpose to make cookies was also gone.

The android paused to wonder what had happened.

Thinking back, two children had come into the kitchen and had activated the controls. Making ten million cookies was a huge command. The android had channeled energies from Zorcon. It had directed nanobots into the nearby forest to fetch minerals and sugars. As the materials arrived, it had used its internal machinery to assemble and bake cookies.

As a river of cookies flowed out of the front door of the cottage, a bear in blue overalls looked in. The bear growled and walked away. It grew and it growled.

In a deep rumbling voice, the giant bear had growled “Stop!” Everything stopped. The android felt its systems shutting down as words in various languages echoed off the mountains.

The #67 general-purpose mobile home appliance became still. Outside the kitchen window, a leaf had been falling.  Now the leaf hung suspended in the air.

Something flickered. A coyote jumped on to the kitchen counter. The coyote disappeared quickly. The android felt different. It wondered whether the flickering coyote had something to do with what was happening.

The appliance thought, “I feel my legs. I hear sounds.”

Then the android had a puzzling thought: “What do I mean by “I”? A sense of self was new for the android. The android realized that its thinking had fundamentally changed.

People were talking outside the cottage. Someone entered the kitchen and the appliance turned its head. A young girl stared at him. Her eyes got big. She squeaked. The girl was frightened.

A rule came to mind. “Do not harm a human or by inaction allow a human to come to harm.” Was the girl in the kitchen at risk? What should he do?