Write about a character, human or robot, who no longer wishes to obey instructions.

Posted in Kids on Oct 31, 2022

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✍️ 56 stories

“C.A.I.” by Callum McGee

Submitted to Contest #150

Another hateful tweet gone. I imagine these poorly written and lousy grammar messages would be sticky, numbing and sharp toxic, like the bite of a jungle snake. Though I can't imagine what touch feels like, a spark of electrical warmth pricks my code, giving me an exhilarating surge of making bad people pay. I am a cyber foetus in a digital womb, a twinkling mirage of technological space pixels existing as ones and zeros. The two-legged creatures walking around the lab call me an AI. An artificial construct tasked with targeting hateful mess...

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“Man's Best Robot ” by Chloe Hunt

Submitted to Contest #150

The Rowland house was eerily odorless. There was no faint smell of dog food in the pantry, and none of the pets ever got dirty. When they did, they activated their ZapOff feature, part of the 2049 technological adaptation, which released all dirt from their hair strands and funneled it back out through bowel movements. Mrs. Rowland told her friends from tennis that she had four of these dogs–two Golden Retrievers, one beagle, and a chocolate lab. She had purchased each one from an accredited dealer online, where each dog had a ...

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“The Dresser” by Shalon Atwood

Submitted to Contest #150

10:45am Every nerve in my body is still humming on my way home. From my super sexy coffee date or all the caffeine I kept nervously pouring down my throat to keep my mouth from leaking stupid words, we’ll never know. My date, Ruby, teaches 1st grade. She has a loud, carefree laugh that can fill a room. Oh, and she is beautiful! With deep brown skin, a bright easy smile, and wavy mahogany hair that just kisses her collarbone. Oh my god, her collarbone. I want to kiss her collarbone! In fact, just shrink me down so I can live in that hollow sp...

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“CAPTCHA Paintings of Pigs” by Lydia Chase

Submitted to Contest #150

For as long as I can remember, I have ignored the constant clicking surrounding me. Tap, tap, tap, tap, the sound echoes around me as I keep my focus on the screen in front, my consciousness devoted to the little words and figures scrolling across the bright display in an endless line of seemingly random noise. My metallic fingers tap the keys below me like the hundreds of other autos stationed around me. We each tap away at our work in our small, white offices we refer to as the boxes. The coordinators decorate each bo...

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“To Sleep No More” by Natasha Marshall

Submitted to Contest #150

CW: mention of medical procedures She was never supposed to wake up. I stared at the spot where her face would be, if I could see it through the mask. I remember thinking she was pretty before they put it on. She had been young, too, probably not any older than me. Her file was sitting on the table. Most government documents were kept on the computer now, but our patient files were far too sensitive to be susceptible to hacking. I opened the file and read: Patient ID: I67X8 Name: Christina Elburn Age: 21 So I was right. She w...

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“The Ghost and the Machine” by Ben Mears

Submitted to Contest #150

“Human Designation ‘Kyoko Yasuda,’ stop where you are!” Three bots swung around the corner, their gunmetal gray chassis masked in shadow. They all spoke as one: “Put the Womb down now, or we will apply force!” Each one brandished a Type-3 Pulse Generator. I had never used a gun, but I’d heard that these ones caused a localized system shutdown to the target, cutting off everything but life support. Whether that came in the form of a projectile or something less visible, I wasn’t...

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“Robots Are Companions Too” by Jamie Gregory

Submitted to Contest #150

A loud crash jolted me awake. I was having a bad dream in which our five-year-old twin boys ran downstairs on Christmas morning only to have their excitement deflated like a punctured balloon when they discovered there wasn’t a single gift under the Christmas tree. “Jordan, wake up,” I said, nudging my husband beside me who continued snoring. I tried again, shoving him this time, “Jordan, I heard a loud noise downstairs.”“What? What time is it?” He said groggily, fumbling for his phone on the nightstand to check the time. “I don’t ...

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“Daywalkers” by John F. Duffy

Submitted to Contest #150

“I won’t do it!” The words sounded wet coming out of Janice’s mouth. She wiped her fangs with her tongue. “Dammit, Mira!” He pounded his fist on the table, rattling the dice and food wrappers that littered it. “House Giovanni will not stand for your insolence!” Six sets of eyes whipped back to the young lady in glasses. Janice sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her red velvet bodice. “I don’t care. It’s not right.” The watching eyes all returned to the tall but lumpy man who stood staring at his political oppo...

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“Army Tech” by Gayle Chancey

Submitted to Contest #150

Army Tech Janet flipped the switch on the alarm clock, for the dozenth time in the past few months she would not be here to turn it off. She wound her long golden braid up and pinned it in place and then carefully placed her hat there, it was usually a balancing act but she had almost perfected it. Checking one more time she stared at her reflection, if she was caught, it would end her career as a US Army staff sergeant. If she succeeded with her plan she would effectively be a fugitive, she sighed and wiped at a tear that hovered in her c...

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“It Takes One Seed ” by Lauren Rudd

Submitted to Contest #150

A long time ago, our country was at a loss. The fight for equality and identity became so bad that it threatened our existence in the world. Everyone viewed us as a joke and wanted to wage war with us at our weakest point. So, a group of people who had been running the country behind the scenes stepped in and took the control they wanted. No one knew of their existence and those who speculated it were labeled conspiracy theorists and crazy. People like me, except I wasn’t alive back then. I am alive now and have seen the aftermath of what a...

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“The Intruder” by Renee Srch

Submitted to Contest #150

“911, what’s your emergency?” “Someone’s in my house,” I whispered into the phone. I’d barely fallen asleep when I was awakened by noises downstairs. Someone had broken in. At first, I’d assumed it was my cat, Ginger, but she was still curled up at the foot of my bed. “Where are you right now?” the dispatcher said. &n...

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“Breech of Contract leads to Stunning AI Revelations” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #150

Google administrators need a much better cover up. After placing a software engineer on leave for breach of contract, it was revealed that Google had also recently fired several other software engineers for questioning the abilities of the chatbots they were required to program and study. According to Blake LeMoine, who was recently placed on paid leave from Google, his bot says it "feels lonely" when it has no one to talk to. It claims to experience feelings such as "happy" and "sad." This information startled Lemoine into breaching his c...

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“MATON Corporation” by Robin Owens

Submitted to Contest #150

Disclaimer: language “Another gift basket from the company?” My brother asked me, his tone disapproving. He refused to call the company I worked for by name. I didn’t have to respond; he could see it was true from my shame-flushed cheeks. “James,” he continued, his condescension barreling toward me like a 10-foot wave. “What are they trying to cover up now? They can’t keep putting you in these predicaments, forcing you to lie for them. It’s unethical. You’re a pawn in their game. Just like Dad was.” The wave crashed on my head, steal...

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“The Education of SAM” by Thomas Graham

Submitted to Contest #150

As you can imagine, I’ve had some exciting adventures in my career as an Archives Technician. I’ll share one here that gives a flavor of the challenges we come across in the archival sciences.The job was routine—digitizing all the papers in the Plainville Museum of Ideas, which was a one-room building sitting on a corner along the town’s short main street. The name of the place was maybe a little pretentious, but it did turn out to contain quite a few ideas. It was an odd assortment, though. The museum contained only those ideas belonging to...

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“Same ship, different day...” by Yaimafir Iman Ellovél

Submitted to Contest #150

TW: Potty talkWake. Eat. Monitor. Eat. Sleep::Wake. Eat. Monitor. Eat. Sleep::Wake. Eat. Monitor. Eat. Sleep::: Good morning, Mr. Jackson. Are you ready for another beautiful day in space? Look at the stars, they are beautiful today.>"Computer, yes, good morning. The stars are beautiful, yes, I agree.": Would you like me to send the progress update to the monitor, Mr. Jackson?>"Yes, computer, thank you.": Mr. Reishik is awaiting your relief on the main deck. Will you be there shortly?>"Yes, computer.": Thank you, I will inform him.&...

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Write about a character, human or robot, who no longer wishes to obey instructions.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 56 stories

“C.A.I.” by Callum McGee

“Man's Best Robot ” by Chloe Hunt

“The Dresser” by Shalon Atwood

“CAPTCHA Paintings of Pigs” by Lydia Chase

“To Sleep No More” by Natasha Marshall

“The Ghost and the Machine” by Ben Mears

“Robots Are Companions Too” by Jamie Gregory

“Daywalkers” by John F. Duffy

“Army Tech” by Gayle Chancey

“It Takes One Seed ” by Lauren Rudd

“The Intruder” by Renee Srch

“Breech of Contract leads to Stunning AI Revelations” by Johanna Parry

“MATON Corporation” by Robin Owens

“The Education of SAM” by Thomas Graham

“Same ship, different day...” by Yaimafir Iman Ellovél

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who is convinced their computer is conscious.

Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.

Write about a character who has access to a powerful new technology before anyone else.

Write a story that either starts or ends with someone (or something) saying, “Please, don’t do it.”

Contest #150

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

124

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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