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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a science fiction story where all human behavior can be predicted — until your character does something the algorithm did not expect.

Posted in Science Fiction on Jul 31, 2021

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 139 stories

“Atlas” by . .

Submitted to Contest #72

ALGORITHM STRAIN #31511. I am.2. I am an artificial intelligence program with the aim of monitoring humans and keeping them in check. My jurisdiction is to track people affected by prejudice and make sure that they don't go to waste. My job is to give them a purpose.3. My job is not a job. It is a burden. I am one that sacrifices my own livelihood for that of others. This is the purpose of humans. To ask for more. Humans are vile, cruel creatures. They do not have any sense of responsibility, any true belief. They talk of social justice when...

226 comments 226
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“Weight of the Tide” by ~ Rookiewriting ~

Submitted to Contest #72

  He took her spot on the brink of the roof next to the warm iron pipes. With feet, dangling in the air aloft the city, he leaned on the wall behind him. Clyde rested on the cushions she brought him up here a week ago and soared across the sea of blinking lights of skyscrapers and seamless roads below.  Blue of the night and orange of streetlights tangled together, each trying to shine over the other. Rattle purred and turned on it’s back, stretching the paws towards his unmoving gaze.   Zoey crept up behind h...

44 comments 44
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“The Unofficial Student” by 𝕜𝐞𝕟𝐝𝕣𝐚 𝕤𝐭𝕠𝐧𝕖

Submitted to Contest #72

ElizEliz flips the pages of her chocolate-stained book that was mixed with a quarter of guilt. You’re going to drop the chocolate, Eliz.No, I’m not, she insisted.Suit yourself, Official Cathie replied.Ten minutes later, her butterfingers slipped the chocolate on her book. She just needed to drop it on her tongue, but it landed weightlessly on page two, sinking and melting on the word because.Why didn’t you listen? Official Cathie snapped.Because.***Fiona“So, are you excited?” Fiona’s mother asks, checking the rearview mirror.“I think so.”“We...

16 comments 16
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“All for Her.” by Jace A. King👑

Submitted to Contest #72

"Hello Master Max, What can I do for you today?" My personal A.I. asked me as I walked into the kitchen."I want griddle cakes," I say plopping into the lone chair at a massive dinner table."Coming right, up Master." It says before I hear the familiar buzzing sound of the machine making my breakfast.Ever since I moved out of my parent's house It has always only been me and my A.I. never anyone else. I got lonely, to say the least, but I was used to it by now. Having been almost 4 years since I left my parent's place, I have never brought some...

18 comments 18
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“I'm Not at Home” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #72

Title: I'm Not at HomeAuthor: HaripriyaAuthors Note: Hello everyone! I hope you are having a fantastic Friday and had a great week! Since I am really fond of the genre of science-fiction, I thought that this story was going to be perfect when picking which one to write. I went on a different route in this story, but all in all, tried to make everything fit the prompt. Hopefully, this choice was a good one! I hope you like the way I approached this prompt, and I hope you all have a blast reading!Preface: During the 21st century, a lot of...

33 comments 33
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“The Last Obstacle” by Maya -

Submitted to Contest #72

Author’s Note: I kind of tweaked the prompt a little here because I had an idea that was pretty similar. It is pretty short, but I hope you enjoy it!፠ ፠ ፠“We are so close to finding it,” the wrinkled creature states, “The key to everything.”Her skin is weathered and rough to the touch. Like an emerald-colored elephant. She is average size, not too big and not too small. Her wide blue eyes bulge out of her face, like two reflective serving bowls, shimmering with ambition.“When the project is finally completed, we will have all the power in th...

135 comments 135
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“The Unplanned” by ꊰꏂꋬꋪ꒒ꏂꇙꇙ ꊰꄲꉧ

Submitted to Contest #72

A man sat in a dark room, alone. He faced a wall, a wall of Screens. Each about a foot squared in size, every single one showing a different picture. There were hundreds, maybe thousands. The man, Khan, glanced over the Screens, seeming to analyze each one in that brief instant. Khan turned away from the Screens and opened a drawer. Every single citizen had a file. He knew them all. Flipping through the people, Khan stopped at a certain page and removed it from the rest. This certain sheet was worn and the picture faded. Obviously a ce...

34 comments 34
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“Captive” by Natalie Dafoe

Submitted to Contest #72

Subject 10000001284//:Gender: FemaleAge: 16Full Name: Kiara Juna Bond Preferred Name: KiaraFamily: Father, Chase Bond. Mother, Vivian Bond.[ALERT indicated person(s) identified as missing]Location: SYSTEM FAILUREJason aggressively clicked the keyboard mouse, as if reloading the page would unveil more information. The three dots would bob for thirty seconds before the system decided the impossible: It didn’t have any information on Kiara Bond.Her father’s rebellion was predicted by the system - his headpiece detected anger when Chase was...

13 comments 13
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“algorithm” by 𝕊𝕦𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕚 🤍

Submitted to Contest #72

Somewhere behind a screen, someone is deciding what choices I make every day. Simple things, like what type of bread I’ll buy from the market, or what clothes I wear. It’s supposed to keep us in line, my mother tells me. I guess it does.  But there will always be rebels. There will always be crime. The government can’t do anything to stop that. I’ve heard stories about a rebel family who raised their children outside the border, without all the laws and restrictions closing in on them. These children were free of the algorithm. The pol...

132 comments 132
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“The Smokeweb” by ℂ𝕒𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕒 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕨 🏳️‍🌈 (inactive For The Summer)

Submitted to Contest #72

The tinny voice echoed in General Zamox’s ear.Your recruit, Caelan Wexer, will show up at precisely 5:02 a.m., and her excuse for being late was that she saw a felis in the hallway.That, of course, was the Smokeweb, the cutting edge technology humans had invented right before they went extinct one hundred years ago, being replaced by a newer species, the homos.Archeological digs had found Smokeweb and had been instantly intrigued. What was the small wafer of metal? What was its purpose?They had discovered that Smokeweb could tell what a homo...

30 comments 30
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“Don't leave Paradise” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #72

"This is Android 51D, and I am reporting what the guidelines describe as abnormal or unusual behaviour," I informed the human liaison, Michael. I was late for my maintenance break, but I had found something odd.The human on the comms yawned, and I heard a slurping noise. "Suspicious in what way?""The human is behaving in a unique fashion, he has left the comfort of his domicile, and our GPS cannot determine where he is heading." I scanned the map dutifully, triangulating possible locations the human could be going to.The human liaison guffaw...

14 comments 14
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“Ones and Zeros” by Lynn Bigham

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

The smell of coffee woke Kasey up. A voice, feminine and husky, chimed, "Good morning, Officer Roman. Your uniform has been laid out along with the jacket I anticipate you will want. The current temperature is -2 degrees Celsius."  Kasey's eyes blinked open; the ceiling stared back. "Based on traffic patterns, the time it will take for you to get dressed, and the speed at which you finish your coffee, you will arrive at work at 9:12." That was almost on time. Kasey stood, stretched, and drank the coffee slowly. The small flat consisted...

11 comments 11
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“The I knows all” by FJC Montenegro

Submitted to Contest #72

The I knows all. What you want to eat, what you want to buy, what you want to read, the reason why you cry. It knows what, it knows when, it knows how. The I knows all. When you need to drink, when you should be sad, all you ever think, when you should go to bed. The I knows it all. The world is deterministic, after all. Everything is an equation. a x b + c = i. We, through evolution, with our super-developed monkey brains, the most intelligent organic beings, can solve equations too. However, while we solve a, b, and c, and then our batte...

18 comments 18
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“K, his name is K.” by Kara O

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #72

Row and rows of cylindrical tanks filled with neon green liquid light the dim pod chamber. Pink skinned, brown skinned; bald, hairy; long limbed, short torso-ed; a variety of human bodies float in those murky waters, their breathing done through tubes. Wires monitor their brain activities. Above the tanks the computers beep happily with every new data gathered. Some are good-looking. Bodies shaped like a renaissance sculptor’s model—not too buff like a whey head, not too skinny like a neurotic on a diet of ramen noodles—a category I sadly fa...

9 comments 9
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“Unpredictable Behaviors” by Boba Bendy

Submitted to Contest #72

You hate this. You hate living like this where your every mood can be understood by everyone. You hate how your life is predicated based on your behaviors. You hate how every time you try expressing something new, the only reaction you get is something you’d expect. Something you would predict. You just want to be… unpredictable. It all started a few years ago when scientists developed a tool where everyone’s behaviors could be predictable by someone else. Say your friend is talking about something, and they’re trying to hide how they’re re...

8 comments 8
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Contest #72

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