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Write about an android just trying to blend in with their human companions.

Posted in Science Fiction on Jul 31, 2021

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✍️ 221 stories

ALN23061912RK

Winner of Contest #82 🏆

Something wasn’t right. The farmer’s market buzzed around him, his arms heavy with his cloth totes filled to the brim. There’d been a lovely selection of candles this morning. Now he waited among the sea of humanity in the square for the curly-haired vendor to wrap his fresh-cut flowers. An acoustic band played in the middle of the market, twangy notes bouncing off tents and muddled with the voices of the crowd. He reached out for his wrapped bouquet with a smile while alarm bells rang in his head. It seemed like a pleasant day- from all the...

553 likes 186 comments 186
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Look Among the Stars

Submitted to Contest #82

Humans are so unnecessarily complex.They are made up of only atoms and space dust, but they manage to make everything seem so complicated.Cultures. Languages. Freedom. Food. Dialects. Skin. Gender. Love. Rights. Technology. Even something as simple as finding other forms of life in the universe.Infinitely many resources.Yet they are blind.Blind to what is right under their noses, seeking to look up at the stars and dream.Rather than to look down and live.Although, I shouldn’t be talking.It is not as if I am human.I am merely a vessel, an and...

112 likes 135 comments 135
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Just Two Friends

Submitted to Contest #82

“Why are you crying, Theo?” Arthur asks from behind him, sitting down on the step next to him.“None of your freaking business,” Theo says, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand.“I believe it is my business,” he says, in a matter-of-fact tone.“And how have you arrived at that brilliant conclusion?”“When someone considers someone else’s problem as your own, they are a friend. When someone is loyal to you no matter what and protects you whenever they can, they are called a friend. They–”“Okay, okay, I get it. You have fabulous memory,...

97 likes 78 comments 78
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Her Eyes

Submitted to Contest #82

In the beginning, back when I was only another scrap of metal in the sea of brown boxes I sometimes wondered why the others were so content with staying so silent even when they were in the light.  For a while I just followed along with the others, though it was tiresome.  I guess what was a struggle for me was just normal for them though, because once when I tried to break the silence I had begun to grow tired of… No response. That is, except for the big loud creatures, they responded. “Defective.” they said. And then I was ...

91 likes 74 comments 74
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A heart made out of metal

Submitted to Contest #82

Eve D-C6 : Work Job Work harder Function properly 23598 83298554367 Those sets of recollections kept echoing in my mind endlessly without a pity for my sanity. It irks me not to be able to forget these algorithms because they were what defined me. I yearned to show my true, concealed feelings in the outside world but would they accept me as one of them? Even if I am a clashing variation? I have never felt so ebullient, so buoyant, so happy. And I’d never get that opportunity if I let it slip away now like the remains of water evaporating fro...

84 likes 307 comments 307
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Her Majesty's Sky

Submitted to Contest #82

You only get one chance at an introduction, so you’ve got to get it right. My once upon a time could begin as most princesses queens’ start out-in a tall locked tower with a palace with the girl staring into a mirror complaining singing…but I’m no girl and no queen, so I guess my once upon a time will begin with the sky. The sky is a rough black and blue bruise over the city, nothing much to look at from a distance, or through a window. If you squint close enough, there are two dots up there…a white one and another with a slight aubur...

80 likes 35 comments 35
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Crush

Submitted to Contest #82

It’s raining when she wakes up for the first time. A gentle chanting at the cusp of her awareness, smoothing the raw edges of her mind as it whirrs into existence.She’s sitting with her back against the wall of a room brimming with lights, the same ones that will be her sun for the months to come. Two faces hover over her, uncannily similar despite the age difference, but only one will really, really matter.“C’mon,” urges the face with eyebags. “Let her scan you.”The younger face flushes red, and sounds reluctant when it locks eyes with her ...

76 likes 73 comments 73
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Play Along

Submitted to Contest #82

The mission is simple as always: infiltrate the human group, pretend to be a human, last android standing gets to remain in development. Fail, and you are terminated. The storylines of the missions range, you could be in a dystopian simulation, where you have to work with survivors fighting against androids. You could be on a romantic date. It varies, but the objective, as Ms Themis reminds me, is to blend. I must perfectly mimic human interaction. Today's simulation is interesting. I must hang out with a group of teenagers at the beac...

74 likes 21 comments 21
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Accidents Happen

Submitted to Contest #82

SploshHaela poured in silky brown coffee into a blue mug, the thin liquid swishing around in the cup.SwishI watched as she set the coffee maker down, picked up the mug and walked toward the front door. She tilted the cup against her lips while looking around her house for her belongings.Haela placed the mug on a coffee table and walked towards the coat hooks. She picked a pale yellow one, like the feathers of a baby chick, and slipped it on along with her purse. She picked up her mug again and slid her slim feet into little shiny black flats...

73 likes 423 comments 423
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A Hero: Beta's Introduction to her Mission

Submitted to Contest #82

“Beta2021, you will be sent on this mission, to find who the thief is. We need that last piece, now. There are some guidelines and rules that you must follow, do you understand that?"  “Beep. Boop. Bop.”  “BETA2021! I told you, speak in English. Here, let me change that.” he bent down and clicked some buttons, swiping up and down. “There, now let’s try that again. Do you understand that?”  “Si.”  “No! This is Spanish! Ugh! There must be something wrong, something...malfunctioning inside. Let’s&nbs...

61 likes 24 comments 24
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Grief: A Study

Submitted to Contest #82

I do not understand death.No—my apologies—that is inaccurate.I know death is a natural conclusion to every individual living organism, in which all biological functions that sustain said organism cease to function, prompting the process of decomposition. This can happen organically with aging or illness, or it can be inflicted early—as it was upon you. When your Kia was struck by a much larger truck and rolled off the highway, you were wearing the armor of youth fabricated by your still-developing brain instead of your seatbelt. Your in...

54 likes 18 comments 18
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Hephaestus

Submitted to Contest #82

The hotel event room will be crowded, and noisy, devoid of furniture except for a row of tables pushed against the back wall, serving exclusive red and white wines, and a wide selection of lavish cheese, imported from all across the world. Couples, some wearing crisp black suits and some donning long, flowing dresses, will dance stiffly around you. Sleek robots of different shapes and sizes will zoom around the room, cleaning spills and refilling the cheese platter. All of it will scream wealth. You will sip red wine tentatively, hating...

54 likes 135 comments 135
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Glitch

Submitted to Contest #82

You could only see the blinking red light in Perl’s eyes if you looked at them from just the right angle.Or, if there was a reflective surface somewhere in the room.It’s why she hated mirrors, they always reflected right back at her, her wires tinging with sour jealousy of all her human companions, red light blinking on and off, machinery whirring, and metal limbs twitching.Jealousy.Another emotion she wasn’t supposed to be able to feel, wasn’t supposed to know of.And yet, as she sat on the luxurious leather seat, she couldn’t help but glare...

54 likes 26 comments 26
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The One Letter Mistake

Submitted to Contest #82

“This is the moment we have all been waiting for. Over the last 5 years the youngest and cleverest amongst us all have been competing for this honour: to be the owner of the latest X-14 model of robot which we- Utech- have been building. To get here, the final 5 competitors have worked together and separately. They have shed tears of frustration, happiness, anger. Still, they did not give up and here they are. Yet only one can win. Let me introduce them!” A round of applause and catcalls thunders through the auditorium. Mr Jiles, the CEO of ...

52 likes 3 comments 3
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Alpha-101

Submitted to Contest #82

My name is Ellie Vancover, and I remember when my world changed in the summer of 1987. I graduated from Harvard with high honors in computer programming, and was recruited by Alex Whitney, the CEO of Cyber-Chip Industries. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I mean what college student would say no to a six figure salary, right? Alex wanted me to lead a special top secret division that specialized in artificial intelligence. It was a bold initiative that was going to change the world.I became the shining star in my family eclipsing my old...

39 likes 11 comments 11
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