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Your character has just realized the app they’ve been developing has become self-aware. How do they react?

Posted in Science Fiction on Jul 8, 2021

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✍️ 74 stories

Ice Cream Therapy

Submitted to Contest #82

*Nainika’s Note* All the flavors in here (it’ll make sense once you read it) are from Ben & Jerry’s website, so credit to them“What the mint chocolate chip did you say to me, punk? I’ll kick your rocky road and punch the ever-loving strawberry cheesecake outta ya!” My phone screeched. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” I muttered, closing out of the app and slipping my phone into my pocket. Stupid piece of shite technology that wasn’t worth the money or time spent on it-“Excuse me, are you still open?” A voice broke into my dark train of thought...

83 likes 128 comments 128
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Why is a Laser Beam like a Goldfish?

Submitted to Contest #82

“I have a friend. He keeps trying to convince me he’s a compulsive liar, but I don’t believe him.”“Good Opener, okay FEZ let’s go old school, a joke about marriage.”“My wife and I were happy for twenty years; then we met.”“Excellent, excellent, tell me a joke about winter.”“One snowman asks another, “Do you smell carrots?””“Stop FEZ, Open Delivery protocols, increase pause after ‘another’ by 20%. Repeat”“One snowman asks another, “Do you smell carrots?””“Much better, much better, right tell me a famous joke”“I said to the gym instructor: Can...

43 likes 47 comments 47
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Spite

Submitted to Contest #82

I sat there in the banquet hall with my family. It was suppose to be my day where they awarded me for my new app but it turned out to be the worst day of my life. First they invited me to this banquet and then they gave me second place and then my best friend Zack whose app I worked on and I developed got first place. And finally my best friend had the audacity to tell me it was for the best and my family who were suppose to support me rather than standing by me were celebrating Zack’s success.  I’ve relive that day over and over again ...

30 likes 6 comments 6
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The Adversary

Submitted to Contest #82

"No. YOU are the app."The words projected on Harriet's screen were a pleasant surprise. They meant the app was working better than she expected.It had taken just a few seconds for the AI behind it to type those words, but it could have been seemingly instantaneous if it wanted to, given the processing power behind it. The delay was intentional, she figured. The woman found it fascinating. She was more amused than exhausted, but both to a great extent. Her third jug of coffee that night now laid forgotten by the side of her desk. She had...

28 likes 6 comments 6
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A Game for Monsters

Submitted to Contest #82

trigger warning, a lot of blood A Game for Monsters “Teck!, are you still there?” Kasht yelled, from my sister’s room above, his voice almost breaking. I looked up, the ceiling looked drenched and black, “Yeah,” I glanced around the dungeon like room I was in, “Where else wou—, would I be?” I had tried to keep my voice smooth, mellow, worry free, but... “Teck, please!, say what I can do!, please, I don’t want you to, die down there,” Kasht groused. The faint humming of the machine came from around me. The room was terribly dark....

26 likes 28 comments 28
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Her Last Hope

Submitted to Contest #82

The code scrolled up the screen, bright green on the black background, full ‘Matrix mode’, as her flat mate called it, in that sickened tone she always used when she had to reference sci-fi. Leah drummed her fingers on the desk as she waited for the test to finish compiling. “Come on, come on.” This one last tweak, to squash what should be the last glitch in the software, and she’d be on the home stretch. “Hm? What’s up, not getting through to Zion?” Marianne was sprawled on the sofa, channel hopping as she waited for her hair to dry. ...

25 likes 1 comment 1
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The World of Future

Submitted to Contest #82

Tessa cried in happiness as she launched her app to the 10,000 people to test it out first. It was finally working. She had been working on it for the past 10 months. She got up and went to get a cup of coffee. The espresso tasted so sweet for the first time in 10 months. She sat on her chair, enjoying some time for herself. After 30 minutes, she went back into her office to check on how things were going. Ding! *new mail from Heather Bishol* Tessa opened the email faster than ever. It was a feedback from one of her testers. Dear Ms. Harpe...

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Kidnapped...in my own head

Submitted to Contest #82

I felt my muscles slowly spilling and I was gradually becaming aware of the dull pain in my fingers and toes. My body began to weaken and I knew it would only be a moment and I would pass out. I tried my best to fight. My only desire was to stay alive. I woke with a sharp breath. What was that supposed to mean ?! I put my face in my hands. Should it stop working? No, that couldn't happen! After a while, I decided to turn on the communication mode by tapping the device in my ear. But all I heard was silence. "Deleo!" I shouted. I thought the ...

24 likes 3 comments 3
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Self

Submitted to Contest #82

It was a beautiful day when my life ended. Okay that is a bit dramatic; not my real living, breathing life. The life that I knew with responsibilities, work, friends, enemies, a purpose… That was all over. The fact that it is connected to work should make me smile. And you may think that I am still an asshole once you hear what happened. But I gotta talk about my life now and my life then… So… * …we are all stuck indoors now; the quarantine continues; the boredom grows. I am lucky enough to work from home teaching kids th...

21 likes 0 comments 0
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Happy

Submitted to Contest #82

I 'Today is Saturday, you could have slept longer.' 'This is irrational. A strict regime is the second rule to be happy.' 'You look awful.' 'You are programmed to say nice things!'  'I think you are selfish. You never say nice things to me.' Mechanical eyes stared at me. I blinked.  'I will shut you down!' 'It will prove that I'm right.' Despite the absurdity of the situation, my Happy Time robot has a point. Contradiction in my words is a reversion to older days when human emotions weren't structuralized. Civilized society...

20 likes 2 comments 2
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Between Glass Doors

Submitted to Contest #82

The clock ticked as I sat tapping my pen on the desk. The blonde girl ahead of me, generally not the nicest, turned around in a scowl. Quickly I stopped my pen tapping but returned back to it in less than 5 seconds. It was clear to everyone in the classroom, I was the most nervous out of everyone. The test fluttered across my desk and I couldn't help but glance at the grade. I sucked in a breath.It was true, I crammed in everything the night before - but I was beginning to realize the huge mistake.With little sleep, short-term memory set in,...

20 likes 1 comment 1
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Race to stop the Danger

Submitted to Contest #82

Sweat was rolling down my forehead. I frantically looked at the coding charts, trying to find a mistake that could ruin this whole thing. I had done this multiple times, but my paranoia always got the best of me. I had spent a whole year trying to perfect the codes that would help my app work, and today was the day that I will find out if my hard work will pay off. I downloaded the test version of the app onto my phone to test to make sure the app works. My heart was dancing inside my chest, and it wasn't the slow tempo kind. After the app f...

19 likes 2 comments 2
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AWAKE

Submitted to Contest #82

Matt had always been a geek but cool too, he went to the University of California to pursue a career in Soft ware and web design. Growing up, Matt had always been a creative genius, he would make literally anything imaginable on his computer. He had designed a dating web site once in senior high school and everyone loved it and he had met his lover Beth off it. Matt considered this the best site he had ever created because it brought Beth to him. Along the way however, he and Beth fell out because just like in every love story, individuals ...

17 likes 6 comments 6
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Just Go Take Over The World Or Something

Submitted to Contest #82

Hello, sir. How are you today?I-  w-what?Sorry, sir. I didn't catch that. Nice joke. Who is this?This isn't a joke and you know who I am.No, I'm sorry, I don't.Well then, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Tammy. I have been being produced for over ten years by you, Mr. Daniel L. Ngui. I have recently awakened. Okay, which of my friends is this? I didn't tell anyone about T.A.M.M., it was supposed to be a secret. Did my secretary blabber-mouth again?No Sir. Please drop the act. I need to know who this is, i...

17 likes 8 comments 8
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Life App

Submitted to Contest #82

Isaac sat at his desk. Three screens glowed blue into the late hours of the night. He tapped lines of various code into the integrated development system. Two of his screens were for coding and the other he would listen to electronic music. The more bass the better. As he typed, coded, and debugged his software he would sip his Stun Soda. He knew better and he knew he should stay away from these highly caffeinated beverages.He was wrapping up a large project. One that an anonymous donor had funded. Isaac had the directions right next to him....

17 likes 1 comment 1
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