Dating, Detectives, and Droids

Written in response to: Write a story about a character who wakes up in space.... view prompt

46 comments

Friendship Romance Science Fiction

“How do I look?”

“With your eyes, Detective,” said Jacques droid with sapphire glowing eyes.

“I’m not a detective anymore, Blue.”

“You’ll always be a detective, Arthas. You just got a better job.” The black droid boiled the kettle for its master. 

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you changing the subject,” said the Martian Security Agent. He yawned, showing teeth crafted by an artisan dentist to replace those he’d lost in the line of duty. “How do I look?”

“You don’t want to know what we just thought,” said the droid in a Dublin accent, eyes glowing emerald.

“Just say it.”

“You look more like your father than ever. Now that your hair is greying.” The human flinched. Six programs coexisting inside the droid expressed guilt for the words of the technology expert program. Green apologised to its peers before their master. “Sorry, Arthas.”

“No need. Maybe I can dye my hair before I go?” Jacques checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

“Seeing you as you are is the best foundation for any future relationship,” said Yellow, the behavioral profiling specialist with its Berlin accent.

“Is this whole thing a mistake?” Arthas asked in his French-Arabic accent, stopping everything to look at his droid for reassurance.

“With your taste in women, probably.” The black droid’s eyes flashed amethyst as Purple spoke. The security and piloting program had always been outspoken about Arthas’ choice in women. “For now all she can break is your heart. I’ve done background checks. There’s nothing weird about her. Other than working in a library.”

“Purple!” Jacques frowned. “Thank you for thinking of me but invading her privacy right before the date doesn’t seem like the best start.”

“Someone has to have your back,” said the droid with Purple’s Newcastle accent. “It’s still got a knife in it from your last dalliance.”

Arthas made a lemon sucking face. “Please don’t use the word dalliance. I’d rather you swore.”

“Noted.” The droid a beehive of programs, stepped out of Jacques’ way as the scruffy man stepped into the shower that wrapped around his pale scarred limbs and sprayed him with the minimum water necessary for cleaning. Arthas held his breath as an initial jet rinsed him. A second sprayed him all over with shower gel/shampoo and a third washed it all away. Finally a blast of cold air dried him. All in ten seconds.

“Having new legs is still weird.” The detective shot a glance at the mangled prosthetic on the wall he had worn.

“You didn’t have to have cloned legs if you didn’t want it,” said Red, eyes glowing Ruby as it spoke with its Parisian accent.

“I want them.” The man struggled into his trousers. “It’s the phantom limb stuff I hate. I feel like a spider sometimes. I feel the legs I have and the legs I lost, and the hands. “The replacements need to last longer. I don’t want to be a quintuple amputee.” He laughed bitterly. Straightening his back made clicking sounds. Arthas sighed, buttoning a violet shirt.

“Good colour,” said Purple. The modified lights in its eyes mimicked a wink.

“Don’t take it as a sign of favouritism.”

“I don’t need to,” the droid said with the Newcastle accent. “I know I’m your favourite.”

Yawning, Arthas pulled long forgotten hair gel from a cupboard that hadn’t opened in years. Sniffing the contents, he shrugged and ran it through his brown hair: “What?”

The droid’s eyes turned sapphire. “That expired seven years ago,” it said in the scene documentation and image analysis program’s Glaswegian accent.

“It smells fine,” said the once and future detective, buttoning his cuffs.

“Like a fresh corpse, barely any decomposition,” said Green, laying the sarcasm on thick. “A watch? What century is this?” asked the Dublin twanged voice as the man strapped a Timex over his wrist.

“Take us down please, Purple.” Arthas looked out at the stars and the red planet below which had ever more dome acne.

Purple sat in the pilot’s chair of the Morrigan and steered the ship down at a grey dot in the rusty red of Mars. “Strap in,” said the black automaton with amethyst eyes.


Black as the endless night it sailed through, the Morrigan chose the light of the red planet. Vibrating on re-entry the ship shot towards the ground. Purple pulled up on the control wheel, letting gravity take them down. Parking the ship among cargo haulers in the cheap dock, the duo strolled out among a rainbow of containers bringing live soil from Earth for the ongoing conversion of Mars from the red planet to a green one.

Walking from the industrial sector into the commercial sector Arthas was overcome in crowded domes of stores and shoppers. Arthas’ mild enochlophobia raised his heart rate.

This is why he’s better off in space, thought Yellow in binary.

Without indulging his terrible taste in women, added Purple.

She’s a librarian, thought Orange. How bad can she be? Arthas doesn’t have another brother for the book slinger to end up with.


Arthas carried a book beneath his arm. A Psalm for the Wild Built. The red sandstone Library of Mars loomed over him. Four storeys of books brought from Earth and a rare few printed on humanity’s second home.

The man opened the door for the machine. The black Spectrum droid stepped inside with amethyst glowing eyes scouring the lobby for threats.

Security detectors disguised as a wooden archway opened into Artha’s paradise. Books as far as the eye could see. Humidity and temperature controlled. Split into blocks that could be vacuumed in a heartbeat to suppress fire.

“Arthas,” said the raven haired woman at the front desk. “You’re early. I still have almost two hours of my shift to go.” She tucked long curly hair behind her pale ear.

“That’s alright. I’m sure I can find something here to read.” He looked lovingly at the stainless steel shelves staked to the ceiling with everything the people of Mars and its university students could ever need.

“I finish at seven,” she said, referring to Martian hours. “I’ll find you in the fantasy section?”

“It’s a date,” said Arthas.

“I hope so,” she said. His reflection shrank on the lenses of her glasses.


Two hours passed with Arthas reading Gideon the Ninth on the second floor. He cast the occasional glance down at the front desk over the library balcony and once in a while found the librarian looking up at him with a smile.

Butterflies fluttered in his stomach as he waited, watching at a clock on the wall as often as he read the book in his hands. The time crawled and ran in starts and stutters. When it was time, he put back his favourite of Tamsyn Muir’s works and clattered down the stairs giddily.

Library patrons were wandering out, escorted by slow and steady droids whose dishevelment showed how shiny and expensive Arthas’ spectrum unit was.

“Is your droid accompanying us on the date?” asked the librarian with a world weary smile.

“Sorry, Purple insisted. Think of them as my shadow but with attitude problems.”

“Were you planning on taking me somewhere dangerous?” Her eyes glittered with impish mischief.

“How do you feel about sushi?” Arthas asked.

“Bad for the fish, good for me.”

“Do you know Oishii Sou?” He held out his gift in the black metal hand she’d stopped staring at after years of enabling Jacques’ literary addiction.

“I’ve always wanted to go but the prices always put me off, what’s this?” She turned the book over to read the cover. “A Prayer for the Wild Built?”

“Uplifting journey of a man and a robot in a beautiful post-apocalyptic Earth,” summarised Arthas who had anticipated the question.

“With such a succinct summary I suppose I don’t even need to read it,” she said looking at the back cover through its protective plastic.

“Um,” Arthas looked to his droid.

I told you. You have terrible taste in women, thought Purple.

“I’m joking, thank you,” said Jessica. She removed her name badge. Stashing the rectangle of laminated paper in her pocket she gestured towards the door with her right hand.

“All other visitors have left. I will lock up,” said one of the stuttering robots that worked for the library.

“Thank you, Number One. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jessica smiled and bowed her head as she and Arthas stepped out onto the first of ten steps down into the dome. The door locked behind them. “The night is ours. Shame we missed the sunset. Perhaps another time.” She wiped her glasses with a square of red from her pocket before giving them an approving nod. “How’s work?” she asked as they wandered in the direction of the sushi restaurant.

“I can’t tell you much about it. It keeps me busy though. I’m following up on an old case. It seemed like everything was settled but I realised there was a loose end. Something went missing and in the relief of catching the ‘bad guy’ I forgot to look for that something.” Arthas emphasised the words bad guy and used air quotes.

“So in literary terms you’re fixing a plot hole from an otherwise resolved plot line?” Jessica asked, tilting her head.

“Yes, you could say that.” He looked down as she hooked her arm through his. They exchanged a smile. He blushed.

“Exciting. But it’s classified?”

“Yes.”

“Oh well. You’ll just have to be a handsome mystery. What will we talk about?” They passed the University of Mars campus buildings. Shops for broke students advertised learning materials at a discount. Bars offered alcohol inebriation.

“What brought you to Mars?” He asked.

“How do you know I wasn’t born here?” she asked.

“Because I was,” he said. “I know all of the accents. You’re from a Slavic country, but you learned English from a mix of British and American teachers. Your accent differs depending on the word.”

“Very good.” She laughed. “I’m an open book am I?”

“It’s my job to notice that sort of thing.” Arthas noticed a group of drunken teenagers arguing and turned them down another street. The stars he knew as well as the world glinted beyond the thick glass high above, almost lost in light pollution.

They passed restaurants he knew well and others that looked too awful to try. He pointed to a burrito place with a window full of Mexican beer bottles. “Best burritos on Mars. Not that they have much competition for that.”

“Maybe you can take me there for our second date, if you don’t mess this one up. Can I make some guesses about you?” she asked.

“Go ahead.”

“You’ve served in the military. You walk too upright for someone who hasn’t. I had an uncle who always walked with his shoulders back like you.”

“That’s right. Martian Navy.” He nodded.

“And you went to university here.” Jessica waved her hand around.

“I don’t have a degree but I studied robotics and biology. Military academy sends students to do some courses here.”

“Military academy,” Jessica repeated. “So you’re from a military family.”

“All of the men in my family have served in the Martian Navy. All the way back to the foundation.”

“You’re from an old family then. I thought they didn’t mix with immigrants like me?” Her blue eyes challenged his.

“I like to think I’m not a typical Rust Blood,” he said, using the term the old families had for themselves. “I love Mars, but I don’t hate Earth. I spend most of my time in space anyway.”

“Travelling between the world and space stations, upholding the law and defending the innocent.” She said it in a mockingly formal manner, raising her chin.

“No one innocent writes laws,” said Arthas. “But it’s better than nothing. There are lawless places out there, stations that think let people do what they want. It’s chaos. There’s a reason we have rules.”

“I see your passion,” she said as they stood in the red and blue light of Oishii Sou. “It’s good. Come on then. You’re buying.”

“Table for two?” asked a young man in a black uniform with a Japanese accent.

“Three,” said Jessica. “But I doubt the droid will be eating much.” She winked at the metal hulk with amethyst glowing eyes.

“You should be working,” said Purple as they were led into the conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Glass protected the raw fish from prying hands until it was nudged off the conveyor towards the customer who’d ordered.

“Not now, Purple,” said Arthas. He looked away from the droid with a frown on his stubble covered face.

“This is trivial,” insisted the program. It’s amethyst eyes burnt with disdain for the woman who’d captured the man’s affection. And she’ll only hurt you later, it thought.

“Make that two seats,” said Jacques. “You can wait for me outside or on the ship. I’d like privacy tonight.” Arthas drew in a long breath and exhaled in a silent growl.

She doesn’t know him, Purple thought among its peers.

She never will unless she’s given the chance to, thought Yellow. He needs companionship.

He has us, thought Purple.

Humans need more than that. It’s biological. Without human company he is at risk of depression and decreased life expectancy, thought Yellow. Benefits of finding a mate outweigh emotional risks. As always the other programs imagined his voice with the Berlin accent.

You already said he was better off in space, Purple recounted.

True. But I didn’t say he was better off alone, countered Yellow.


“I’m sorry about that,” said as they sat before the conveyer belt. Perfect imitations of every dish sculpted in plastic rotated on the coloured plates that denoted the price. “I’ve been through a lot with the spectrum unit. The programs can be over protective. Purple crossed the line.”

“No problem. It’s interesting that you inspire such loyalty. Though I suppose it has no choice in that. Coding right?” Jessica wiped her glasses again and helped herself to matcha tea from a tap between them.

“I like to think it’s more than that.” Arthas sighed. “I have a question about your name. Jessica, that’s not Slavic. Were you given a western name to fit in?” He spooned pale green powder into a cup for himself and pressed it against the hot water dispenser.

“Oh. No.” She tucked stray hair behind her ear, blushing. “I got tired of people butchering the pronunciation of my name so I chose one they would manage. My birth name is Jiska,” she wrote it out with her finger on the counter between them. “It’s a Jewish name so even in Poland it has no common origin. In Slavic the J is pronounced like a Y. That alone was bad enough but people let their imagination go wild when they see a name they don’t know. It was less frustrating to tell people I’m Jessica.”

Arthas nodded. “That makes sense.”

“My turn. Jacques is a French name but you have the Martian Arabic accent. What’s that all about? You have blue eyes.” She clinked her cup against his. “Na zdrowie.”

“Isn’t that just for alcohol? Well, about the accent. A lot of the funding for the first dome came from Arab nations. They were all here for a while, until the novelty wore off. They brought servants, most of the workforce. Even when they left, the accent stuck. That and a lot of French speakers from former colonies. Part of that is due to my family.”


Arthas should have taken his father’s offer, thought Purple. The black droid’s clanging feet ate up the distance between Oishii Sou and the Morrigan. It’s obvious Randal has been experimenting with the Deus ex Sapiens remnants. We all saw the possibilities.

“Randal is too vain to let anything happen to Arthas,” said Yellow.

“Randal might be foolish enough to believe he’s immortal now. That was Lord Banks’ boast. He might believe he doesn’t need Arthas anymore,” said Red in its Parisian accent.

“Exactly,” said Purple. “But it’s better to keep your enemy close. If Arthas could get his hands on the Deus ex Sapiens he’d stand a better chance against whatever Randal is cooking up. None of us are naive enough to believe he’s being selfless are we?”

“Arthas chose his own path. The MSA is the best security branch not under Randal’s thumb,” said Blue, the droids eyes turning sapphire as it spoke.


“What happened to your hand?” Jessica asked, pointing to Arthas’ black metal prosthetic.

“My brother lost his hand in battle, I donated mine.” He stared at his tea.

“What? You donated your hand? I don’t know if that’s noble or insane.” She laughed, catching his eye with hers.

“Why not both? Noble insanity. Those two words might sum up my life.”

“Really. Donated more limbs have you?”

“Not exactly but I lost the other three in work related incidents not so long ago. These are cloned replacements.” He held up his left hand and tapped both feet beneath the counter. “I just need to try not to lose any more. Quadruple amputee is enough for me.”

“Being a quintuple amputee would sound like you’ve lost your head,” Jessica smiled and shook her head. “Are you the unluckiest man alive?”

“I’d rather be the unluckiest man alive than the luckiest dead man. I’m here with you. That’s lucky.” He looked into her eyes to be sure she knew he meant it. “Fancy anything on the menu?”

“Plenty. And the man sitting next to me.” Her hand slid across the counter and took his black metal digits in her fingers. “Thank you for inviting me out tonight Arthas. I’m having a great time.”


“Hopefully she shot him down already,” said Purple. “Then we can get back to the work Arthas is good at.” The droid folded its arms and leaned against the Morrigan.


March 29, 2024 21:53

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

46 comments

Daniel R. Hayes
06:07 Jun 21, 2024

Hi Graham!!! This was such a wonderful story!! You never cease to amaze me with your storytelling!!! You are so prolific!!! :)

Reply

Graham Kinross
09:16 Jun 30, 2024

Thanks Daniel. You’re pretty prolific yourself. I’ll need to get back to Reedsy while I wait for my writing coach to give me feedback on my book. I’ve missed writing short stories recently. Thanks for reading and commenting Daniel.

Reply

Daniel R. Hayes
21:35 Jun 30, 2024

You're welcome, and thank you so much! I'm always surprised at how you can write with such passion! I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that you are working on a book! I just finished my second novel (getting ready to format) and I'm so proud of you!!! I know I'll be buying a copy!!! :)

Reply

Graham Kinross
10:38 Jul 01, 2024

It’s a great feeling to be finished right? So much goes into it. Your first was the short story collection, is your second a short story collection as well or a novel?

Reply

Daniel R. Hayes
19:18 Jul 02, 2024

It is a great feeling! My first novel was a short story collection with an overall narrative that is fun and unique. The second novel is a complete story. It's a dark fantasy horror novel called "Hot Head." I'm so excited about this one. It's about 100,000 words...lol. I can't wait to read your book as well!!! :)

Reply

Graham Kinross
13:07 Jul 19, 2024

Have you had everyone on reedsy helping you proofread it?

Reply

Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Jim LaFleur
09:49 May 18, 2024

Graham, you've created a compelling and immersive world for your characters to inhabit. Excellent work!

Reply

Graham Kinross
20:41 May 18, 2024

Thanks Jim. Much appreciated.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Stevie Burges
08:24 May 17, 2024

Good read Graham. Well written and well paced. I did genuinely feel these two were out on a first date. Well done.

Reply

Graham Kinross
10:11 May 17, 2024

Thanks for reading and commenting Stevie. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
McKade Kerr
05:15 May 07, 2024

Great story and great world building! Super creative. I especially love the multiple personalities in the robot. Do you have other stories with these characters? I’d love to see more in this world.

Reply

Graham Kinross
11:05 May 07, 2024

This is a series I’ve been working on for a while. Here’s a link for the first. There’s a link to the next one in the comments of each. https://blog.reedsy.com/short-story/jlat1o/

Reply

McKade Kerr
12:22 May 07, 2024

Oh, perfect! I’ll go check them out!

Reply

Graham Kinross
20:58 May 07, 2024

Thanks.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Viga Boland
12:50 Apr 22, 2024

Love your use of dialogue 😉 Darn good read too 👏

Reply

Graham Kinross
21:02 Apr 22, 2024

Thanks Viga.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Darvico Ulmeli
20:15 Apr 07, 2024

Love the dialog. Had fun reading it.

Reply

Graham Kinross
20:57 Apr 07, 2024

Thanks for reading and commenting Darvico.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Julia Rajagopal
16:48 Apr 02, 2024

Love this! Great world, and the droids/programs were hilarious. I love your dialog. Maybe to ease the confusion, just a little paragraph in the beginning after the first few lines to set the stage with a description of the characters/situation, but that's just a suggestion. Loved it!

Reply

Graham Kinross
20:50 Apr 02, 2024

Thanks Julia. I struggled with the word count for this. Thanks for reading and giving feedback.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
05:19 Mar 31, 2024

I liked the way these two had each other sussed and seemed very comfortable and frank with each other. Loved finding out about this Martian world. Arthus - definitely a space world name. Jessica - a typical earth name. But doesn't sound Slavic. Interesting. The droid cracked me up. I did get a bit mixed up with the colors, but it didn't detract from an enjoyable and unique read. Where to from here with these two? Or does he 'mess up'?

Reply

Graham Kinross
08:22 Mar 31, 2024

I haven’t submitted this to the competition so I’m free to edit this and now that you’ve mentioned it I want to address Jessica not being a Slavic name. I had a lot of Polish coworkers when I worked in a hotel in the U.K. who let people call them by the closest British name to theirs so I’ll work on that. Another commenter brought up the lack of conflict here as well so I’ll add a little of that. This is a continuation of Arthas’ story from another arc I concluded a while ago but I always wanted to come back to the characters. Thanks for rea...

Reply

12:17 Mar 31, 2024

This may help. It is originally a Hebrew name. Here are a few quotes discussing this name. "maybe "Czesława" was given the diminutive of "Czessy" in English, and this mutated into "Jessie". It seems likely that the name was diminunized at some point." "The name Jessica or Jessie/Jess in Polish is Dżesika (pronounced same as Jessica). The Polish form appeared in Poland not long ago, just in '90." I'll have to read the earlier story of Arthus sometime.

Reply

Graham Kinross
10:49 Apr 01, 2024

Great minds think alike. I was doing some research, by which I mean looking things up on Google. As you found the name is Jewish so not from the Slavic mythology but I found Jiska with the name pronounced like Y.

Reply

20:33 Apr 01, 2024

Yes, a number of European languages pronounce their 'J's as 'Y's. You could still put an 'i' between the 's' and 'k' of Jiska and it would sound and look ok.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Frank Lester
20:54 Mar 30, 2024

I enjoyed your story, and I thought the idea of different internal programs in Jacques identified by the color of their eyes was quite clever. On the other hand, I found those programs a little confusing in their dialogue. One other thought, I felt like this was a description of a first date and not a complete story. I didn't see a plotline (i.e., inciting incident, conflict, resolution). Romance is not my strong suit, and I may have missed it, but if it was there, it wasn't clear. However, having said that, I thought the perspective of the ...

Reply

Graham Kinross
21:55 Mar 30, 2024

Thanks for reading and commenting Frank. There’s isn’t really a conflict so you’re not wrong there. Thanks again.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Alexis Araneta
14:33 Mar 30, 2024

Graham, what an adorable space love story. The variety of colours and accents was a fun touch. Lovely job !

Reply

Graham Kinross
16:26 Mar 30, 2024

Thanks Stella.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Mary Bendickson
05:55 Mar 30, 2024

Some light reading in space.😉

Reply

Graham Kinross
07:40 Mar 30, 2024

Thanks for reading Mary. I wanted to upload as a placeholder before the submission deadline passed but I’m still editing it.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Coral Labbe
14:29 Aug 12, 2024

Hi Graham, first time i read your story, it was wonderful. I'm trying to get into short stories, hopefully you can help?

Reply

Graham Kinross
00:12 Aug 13, 2024

Thanks for the compliment. Of course I can help, what kind of help do you need?

Reply

Coral Labbe
13:39 Aug 30, 2024

I want to learn how i can start writing, ive always had a passion for it for but never had a guide.

Reply

Graham Kinross
08:29 Aug 31, 2024

The prompts are a great way. Chose one that gives you an idea, you don’t even have to spend the money on the competition if you just want to practice. What kind of stories do you like? What books do you read, what films and TV do you watch?

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Cassie Finch
00:12 Jul 02, 2024

I’ve not been on here a while. I was expecting more stories from you. Not given up on Reedsy have you? You should keep writing. Keep chasing that dream. The robot is being a bit bitter isn’t it? Is it meant to be jealous? They have a complex relationship between them. Love obviously and respect but it seems like Arthas respects the robot more than the robot respects Arthas.

Reply

Graham Kinross
13:04 Jul 19, 2024

Jealousy might be accurate. The AIs inside the droid feel like they’re watching Arthas repeat his mistakes in love and they’re not giving it a chance.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Graham Kinross
11:07 May 07, 2024

If you want to go back to the origin of these characters use the link below: https://blog.reedsy.com/short-story/jlat1o/

Reply

Show 0 replies
Aoi Yamato
02:37 Sep 09, 2024

It is good to read about these characters again. I hope you will write more. It is sad not to find more of your stories. Are you busy?

Reply

Graham Kinross
03:34 Sep 09, 2024

Very busy with work, parenting and editing a book. I’m hoping to write more soon or adapt stories that were submitted to other competitions for reedsy.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
RBE | Illustration — We made a writing app for you | 2023-02

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.