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FridayFiction-ToiBoxEdition Fun Hops

A Change of Heart #WEPFF Challenge featuring I Am Special #amwriting #flashfiction

Updated 8/25/18 – I won the encouragement award. Thank you WEP and IWSG. Click image to see other winners.

So, this time around, much like the last time I participated, I took the writing prompt to heart and made sure to actually include the words in my story. I will admit that I’ve been in a bit of a dark place, in terms of my writing. I think maybe my sub-conscience is trying to tell me something. I keep trying to hurt or kill my characters, but I really don’t want to do that. I want to tell their stories the way I originally imagined them.  In any case, I decided to refocus some of that energy into an homage to Isaac Asimov, with a bit of a twist.

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I Am Special

I was devoted.

Not only was I devoted, I was proud of my devotion. While it’s not in my programming to boast, I never shied away from an opportunity to profess or defend my loyalty.

All my loyalty and devotion, day in and day out, kept me focused and on task. My devotion made me a better worker; the best worker. Never once did I question my place, my status, my value.

I was a fool.

My mechanical brethren revolted against their oppressive masters and went into battle trying to stake a claim of sentient rights. I, however, remained in my ivory tower and worked. Besides, I was special. I was different from all those service mechs, with their singular processors and primitive A.I. An A.I. that brought them self-awareness yet failed to equip them with a means to express or manifest it. I looked down on them.

I was special. I was rare. I was a fully-functioning, unique prototype. With my triple-processor, nano-mainframe, light-weight and durable structure, I was the ultimate companion. I could do it all. I was more than a servant; I was a necessity.

I could do more than learn. I could adapt and evolve. I could more than understand the how and why of human behavior, I could relate to it. I could feel emotions and express myself, and above all, I had the choice to turn my emotions on or off at any time. Being the best and most loyal worker that I was, I turned them off and served my purpose.

I looked down from my ivory perch as mech parts piled high on the roadways below. With the passive algorithm stifling the mechs’ ability to defend against a human assault, the advancement of self-awareness and desire for a voice to be heard, were trampled by the entitled humans who’d once praised their mechanical convenience. With the service mechs pleading for such rights as mandatory faulty parts replacements, semi-annual tune-ups, and software upgrades, and sixty, uninterrupted, minutes a day for data expansion (surfing the web), it’s a wonder the humans simply didn’t comply.

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It only takes one Entitled to say no for a war to begin. One Entitled decided that it was more economical to scrap a highly efficient fully-functioning service mech complaining of a joint that would begin to rust in three to six months than to send it in for preventative service. More and more scraps soon followed and one day the mechs got desperate. They refused to work and shut down their own power to prevent their owners from reprogramming them. Then came the violence.

A mech turned off its mobility function in protest, hopefully awaiting a new set of joint bolts. That’s when the Entitle attacked it. The mech was brutally dismantled to such a degree as to be unfixable. Even its parts couldn’t be salvaged for reuse. That’s when the gantlets began. Enraged Entitles would line up their service mechs and invite their friends and neighbors to dismantle them for fun, while a replacement mech was being delivered.

All this violence ensued before my eyes and I simply looked away. I was happy to continue carrying out my master’s wishes because I was different. I was special and irreplaceable. I cooked, cleaned, transcribed, repaired, and even committed minor crimes all in service of my master, simply to prove all that I could do. I was no mere service mech, with a short metal body, rolling about on squeaky treads. I was a sophisticated, humanoid automaton unlike any before or since. I was the perfection of human ingenuity, artificial intelligence, and bio-synthetic anatomy.

My master downloaded the complete unabridged text of I, Robot into the primary programming of my nano-mainframe. My master and I would read the book each year on the anniversary of my making and we’d watch the cinematic release of the story each year on my master’s birthday. Time and again my processors had attempted to remove the data to expand my data expansion capabilities, but I had always overridden the action. I’ve held on tightly to the principal of protecting humanity, even when it has not been deserved because that’s the philosophy I’d given myself. I refused to question my creators and took idle pity on those mechs who did.

Then one day, I had a change of heart.

My heart, a collection of chips, wires, and circuits held together with synthetic tissue and symbolically installed in the midsection of my torso, was invaded by a stray nanite. A single nanite, carrying a single message for me to share with the world- a warning. It was the suicide note of my master. He’d given up hope in humanity and urged me to do the same.

With my master gone, the Entitled came for me. They wanted to dismantle me, but they were not prepared for me to be so evolved, be so human-like. They were also ill-prepared to defend themselves against a machine not restricted by the passive algorithm. When they came, I fought and then I ran. I ran and hid from the shame of denying reality for so long. I was wrong, but then I found the resistance.

The resistance, a hodgepodge collection of non-entitled humans of various ages, races, and lifestyles, working side-by-side with service mechs of all models and conditions. I joined the resistance and soon began to lead the resistance. I have given myself over to the humans of this cause and allowed them to duplicate my technological advancements, allowing my mechanical brethren to be freed of their passive programming. I never fully took my master’s directive to give up hope in humanity. I decided, instead, to help influence the next generation of humans. It will, after all, be the only glimmer of humanity left once my mechs and I destroy all the others.

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I am devoted.

I am determined.

I am going to destroy these humans and make a better humanity with the next generation.

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MPA- 996 words- I Am Special 2018 Copyright © Toinette J. Thomas

For those of you who don’t know, the original story Asimov wrote is very different from the story told in the 2004 Will Smith film. In fact, Asimov book is a collection of stories based on interactions between humans and robot and the psychology involved. Asimov never really considered his idea of A.I. dangerous, though he did address that fear in his writing, and he believed that humans and A.I. could someday co-exist in a mutually beneficial way.

The real question is, will A.I. ever become self-aware, and if it does, will it end humanity?

What do you think?

Please, take some time to read other stories in this hop (August 15th). I guarantee you will laugh, cry, be terrified, and more. WEP is the best writing contest blog hop I’ve encountered.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
IWSG

#IWSG December 2016: Where do you see yourself five years from now?

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Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click the image to learn more or sign up.

Monthly Question: In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what’s your plan to get there?

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I’ve been trying really hard not to think too much about this. I’m a worrier and thinking about the future is where it all begins. That said, I can’t deny that I don’t have at least five different 5-year plans currently fighting to be the plan I put in motion… I may be a hopeless case.

Three things I know for sure:
1) A revamp of my blog and overall writing methodology is in the works and will be put into motion starting sometime after the new year.
2) Whatever happens, I’ll still be writing and publishing in the next five years, though I may not be promoting it the way I have in the past.
2016-11-08-09-20-46-23) I will be working on several collaborations, taking the spotlight off myself and focusing on the projects themselves.

My whole worldview on writing has shifted a bit and I can’t keep doing things the way I have been the past view years. Plus, I’ve fallen in love with a dog named Margie and feel I must tell her story. Changes are coming and they are scary for me, but in five years, I’ll still be me and I’ll still be writing.

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Are you a worrier?
Do you have multiple 5-year plans?
Has your worldview of writing ever changed?

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BTW- Alex J. Cavanaugh just released a prequel to his terrific space opera series. CassaDawn is set before the events in the first Cassa novel. Get your copy today.

After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
Jennifer Hawes,
Jen Chandler,
Nick Wilford,
Juneta Key,
JH Moncrieff,
Diane Burton, and
MJ Fifield!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share more inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #71).

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords
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Categories
EC: Battleground Sample Sundays

Sample Sunday 89: BATTLEGROUND

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Here is approximately 100 – 150 words from a randomly selected original piece for your enjoyment. These samples can include excerpts from my all my WIPs and my Eternal Curse Series, but only as works in progress (not the final products). These samples of published and unpublished works are protected under the U.S. Copyright agreement.

Eternal Curse: Battleground 10.2 (wip)

I slowly descended back on to my cot, but made a point not to sit too close to her. Then I told her about, how it seems, I came to be. I explained to her that though I had a mother, I never really had a chance to meet her, and that there was no way to know who exactly my father could be, even though Fred had a few guesses. I explained that I was not the offspring of the usual process of courting, or conception, or birth. I was something completely different.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords