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Excerpts FridayFiction-ToiBoxEdition WIP Updates

Lover’s Lodge by Toi Thomas

Thanks to Scot Webb for the use of this image. (Posted on April 26th, 2018).

Over on my Patreon account, I like to share public (free) content from time to time, and this is one of those cases. I’ve written a spooky, yet, kind of funny story, I thought you guys might like to see since I haven’t been sharing my writing here much. I hope you’ll give it a look. It’s called Lover’s Lodge. I think it will make you laugh and cringe, just a little.

Here’s my latest WIP Update if you’d like to know more about what I’ve been writing. I try to update my Youtube subscribers with this monthly, and it’s free.

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 #blacklivesmatter

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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.

~

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.

~

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

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FridayFiction-ToiBoxEdition

Friday Fiction: ToiBox Edition No. 006 #fridayreads (luck, office, couple, whistle)

So, I’m a little late. It’s still technically Friday where I am, so here goes noth’n.

fridayfiction

Prompt # Prompt #343693121
Topic/Theme: luck | Location/Setting: office
Character(s): couple(s) | Object(s): whistle | Action: NA | Random Additive: NA

F5

I think I want … a … candy bar. Yeah, let’s try … F5.

Ben looked up and noticed Sam staring at him from around the corner. “Hey Sam, what’s up?”

“I don’t think you ought to be using that machine, Ben,” stated Sam while looking around nervously.

“Why not? It’s here and I’m hungry.”

“Ben, I’m telling you, that machine isn’t normal. You don’t want anything out of it. Just go down to the second floor like everyone else.”

“Sam, why exactly is this machine here, if everyone uses the one downstairs? What’s wrong with this one? Eats everyone’s money and never puts out?”

Sam stepped forward slightly, waving his hand for Ben to move towards him. “You don’t know the half of it. Please, don’t put any money in that.”

“Too late, it already has my money.”

Sam stomped his foot. “Let it go. Leave it behind. I’ll buy you something downstairs.”

Two weeks later Ben was pulling a late shift trying to complete a special project that would be presented to the managers the next day. Ben was glad the floor manager’s assistant had taken pity on him and stayed to help him out. He was still the new guy on the cube block and everyone was waiting to see if he really had ‘what it takes’ to make it at the firm.

Shirley yawned and stretched as she returned from the copy room. “Man, we have at least another hour of this and I’ve already burn off my dinner.”

Ben jumped up, “I got you covered. Anything you want out of the vending machine is yours?”

“Wow you really know how to thrill a girl, don’t you?” Ben slumped his shoulders and Shirley sighed. “Oh, Ben. I was just kidding. Something from the vending machine would be great.”

He perked up. “Great, what would you like?”

“Feel like making two stops?”

“Sure, but why?”

“There are no drinks on the second floor and the one on this floor is on the other side of the block.”

“It might be a little bit more walking, but I wouldn’t call it two stops. I’ll get your drink them come back get your snack around the corner.”

Shirley’s mouth dropped open and she stared at him for a moment. “You’re not going down to the second floor vending machine?”

“I wasn’t going to unless what you want isn’t available in the one here.”

Shirley took a few steps back. “You haven’t been using that machine, have you?”

Ben sighed. “Not yet, but what’s the big deal … If it’s that crappy, why keep it around.”

“No one told you about the vending machine? It’s bad luck.”

It was Ben’s turn to drop his mouth open. “Are you serious? No one uses that vending machine because it’s bad luck?”

Shirley fidgeted. “Well, not all the time. Every now and then, it grants someone good luck, but it’s an awful big risk to take.”

Ben started to walk away towards the aisle. “Fine, I’ll go down to the second floor.”

“Maybe I should come with you.”

“Seriously, I’m not going to try to trick you and give you ‘bad luck’.” Ben’s use of finger quotes didn’t ease Shirley’s mind. It was clear that he didn’t believe her, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Two weeks later Ben was moving into his new office. He was the first cubie to be promoted to an Assistant Manager’s position in only a month. Now he even had legitimate access to the managerial assistants and often had lunch with Shirley. Though they tried to remain low-key, everyone knew they were a couple. As long as he wasn’t her manager it wasn’t a problem, but they often discussed her transferring to another department in case he got promoted again.

One late evening, Sam returned to the office to pick up a file he meant to work on over the weekend and noticed Ben’s office light on. He went in to say hi, but Ben wasn’t there. He heard a strange sound around the corner and followed it. As he approached the lounge he recognized the sound of a vending machine taking money and ran. “Noooo!”

Ben jumped back and shouted. “What’s the matter with you, scaring me like that?”

“You’ve been using the machine haven’t you? That’s how you got that promotion…It won’t last you know.”

Ben caught his breath. “I’m not using it, I’m just feeding it. I thought you all were crazy at first but then my life started getting so good, I couldn’t risk it all going bad.”

Sam stepped into the lounge but kept his distance from the machine. “What do you mean, you’re just feeding it.”

“I never make a selection. I just put in the money and think about what I want. I’ve actually lost about eight pounds not eating the stuff I want. Add to that my new promotion, my sweet lady, and the reduction in my rent, I’ll keep feeding this thing as long as it’ll take my money.”

Sam smiled, “So you cracked it. You figured out a way to beat it or maybe you figured out a way to please it.”

Ben shook his head. “Yeah I guess, but I still feel like I’m treading on thin ice. Anyway, you want to give it a try?”

Sam backed up. “No, I’m good. I don’t believe in messing around with luck. I’ll just keep my life simple and predictable.”

Two weeks later, Shirley can down from the director’s office to meet Ben for lunch. He was breaking in his new office and assistant. After showing her around and introducing her to Shirley, he bid her farewell to go off to lunch.

Having just started a few hours ago, Margie wasn’t really hungry but was eager to dive into her new duties. After about a half hour, she became restless. There was plenty to do, but most of the managers and assistants had gone off to lunch and she wasn’t feeling motivated. She decided to visit the lounge to seek out a simple snack.

She walked up to the vending machine and almost pressed her face against the glass since she’s left her glasses at her desk. Leaning forward, she extended her hand to brace herself and accidently pressed a few buttons, unknowingly making a selection. Just then the rack on row F5 begin to turn moving a chocolate bar forward. When the bar dropped to the bottom of the tray, Margie looked around and considered whether or not she should take it. She hadn’t paid for it; heck she hadn’t even selected it, but there it was.

A few moments later, Annie, the file clerk came into the lounge to get a cup of coffee. In the middle of the floor lay some woman she’d never seen with a candy bar in her hands. Annie dropped her coffee cup, pulled out her whistle, and began to blow. She ran up and down the aisles of the cube block blowing her whistle. People were scattering about, jumping into action as though this drill had been practiced before.

When Ben arrived back to his office five minutes late another manager was waiting for him. Ben pulled at his tie and approached with caution. “Say Norman, what’s going on? Did I miss a meeting? Parking was terrible out there today.”

Norman approached Ben and extended his hand. The two men shook and then Norman spoke. “Ben I hate to be the one to lay this on you, but you’re being transferred. I know how much you like it here; don’t worry, it’s not a demotion in anyway. The guys upstairs just feel like an up and comer like you needs to be in a division with some real growth potential.”

Ben sighed with relief. “Well that’s fine, that’s great. I was afraid it was bad news.”

“Oh no, not at all. You’re solid as a rock around here Ben.”

“Great, but what about my new assistant? Is she coming with me?”

“No, she’s already been informed of the blunder. She never should have started here today. She’s also being reassigned.”

“Oh, well. Seems like a lot went down while I was away to lunch.”

Norman patted Ben on the back and looked over his shoulder out the window, facing the cube block and winked. “You don’t know the half of it son.”

1,407 words

September ?, 2015 – Prompt #1563136199
Topic/Theme: fashion | Location/Setting: jungle
Character(s): NA| Object(s): bug | Action: NA | Random Additive: ink/paint

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