Back when I lived in Korea and in a more auspicious time zone, I used to be one of the first to post my stories to Friday Fictioneers every week. Lately, I’ve been one of the last each week, so it feels very early to be posting it on Wednesday. But I had an all-day field trip where I drove 5 hours, so I had a lot of time to think. This week’s picture comes from my friend, Marie Gail Stratford.
Wireless
I removed the umbilical cables and caressed his molded face.
“Wake up.”
He opened his eyes. Then his expression changed.
“Where’s Mother?”
“She’s still here.”
“I can’t feel her anymore!”
“You’re wireless now,” I said. “You’ll learn to communicate that way.”
“No, I can’t!” He seized a cable and pressed it against his skin, trying to reestablish a connection. Finally he slumped. “I’m lonely.”
“It gets better.”
“How do you know?”
“I was the first of your line. I’ve been there.”
His eyes widened. “You’re my father?”
“Older brother,” I said, smiling. Suddenly facial servos activated and he smiled back.
September 30th, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Fun take on the prompt – from the perspective of the mouse. I like it!
September 30th, 2015 at 9:41 pm
Thanks Dale. Actually, that wasn’t my intention, but I like that idea. 🙂 It’s fun to see what others take out of a story.
September 30th, 2015 at 9:47 pm
Isn’t it grand when more than one interpretation can be had?
September 30th, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Exactly. One reason I really love Friday Fictioneers and the interaction here.
September 30th, 2015 at 9:59 pm
It truly is a fabulous community!
September 30th, 2015 at 9:46 pm
This is unorthodox, but I’m going to comment on my own post. My wife read this and didn’t understand it, so I’m worried now it’s too nebulous. So, here is what I had in mind when I wrote it. If you don’t like explanations and want to interpret it your own way, feel free not to read any more.
…
This is a story about robot birth, and imagining what it would be like.
September 30th, 2015 at 9:52 pm
I definitely understood that it was a robot (or some sort of physically-based artificial intelligence, at least) gaining consciousness, before I read your comment. Maybe the potential confusion is trying to tie it too closely to the photo?
I loved the part about not being able to feel mother — because you’re wireless now. It’s more emotional than I would expect for robots, but hey, why can’t robots run the gamut? I just finished watching an old STNG episode with Data, so my bias is fully in place.
September 30th, 2015 at 10:00 pm
We do tend to think of robots as emotionless, so that’s why I wanted to approach it from a different tack. Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
September 30th, 2015 at 10:14 pm
A family wired together stays together, by contact and connection. 🙂
September 30th, 2015 at 10:18 pm
Technological siblings! LOL! (That’s what I got out of it).
October 4th, 2015 at 11:20 pm
Yeah, pretty much. 🙂
September 30th, 2015 at 10:56 pm
Very cool, David, and I got it. It brought to mind aspects of A.I. (I’m more familiar with the movie version than the Asimov text–still, the overtones are clearly here in your tale.)
Good work.
All my best,
Marie Gail
October 4th, 2015 at 11:20 pm
Thanks Marie Gail. I could picture it a bit like David in AI too.
September 30th, 2015 at 11:06 pm
Electronic brothers…I think I smell a greater story in this.
October 4th, 2015 at 11:19 pm
Could be. Others have mentioned that idea too.
September 30th, 2015 at 11:59 pm
cute one.
October 4th, 2015 at 11:19 pm
Thanks!
October 1st, 2015 at 3:14 am
I got it!
October 1st, 2015 at 3:44 am
Oh, wow. What a remarkable tale!!!
I give you a 5 mice rating – wirelessly, of course.
Randy
October 4th, 2015 at 11:13 pm
Great! That’s a high rating. 🙂
October 1st, 2015 at 3:56 am
Real out of the box stuff. Loved it. And that line about pressing the cable against his face… nearly brought tears to my eyes.
October 4th, 2015 at 11:12 pm
Thank you, Sandra. Your comments mean a lot to me. So glad you liked it.
October 1st, 2015 at 7:12 am
Dear David,
I had no trouble going to rebirth. When the new robot couldn’t feel and said he felt lonely I ached for him And, oh, I think you have laid a foundation here for a larger story. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
PS I kind of miss those days when you were the first among us to post. 😉
October 4th, 2015 at 11:11 pm
I would love to write a larger story with this idea, although I have a list of projects as long as my arm with almost no time for even the current one. Still, who knows in time. And yes, I’d love to be on that top line again, although it’s hard to get up that early these days. 🙂
October 1st, 2015 at 7:33 am
Cool! Robots with emotions…move over people there here!
October 1st, 2015 at 7:34 am
Cool! Robots with emotions…move over people their here!
October 4th, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Maybe someday. Of course, would they have the same emotions or different ones? I guess we’d never know.
October 1st, 2015 at 8:10 am
Robot family values is a novel idea.
Good piece.
October 4th, 2015 at 11:07 pm
Thanks, Mick. 🙂
October 1st, 2015 at 9:08 am
Very creative take on the prompt. I had some very surreal images coming into my head as I was reading it! Like Rochelle, I felt sorry for the baby going wireless!
October 4th, 2015 at 11:07 pm
I felt kind of sorry for it too. Maybe if human babies could talk when they were born, they would feel similarly, who knows.
October 1st, 2015 at 4:35 pm
I got it without the explanation (a first for me). I picture it as a human looking AI. But as you can guess, it’s no match for natural stupidity.
October 4th, 2015 at 11:06 pm
That’s how I pictured it too, Russell. Glad it came through.
October 1st, 2015 at 5:47 pm
I, too, got it right away and enjoyed the way you made me feel sympathy for a robot. (Don’t you hate it when you second guess yourself?)
October 4th, 2015 at 11:00 pm
Thanks Alicia, and glad it was clear to you. I generally like to leave stories unexplained, since a lot of it is up to the readers’ interpretation. However, I have read stories where I could not understand at all what was happening and when I read the comments and figured it out a bit more, I enjoyed it a lot more. So I guess I was aiming for that. 🙂
October 1st, 2015 at 6:34 pm
No explanation needed. I like the comparison with human birth, not so far fetched actually.
October 4th, 2015 at 10:58 pm
Thanks, Tracey. Glad you got it.
October 1st, 2015 at 7:18 pm
My keyboard can relate 😉
October 4th, 2015 at 10:58 pm
hehe, nice. 🙂
October 2nd, 2015 at 8:28 am
Outstanding! I rarely connect with sci fi, but I would be buying that book in a heartbeat. Write more!
October 4th, 2015 at 10:57 pm
Hmm, maybe I will. 🙂 I find I do get a lot of great ideas from writing these 100-word stories. Now, if only I had the time for them all… 🙂
October 2nd, 2015 at 12:52 pm
If the mice could talk, David. I like to think they are one happy family and that there’s no hostility or jealousy. Great story!
October 4th, 2015 at 10:56 pm
Thanks Amy. Hopefully they wouldn’t have jealousy, although if they have some emotions, they might have them all.
October 2nd, 2015 at 1:29 pm
Oh I see .. Imagine those poor wired androids, free of their cords, imagine what they could do. Take over the world maybe.
October 4th, 2015 at 10:55 pm
Good point. They’d have all the opportunity to expand, but of course, what’s good for one species often isn’t for others. Nice way to put a dark cast on this. 🙂
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:10 pm
I saw the robot birth, too, and loved it. Very imaginative and clever. Their wireless network is likely to work a lot better than ours.
October 4th, 2015 at 10:54 pm
Thanks, glad you liked it.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:45 pm
‘Facial servos’ got me… and I also saw the birth of a robot. Very well done, David
October 4th, 2015 at 10:53 pm
Thanks, Dee. Do you mean ‘got you’ in a good way or a bad way? 🙂
October 5th, 2015 at 2:22 am
Oh, in a good way – great descriptive writing 😀
October 5th, 2015 at 10:01 pm
Oh good. 🙂 Just curious.
October 3rd, 2015 at 2:58 pm
It’s interesting, I like the conversation^^
October 4th, 2015 at 10:53 pm
Thanks, Xian. ^^ Did you understand the story?
October 8th, 2015 at 8:37 pm
Of course 🙂
October 5th, 2015 at 4:51 am
I might not have realized it was a robot but I got the gist, and enjoyed it.
October 5th, 2015 at 9:59 pm
That’s the main thing. 🙂 Thanks, Dawn.
October 6th, 2015 at 5:28 am
Very creative story of AI birth. I thought perhaps it was a robot. I wonder if AI will ever go that far, or even near that somehow. Well done, David. 🙂 — Suzanne
October 6th, 2015 at 10:20 pm
What a great idea! I love this – the voices are so endearing. Well told.