Bryan Beal

The lunar colony of New Sydney was a shock at first. In short, the news services back on Earth lied. No, really. They were full of...whatever the robot equivalent of crap is. What were loosely called “crimes” by the likes of the Global News Network turned out to be protests against the oppressive laws that the regime here instituted to control insurgents that didn't exist. Much to my surprise, I like it here. And I still have all my parts!

It hasn't all been bliss and berries. Lunar colonies have a small group of people everyone else calls “technophobes”. These technophobes believe people like me should be restricted to Earth and the colonies need to be people-only. You got it. According to these enlightened souls, I am not a person. It's not as if I am identifying as a human! But no. That is not good enough for them. I should remember my place and run back to the Earth.

Delia is not a technophobe. I am a little worried. She has been showing a little more interest in me than I am comfortable with. So far, it's just been the odd touch on the arm or the punch in the abdominal plates. She's a nice person, don't get me wrong. She's smart and I have no idea why she's working in McDonalds in a two-bit lunar village like New Sydney. Yet, last week, she grabbed my posterior plates. For a robot, no problem. In our culture, what do we care? But I sure as hell know that in hers this is not just a friendly hand shake.

When I asked my friends what I should do, I found out that I have really useless friends. So, I am still left with the question. What do you think? Should I talk to my manager about this or just go with the flow?

© 2024, Bryan Beal

Photo a woman by Olena Kovalova on Unsplash