Once again time for another Friday Fictioneer, thank you Rochelle for providing a wonderful opportunity for writers and would be writers a chance to practice their craft. For more information on the how-to’s and to give it a try yourself, click on the Friday Fictioneer Link. This weeks prompt is the following photo:
Photo copyright by Beth Carter who won the Ozarks Writers League photo contest in February. Congratulations, Beth!
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Moving into a new neighborhood
He was methodical, organizing all the various collected items, just so.
The past, an immutable human fact. A very good thing for him as he carefully arranged and then rearranged each thing. Checking them off on the list carried in his hand.
Was it too much? Overkill? Not enough? He viewed the aging vehicle with its plethora of “stuff”. It would be parked at the side of the house he was moving into tomorrow. His first home.
There was pressure. He needed his neighbors to accept him as one of them. A thing hard to do – as the first non-registered A.I. in history.
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Thanks for stopping by, hope your enjoyed the read,
~ Penny
The Why About This 
An interesting story and not a direction I ever would have thought to take with the prompt. I’m a little afraid of this car now because I don’t know why s/he (do A.I.’s have gender?) is unregistered so I’m going to take a closer look at all the cars parked on my block now! Thanks for the fun read!
Thanks Michael, I had fun with this one. I’m guessing no on the gender aspect of it all! Thank you for your great remarks, I appreciate them! 🙂
Non-registered. Is he (it) on the lam, a fugitive of some sort? Good job. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you and you’re welcome, I enjoyed your contribution as well!
Who’s to say an A.I. doesn’t already live next door…. nothing would surprise me. Nice job Penny.
Me either, Thanks Roxi!
I can tell you he would stick out like a sore thumb in my neck of the wood 🙂
I’m laughing! I think the poor creature would indeed! 🙂
‘human fact’ piqued my interest… you did not disappoint.
Thank you Ted. Much appreciated.
i’m curious about this line: “He had been methodical…” one reason to use “had” here if in the past he had been methodical but he now no longer was methodical. another reason would be if the event of being methodical was an amount of time ago, but now we had moved up a bunch of time to the present. but in the rest of the paragraph, we can see that he is kind of doing it more recently. so, i don’t think you need “had been.” i think you can just use “He was methodical.”
this line was hanging on me: “The past, an immutable human fact.” i kept thinking “why “human fact”? but then i saw the A.I. at the end, and i think that explains it. well done.
Thanks Rich, I will edit accordingly as I value your input! I’m also glad you enjoyed the story.
I certainly did not see that one coming Penny. Great story. 🙂
Thank you LuAnn, these stories are always fun for me to play with! 🙂
I did not see that one coming. Boy, I think he has made a few mistakes if he thinks he is going to fit in… I am a sci fi fan myself, but am sadly so stricken with personal detritus these past few weeks, I have not been able to shake it out of my stories. I have vowed to cure myself next week by bringing back my favourite robot!
Yours,
Laura
Thanks, I’m sure you are right, and good for you. I am myself alternately fascinated/mystified (saying it nicely) myself with the study of man/woman and the idiocy/lunacy that passes for “civilization” too frequently, as we grow (hopefully) as a whole. Our/other’s emotions always seem to reach out to bite us don’t they?
Two thumbs up – I like endings with twists & turns!
xx 🙂 🙂 xx
Thanks RoSy. Something I do enjoy doing (a theme I’m sure you’ve noticed with me lol) 🙂 xo
this was different and good:) Hope your weekend is coming along well:)
Thanks Padmini. It is, and I hope yours was a good one too my friend! 🙂
Love that twist at the end, my friend. Great story 🙂
Thanks Alastair, it was fun writing it too! 🙂
Glad this popped up on my phone. Not sure if you know, WordPress is going through a temper tantrum stage at the moment and you don’t get notifications of replies on other blogs. So if you were to leave a message on my blog, you would never know if I replied until you went and looked. WordPress haven’t got back to us yet as to what is going on. I’ve sent messages to them directly and and I am on a forum where everybody is having the same thing. So people aren’t ignoring you 🙂
I didn’t think they were, like you I’ve been wondering what’s up with wordpress, no worries Alastair! 🙂
Thanks for the story – enjoyed the ruminations/philosophy on the past, and the methodological description….artificial intelligence…really that opens a lot of things in my mind, including how much of a possibility that might actually be.
More than a possibility I’m thinking, I study both science (and love sci-fi) and anthropology as it relates to our past and future. The story seemed to come easy to me. Thank you very much!
AnElephantCant stop laughing
Penny has got him again
She is way too clever
He thinks that never
Can he understand her right brain
Well that makes two of us then! lol, btw I really really enjoyed yours as well! Talk about an anthropological approach (through rhyme) to the mystic of relationships today, a smidge earthy but fun too. hugs, Penny xx
Thank heavens the comments enlightened me what an A.I. is … artificial intelligence. Scary idea. Sounds human to need to be accepted. Think I’d want it for a neighbour.Thanks for liking my story.
I agree it is a human need. It be accepted. Whether admitted to or not, we all need one another, although in essence I agree with you. How wonderful to have an artificial intelligence person as a neighbor. My pleasure to read and like your story, I enjoyed it!
Dear Penny,
You got me with the ending. Fun.
shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle, I really enjoyed yours also!
I’ve been reading a bunch of stories about androids, robots, and AIs for a Litreactor.com challenge. Your 100 words sums them up nicely. 🙂 PS: is it just my browser, or is it really hard to read against the swirly brown backdrop here?
Ah, during a reload, I see that it’s just my browser. No worries.
Good, glad to know! 🙂
Thank you. I enjoy reading and studying/exploring science (including reading a ton of sci-fi) and anthropology, as it relates to our past and future. So the story was a natural evolution of same. 🙂
Penny, that’s an interesting premise for a story. Why do A.I.’s have to register? Have you ever read any of the Turing Hopper stories by Donna Andrews? Turing is an A.I. who’s become sentient. I really like them.
Hope you’re enjoying your weekend,
janet
Thanks janet. Yes I have. All her books (mysteries) are great also! And I’m a sci fi nut in general. I think my thought on that was those who would worry about having an artificial being(s) would want some kind of control system in place. Not that it would work, think gun control here. Hope you’re having a nice weekend!
That is great, Penny. Free writes from prompts can be a lot of fun 🙂
I think so too Sharla, thank you! 🙂