2019: Closing out the Decade with another milestone year of Indie Publishing

At the start of this decade, I was at a troubling crossroads as a writer.

I had only published one indie book, my first novel, LETTERS FROM CYBERSPACE, and was unsure of how to move forward and pursue my writing dreams.

I had written drafts of what would later become my erotica novels MONOGAMY SUCKS and DEAR HEF, but was afraid to show my work to anyone. I was still too fearful of what others might say about my books. It was a form of creative paralysis that many writers could relate to.

Finally, early in 2010, I had an idea to start sharing chapters of MONOGAMY SUCKS on a blog to see what readers thought. I felt I had nothing to lose.

This later led to my book being published by a new small publisher along with DEAF HEF not long after. My detour into the traditional publishing world thankfully only lasted a few years, but it was a valuable one. About five years ago, when my publisher was bought by another and they returned my book rights and took down all of my books, I was initially furious. However, it proved a godsend as it pushed me the embrace the potential of indie publishing and I subsequently brought out previous versions of my work and never looked back.

The experience taught me that I would never share control of the publishing of my work again. My books had to ultimately reflect my vision only or what was the point of putting my name on them? Also, I wanted to determine the appearance of my work and when and how it would be released. Amazon and Smashwords have been proven to be great resources for sharing my writing. I couldn’t recommend them enough for indie writers.

As we close this decade and prepare to start another, I find myself completely in control of my work having published 13 indie books and written two more I can’t wait to share.

This past year was another milestone year on my writing journey.

Earlier this year, I published my first short story collection CAR DODGING AND OTHER STORIES on Amazon and Smashwords as a digital book and as an Amazon paperback.

All the stories in this collection were based on previous works I had written in my teens or for my college English classes at California State University Long Beach. I updated the stories but worked to maintain as much as I could my original, youthful vision I had attempted decades before. BACK OF THE STATION WAGON, the final story in my collection, is the only work in this book not created from a previous story from my youth. However, it was inspired by a racist incident during my childhood.

As a quick overview of my short story collection: CAR DODGING focuses on a childhood game that turns deadly; TROUBLES, based on my first short story written at 17, is about a robot assembly line worker’s awakening in a dark future; JACK is a story about a robot boxing trainer and the fighter he helps turn into a heavyweight champion; THE NEIGHBOR is about a man finding out his neighbor is from another world; THE ELDERS imagines a space traveler who sleeps for 210 years and finds himself on a new world many lightyears from Earth; BROKEN BARRIERS is a love story across different worlds and civilizations; A DEADLY SPACE focuses on a space shuttle pilot being held hostage by two Russian killer satellites; THE HELLHOLE, PART 1, THE FIRST FIGHT, A BATTLE OF WIZARDS: ANDOLEN’S ARENA SHOWDOWN, THE ADVENTURES OF THE MAGIC SWORD, JONAH’S VICTORY and A SWORD’S EDGE are all fantasy, sword and sorcery stories inspired by my love of the LORD OF THE RINGS and other fantasy books in my youth; THE JOB is about a policeman’s dissatisfaction with his job in the future; ANOTHER CHANCE focuses on a veteran car racer’s comeback journey culminating with a race on the planet Mars; MAKING ORANGE JUICE and A CONVERSATION WITH MOTHER were scene exercises for my college class that I have updated as short stories; STEPS TO NOWHERE was expanded from the A CONVERSATION WITH MOTHER scene into a larger story that explores a young teenager’s growing awkwardness with his mother following his father’s death; THE GARDENER is about a former blues singer who works in a dead-end job as a gardener at a university and reflects on his life; SIDE OF THE ROAD focuses on a man parked on the side of a freeway lamenting his failing marriage, and collection concludes with the previously mentioned BACK OF THE STATION WAGON.

In keeping with the theme of reviving my past writing, this past summer, I launched my 13th book, the novel JAKE’S WAR: JULY 4, 2076 on Amazon and Smashwords as a digital book and on Amazon as a paperback. It based was on the first novel I had hand-written in August 1977 at the age of 15 while inspired by the film STAR WARS.

As with my previous novel ROBOT TROUBLES and short story collection CAR DODGING, which are also based on writing from my youth, I updated JAKE’S WAR where it was appropriate, but I wanted to stick as close to the original story as possible. This novel was — as with those earlier books – an attempt to recapture my youthful writing spirit if I could.

A quick novel synopsis: JAKE’S WAR: JULY 4, 2076 is a tale of love and war at the time of the American Tricentennial. The story follows the adventures of a former soldier, pilot, and diplomat, Jake Chadwick.

The Communes, comprised of Russia and China and led by ruthless leader Yuri Lutin, declares war against America and its allies on the Tricentennial, sparking the long-dreaded World War III.

Jake, who has fallen in love with former Space Navy Seal war hero Jill Yamamoto, reluctantly returns to war against Jill’s wishes and warnings. Jill, who earned the Medal of Honor in a past Moon Base Rebellion, vows to never return to war and is torn about her decision to remain a diplomat as the conflict wages on against the Communes.

Joining Jake in the war against the Communes are his friends, Jason Kendrick and Sue Myers, and both play key roles in Jake’s journey.

Although I changed a lot of my original novel, I kept the dark, creative original ending. This book concludes as my dreaming fifteen-year-old mind imagined it.

Another seminal book for me this decade was my first science fiction novel, ROBOT TROUBLES.

The brilliant author Isaac Asimov so captivated and inspired me that I decided as an ambitious 18-year-old to write a robot story of my own in the late 1970s. That initial story titled, TROUBLES, (which is also featured in my short story collection CAR DODGING), was the basis for my science fiction novella, ROBOT TROUBLES, which is available on Amazon and Smashwords as a digital book and in a paperback version on Amazon.

ROBOT TROUBLES is a science fiction novella set in a dystopian future where a ruthless authoritarian global elite government runs a corporate society driven by robot labor while most of humanity lives in squalor outside sleek cities in tent camps. ROBOT TROUBLES takes place in New Los Angeles, a future version of the famed city. The story’s protagonist and the unlikely hero is Luther, a former infamous hacker and robot technician at a robot factory located in New Los Angeles. Once imprisoned by the government for his hacking activities, Luther is released from prison to work at the factory under the watchful eye of famous robot inventor Dr. Elaine Corkran. Unbeknownst to Dr. Corkran and the rest of the factory’s executive management, Luther has been quietly conducting a sabotage campaign at the factory for years, creating small “robot troubles” that slowed down the factory’s robot project. Driven by guilt for playing a part in the government’s robot labor initiative and feeling as if he has let his fellow humans down, Luther hatches an audacious plan to ignite a robot and human revolution against the ruthless authorities. Luther begins creating a series of robots, each more advanced than the next, to escape the factory and to reach his brother Ezekiel, an activist who has been banished to the tent cities, with his rebellion plan. One of Luther’s robots, AL-457, does escape and contacts Ezekiel with his plan but is captured by authorities. Luther knows time is running short for him as he is temporarily suspended from his duties by Dr. Corkran. After things begin to fall apart at the factory without Luther’s expertise, Dr. Corkran is forced to bring back Luther to set things right again.

Yet knowing it was probably his last chance, Luther developed an advanced robot model, AL-BR88TOR, which proved a kind of “robot whisperer,” to advance the final phase of his plan.

This past year, I started what I believe will be another breakthrough novel for me about the funny, crazy, strange, heartbreaking tales from my long-time public relations career. I wanted to write my book in the edgy and humorous vein of my novel MONOGAMY SUCKS and hold nothing back in the frank and honest way I describe the up and downs of working in public relations.

The book has its origins in an anonymous blog I started earlier this year. I felt so liberated finally exploring my angst, heartbreak, frustration and honest feelings about my PR career and the public relations industry that I turned it into a book.

I recently started the third draft, and it is turning out to be an epic novel — 55 chapters and more than 600 pages. I love how it is coming out.   This novel will need about 9-10 drafts before it will be ready to share. So, that should take me about a year or two before my novel is ready to publish on Amazon, etc. I plan to publish my novel in late 2021 or early 2022. This will be the first volume of many planned novels depicting my public relations experiences.

As I look ahead to the next year, I am planning to launch a poetry collection about life during the presidency of Donald J. Trump and I also may bring out another poetry collection based on my lyrics.

Over the next decade, I am looking to launch another 20-25 books including more intriguing novels and poetry collections. The possibilities are truly endless with Indie publishing…

I am grateful for a lot of things these days, but I am most grateful for my writing and the joy, passion, and purpose it brings me daily. Its rewards are far beyond what I can describe.

Happy New Year and a happy new decade and never stop writing and creating. Always ignore haters.

GP

 

 

 

 

 

Reviving Dark Tales from my youth with the launch of my first short story collection Car Dodging and Other Stories on Amazon and Smashwords today

The influence of short stories on my writing life can’t be overestimated. I was a lonely teen in the mid-1970s when my fascination and love for the short story began. Although it is a literary form that has been pretty much overlooked and forgotten in the modern age (from its heyday in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s when publications were devoted to highlighting the art of the short story), the power of the short story endures for me as inspiring and moving as any novel.

So I am more than thrilled that today my first short story collection CAR DODGING AND OTHER STORIES is available on Amazon and Smashwords as a digital book and as an Amazon paperback.

All the stories in this collection were based on previous works I had written in my teens or for my college English classes at California State University Long Beach. I updated the stories but worked to maintain as much as I could my original, youthful vision I had attempted decades before. BACK OF THE STATION WAGON, the final story in my collection, is the only work in this book not created from a previous story from my youth. However, it was inspired by a racist incident during my childhood.

The writers that first beguiled me with their stunning short story talents were the science fiction writers Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and Isaac Asimov, among many others. They told intriguing tales of new worlds and future possibilities, but always illuminated the foibles and darkness of human nature through their powerful stories, told with such brevity and economy. The length of the stories was hardly the point, as their imaginations were unlimited.

Later, in high school and college, I was introduced a wider range of writers, who also explored and enhanced the short story form, such as Shirley Jackson (The Lottery), Willa Cather (Paul’s Case), Dorothy Parker (Big Blonde), John Updike, John Cheever, James Joyce, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Ernest Hemmingway (Men Without Women), John Steinbeck, Anton Chekov (The Lady With The Dog), Charles Bukowski, Flannery O’Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, O. Henry, and many others. In fact, there are truly too many to mention here. I still feel the impact of their words and stories on me today.

As you could imagine, with such brilliant examples and teachers, I was daunted initially to take a stab at writing my own short stories. Despite some first attempts, many of which are in this book in expanded form, my first actual completed short story was TROUBLES I had written at 17. It was a simple story of a robot who works on an assembly line in the future, has an awakening and leaves the factory on an adventure. I expanded this story into the novella ROBOT TROUBLES, which I recently published. I have included my original short story in this collection as well. In 1980, I sent my short story to my writing hero Isaac Asimov’s science fiction magazine and received my first rejection letter. I have detailed that story in the introduction of ROBOT TROUBLES and won’t do that again here. Suffice to say, I was originally crushed by the rejection, but I continued to write short stories.

I have provided detailed introductions before each story in my collection detailing the origin and inspiration of each story. I won’t do that here either.

Yet I will provide a quick overview. CAR DODGING focuses on a childhood game that turns deadly; the aforementioned TROUBLES is about a robot assembly line worker’s awakening in a dark future; JACK is a story about a robot boxing trainer and the fighter he helps turn into a heavyweight champion; THE NEIGHBOR is about a man finding out his neighbor is from another world; THE ELDERS imagines a space traveler who sleeps for 210 years and finds himself on a new world many lightyears from Earth; BROKEN BARRIERS is a love story across different worlds and civilizations; A DEADLY SPACE focuses on a space shuttle pilot being held hostage by two Russian killer satellites; THE HELLHOLE, PART 1, THE FIRST FIGHT, A BATTLE OF WIZARDS: ANDOLEN’S ARENA SHOWDOWN, THE ADVENTURES OF THE MAGIC SWORD, JONAH’S VICTORY and A SWORD’S EDGE are all fantasy, sword and sorcery stories inspired by my love of the LORD OF THE RINGS and other fantasy books in my youth; THE JOB is about a policeman’s dissatisfaction with his job in the future; ANOTHER CHANCE focuses on a veteran car racer’s comeback journey culminating with a race on the planet Mars; MAKING ORANGE JUICE and A CONVERSATION WITH MOTHER were scene exercises for my college class that I have updated as short stories; STEPS TO NOWHERE was expanded from the A CONVERSATION WITH MOTHER scene into a larger story that explores a young teenager’s growing awkwardness with his mother following his father’s death; THE GARDENER is about a former blues singer who works in a dead-end job as a gardener at a university and reflects on his life; SIDE OF THE ROAD focuses on a man parked on the side of a freeway lamenting his failing marriage, and the previously mentioned BACK OF THE STATION WAGON is based on a racist incident during my youth.

Please note that after much internal debate, I decided to include the racist and offensive language in the story BACK OF THE STATION WAGON as the story is about how silence in the face of racism perpetuates it and that racism exists everywhere,  including behind the ugly facade of a so-called neighborhood hero.

The team at Word to Kindle created another impressive cover as well for my digital and paperback version that reflects my title and also my stories’ content. They also created the excellent covers for my previous science fiction novel ROBOT TROUBLES and poetry collection BODY PARTS.

Through looking back at my writing past and reviving these stories, I feel I have recaptured my joy of writing and overcome the fear that used to haunt me as a young, naïve writer. This book has taken a more than 40-year journey to publication.  As I have been reminded many times in the past few years, it is never too late to chase your writing dreams.

I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Look for more books later this year, including an updated version of the first novel I had hand-written at 15, and another poetry book based on my lyrics.

GP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excerpt from science fiction novel ROBOT TROUBLES, Part 1, A Robot’s Awakening

Dear readers,

I wanted to share an excerpt from my indie science fiction novella ROBOT TROUBLES.

This following key section is from Part 1, A Robot’s Awakening, where we first meet Luther Allison and Dr. Elaine Corkran and the robot AL-357 which has an awakening that leads to its journey of discovering a different world outside its dreary factory assembly line existence.

Enjoy.

GP

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In a cramped room, just off the factory floor, worked Luther Allison, a robot technician in charge of the robots’ ongoing maintenance and upkeep.

A short and stocky man in his late forties, appearing much older than he was, Luther had dark hair, brown eyes, and a graying beard. He typically wore a skeptical look on his face and his voice boomed when he laughed. He thought of himself as the chief robot technician, but he didn’t have an official title. He was just another technician in the eyes of the company management except for Doctor Corkran.

Luther worked closely with Elaine Corkran, the director of robotic programs at the factory and a famed inventor of innovative robotic technology. Her inventions and patents alone had made herself and the company a fortune. Elaine was a tall slender woman in her late forties, standing a little over six-foot-three, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Her studious appearance and distant demeanor belied a compassionate and kind nature that she had to disguise in a cut-throat business world that was still dominated by men.

Everyone at the factory, including Luther, the foremen, and even the robots, called her Doctor Corkran. She figured it was a term of respect and actually preferred it to her colleagues using her first name, which seemed too informal to her.

However, Luther wasn’t impressed with Doctor Corkran or her credentials. He thought of himself as the real talent that backed up Doctor Corkran and made her look good. An underlying hostility existed between Luther and Doctor Corkran.

Although she respected his abilities, Doctor Corkran didn’t trust Luther. She had good reason for her suspicion as Luther was an ex-convict that had hacked numerous servers and websites. He had come to work at the factory five years before as part of an early prison release program.

What Doctor Corkran and the company didn’t know was Luther had been on a quiet sabotage campaign at the factory for years. A little fix here, a little tweak there and one of the robots on the line would malfunction slowing down production. Over time, Luther’s “little fixes” would cost the company millions in repair costs and lost production time.

“The fuckers,” Luther would chuckle to himself. “They still don’t what has hit them.”

Luther was blamed for the production breakdowns from time to time, but they couldn’t find any evidence of his tampering. Doctor Corkran was secretly convinced Luther was behind the series of robot problems, but she also couldn’t discover any trace of Luther’s sabotage efforts. Despite her suspicions, Doctor Corkran had a fondness for Luther. She felt he was a brilliant but misguided soul who had made mistakes in the past and he deserved a second chance.

In his former life, Luther was a famed and feared computer hacker. He called himself “the Black Plumber.” On one weekend, he stole $50 million from the banking system before anyone knew it was gone. They never did get him for that one. A lot of the money was still stashed away in hidden bank accounts around the world and was still unaccounted for by the authorities. Thinking about how he fooled the authorities always brought a smile to Luther’s face.

Clueless fools, Luther thought. One day I am going to disappear and they will never find me.

Luther also had hacked into government defense systems and wrecked havoc. One night he nearly caused an accident as the government’s defense threat level was raised to its highest alert with aircraft and missiles being readied for attack before Luther let them know the gig was up. That last stunt landed him in the penitentiary for a long haul – 25 years to life. However, he was eligible for early release following several years after agreeing to work with Doctor Corkran at the first of several new robot factories the government was pushing as the industry of the future.

The move toward robotics greatly benefitted corporations around the world as the top leaders had already consolidated their countries into one world government many years before. What was once the United States of America had become the leading country in a united world government, which had moved away from democratic principles into a more authoritarian system.

Unfortunately, a lot of Luther’s family and friends lost their factory jobs because of the robots. Luther felt like a traitor sometimes for helping the authorities so he was determined to throw a monkey wrench into their robot plans when he could.

“I’ll be the thorn in their ass,” he joked to himself.

Even though he knew he was an ex-convict and hardly above suspicion, Luther surmised that they wouldn’t think he was capable of messing with their advanced robotic systems. Luther lived for proving people wrong.

Luther’s favorite pastime was altering the robots’ behavioral systems. He saw it as attempting to change how the robots thought about their work and the world around them. It was Luther’s hope that one of his robot projects would eventually escape the factory and cause trouble in public. He figured that if it happened enough times that the company, and maybe even the authorities, might reconsider the robot program and hire back some of the humans.

Luther’s dream was to ultimately create a completely self-aware robot that would resist the factory work altogether and set off a robot rebellion, but AL units were made of basic robotic technology that made it nearly impossible to pull off. Still, Luther was determined to keep trying to surprise “the fools.”

In AL-357’s case, Luther reprogrammed the unit adding conflicting commands to force it to question the entire factory work enterprise. Luther viewed it as bringing a disgruntled worker’s personality to the robot’s functioning to cause it to either rebel, shut off or be forced to be shut down. Either way, Luther expected there to be ongoing trouble with AL-357. He was counting on it.

The workday seemed unusually long for AL-357. Several times during its work, AL-357 stopped performing, eliciting loud reprimands from the human foremen watching the robots’ progress. AL-357 couldn’t reconcile its internal commands to continue working.

The unit was experiencing the robot equivalent of frustration and fatigue. The robot’s systems were on the verge of overload as a flurry of conflicting commands had left AL-357 resisting the order to return to the sleep room, as the humans in the factory called it after its work was completed.

AL-357 watched in the distance a group of human managers walking away from the assembly line area and leaving the plant. It had never noticed them leaving before.

“Where do they go?” AL-357 wondered.

The robot found the urge to explore difficult to ignore.

“What is happening to me?” the robot said as it moved slowly in the direction of where the humans went instead of returning to the sleep room as it always did.

It was scheduled for a systems checkup with Doctor Corkran, but the robot also disregarded this command.

The humans rarely visited the sleep room at night, not even the foremen or factory management except for Doctor Corkran, so the robot would not be missed for a while. AL-357 overheard one of the humans saying that they avoided sleep room whenever they could.

“I have to babysit these robots all day,” the human explained to one of his co-workers. “I am not going to do it at night, too. You know it took a lot to convince the management not to force us to take night shifts watching the robots. I mean where are they going to go anyway?”

AL-357 couldn’t explain its need to break from its programming and not return to the sleep room. An overriding command to leave the factory drove the robot, even though it was forbidden by factory management for any unauthorized robotic worker units to do so. It was all part of Luther’s efforts to muck up the factory’s process.

“There must be another way out,” AL-357 said, scanning a blueprint map of the factory conveniently stored in its memory by Luther.

The robot quickly found a promising exit, an unused door that was an old garbage pickup before the company had put in a newer tube system that sent the plant’s waste directly to the city’s depot.

“Eureka,” AL-357 said, not comprehending why it elicited such a response.

A short time later, AL-357 eluded the detection of the several human guards and electronic security in the factory as the security was designed to bar intruders or possible saboteurs from entering the factory and not for keeping the robots from escaping. As the robots were programmed as basic worker models, escape was figured by factory management to be highly unlikely. No robot had ever tried to escape from the factory…until now.

AL-357 stood in front of a large metal door that was covered in grime and still smelled of garbage even after years of non-use. AL357 reached up to push open the door but hesitated. A warning command from an old program temporarily confused the robot, but it was quickly overridden by another more recent command again urging AL-357 to explore. AL357 was waging a war inside against itself, as conflicting commands again threatened to shut it down. The robot waited there hesitating.

Was AL-357 even a basic robot anymore? Its systems were overloading as it experienced the robot version of what amounted to fear and then exhilaration. Could a robot experience an emotional breakdown? These were human emotions, which despite Luther’s best upgrade efforts, still taxed AL-357’s limited technological capacity only adding to its confusion.

Finally, after a short while, AL-357 straightened up and moved forward, pushing against the old door until it creaked open. AL-357 stepped through the door and into a metallic corridor. The robot stared at the shiny corridor walls for a long time. AL-357’s response was like that of a newborn baby first viewing the world. The robot responded with wonder, but this was a reaction that only high-end androids exhibited, as their systems are designed to mimic and learn such human-like emotions. Wonder was supposed to be beyond AL-357’s capacity, but it exhibited the emotion all the same.

A distant sound abruptly ended AL-357’s reverie with its new environment. The robot turned to look toward the noise and saw two human figures approaching. AL-357 turned away and moved quickly in the opposite direction from the approaching humans. It was fear that drove it, a command for AL-357 to avoid human contact, if possible, on its journey.

AL-357 walked through the corridor for the longest time before seeing a distant speck of light ahead. As AL-357 neared the light, it become a large open space that led to a plaza beyond.

“Humans,” AL-357 said.

However, there was no avoiding humans this time. The plaza was filled with human inhabitants of a large surrounding city.

Everywhere AL-357 looked it saw humanoids. It had never seen so many in one place. The robot had heard that there were other humans besides those that worked in the factory from listening to the foremen and others talking as it worked, but it had no way of knowing until now. AL-357’s memory files contained scant history or basic information about the surrounding world or humans it serviced. That was how the factory management had designed it. Luther had to be careful not to upgrade the robot too drastically to avoid drawing Doctor Corkran’s attention. The factory’s robot breakdowns had to seem organic in nature and not appear to the result of Luther’s tampering.

Looking closely at the humans, AL-357 noticed they seemed different from those it had contact with previously. The humans in the plant, except for Doctor Corkran and a few others, appeared grisly and hideous by comparison. A lot of them had facial hair, wore old and torn clothes and usually carried on in a loud and abusive manner. These humans fascinated AL357 with their beauty.

Dispelling any lingering doubts, AL-357 left the corridor and entered the plaza. Although it wasn’t illegal for robots to roam in public on their own, it was not a typical occurrence, especially with AL units. They were usually accompanied by a human guide. Some of the humans in the plaza stared at AL-357 in disbelief, while others hardly noticed.

Nearby a huge visual digital map display of the city stood. The city was called New Los Angeles. It was completely rebuilt where the old Los Angeles existed by the new government many decades before. All the landmarks of the past city were removed and the only access to the Pacific Ocean was granted to the elite members of its society. The authorities completely remade the former City of Angels into a modern marvel that didn’t resemble the previous destination. There was no trace left of the Los Angeles that was built on top of a desert. It rarely rained as in the past, but drought was hardly an issue now for the city’s wealthy inhabitants as water was created and recycled through the development of new technologies to supply the city with an endless water supply.

AL-357 was not aware of the city’s past history as it moved toward the map, stopped and scanned the details into its memory. Leaving the digital map display, AL-357 continue to navigate its way through the plaza which widened into a large green area. AL-357 was curious to explore this green expanse and discover its purpose.

Soon after, AL-357 moved along a large stretch of grass and among huge trees. It was a stark contrast from the drab and colorless environment of the factory. It was autumn, but the air still retained some of the previous summer’s heat. It was commonly referred to as an Indian Summer. A slight breeze rustled the trees and some leaves fell to the ground. AL357 was spellbound by the falling leaves.

“Hello,” it said to some of the fallen leaves it had picked up from the grass. The robot was unsure what the leaves or trees were. There was no record of leaves or trees in its memory. Only humans were described as organic beings to be obeyed, but the robot experienced conflicting commands when it came to humans. It was not so clear-cut anymore. It wanted to obey but then sometimes it didn’t. Such confusion threatened its breakdown, but AL-357 couldn’t ignore the mysterious demands that conflicted with its main directive to serve humans’ needs above all.

“Are you organic beings?” AL-357 asked the leaves.

Abruptly hearing a sound, AL-357 turned from the leaves and trees and saw a group of humans on the grass nearby. AL-357 headed toward them and noticed that one of the humans held a small wooden stick and another had a small white round object in its hand. AL357 wondered what kind of human ritual this was and if it resembled the robot ritual of the sleep room. As AL-357 watched the humans at play, chasing a white orb around the field, it experienced something beyond curiosity. AL357 realized it was free from the factory, even if only for a short while, and finally aware of a new world around it, hinting of new discoveries. The robot didn’t fully comprehend what it was watching, but it was recording everything into its memory for later review and analysis.

Hours later, Al-357 was reluctant to return to the factory even though it knew it had to. This was only supposed to be a short journey and AL-357 couldn’t override this command developed by Luther or it would automatically shut down. It was a fail-safe function Luther created in case the robot got lost or refused to return. This was the initial exploratory phase of Luther’s larger plan to determine if he could devise a robot to venture from the factory. Luther knew it was risky to attempt a longer trip until he had developed a more advanced robot model. He also continued to worry about having his plan discovered before he had enough time to fully implement it.

AL-357 had been exposed to a human world that it never knew existed. Now it wanted to know more about this human existence beyond the factory confines. AL-357 returned to factory and sleep room later that evening without being detected by factory security.

Later in the sleep room, AL-357 resisted shutting down for the night. It kept reviewing the images of its journey it had stored in its memory. The humans the robot encountered on its adventure fascinated AL-357. The robot continued its review until the start of next work day, which it began with another strong bout of robot malaise and disgruntlement just as the previous morning.

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