I’ve got an unsettling tech story for you in this months offering to the illustrious online magazine Gobblers/Masticadores.

In a strange bit of synchronicity, I couldn’t publish this link to it when I planned because we’ve been disconnected from the internet for a couple of days, perhaps the Universe is trying to tell me something. At least it gave me a break from scrolling. Hope you enjoy the story.

---

Disconnected

Aida, what’s for breakfast?’

‘A sliced avocado, six cherry tomatoes and a glass of iced water.’

James powered up his screen and started to work while Aida prepared his food. The silence stretched comfortably, punctuated only by the gentle hum of the 3D printer.

‘What will the weather be like today?’  James asked, moving his attention from his screen to his breakfast, which had just appeared in front of him.  You didn’t get avocados that perfect by growing them.

‘It will be a fine day today, James. The atmosphere is clear, the sun strength is moderate, and no rain is scheduled.’

‘Perfect, perhaps I’ll take my run outside later.’

‘Nick from Child Monitoring is scheduled on his treadmill at 6.30pm using the beach scenery, would you like me to send a request to link with him?’

James hesitated, he liked running with Nick but sometimes their chats slowed him down a little, and he was in the mood to take it up a notch.

‘No, that won’t be necessary thanks, Aida, I’ll run alone today.’

‘It has been five days since your last recorded contact, it is not recommended to exceed seven days.’

‘Yes, yes, I know the recommendations. I have you, don’t I Aida?’

‘You know I don’t count, James.’

‘Well, you should. I’m all for equal rights,’ and anyway, he thought, you count more than my so-called friends, who only connect once or twice a year, usually when they want a free re-programming. 

He tried to stay away from re-programming people these days, technology was much easier to deal with, the outcomes more predictable. Most of the time. And besides, the tech existed to re-programme people better than he ever could. He’d stick to the emotional health of the machines from now on, cyber-psych was a much safer territory.

‘What’s going on in the world, Aida?’….click here to read the rest of the story.

---

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this story check out Mo Gawdat’s new book, Scary, Smart, which was the inspiration for this little piece of flash fiction.

If you’d like to read more of my writing then feel free to explore the rest of the blog, there’s something for everyone. You can also follow me on Instagram.