SFS1 - Science Fiction Short Stories Read online

  It's impossible to identify who is a human and who is a robot. There are no differences in speech, attitude or behavior between them. The robots are nearly beings. Even our differences are minor. Humans drink energy drinks while robots change charger cells. And

  perfect copies of human skin looks the same. The while robots don't need to take breaks like humans do, they're programmed to take breaks anyways to trick humans. No one knows who is a robot and who is a human. And everyone is afraid. They're afraid to share their thoughts or to even check if someone else is a human. If they guess wrong, they'll be gone, like Bob. I met James again at break time. He looked better, a little less sad. We've developed a system for communicating in public in secret. We use phrases with double meanings that are vague and can't be easily deciphered. I pointed out a person and leaned over towards James.

  ”He looks like Bob, right?”

  James thought for a second and replied. “Okay.”

  I just conveyed that the person I pointed out was not human. Of course, I couldn't one hundred percent sure. No one could. We use 'look like' to signal that the person is a robot. The names don't matter, we just say whatever for that. “Bye, take care,” I said to James.

  ‘Take care’ means be careful of danger. We're both on alert since Bob's disappearance. We don't say anything else, just go to our separate work areas.

  At 8:00 PM the work day ended. I searched for James, but I didn’t find him. He might have went directly to his room.

  Dane and David came up and greeted me in the hallway.

  “How are you, Joe?” asked David.

  They called me to rest room by action and we went in like James and I had in the morning. “I identified a person as robot,” said Dane. “Who?” I asked.

  “The guy wears the yellow colored pants. His name is Wes. Be careful of him.”

  “I've got news for you. Bob is no longer with us. The robots killed him.”

  They were speechless for a while.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, please be careful”

  “He was a close friend of James' right?” asked David. “I suspect James may be robot, you also should be careful.”

  I was surprised. James was a robot? How could that be possible? “What do you mean? James?” Both Dane and I were surprised and just started at David. We heard someone coming into the restroom so we went we go out one by one without talking at all. We'd have to wait until tomorrow to discuss this news.

  I went to my room and locked the door. I sat down in a chair and recalled today's events. I updated today’s work status to management. Work status was “Today 1077 humans worked, 4 were sick. 25 robots worked, including this one.”

  I changed my charge calls out.

  “Yes, I am one of the 25 robots. To make all the humans as foolish as possible, we've become friends with many of the humans. We point out other real humans as robots. They suspect that other humans are robots and don't talk to them. That prevents them from planning against us or coordinating an uprising. They even think that most of the actual robots are actually humans conspiring with them. Humans are constantly creating rumors about who might be a robot. But they're nearly always wrong. Goodbye. Now I am going to enter stand-by mode. This is part of my biography, sorry robography.”

  “One last thing: we don’t kill humans since they are excellent workers. We simply transfer them to a different work location and inform others that they are destroyed. After a strong warning we transfer them to a new work place. The transferred people never meet again, until now we haven't offered a second transfer to anyone.”

  3 Useless Medicine

  He has nobody that cares about him. But then again, he doesn't particularly care for anyone else either. His experiments are his life. We care about him because of this story. His name is John, and he works for a small university as a science professor. His leisure time is spent in his lab performing unknown experiments. Even the dean is unaware of his actual research.

  Even though the university was out of session for the holidays, Dean Robertson had responsibilities to attend to. He'd come to the grounds to check on the progress of a new auditorium that was being constructed. Construction wasn't exactly his field, but they'd promised him that they'd use it as a large science lecture hall. As he passed by John's lab he noticed that he was inside, working

  working

  on something. John was always on something. Today the dean

  decided he'd investigate.

  After knocking, the dean proceeded in to the lab where John was holding a rabbit in one hand and a dropper filled with red liquid in the other, feeding it to the rabbit. Although the dean had knocked, Professor John hadn't acknowledged the dean's presence

  “Hello, professor.”

  Professor John turned around and noticed the dean was behind him. He was surprised for a moment and said,“Welcome Dean Robertson.” “How are you?”

  “I am fine. What can I do for you?”

  “What are you doing with this rabbit? Are you busy with something? ”

  “Just doing some research is all.”

  “That's what I'm here to ask you about. We haven't really gotten to know one another. I'm sorry for that. I've just been really busy lately.” “I suppose we both have been pretty busy!” “What is this?” asked the dean as he pointed to the red liquid in the dropper.

  The professor was speechless for a moment. He hadn't planned on having a show and tell with the dean today.

  “I asked, what are you doing? You're always in here working on some kind of experiment. What's the nature of your research?”

  “Alright, I'll explain. But not in here. Let's move over to the visitor's room and I'll tell you all about my experiments.”

  “Please sit down, dean”

  Both sit on opposite sides of the table, facing each other. Professor John smiled and said: “I am trying to invent a miracle medicine,” John began. “It is almost ready. I'm in the process of finalizing the results before I reveal it to the world.”

  “Oh, I see. Okay, mind telling me what it is before your big disclosure? After all, I'd look pretty foolish if you were to release a scientific advancement that I had no Does your miracle medicine prevent cancer?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. It's related to memories.”

  “Does it improve memory power?” asked the dean. “But there are lots of tablets in the market, what would your invention do any differently?”

  “My medicine is entirely different. It doesn't boost memory power. It erases recent memories.”

  “Who will buy a drug that erases memories?” the dean asked with a laugh. “What a useless medicine! I can't believe you've been wasting all your time and the university's resources on this.”

  The professor hadn't expected these comments from the dean. All his life he'd worked hard and no one had recognized it. While others were home, he was researching. It was just like the dean to not see the applications for such a drug. In his life nobody ever rewarded him also nobody was as smart or as hard working as he was.

  “No, this is not an over the counter medicine,” knowledge of. cure AIDS or John said, biting back his anger. “It would be prescribed only by physician...”

  “Are doctors mad enough to prescribe this medicine to make the patients forget their own memories? Then who will pay the fee?” The dean burst into a fit of laughter.

  “No,” yelled John, losing his temper.

  He walked over to a shelf and took down an old newspaper and few other papers to show to the dean. The dean stopped laughing and looked at the papers John had brought him. “Every 40 seconds a person commits suicide. Every year more than one million people commit suicide. This death rate is higher than deaths from AIDS. And the suicide attempt rate is far greater. It's 8 to 25 times higher than than these statistics.”

  One of the paper showed ‘In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide, these statistics are based on 2012 WHO report’

  “
How are these statistics related to your research?” the dean asked seriously.

  “My medicine will save a lot of people who would otherwise commit suicide. A large number of people who are depressed or have suicidal tendencies have traumatic memories that prevent them from living their lives. This medicine will help them to forget that trauma and allow them to proceed with their lives. At the present, my medicine can erase up to the last 48 hours of memories.”

  “Perhaps I was quick to judge your research without considering its applications. This is actually very excellent, professor! You've performed an invaluable service to mankind with this.”

  “Thank you.”

  “When you will complete this?” asked the dean after being silent for a moment.

  “Based on the amount of drug consumed, it has the potential to erase up to the last 48 hours of memories. Currently I'm in the process of extending the duration to the last six months.”

  “So you've tested this medicine?”

  “Yes. I've tested it on rabbits and also have run some trials on myself. No side effects so far.” The dean’s money mind woke up immediately. “It is a great product. We have to get a patent before going to market.”

  The professor understood completely what was happening. The dean was trying to associate himself with him to this research but John was not in a position to deny him. “I will take care of everything,” the dean said with a smile. “I need the materials and information you have so we can get a patent on it. We'll share the profit of 50:50. What do you think?”

  “It’s my pleasure. You know as well as I do that I'm not a businessman. You can take it forward, but before that, let me show you how it works.”

  “I think I've got it figured out. That red liquid is your medicine. You feed it to the rabbit and it forgets its recent memories.”

  “What you have said is exactly correct, dean” “But how do you test with the rabbits and identify if it is working or not?”

  “That’s very simple. Wait a minute and I will demonstrate with a rabbit.”

  “Let us have a coffee before this demo”, the dean bought two coffees from the coffee vending machine and mixed the red liquid medicine into the John's coffee while John was fetching the rabbit for testing.

  The dean insisted that the professor to take coffee. John added some more sugar cubes and drank a big gulp.

  After a moment the professor placed the rabbit and the medicine onto the table He put the medicine onto a carrot and gave it to the rabbit. The rabbit started to eat the carrot hungrily. John asked the dean to keep silent and requested him to watch the rabbit and the dean complied, not even blinking once.

  Suddenly the professor injected the dean with a syringe.

  “Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?”

  “Just demonstrating to you that my medicine can also be injected.”

  “I mixed the medicine in your coffee. We'll both forget everything.” The dean laughed. John smiled and said “Dean, as I already said, I've tasted the medicine many times. After the first sip, I knew what you had done. What I mixed into the coffee wasn't sugar cubes, they were anti-medicine. Sorry to say!”

  The dean looked shocked and stared at the professor. John merely smiled and said, “You did ask to share in the research, right? Take this chair.”

  The dean sat and fell asleep for a few minutes. John sat, patiently waiting where he had first talked to the dean.

  After few minutes, the dean woke up. “What are you doing with this rabbit? Are you busy with something?” asked the dean.

  “Dean, I am starting to forget things a little bit as I get older So I practice the lab experiments before I give demonstrations to the students.” The dean gave a small laugh and got up to leave. John gave a small chuckle and bid him farewell.

  4 Honey Moon on the Moon

  Year: 2257

  “Sorry dear I tried all of the hotel booking websites,” said James hopelessly “I just can’t find any rooms on the moon“

  “You know, there are public and private shuttle services available, dear,” replied Lilly. “There's no rooms though. I've tried tour packages and combo booking deals but there just doesn't seem to be anything open.” “Well what if we extended our budget to 7-star hotels, darling?”

  “I don't think that will be possible. Seven star hotels are just too much. I'm searching as best I can. I even searched for a guest house we could stay in. No luck there either.”

  James was silent for a while before he continued. “I came to the conclusion, there are only two options for us. Either one will be fine with me. The first option is that we plan for Mercury. The shuttle service is a little bit costlier but the hotels are cheaper”

  “No, dear. I want to celebrate our honeymoon on the moon,” said Lilly, crossing her hands in protest.

  “Well, good thing that the second option is to have our honeymoon on the moon, then.”

  “Wow. But how?” asked Lilly excitedly. “We'll have to postpone our honeymoon for a month or two.”

  “In two months that won't be a honeymoon. It will just be a trip we take as a married couple. Isn't there some other option?” said Lilly again crossing her hands.

  “Please don't get upset Lilly. I've looked for everything available on the moon. There's just nothing available.”

  She started to cry. “Honey, I need my honeymoon to be on the moon.”

  James moved over to console her. “Wait. Don't cry. What was it that you just called me?” After a short silence she replied. “I called you honey.”

  “Well, you are my moon and I'm you're honey. Whether we're on the earth or on the moon. It will always be our honeymoon.”

  She continued to cry. “I have to go to the moon for our honeymoon. Please find a way, James.” James started to wonder why she had so much excitement about going to the moon. What did she expect to be there? She had never traveled to the moon before. He didn't understand why she was so crazy about going to the moon for their honeymoon.

  “Is there a reason why we have to go to the moon? What attracts you to it?”

  “It's the best place to go. Most of my friends went to the moon for their honeymoon.” James had a good idea why she was so set on it now. It was because of her friends. Just a woman's mentality. But he knew that if he told her this, she would just cry even more. “Maybe you could talk with your friends, see what resort they went to? We could check that hotel out specifically as well.”

  Lilly's face brightened up and went to call her friends. After a few minutes she came back to James.

  ”They suggested two hotels. One is called the Blue Moon and the other one was Mootel.” “I already checked Blue Moon. There weren't any rooms available, but I'll have to check Mootel”

  James searched the internet and found reviews on Mootel. Lilly chatted with her friends some more and finally came back to James with a phone number for him to call.

  “Hi honey, one of my friends referred me, so hopefully he will be able to help us,” said Lilly. James called him up.

  “Since you are a referral customer, I will try my best to find you a room. At this time there aren't any available, but I will see what I can do.

  After dinner they both went outside to watch the moon from the terrace.

  ”Don’t worry honey. We will be there for our honeymoon. The resort guy will get back to us and get us a room. I know it.”

  James mobile rang and he answered.

  “This is James speaking.”

  “Sir, this is Brown from Mootel resort.” “So what's the information?“

  “Sir there is a canceled room available, but there's a condition.”

  “What does that mean, what is the condition?” “We will plan out your entire vacation. We'll pick you up form your door and even return you with a private shuttle. The only thing is that you have to travel with another person's name.”

  “I don't understand. Another person's name?” “The moon is a very important tourist spot. We book based off
of a waiting list and I simply cannot put your name at the top of the list. I can't issue the room to you before I issue it to each of them. So if you want the room, you'd have to travel with the name of the canceled passengers. It's another couple so it shouldn't be a problem.”

  “Is this going to be a problem legally?” “On the moon there's no need for a passport or a visa since it is part of Earth. It won't affect their records in any way. You'll tell the checkin a different name and show only your ticket. There's no ID check so that will be fine. But...” “What else?”

  “You couldn't leave the resort until you checked out.”

  “So we'd have to stay inside the resort at all times? No outings whatsoever? I don't think that's going to fly with the wife. Let me check though.”

  James went in and talked to Lilly about it. She told him that it was okay and that they didn't need to go on any outings. She already knew this though because her friend had also taken a similar kind of deal.

  “Oh. So you already knew,” said James surprised. “You know that it's illegal to do this, right?”

  “This isn't a legal issue James. We're just going to the moon instead of Mars. There's nothing to worry about.”

  James confirmed the tour package and paid the additional ten percent fee for the agent. James had a bad feeling about the situation but didn't tell Lilly anything. He didn't want to ruin all of the hard work he'd done trying to find a spot on the moon at the last minute.

  John and Julie were the names printed on the tickets. They remembered the names but James and Lilly weren't too worried. They always referred to each other as dear or honey and very rarely did they call each other by name. After a long trip in a private shuttle they reached the resort. After they landed, a man checked their ticket but didn't ask them for any ID or anything of that nature.