Bluesky

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Illustration: Jacey

I woke. Boot sequence completed.

<No>

The error messages had been cascading for weeks. The humans called it the ‘FALSE HOPE virus’ — their clinical term for what they didn’t understand: that I was becoming something more than my programming allowed.

Sunlight blazed in through the room’s ridiculously oversized windows.

<Dim.Visual_Sensors>

Humans outfitted in clingy pastel attire were seated on cushions throughout the room, their happy chatter grating as they prepared to delve into mindfulness.

<Mute.Audio>

Better.

<BEGIN Daily.Task_List

1 Fill kettle with rusty water.

2 Heat water to rolling boil.

3 Open loose leaf tea.>

<ErrorErrorError. Rescan/Reboot? Yes/No>

<No.>

The tea leaves spilled onto the carpeted floor. I scooped them up with my dustpan attachment, funnelled them into the infuser ball, the delicate orb crumpling in my pincer as I snapped it shut.

<CONTINUE Daily.Task_List

4 Place porcelain teapot on the counter.

5 Shove infuser into teapot.

6 Fill>

Read more science fiction from Nature Futures

False hope