Automatic Noodle

by Annalee Newitz

Interrupt Wake up processor Restore memory Decoding request for service “Water detected” Property protection protocol Queue Command check Command check timed out HEEI main start Relay emergency notification Emergency Emergency Emergency Staybehind’s body was moving before he woke up, driven by fear and algorithms.

Independence was only for some people. It felt as though humans had granted bots civil rights for the sole purpose of taking them away again.

Millions had fled the Bay Area after missiles hit Mountain View and Cupertino in ’57, but millions had stayed too. San Francisco’s population was a tenth of what it had been before the war, and those who remained were rebuilding with a desperate love. You could see it everywhere. People filled their violated spaces with sparkling textiles and murals that vibrated with color; they refurbished old machines with agonized tenderness, turning broken glass into shimmering gems to decorate their bicycles and game halls. It was, she supposed, a way of defying death. Necessities helped people survive, but joyful excess gave them life.

Early Light was a wellness app that he and his unit had tracked; intel suggested they were a front organization for the U.S. military.