Pinnochio

"The year is 2030. It has been 15 years since the  invention  of  "them" by two genius computer engineers who were way ahead of their contemporary colleagues. This invention  instigated  a  series  of events  that changed the face of  the world  within the span  of  ten years. Initially "they" were mass  produced  by  rival  companies  seeking  to maximize their profits  and  establishing  a  monopoly in this  goldmine-like  new business. Custom models were being  designed everyday  to  meet  the demands of  rich  business tycoons who either wanted to live on forever or fill a  hole in  their hearts by  replacing  their deceased spouse or children with them. As their numbers kept increasing , they became more and more affordable to the common man. Eventually their numbers  increased  to almost 1/10 th of the total of our population. They became an integral part of human lives within 5 years. But as we all know , though many were against it , Victor Ramsey , one of the two scientists who were acclaimed for their discovery  of  "them" introduced a new update to the robots after  the  mysterious death of his colleague Gepetto. This new update enabled the  robots  to think on their own , express their own ideas and hold their own opinion in debatable issues , thus giving  them  a  persona.  He advertised this update through  his own doppelganger of a robot that he himself designed which was called Victor Frankenstein or Frank in short. The irony though , it certainly did live  upto  its name's reputation as we all now know , didn’t  it? So after this  update  we stopped calling them as robots and  referred to them as androids as robot sounded offensive. "Robot" was the new  n****r.  People stopped referring to them as "it" and started referring to them based upon their prescribed gender. So after seven years ,all of a sudden there were 8 billion human-like beings on the earth , out of which 1 billion did not age , need not necessarily eat ,though they could if they wanted to and could reproduce among themselves , though the reproduced would again be human with their parent androids traits encoded into their DNA. The situation then was the same as that of the black enslavement by the whites, only the blacks were the androids and the whites were us. So a revolt was in order ,which did come only this time the blacks were mentally and physically superior to us by 20 times and we were in no way equipped to fight them without killing our own , this revolution slowly up-scaled into a war that almost wiped out the human race. Now 1.5 billion of us remain after this android apocalypse reduced to enclosed places called shelters. There is no concept of nations anymore. The shelter that we live in maintains a democratic farce but is really more of an aristocracy. All this in a matter of nearly 750 days , we are slowly trying our best to get back on our feet after this horrible tragedy. Some still cannot process the happenings in the last two years and are living out their lives in an unfazed manner hoping that they would wake up one day from this bad-bad dream and all would be well. The shelter spends most of the funds it raises through tax which is used towards maintaining security and researching new ways to efficiently and easily immobilizing the androids. The shelters are protected by a large scale device that emits a signal which instantly shuts down any android that comes in its range . So basically all the innovation is applied and focused now on destructive ideas rather than constructive ones. More like engineers are forced to innovate destructive ideas in order to survive .On the other hand the androids were reduced to nearly a million from one billion living outside the shelters trying to survive. Most of them were dormant during the war and are  peace-loving androids with their infant children (human) trying to survive on their own living the life of nomads in order to feed their kids. Sure there are still rebel androids left out there too , like Frank the criminal mastermind behind the war but if we keep fighting the androids as an  alien species without differentiating as we are doing now, instead of  trying to work out a way in order to co-exist , it will only lead to further violence and bloodshed that we can't possibly afford for , as we are already dangerously low in numbers. I know for a fact  that most of us consumed with thoughts of retribution , are taking it out mostly on the harmless innocent androids out there. Expedition of troops are sent outside the shelter in order to allegedly "scout" the area and in the process end up orphaning many infants who are also again humans. Doesn't this sound familiar? Like the U.S drone strikes on innocent Muslim civilians who were allegedly terrorists. People eventually "realized" that not all Muslims are evil or terrorists .In the same way we should start recognizing that not all androids are evil or plotting to eradicate humans some in fact  are the mothers of our fellow baby brothers and sisters. How would you justify the killing of his mother to a 5-6 year old when you know in your heart that it was wrong? is a question that one should ask himself. They(androids) did not ask us to give them voice nor did they ask us to create them. We did that and now we should take responsibility for it and treat them like we would a fellow human being .Yeah we can keep fantasizing about a world without androids  or we can grow up and start doing responsible things.  Also such recognition would help catch out the androids like Frank who wish to eradicate us and thus we can effectively control the elements of chaos . If done so, we can eventually get back to the pre-android period someday co-existing together with the androids in harmony and not just confined to some enclosed place living in constant fear. I know I will be reprimanded by the above mentioned aristocrats , slammed by readers whose hearts are filled with rage whom I sympathize with and ostracized by fellow writers but I write this article in order to reach out to the sane people out there who are willing to consider the points put forth and dare to think for once without being blinded by rage and retribution. What has been done , has been done ! Let's get over it  , forgive them or at least try to and most importantly forgive ourselves and move forward to a better and brighter future. May the force be with you ! What can I say I am a fan of the classics."

 

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The year is 2080.

So class this was the article that Pinnochio wrote and posted online 50 years ago which lead to him becoming famous and eventually the spokesperson for peace talks between androids and humans that lead to today's successful co-existence. But did any of you know that Pinnochio was Gepetto's son? It is believed that Gepetto and Ramsey created Frankenstein back in 2015 itself but Gepetto was rather reluctant to reveal the android part of the robot to the world as he knew that it would bring several repercussions. It is suspected that Frank somehow caused the death of Gepetto while simultaneously creating a rift between the two best friends. Once Gepetto died , Victor no longer had any reason to hold back and ended up revealing androids to the world. Did he do the right thing or not is again a debatable issue because if not for him , most of us wouldn't exist as of today but then again there would still be more human beings than there are now on the Earth today. One good thing that came out of the android apocalypse is there is no more population explosion anymore and there are enough resources for the coming generations. Make no mistake I am not trying to justify the android apocalypse by saying so , I am just stating the unexpected positives that came out of it. Ramsey's creation Frankenstein almost doomed us for all eternity if we continued on the same path while Gepetto's masterpiece and ultimate creation , his son Pinnochio redeemed us from the impending condemnation and became our savior. Now it is  unclear whether Pinnochio was actually Gepetto's biological son or just a metaphorical son and was really his ultimate creation : an android that could withstand the EMP-like device. Maybe calling himself a human was Pinnochio's biggest lie .Pinnochio's death is also shrouded with mystery and deception. Some believe that he forcefully "shut-down" himself or in other words committed suicide and asked someone to dispose his body so that his secret doesn't get out.  But lie or not , human or android ,  Pinnochio was a hero for both humans and androids . Let us take a moment and thank him , in silence ,on the eve of his 30th death anniversary.

Reviews

[Krizito]

I'll be honest; some of what you went over my head, but the ones I jumped high enough to grasp kinda impressed me(most especially the message of co-existence). Nice work. Please do take time to review other members' piece, sure they'll appreciate it..

[Bharath Mutyala]

Thank you and yeah I am on it :)

[Manali]

Well you have quite an interesting story here. I'm not much for science fiction but this was good enough for me to be able to finish. I liked how you used Pinocchio's story and weaved it into a modern context.
Keep writing!

[♔ CrownedDevil &#..]

An interesting story you have here. I like your hidden message of co-existence and even though there are bad people out there in this world there's still good people out there too. Nicely penned.

[Laura Almeida]

I liked your theme and I think that it has great potencial for a story here.
The time line keeping here was a bit over me.
I thought it was sweet that you used the names of one of the most deep stories about acceptance ever.
I would like to see you add a bit more direct scene building.. But that is a matter of personal taste and style.
Over all it was a very nice read and keep it up

[Jacob Clifford]

You have a great mind. You took something that has been thought to death, and you managed to make it unique and interesting. Even though this story can proudly stand on its own and needs nothing else, I can see a plethora of ways to make this a longer story, or even a novel. . . Should you ever feel so inclined.

I love the ideas you expressed in this story. When I read the first few sentences, I expected this to be cliche and unoriginal. I was very pleasantly surprised. It followed a similar structure that many stories of the same nature have, but you managed to make it much more real and human. You even managed to put a little twist in with the second part.

I don't have any critiques about the story itself. I noticed some grammatical errors, but that's not as important as the story you told. The English language is unnecessarily complex, anyway.

Bravo. I really hope you continue to write and share it with the world.

[Bharath Mutyala]

Yeah , I noticed that I misspelled Pinocchio along with many other errors.I actually did spell it right but someone made me correct it to what it is , now. And thank you for your kind words and taking the time. :)

[Mira]

I find your writing interesting and so engaging. I fell in love with it! Truly talented :D
Looking forward to reading some of your pieces,
If you can, feel free to check and review some of my pieces...Sorry, but I'm just too damn excited!
(PS: Feedback can be bad or good, so write reviews with 100 percent honesty. I learn from mistakes!)

Mira.

[Bharath Mutyala]

Thank you. Please do read the other story ( I am not even sure whether its a story ) that I wrote, though I must warn you, it is a completely different setting and belongs to a different genre.About reviewing your pieces....I am on it ! :D
Cheers :)

Bharath

[Mr_M]

An interesting story that is right up my street. I like the ending and the 30th anniversary. I am surprised no one has left a review yet, but i am sure many will read this and find it a good read. I will be looking to read more your work.

[Bharath Mutyala]

Thank you. I tried to blend in a fairy tale and a sci-fi classic ,but I think I should've probably spent more time on my characters.