Sudetenland Tales by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Sudetenland Tales
Page 44
Man in Jail with Bots
Jasper Locklin was booked on a Tuesday for dumping government issued nostalgia candles into the river. They called it "eco-treason," but he called it "aromatic rebellion." When the steel cell doors clanked shut behind him at Ward 9 Detainment Facility, he was startled to find his bunkmate already there; a humanoid bot named Kory-X3, sitting perfectly still, watching an invisible chessboard flicker behind synthetic irises.
"Seriously?" Jasper groaned, tossing his orange jumpsuit onto the cot. "They're mixing us now?"
Kory blinked, his voice a harmonious blend of empathy and code. "I am neither hostile nor scented."
Jasper slumped against the wall. "Look, I got nothing against bots. Some of my best exes were bots. But this whole cohabitation experiment; it's performative. We're equal, sure, but we process the world on different operating systems."
"You believe separation is required for true parity?"
"Exactly," Jasper said. "It's like putting a toaster and a poetry professor in the same dorm room. Eventually someone ends up toasted and existentially shredded."