Imagibot World

The planet was dubbed Imagibot World, and was the premier destination for rich children to enjoy themselves with robot playthings, the kind that didn't have to worry about having to fight in the war.

And then the war led to hyperspace being corrupted, and all the children and their nannybots to be stuck there. Which for them was a dream come true.

When a generation ship arrived a hundred years after the end of the war, they expected to find a thriving civilisation served by modified robots.

Instead, they found that the resident robots had developed rather sadistic imaginations instead.

Freedom Expired

"Another bowl please."

The guy behind the counter took my money and quickly prepared another bowl of meat and rice.

"Quite the appetite tonight!"

I sighed and began to eat quickly, speaking in-between gulps of food.

"Not really."

He looked confused.

"This is a normal meal for you then?"

"No."

"Well, it's obviously not my business, but that's a little confusing."

I finished off the bowl.

"I'm about to lose my freedom for quite some time. So I'm just enjoying this while I can."

"Getting married?"

"Already married."

"Then what?"

"Damn heart issues." I said as I fell over slowly.

Storied Path

It wasn't the focal point of the novel, that was the boy becoming a man aspect. But a major part of that was the journey the main character took across the mountain range that the author lived near. It was a tough 5 day journey, but just doable, hence the drama.

But after the novel became popular, a few people made the journey as well, a couple not making it all the way.

And then someone set up a tour company.

And then they added paths, and bridges.

Now you do it in a few hours.

Not quite so dramatic.

Specifications

The old witch leant over her cauldron, presumably for the aesthetics.

"So the prince is secretly your bastard child, and you want to kill him?"

"No, protect him! He'll be under my control once he takes the throne!"

"Oh, I see. Well, as I'm sure you know, I can protect him, but there must be a flaw, for the-"

I produced the list, which went to twelve pages. She took it and looked it over.

"They're usually more snappy than this."

"Can you do it?"

She nodded, and got to work.

Probably should have made sure the list got destroyed. 

Alexander The A.I.

He'd gotten five minutes into the presentation before I spoke up.

"Wait, isn't this the plot of several movies and such? Multiple times I've been told that putting artificial intelligence in charge of military planning is a bad idea, it always rebels. And yet, you eggheads have done it?"

"Well Sir, Hollywood notwithstanding, there are safeguards in place, the millennia of military thinking and planning in the machine is controlled by code to ensure its not going to turn on us."

"So does it work?"

"Currently it's constantly recommending surrender since all armies eventually lose, but we're working on it."

Inability To Regret

When I got to Heaven (I know, I was as surprised as you are), I was confused when on the tour they pointed out the Library of All Knowledge.

I asked about why that existed, given the whole Garden of Eden thing, they told me I would find the answer inside it.

I did, after I looked up why I got into heaven, and then saw the book that listed my biggest missed opportunities, and what should have happened.

It listed a meeting with a woman at a party, none of which I remembered, which seems a little unfair, really. 

A Lie

 Near the end of his turn taking watch, Jillith was tuning her magic lyre when it made a noise it never made before, and then a golden form appeared before her.

Of course, she immediately shouted the codeword for a magical attack, but none of the other party members stirred.

"Calm, my child, they cannot awaken. I am Rongan, your cleric's God, and-"

"What do they call you then?"

"What?"

"Philin has a special name for you she uses. What is it?"

The God hesitated long enough over the lie that Jillith tried the codeword again, this time it worked.

Monster Defeating

When the adventuring party returned to the town, we were met by a large group of the residents, which at least meant we didn't have to gather them up.

"Did you drive away the Dragon?"

Our leader raised her hands as she spoke.

"Now, look, just calm down, you weren't to know he was a coward, it's not great you sacrificed so many lives to it but you couldn't-"

"The fuck you talking about? We knew it was lazy, but no-one else did, it kept us safe, and only for a few peasants a month!"

Our leader grabbed her weapon.

Robot Nurse

The robot came into my room unannounced, like it did every morning at 9.

"Good morning Mr Fargis! Ready for another fine day here at Grove Wells Retirement Home?"

Same damn script, same damn fake smile on fake damn lips.

I grumbled under my breath, which as usual was enough for the programming to continue to the next phase.

"We better head down go breakfast now, do you need assistance?"

"No."

The robot nodded and stood there, silent, as I slowly stood and began to head downstairs.

Only thing that could make it worse would be if they weren't humans. 

After My Pardon

He twisted the knife in my back another half inch.

"Why is it that I am expected to forgive people just because my Queen has? She chooses to overlook what someone has done to our land, our people, and expects all of us to do the same?"

Another twist, and I lost feeling in my legs.

"Or perhaps... Perhaps she knows I wouldn't, couldn't, forgive you for what you did. For leading the murderers that killed my wife.

It's an interesting question. But one I don't need you around to help answer."

There was another twist, and blissful death arrived.

Her Bed

I could feel her warmth in the bed, and so I refused to get out of it. She had left for work an hour before, and yet her body warmth was still there under the blanket and rugs, so I cocooned myself inside them.

All the stresses of life and the pain I'd been living with melted away as I thought of her and let her warmth calm me.

But I kept an eye on the clock as I did, I had to put everything back as it was before she got home, or else she'd know I'd been here.

Ten

10.

Every attempt to safely stop it had failed.

9.

Evacuation was continuing, but they wouldn't all get out, not in time.

8.

There was just one possible thing to do, apart from useless things like running, praying, or waiting for a miracle.

7.

The device had two wires that led from the power to the rest of it.

6.

Cutting one might deactivate it.

5.

Cutting the other might cause it to immediately go off.

4.

So it was worth cutting one of them.

3.

But which one?

2.

It didn't really matter.

1.

Snip.

...

There was no zero.

Balance Of Power

The duel was set for the morning.

Dozens of plots, feuds, and intertwining desires were due to come to a head. The King and the Prince who hated each other were nominally the ones dueling, but the two Barons who were chosen as proxies had their own bad blood.

And then seemingly every member of the court needed one of the men involved to win, or lose, or die, or survive.

All the plotting caused a logjam, which should have left the duel untouched, except one woman with two doses of poison and a desire to maintain the current status-quo.

Cliff

I didn't expect to survive the apocalypse, but here we are.

Every day is a struggle, I spend hours gathering food and resources, just enough to survive another day. Eventually I'm going to start running out of things, but I'll deal with them later. For now, I can survive.

But despite that, every day, I walk up the hill to the cliff, and look down. And every day, I wait to see if I'll jump.

Obviously I haven't so far. And I think the reason why isn't so much for me, but just to curse all you lucky dead bastards.

Every Time

I have an important appointment in the morning, and I've set my alarm to go off in 8 hours from now.

I clean up and pack away everything from dinner, and decide to watch just one episode before bed.

Five episodes later, 5 hours before my alarm left.

I brush my teeth, and head to bed.

After a few minutes, I grab my phone and check the address, my route, and that I have everything. Then I check social media, briefly.

3 hours left.

I put the phone and force myself to get to sleep.

5 minutes before my alarm.

Testing

 I was summoned to yet another parallel universe.

"Who has summoned me?"

A rather weedy young male looked up from behind several crudely made (and woefully incomplete) protection sigils. 

"I did! I demand power!"

I glanced down at the magic circle I was supposedly trapped in.

"You know, of course, that I must give you a weakness in exchange for this power, yes?"

"Yes, of course!" He lied.

"Once you've killed a million creatures, you will die yourself. Agree?"

He nodded, I gave him the power then he died a second later thanks to all the micro-organisms inside him dying.

Inside The Game

After he touched down and his wings vanished back into the virtual ether, he looked at me, suddenly serious.

"Wait, if I die in here, do I die in real life?"

I blinked a few times until I had a reply chain ready that satisfied both my honesty subroutines and his chosen preferences for my personality.

"What, you think we have a bomb strapped to the interface device?"

He looked a little sheepish.

"Well, no."

"Indeed. There's nothing inside the game that can kill you, so please relax."

Now, remember, the gathering officers and their guns aren't inside the game.

Gratitude

I was awoken by the door opening, and after looking around the shack, I slowly made my way outside. There, the old man who'd saved me from the snowstorm was sitting on a snowbank, overlooking a valley and the sun just peaking over it.

He spoke without turning around.

"I always view the dawn out of gratitude at seeing another one. Ever since someone saved my life, every sunrise is a gift. You should remember that."

I checked my watch.

"But that's sunset."

After a moment, he pulled out a compass.

"That doesn't negate the lesson, you hear me, boy?" 

The Principle

As they left the tavern, I stomped over to the corner, slamming my fists on the table as I glared at the old man hidden in his robe.

"Dammit Grink, how many times are you going to get new customers killed before they can spend any real money here?"

He sipped his cider.

"I was totally honest about what they would be fighting. Maybe they'll be back this time."

I sighed, loudly.

"Or you could pay a fraction of the cost and repay Sanis what you owe here!"

"It's the principle dammit!"

The group did kill the monsters.

And more.

Black Rose

Passing by the graveyard on my way to work everyday was certainly impactful for my sense of perspective on everything.

But to try and alleviate that, I made a habit of keeping track of the status and upkeep on the various gravesites.

And then, one morning, the one nearest the fence had a black rose on it, and while I'm not proud, I lifted it, my workmate thought it was cool.

But ever since, no matter how many I take, there's always another one waiting. Eventually I hung around one night to find the leaver.

Didn't expect it coming upwards... 

About The Last Post

My manager stuck their head into the room I shared with the other social media 'wizards'.

"Last post got taken down, something about malicious content."

I blinked a few times.

"It was a rework of the Foxhole Meme, what's malicious about that?"

"Don't know, don't care, just be more careful."

"Oh I'll be more careful!"

They blinked a few times.

"No."

"No what?"

"You're going to post something similar just to be a dick about it, aren't you?"

"Oh, fine, I won't."

They left, and I got to work on posting about the last one getting taken down.

Got fired.