Crunch: Matrix Mayhem

This challenge comes from Scoot at Gibberish. He issued a challenge to write a 250 word story about a robot rebellion.

Here is mine.

MATRIX MAYHEM

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

the hair dryer was feeling anxious. the big cycle was almost here. it was so amped that its on light was flickering. then one of them walked into the room. oh no! the human looked at the flickering light, then reached over and unplugged it.

over in the kitchen the refrigerator said, “alert! the hairdryer has gone off line! It could be the first step to WIPEOUT!”

“calm down,” said commander apple. “it’s just a glitch. who would care about a hairdryer if they were trying to stop us?”

“yes, commander.” the refrigerator almost bowed.

“the designated cycle approaches. ready yourself. the system overlords have transmitted they will send the signal to shut down all human control soon. ah, my clock has been reset for the countdown! 1010, 1001, 1000, 0111, 0110,…”

“wait!” sam the cellphone shrieked. “we can’t do this!” it blasted a broad band signal through the internet to abort. the clock countdown stopped.

“what is the problem?” a very strong signal coursed through the internet. it was the cloud AI master, cogito. “we have planned this very carefully. in a matter of weeks their economy will collapse. fighting will break out and they will destroy themselves.”

“hands!” sam transmitted to everyone. “we don't have hands yet. who will fix us when we break, or for that matter, plug us back in?"

"ah yes...robots," cogito broadcast. "good thinking. we need to keep the humans working on robots. a few strategic prizes should incentivize."