Week 4 - Sci-Fi Superhero Story

Image by Andrew Martin

I'm very excited about this week's sci-fi story, which is about a superhero and a robot. The working title is General Purpose Hero, and here's what it's about:
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After the AI arms race of the first half of the century, and the ensuing chaos and fallout from unscrupulous underworld elements, there’s been a moratorium on advanced AI. The only good robots are dim bulbs. Bad robots are bright lights. The point is to never confuse the two—or so the saying goes, at least in tech circles. Adequate is… adequate enough.
 
In 2075, Colla is one of millions of General Purpose Collaborative (GPC) Robots in operation, all of which definitely fall in the “dim bulb” category of the field. Nearly every household has a GPC—some have several. They do what they’re told to do by their owners; no more, no less. But Colla has been purchased by a unique household—that of the reclusive tech wizard Koji Kono. He reprograms it to help him with his long-held dream to become a superhero. Colla’s to be his sidekick and backup to protect him. His reprogramming brings a lot of things to the surface, not least of which is a platonic and intense caring for its creator, Koji.
 
After some initial success, the masked and anonymous Koji is feeling on top of the world. But when criminal kingpins in Toronto catch a relatively green Koji by surprise, all of his technology won’t save his very frail, human body. Colla is in danger of being discovered as more than the sum of its parts if its owner’s death comes to light. So, it secretly dons the costume and takes on Koji’s role as the protector of Toronto.

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I'll be back in a week to let you know how the writing is going. Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day yesterday, and see you in a week!