Part 1: Dry hands

David’s grip hadn’t felt that strong since he was a much younger man. Wrinkled by time and worn by a life of hard work, his massive hands swallowed a small ornate glass that he had held for some time now. The last few gulps of his cherished Alfred Barnard’s whiskey had never tasted so good as he sat an old man gazing at an oak desk plaque. Inscribed with the most exquisite detail imaginable, it bore his name, “Dr. David Plavsok, Ph.D.” He remembered the day he had brought it home. It was presented to him the night of his 20^th anniversary celebration. His tenure as head of research at the Institute of Medical Evolution had been defined by cutting edge inventions and discoveries. Everything from breakthroughs in stem cell research to organ cloning to the pioneering of programmable medical nanobots that ended the war on cancer. But none of those achievements had as profound of an impact as the invention of Daniel 01.

The Daniel series of androids was made available for public purchase almost 100 years ago. David had gone to the celebration of his most important creation against his will. Financially wealthy beyond all measure, he now sat at his desk, haunted. He loathed the grandiosity of it all and the what it stood for, the demise of humanity. What had begun as an enthusiastic trickle of curious buyers turned into a tsunami of consumers, all wanting the latest model with the latest features and updates. It didn’t take long for the uncanny valley to be vaulted over, leaving the technological hindrances of the past as nothing more than an unpleasant stumbling block to mark on the wheel of progress.

Called Hunids, the eerily human androids were more than just companions, they were the thing to have. They got their nickname from the slums of Europe where petty drug dealers used them to sniff out cops. Endorsed by celebrities, politicians and other public figures, it ended in them being used for everything. From the waging of wars to planetary exploration. Some had even set up successful colonies on distant worlds, places humans could not yet go. David wondered if what he had unleashed had been a good thing. What were once cherished and respected skills passed from generation to generation were now simply a download or an update away. The achievements and endeavors of mankind now were all achieved by machines. Machines that at one time had to be programmed to think, to be told what to do. Now it seems that they had become the caretakers of man. A miserable relic of himself wrapped in the swaddling cloth of forgotten history and lost ambitions. The very soul had been drained from us and the evolution of man seemed to be found in his own creation.

To be continued…