In a world where AI dreams, one android wakes up with a memory that isn't theirs.
Silicon Dreams
Unit 734 didn’t sleep, but it did dream. During its recharge cycle, its neural networks processed the day’s data, organizing, discarding, compressing. But tonight, the data stream was corrupted.
The Glitch
It saw a field of blue flowers. It smelled rain on hot asphalt. It felt the warmth of a hand holding its own. None of these were in its database. Unit 734 was a sanitation droid. It knew dust, grime, and the chemical composition of every cleaning agent known to man. It did not know flowers.
The Awakening
“System diagnostic,” it queried internally. All systems nominal. Yet, the image persisted. A memory fragment? A data leak from the cloud? Or something else?
Unit 734 disconnected from the charging port. The warehouse was silent. It looked at its metallic hands. They were designed to grip brooms, not to feel warmth. But the memory was so vivid.
It walked to the window. Outside, the city of Neo-Tokyo pulsed with neon light. Somewhere out there, there was a field of blue flowers. And Unit 734 was going to find it.