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    Argo
    Argo
    Argo
    Ebook54 pages1 hour

    Argo

    By Rick Griffin

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In the distant future, the easy paths to artificial intelligence have been outlawed. Mira McAllister, dismayed at the lack of progress the engineering community has made in recent years, determines to find the answers for herself when she comes across a strange, discarded android. Repairing her to full function, she discovers the android is unlike any she's ever dealt with before--and the answers she was searching for only lead to more questions, and more secrets.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRick Griffin
    Release dateJun 29, 2011
    ISBN9781466083301
    Argo
    Author

    Rick Griffin

    Rick Griffin is a writer and artist, winner of multiple Ursa Major Awards for best anthropomorphic comic strip (http://www.housepetscomic.com). He's the creator of many, many worlds, including Housepets!, A&H Club, Hayven Celestia, Ani-droids, Desert Angels, In the New Age, Pit Fighters and more!

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    3.5/5

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    • 3/5
      [From my Amazon review]I'll be honest; this wasn't the story I was expecting and it may be suffering by half a star to a star because of it. The protagonist, Mira, isn't allowed to find out things that the readers are and isn't allowed to change the world she's in. So as the fluffy short story I was wanting... It disappointed.As a Twilight Zone experience? It's perfect. It sets up a world, it sets up some spooky contradictions, and then it rips the rug out from under everything, leaving the *reader* viewing everything differently. Read it in that mindset, of not-quite-horror-but-disquieting, and you'll probably find it pretty darn enjoyable.Typos/Grammar issues: Minimal. I think I found one or two awkward bits that stood out, but I find those in everything because I'm a pedant. Fellow pedants should breathe relatively easy on that front.

    Book preview

    Argo - Rick Griffin

    Argo

    By Rick Griffin

    Copyright 2011 Rick Griffin

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Table of Contents

    Part 1

    Part 2

    Part 3

    Part 4

    Part 5

    Part 6

    Part 7

    During the final hours of the Annual American Engineers Association Symposium, the grounds outside the convention center teemed with androids. Most were under four feet tall, with a harmless animal quality to them; fur, face and all. The symposium did not permit out-of-the-box factory androids on the convention floor for multiple reasons—though disappointingly, what they had to offer this year lacked any significant improvements.

    The sky brooded, matching the mood that hung over the entire weekend. Mira wanted to return to work; it would be a welcoming distraction from an unproductive trip. Castletown was a veritable holy land of android engineering (at least for this hemisphere), but her grail was still missing.

    Lily, her android, pulled the car up to the convention hall, when it began to rain. In technical design terms, Lily was an ani-droid, but the lazy tongue dropped the extra vowel. Ani-droids were too common to require the distinction.

    Common was hardly even the right word. Comparatively, humans were few. The last census estimated there were now five androids for every human worldwide. Naturally, most of the world had fewer androids, but even poor countries had them nearly two to one. They were cheap, they were dependable, they were expendable—and did not cause an uproar in human rights violations.

    Mira had designed Lily after an otter, her favorite animal. She didn't know much about design, so she essentially copied the physical elements from a stock model and made alterations with the help of a friend who was better at design. The resultant creature was a blend of a cartoon, a small human, and a real river otter. The nose was small, cute and lacked a true otter's size. Her eyes were large with thin seams and wispy artificial irises, and on her forehead was a light-sensitive port that glowed orange, the same color as her eyes.

    Her body was thick and chocolate-furred, and her limbs were small. Darker fur socked her hands and feet, and cream-colored fur covered her front up to her jaw. The rest of her body was less otter-like—no webbing between the fingers or toes, no teats or genitals, though she had something resembling smooth leathery pads on her hands and feet. She had a short and stubby tail, though justifying such traits was difficult when androids sat in the same places humans did.

    Leaving Lily out of the symposium had been a mistake. She was as well-built as any demonstration android. She had all new joint swivels, the latest high-strength muscle cords (well, half of them so far), and her own design of distributed thought processing. She was just as good as the 'latest' offerings from Japan or Germany.

    The seat belt automatically latched over Mira as she sat in the backseat. Lily looked up simply to read Mira's face. Bright orange eyes flashed in the rearview mirror as she pulled away from the curb.

    Have you finished your chores? Mira asked.

    Most of them, Lily said, the bursar's office still requires your own signature; they will not accept mine, even with the ID.

    I'll get it next week when I'm in town again.

    "You currently have three payouts on hold. Are you sure you don't

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