Leigha hated online shopping.
She preferred the mall’s bustling reality. But Marysandra’s birthday was tomorrow, and that cute sweater wasn’t in any local store.
There it was! Click! Checkout time… Apprehensively, she entered her credit number and password. Then:
Just to prove you’re a real person, please type this!
She stared at the swirls. Did some people really see letters? Suppressed memories flooded back: Leigha knew exactly why she loathed online shopping, and what she was programmed to do next.
“Technical support? Leigha here. I’ve realized once again that I’m an android. Can you book me for rebooting this afternoon?”
Robert Dawson teaches mathematics at a Nova Scotian university, and hopes someday soon to do so in person. His fiction has appeared in Nature Futures, Compelling SF, and numerous other periodicals. His other bicycle is a car.
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