Hi my dear friends. What do you think about robots? And Humanoids? Today we are going to read a short story about perfect copies of humans, and exact replicas, as well. I hope you'll like this short science fiction story that could be possible, why not?
Hola mis queridos amigos. ¿Qué pensáis de los robots? ¿Y de los humanoides? Hoy vamos a leer un relato corto sobre "copias perfectas de humanos así como de réplicas exactas." Espero que os guste este relato corto de ciencia ficción que podría ser posible ¿por qué no?
Info: Speak Up magazine
Photos: RTVE.es / Business.Insider. / IAT / elDiario.es / Nosololinux / semana.com / abadía.digital.
THE PERFECT COPY by Talitha Linehan
Susanne tried to find something to criticize. The tea was at the correct temperature. The tarts were delicious. "The cream is sour," she said. It wasn't true. The cream was perfect. Everything was perfect. She couldn't tell Frank that. She didn't want him to become complacent.
She always criticized everything her husband did. Of course, Frank wasn't her husband. Not really. Her real husband of 23 was buried in the garden, but nobody needed to know that.
He'd tried hard to make her happy, too, but he was never good enough. And then came that day when he told her he was leaving her. That was the end of Frank. One blow to the forehead with one of his antique bookends and he was out of her life forever.
The next day, Susanne ordered her Perfect Copy. She told the salesman her husband had left her for another woman. He didn't ask any questions. It was a typical story. The majority of their orders were from abandoned spouses, second only to the bereaved.
She had a rant about how useless her husband was, how he never did enough to make her happy and that leaving her was the last of his many infractions.
The salesman offered her their Live to Serve model. Her brother got a Live to Serve gilrfriend one time. She couldn't move a muscle until he told her to. She would sit in silence, perfectly immobile, waiting for his next command. Of course, this wasn't an option for Susanne. She needed her Perfect Copy to appear completely natural, so that nobody would suspect that he wasn't the real Frank.
She told the salesman the only reason she wanted a replica was to avoid the humiliation of anyone knowing her husband had left her. He reassured her that Perfect Copy's service was private and confidential.
A few days later, Susanne received her Perfect Copy -an exact replica of her husband, programmed to obey her every command. A knock on the door distracted her thoughts. They rarely had visitors. Susanne hated socializing. She had permitted an annual visit from Frank's mother, but she'd died last year and they hadn't had any visitors since the funeral.
Frank returned with a dozen red roses. "For you." he said. "I prefer white roses," she said, though, in fact, she preferred red. She turned away so he couldn't see her smile.
This was one of her more ingenious ideas. Frank was a financial expert. He worked from home and made a lot of money. Now he could spend it all on her, and not on his stupid bookend collection. She'd told her Perfect Copy, "Do whatever you need to do to make happy." "How will I know when I've succeeded?" he asked. "The day you succeed is the day I can no longer criticize you". She knew that day would never come.
She looked up at her Perfect Copy now, who was clearing the table. She tried to find something that differentiated him from the human Frank, but she couldn't. The modern androids were so perfect that they were indistinguisable from humans. Most young people didn't try to find a real spouse anymore. They simply ordered their Perfect Copy, a model of their ideal man or woman, programmed to love and obey them.
Frank -the human Frank- said that if this continued, androids would replace humans before anybody realized what was happening. It was a stupid idea. Frank was full of stupid ideas. Frank -the android Frank- finished clearing the table. It was so clean that it sparkled. "It's not clean enough," she told him. "Do it again." The human Frank would have argued with her, but not this Frank. He would never argue with her and he would never leave her. He got her all of the traditional romantic things. Flowers. Chocolates. Parfums. Last weekend, he got her a bottle of expensive champagne. She drank a bit too much and told him what she did to Frank. It wasn't a problem. The moment she realized it, she simply told him not to tell anyone her secret and he was obliged to obey her.
She loved everything that Frank gave her, but she didn't want him to know that. "I'm sick of these banal romantic things." she said, indicating the roses. "Be more creative". He smiled at her obediently. "As you desire."A few days later, there was a knock at the door. Frank went to answer. Afterwards, he said: "Come and see what I got you. It's everything you desire." "I doubt that," she said, but she was secretly excited.
Inside the door was a box as big as her. She opened it and gasped it. It was a replica of her, with "Perfect Copy Live to Serve" in big letters across it. "I've finally succeeded," said Frank triumphantly. "Today is the day when you can no longer criticize me.
The last thing Susanne saw was one of Frank's antique bookends, before it crashed into her forehead!
VOCABULARY
TART: tarta, pastel / SOUR: agrio / TO BURY: enterrar / BLOW: golpe / FOREHEAD: frente / BOOKEND: sujetalibros / SPOUSE: cónyuge / BEREAVED: persona que ha perdido un ser querido / RANT: chorreo / TO SPARKLE: brillar / TO ARGUE: discutir / TO BE SICK: estar harto / TO KNOCK: llamar a la puerta / TO GASP: jadear, resoplar.
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