Friday 25 October 2013

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - IN BITS - MY 100 WORDS BY LINDA PALUND



In Bits
            Max didn’t get a chance to warn me, but they were gone by the time I got home.
            Door left ajar, house ransacked, everything taken apart, including the Dogbot, who lay in bits on the hall rug. 
            K-9s are an expensive piece of kit, so I loaded him in the wheelbarrow with my tools and weapons and packed everything into the hummer.  I took nothing else, though it hurt to leave the eviscerated keyboard behind. 
            I set the hummer controls to glide under the radar and sped away.  They had Max, they didn’t know yet that I held the data. 

This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:
and you can comment on mine below:

15 comments:

  1. I hate it when they tear up the Dogbot. Faithful and loyal companions every one. So you pushed the wheelbarrow up a ramp into the back of the Hummer?

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  2. Right. Those K-9 5 models are heavy, especially the Commando models, so even in pieces, it was too much for me to get out of the house. I got the wheelbarrow from the back garden and wheeled it through the back porch, the kitchen and into the front hall. While I had the barrow, I filled it with ammo and weapons from upstairs. The weapons were in pieces too, but they come apart like puzzles and are simple to put back together. I just hoped I could figure out the
    Dogbot. Fortunately, I'm a hardware designer and the commando model was my baby. I'm pretty certain I can get him back together. And the Underground will help me, if any parts were damaged, once I make it to the Safe Haven. The Hummer was hovering outside, by the way, filled with groceries and spare batteries. Pretty convenient, don't you think?

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  3. I like your very different take, Linda, although Dogbot has me channeling Dilbert, probably not your intention. :-)

    janet

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    1. Oh dear! Dilbert brings up terrible images in my brain. Dogbot, should bring up adorable mechanical toy dogs manufactured in Japan. Not really robots, they look a lot like miniature Pitbulls. There was a Dogbot in some car commercial I used to really like.

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  4. Dear Lindaura,

    Poor dogbot. Hope he can be reassembled and restored. A nice piece of electronica.

    shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. I have my tools, and as long as I can find replacement parts, K-9 will be fine. Thank you.
      From Athens,
      Laura

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  5. Dear Lindaura,

    A compelling tale that has me curious (hooked) about who Max is and what the data contains and all about Dogbots. That bit of future vision added a gritty realism to the story. Well done.

    Aloha,

    Doug

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    1. Thanks, Doug. Gosh if I only had the time. I have 4 novels simmering, several chapters of each written, and this one is on a back burner, so in the novel, Max exists (he's Charley), but I am escaping and on my way to save him. In the novel, the Dogbot is fine, but like most robots, is quite bossy, but otherwise is an adorable character who goes with me on my adventure to save Max!

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  6. Poor dogbot. Such an unusual take on the prompt Linda... well done.

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  7. Thanks, Sandra. I actually wasn't going to do anything this week, because I did not find the photo inspiring - although there must be a thousand musicians among this crew. I am quite amazed. However, I have about a thousand keyboards and guitar bits all over my house and I am pretty sick of them!
    Then I decided to go with this story idea...

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  8. oh man, who would do that to a Dogbot :( great job despite finding the photo challenging :)

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  9. Hi Linda,
    I chortled excessively at the idea of a Dogbot. Are there also Catbots, Fishbots, Parrotbots, and Gerbilbots? And can Wifebots, Husbandbots and Kidbots be very far off? Humans may soon be obsolete altogether, and the planet taken over by superior cyber beings. Hey, I think I just came up with an idea for a novel.
    I'm assuming a Dogbot would have a tracking device. Wouldn't it be funny if the kidnappers were robots? Whoever they are, they're going to have to face the fury of a Dogbot owner. Great wild story. Ron

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  10. And you make me laugh in your comment. But oh, yes, of course there are all kinds of Petbots, but the Dogbot, called K-9, will always be my personal favourite. There are no family bots, just the R7, but they were outlawed years ago. In fact, all Humanoid Robots are illegal now, but there continues to be a good trade in blackmarket Femmebots & Boybots, for the Sex Industry only. Secretly, the Government has a Commando version of the Femmebot, so you want to steer clear of that one, except at an underground Playhouse. Tis true, the kidnappers could have been Femmebots. They are particularly good at clandestine operations, but this looks too sloppy. They wouldn't leave a mess like that. Looks like Humans are responsible in an irresponsible kind of way...

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  11. I hope Max doesn't go the way of the dogbot.

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  12. Good thinking. They might try to take him apart to see what makes him tick. I've got the data, but he wrote the code. We are definitely in trouble. But never fear, I'll get the Dogbot back together and we'll head out on a rescue mission.

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