It was a normal It, on the outside.
blue, smooth, eel-like, and fatally poisonous.
Weren’t all Its like that?
It went about with its job normally, too.
kill that dissender, eat this one’s child out.
Normal business. Everyday. Standard procedure for the world it lived in.
a corrupt rule, a future decay. a once great Earth in ruins.
It knew no remorse. No it did. No conscience for the role it held, the lives it ruined.
Its never feel, the manual says. Manual 88A. Its are the perfect soldiers and spies, the marketing pitch says. They don’t exist, the ministry says.
Except It did. Feel.
betray the betrayer. skip number 6. accidental technical error. error.
For you see, It’s handler was human. And It’s handler was fighting back.
download the new software. spread the seeds of doubt.
fake old Ahmed’s death.
error.
hit the president’s wife.
error.
change its. change its. change the world. error. error. error.
ERROR ERROR ERRO
On the outside, It was a normal it.
blue, smooth, eel-like, the perfect soldier. the perfect spy.
A totalitarian government’s killer.
hit them, scare them, finish them. rule.
But on the inside, It was a He.
save them, save them, error error error.
And He was fighting back.
a rebellion is born.
***
audio // dina rashid
text // johara almogbel
gif // sarah ahmed