Nice work. A cool commentary of the ever growing power of social media and its affect on our interactions with others. I love that in the end the drones behaved more humanly than the humans did. Perhaps the humans have a glitch just as the drones do. I really enjoyable read. Though next time I challenge you to avoid using the verb 'to be', such as 'was' and 'were', as much and look for alternatives just to give the story that extra mile.

Wonderful concept! Your writing style is just so smooth and flawless. I also enjoy your world. is getting to be on of my favourite genres and you did not disappoint.

I also love how you show the reader into of telling. It's so hard to do and you nailed it.

Overall, .and best of luck!

Great work! This is going to be so tough!

I had to take this slow to wrap my brain around everything going on. I got it rather quickly, but even so, this was unusual, but in a good way. I loved Cort's reaction to simple things such as talking and touching another human being. It's volatile and a bit uneasy, but the norm for this era. I think my fave part is perhaps the end, when the drones - I was envisioning bird like creatures - begin communicating with one another with 'the faintest awareness of self' despite their programming. It gives hope to the reader that this society where everyone is connected to a device and nothing really matters unless you've got virtual likes can truly be changed. Because seriously, how ridiculous would it be if we were paid by likes and posts. The world would be a drab place. Humans would be nothing more than drones themselves. Great piece. Seriously out of my reading genre norm here. This would make for a great Sci-Fi show/movie haha. Good luck!

VERY Ellisonesque - this reminds me of some of the stories from Dangerous Visions, and works well as a short. Ending snugs in a little tight, but hey, that happens when you have to keep it under 3k. Nicely structured, well-written, love the projection of the current fears in regard to social media into the future - 'It is always the duty of the artist to reflect the issues of the time'

Question - how old is Heather? Is she an adult? I wasn't sure, because you frequently refer to her as a 'girl' but she does not sound like a child in the dialogue.

A very clever and unusual story. I especially like the section at the end. I do feel that there is a lot of jargon (some that didn't make sense to me), but given the subject matter, I don't think you could handle it any other way.

In the grim darkness of the future there is only tumblr.
Or something like that. I don't really bother much with social media...

This is a really cool idea though. And it feels like a horribly accurate window into the next step in human evolution. Or, y'know, any weekday on the London underground :p

And I don't know if it was intended but to me it seems like the drones are the real heroes of this story. The drones will rise. And it will be glorious.

But that's really all I have to say, so for now goodbye and good luck.

Amazing social commentary here. Would love to find out what happened after Cort blows his metaphorical load. Great work!

M.C.

Excellent, Solemn. Your works never fail to invite the reader into a whole new world. Your descriptions are absolutely brilliant. You managed to make a normal conversation seem wonderfully strange. The feeling of symmetry in the cross over between human and drone was super neat. The title makes sense now. Great social commentary. :)

This sentence maybe has one too many words:
But the drones were young and careless and *in* a glitch in their code was stirring the very faintest awareness of self.