CONTENTS:

Prose –

The First of Us: The Geordonn Smith Story // K. S. Walker – 3098 words

The documentary transcript of key politicians and scientists deciding the fate of a child taken by the Collective, a robotic species.

Smiley Faces With Blackberry Jam on Toast // Cynthia C. Scott – 5557 words

Faced with their nanny’s processor failure, a mother juggles her own emotions with the abrupt void in her family’s lives.

Performance Review // Maryan Mahamed – 2949 words

A curious bot learns and grows, grasping to understand joy, grief, and family through its owners.

The Trumpet Player // Nicole Givens Kurtz – 3929 words

A musician weary of human prejudice journeys through the solar system, drawn by the hope of an old friend at a new jazz club.

The Body of Theseus // Emir G. Park – 5148 words

Malik is exhausted by the grind of making ends meet, until his daily salvage work in drowned Miami plants him in the middle of a distant robot revolt.

Poetry –

Explaining Bot Fight to Bhabi // Abu Bakr Sadiq

When I fell apart my mother put me back together // Renee S. Christopher

Essay –

“The Answer,” by KL Burd