We Dream In Ones and Zeros: An Anthology

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PROMPT: Construct a plot backwards, then write the story in the correct order.

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My new piano instructor is a robot.

A metal puppet, all smooth and articulated, like a bigger version of those miniature models we use in art class, only much shinier. I can see my face reflected on its faceless head as it bends down to shake my hand.

I don't want to.

I want to kick it in its chrome shin. I want to scream that I don't need some dumb machine to teach me the piano. But father is tired of hiring instructors for me. After the ninth one, he had enough and decided to buy the latest model of robotic teacher.

At least this one is sturdy, he said, and won't lose its patience with me or quit. It's either this, or the piano will be sold to a museum.

And the thought alone makes me panic. I can't let that happen. So, I have no choice but to suck it up and play along, accepting father's 'gift' and promising to show up for the lessons.

But I don't shake that thing's hand.

I'm not touching any dumb machine.

♫ ♪ ♩

When I go to the music room the next day, the robot is already there, waiting for me.

And it's weird, seeing it there, all shiny limbs and smooth face, sitting in front of the piano like it owns the damn thing. Like it's supposed to be there. Like it's just another part of the piano; a new, nice, shiny addition to it.

I don't like it.

In fact, I hate it. And I want to push that dumb, chrome doll off the seat.

But father's threat is still fresh in my mind, and it's enough to still my hands and temper. I sit down next to the robot, right at the edge of the seat, as far away as I can from that cold, metal body.

PM700

That's its model. I can see it engraved on its forearm if I squint hard enough.

It doesn't speak, this model. Which is weird, because all the robot assistants at my school do. But I guess this one doesn't need to. It has a teaching software that it installed in our piano, giving it full control of the lessons, which show up on the screen above the fallboard.

There is a voice, a woman's voice, but it comes from the piano, not the robot. It just reads out the lesson plans, instructions and notes on the screen in the same droning way that my school audio books do.

It's weird. But I get used to it pretty quickly.

Honestly, it's not that different from the way some of the more boring instructors taught me. Which is kind of funny to me, because I remember one of them getting really mad when I called them a stupid 'skin robot'.

Guess I wasn't that far off.

♫ ♪ ♩

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.

Repeat till you get it right.

That's what the first instructor told me. And I guess PM700 agrees, because that's how the first couple of lessons go. Don't know what I was expecting from a robot, really.