It was a monarch. The sensors picked up the flash of orange and brought back information instantly. Danaus plexippus. The encyclopedia entry scrolled, and the picture matched up. Affirmation. The mobility functions of AN-723 had been manually disabled 165,600 minutes earlier, freezing it in a skyward-facing position, and there had been little need of its ever-weakening sensors since. The monarch hovered, then came to rest on the visual sensor of AN-723. It spread its wings and, for a moment, the machine saw the world through an orange filter. The monarch basked, then moved on, oblivious to the destruction all around.
Author bio: Paul Cosca is a novelist and playwright who spends too much time on the internet. Find him there through his website at www.paulcosca.com
AN-723 is part of 101 Fiction issue 3.
Love this! Fabulous idea just begging for art. (wish I was so talented)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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