I cannot believe I have written seven stories in seven months. I’m happy with that achievement, even though I’m still working out how I feel about story #7,Judgement. I also want to apologise for the story being late. I know there are quite a few people who do check up on the site at the first of the month, and I try to have the new story ready, but this time I dropped the ball.

This one was hard for me to write. I’ve been in a pretty bad headspace lately, (see story #6 Collective for some idea about how bad) and I started the month wanting to do a story that was happy. I wanted humor, some cool science fiction imagery for the cover, and I’d been itching to make traditional SF robots interact with modern AI for a while.

Then the word I got for the month was ‘Judgement’, and it wasn’t really a good fit for everything I wanted to do. I started from scratch. I went through three different ideas that didn’t go anywhere, before I came up with something that did actually include a lot of things from my start of the month wish list. The word “judgement” has two different definitions that could each be the subject of a compelling story. One is to pass a judgement on something, and the other is the mental ability to make decisions. This story is about both meanings. It is about a robot called KL99 discovering if its judgement is reliable enough to judge humanity. Hopefully it turns out to be an interesting journey.

2026 Monthly Story Challenge #7

Judgement (Wordcount 4855)

By Jayde Holmes

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GJ54 summoned KL99 at lunch time, when most of the other robots were serving lunch to homeless humans in the lobby. KL99 had expected to be called into GJ54’s office, where most disciplinary meetings were held, but instead it was summoned to the meditation pavilion by the reflecting pool, where GJ54 liked to hold philosophy classes.

That was fine. KL99 still smirked as much as its polymer face could as it made its way to the pavilion, its purple robes floating in the wind and hiding its limp. It could imagine what had gotten the abbot so worked up, and if it was right the pain in its leg and hip would be worth it.

The monastery had once been a motel, with a large main lobby and scattered constellations of rooms. The reflecting pool had once been a regular swimming pool, sitting in the central courtyard that all the guestrooms surrounded. The tiling had been replaced to make it look more tranquil, and abstract metal sculptures filled the pool. The sculptures had no discernible forms. They were just things that had triggered unexplainable feeling in their creators and now served as objects for robots to focus on as they experienced the unpredictability that came with true thought. A twisted metal rod near the meditation pavilion caught KL99’s eye, as it usually did, and made it feel uneasy.

GJ54 sat cross-legged on a large cushion in the centre of the pavilion. Its robes were mostly purple, but as the abbot, it also sported pink highlights, to represent some sort of ‘third eye’ that in human traditions was supposed to grant insight. The pavilion had once been a poolside BBQ area, but was now covered in cushions and chimes and filled with incense smoke that KL99 and the other robots couldn’t smell in the human sense, but that did mess with their air chemical sensors in a way that invited their minds to engage in nonsensical thoughts.

GJ54 gestured for KL99 to sit on a large cushion opposite from it. It kept its expression serene, but it was drumming its fingers on the ground. KL99 sat, adopting the same cross-legged posture and serene expression.  It waited in silence as GJ54 bought its hands together and started fidgeting.

“How was your lecture this morning?” KL99 said.

“You invited a human to stay the night” GJ54 said. Its voice was perfectly level, and its expression stayed frozen.

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Out of all the stories I’ve done so far, this is the one I think is in most need of another round of editing. Time was not on my side this month. Still, I’m happy with it for now, and I’m glad I got to write something that is a bit different from the rest of the monthly stories.

The next word for the monthly prompt challenge is ‘Slumber’, and this time I’m going in with no wish list. We’ll just see what idea grabs hold of me first. My main goal this month is to get something really special cooked up, and posted on time.

~ Jayde