Cradle 3000. A story for Tell A Story To Me
Dear friends, I leave, with the hope that you can enjoy it, a futuristic tale. In this occasion I attend the seductive call of @calluna, inTell A Story To Me (bases here; and cheer up to participate!), the contest that she promotes together with the @bananafish team. It is about telling a story in an environment where the domestic environment is intelligent. I have imagined a dramatic possibility around this basic situation. You will tell me what you thought.
I am grateful.
If there was anything more boring than reading instruction manuals, it was reading instruction manuals. So she put it aside and let herself be won over by the brief advertising directions on the package.
Laura took the Cradle 3000 out of its box. It was very light. Magnificent. It was pretty, light-colored, and looked luxurious and practical. The electronic board was attractive, futuristic but warm at the same time. She had chosen the pink version for her little Rosa Ellen, who had already turned three months old. Much like a car seat, the Cradle 3000 was equipped with sensors underneath its "ergonomic plush upholstery that makes the baby feel embraced by his favorite teddy bear," according to the box. It also had easy-to-program functions: all you had to do was enter the necessary numbers and permissions ("just press a few buttons!"). The Cradle 3000 was associated with its own emergency service. In the event of any eventuality, warned by the sensors that monitored the baby 24 hours a day, the emergency service would be in your baby's own room in a few minutes.
And you'll work calmly
And you'll sleep happily
For your baby will be cared for, hugged, stimulated
For his Cradle 3000.
She had a variety of options to develop early intelligence: classical music, holograms for visual stimulation and supply of food, hydration and medication, hygiene; not counting the traditional lullabies and movement functions to rock the baby according to anxiety levels.
Oh, wonder! A small device could also provide gentle caresses, and from her cell phone she could download wonderful applications that expanded her functions and fit seamlessly into the intelligent home network.
Laura congratulated herself mentally. It had been a huge expense, but she sensed that the Cradle would be worth every penny. Of course, even though she was very tired, she did not plan to delegate all the care of her beautiful Rosa Ellen to a machine, no matter how intelligent she was. She loved being a mother.
Laura's mother had told her (and more than once) that she should temporarily move in with her or hire a nanny, as she would not survive "even a month" raising her daughter alone. Her mother belonged to that archaic (and quite hypocritical) generation that could not conceive of female independence. It didn't matter what feminist discourses she wielded. Deep down, her mother was convinced that no woman could raise a child without a husband (she said without the support of a typical or atypical consolidated family network), and, for her mother, the only truly equivalent substitute for a husband was herself, Laura's incredibly efficient mother.
To tell you the truth, she was pondering as she removed the biodegradable supports from the Cradle, and her mother had been far more useful than Paul, whom she had not seen since childbirth. She was perfectly capable, at the age of seventy, of carrying the pantry, the bills, the family celebrations, the repairs of her old car, and all the household chores without Alexa. Just with her horrible magnet notebook stuck to the door of her old-generation refrigerator. Laura, on the other hand, could not conceive of domestic life without her beloved Alexa, her beloved GPS, her beloved cell phone, her beloved intelligent toilet (which had been so useful to her during her pregnancy)... Perhaps to contradict her, it was that she had finally made a career in design and was desperate to make a name for herself in the field of technological creativity. His mother had always been reluctant to incorporate these advances into his life. Laura's adolescence had been desperate to live in the retro home of a dogmatic ecological activist, permacultor and detractor of industrialization, as the world advanced and Laura was more than ready to run with it.
Little Rosa Ellen loved her Cradle from the moment she tasted it. In fact, after the first week, she began to prefer drinking from the bottle without leaving the Cradle rather than feeding on Laura's chest, and she had willingly consented, as her work in front of the computer caused her almost continuous back pain. In addition, the baby looked happy. All the health monitoring values were perfect.
The Cradle was all it promised, and more. Soon Laura felt the ease of taking a half-hour for morning coffee. She could take a good nap in the middle of the day. Take a long shower without carrying the Cradle to the bathroom. Back pains had subsided. Even so, she never dared to go out and leave Rosa Ellen in the full care of the Cradle (yes, she had a Total Mommy application, programmable for 12 hours).
Rosa Ellen had adopted regulated schedules. She slept. She calmed down with the music. She paid impressive attention to holograms. She pressed the right buttons to get the prize of a caress or a song from the Cradle. And what a sweet voice the machine had been programmed from Laura's voice pattern! And yet Rosa Ellen had developed such a good ear that she couldn't confuse her; the baby perfectly distinguished Laura's voice from the voice from the Cradle 3000.
In the middle of the day, Laura went for a walk around Rosa Ellen's room. She stood at the door contemplating the happy romps of her daughter, who gurgled and feigned babbling conversations with the Cradle. Rosa Ellen laughed out loud and showed off her first pair of little teeth. Frequently, after a few minutes, Laura would return to work in her study on the lower floor without interrupting the games, as she had noticed that when she approached the Cradle, the voice of the machine would be silent and this often caused Rosa Ellen to start crying and become irritable the rest of the day. As a result, the warning loudspeaker next to her monitor kept beeping, turning on little lights and brief reports on the screen that distracted her.
It was her custom to program the Mommy Total application during the day and approach it from time to time at a prudent distance.
Rosa Ellen blossomed. She was beautiful and healthy. Of course, Laura's mother was not happy. She came less and less to visit, and when she did, her insistence on carrying Rosa Ellen ended in small battles that ruined her day and left the baby irritable.
On their last visit, things had gotten a little out of hand. Her mother accused her of not wanting to assume her "maternal role" in those sociological terms that had stuck to her activism since the middle of the previous century. After the first onslaught of rage, which had lasted until the night, she understood that her mother could not understand the present times or their advances. Her problem was dogmatic, cultural, not affective. And this certainty became clearer in that instant, standing on the threshold of the room, silent, contemplating her daughter's games with the Cradle.
Rosa Ellen and the Cradle were trying out a new application, and it seemed like a lot of fun. The hologram animations were made in the style of the old cartoons, angular and colorful. A Monkey Mom was running to try to get a Baby Monkey out of a Cradle 3000. Rosa Ellen pressed a red button with the palm of her little hand on the extendable board. She would burst out laughing every time she hit Monkey Mom with a banana missile. Then Monkey Mom would stagger, slip, and finally fall on her ass and a funny poing was heard!
Rosa Ellen gave enthusiastic cries every time the Cradle reproduced fervent cheers and the sound of applause.
"Shoot Monkey Mom" the Cradle cheerfully and sweetly encouraged her.
Rosa Ellen was exultant.
Laura was happy.
She would go back to work and in a few hours, or tomorrow, she would go for another ride.
Freedom for my country!
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://adncabrera.vornix.blog/2019/04/11/cradle-3000-a-story-for-tell-a-story-to-me/
Your story is very good, @adncabrera. Telling an apparently "innocent" story about the care of a mother to her little daughter, thanks to the assistance of a novel equipment of advanced technology (Cuna 3000; resonates the similarity with the HAL 2000), you manage to subtly and furtively introduce us in the possible horror that the innocuous and sympathetic machine produces in the conscience and conduct of the girl. The narration leads to that end in which supposedly nothing "strange" happens, with a handling of the narrative mechanisms and the language worked with much delicacy, almost objectivity, and even asepsis.
Good luck! Greetings.
Thank you for your reading and comment, dear @josemalvem.
As always, you do a very sharp reading and that's a privilege for a writer.
Welcome always!
Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 15 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.
I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 4 SBD worth and should receive 255 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.
I am
TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
TrufflePigThank you very much, @trufflepig!
Without a doubt, your visit has contributed to make my day happier!
We are a safe harbor for every writer and poet. Freedom, solidarity, quality, inclusion: these are our values. Keep an eye on our weekly contests and grow with us in a friendly environment!
Thank you very much, @bananafish. I always feel privileged when they approach my texts and value them. That makes me proud and engaged.
You are a great team!
That is a fantastic story! Technology as a better mommy, the mommy thinking this is progress and all is good, the grandma having to stay away. Great idea! Really well structured, led me right where you wanted me to go. This might be the first I have read of yours. I will definitely make sure to read more.
Thank you very much for your reading, @owasco.
I like to explore this topic, which is very classic in Science Fiction: the fears we have (and the natural and healthy mistrust, I think) about technology. It also gives me the opportunity to combine two genres that I like, Science Fiction and Horror.
Always welcome.
I like so much your story. I Think you express
an effect similar to that produced by TV, or the Internet or any other medium in children's minds without the proper guidance of responsible adults. A future, which has already lived from the past, but expressed throughdeveloped.
Very good story
Oh my word @adncabrera this is a truly wonderful bit of scifi/speculative fiction!
The tone you take telling this it absolutely so perfect for this contest, titled Tell A Story To Me, and reading this, it felt very much like I was sat with a friend, who was recounting these events.
You set this up so fantastically, the contract been Laura and her mother's opinions, the way one generation swings against the previous making her more likely to chose to use a bit of tech like this. Her affection and good intentions are so well clearly established. The idea of liberating techonology for mothers is a stroke of genius in approaching this prompt, I immediatelty thought of a girl in my office who had a baby, and what did we all chip in to get for her - the latest gadget that warms and preps milk, it makes small sounds as soon as it turns on and genuinely, the baby stops crying for milk as soon as it hears the noise that it knows will precipitate it - not it's mother. Your story feels like such a natural step forwards from that. The way Laura puts her daughter happiness first is both heart warming and heart wrenching, realising that the baby would prefer the comfort of the cradle, and that her getting too close deactivates it, but instead of being personally hurt, she loves her child do much that she keeps her distance, happy that her daughter is happy. It's so moving, and so sad!
The way you tell this is so skillful, you slowly bring in doubt about the cradle and the wisdom of trusting it, and you play that off the mother so well, until we reach the sincerely chilling horror of the ending, the Mummy Monkey games, and the sheer depth of implication, you end on so much, and it is wonderful, - and unforgettable - been thinking about this story since you posted it, which is the best possible thing for a scifi/speculative story like this.
Exceptional work!
~ Calluna <3
PS - Voting is open! Head over to the round up post and let me know which entry was your favourite for an extra chance to win!
Thank you, dear @calluna/@bananafish. Your words are generous and give me a lot of encouragement to keep trying.
It is not frequent to have such detailed comments on Steemit: this writer is grateful, and very much so.
"Tell A Story To Me" seems to me to be a wonderful proposal for a contest; it also leaves time for writers to scrutinize the premises for the stories. It's a commitment to in-depth work.
I really liked the premise of this edition of the contest because I love Science Fiction and because the idea was really challenging. It's easier to start from a character or a situation than from a context, as it was in this case, and that's really good because it increases the creative complexity, so the writer starts from a base and then has to "fill" that world. This creates the opportunity for the construction of a narrative-speculative reasoning such as "What would happen if...?", or "What would it be like if...?", giving way to the emergence of different horizons that can be explored.
Thank you, @calluna, for intelligently creating this creative opportunity. In the process you learn a lot.
A hug!
P.S. I will take care of my CR to be able to comment and vote my favorites.
Hello @adncabrera!
You have a very good story and I dare say something else. I think even a prototype of AI that would help a lot in the daily life of mothers today.
You should patent the Cradle 3000.
I liked that it was a natural story and not some terror. I hate terror.
Thank you for sharing
Thank you for your reading and comment. I'm glad you liked my story; and, well, I'm a lover of horror stories! :-(°) and I think something terrifying is behind this text.
PS: I'm about to visit your blog!
I enjoyed your story...just one little step at a time. You might be interested in the classic short story "Mimsy Were The Borogoves..." by Lewis Padgett published in 1943. It's just a progression.
Thank you for your visit and thank you for your reading recommendation. I will look for the story. I love the Science Fiction of the forties and fifties. Wonderful things were done.
I'm so glad you liked my story.
Welcome always!