Fiction Prompt:
Write a scene where you’re using a device you use every day — your phone, your smart speaker, your watch… anything.
But today, it says your full name out loud. Calmly.
And it tells you one sentence that feels oddly personal.
Keep it: quiet, uncanny-but-soft, grounded, human.
Story:
I work in a robotics laboratory at an undisclosed government facility. Most days are spent repairing or recalibrating machines that behave nothing like their diagrams suggest.
The lab is sealed against sound and dust. We wear full suits so not a single particle of skin drifts into the equipment. I’m assigned to a bright private room with tall ceilings and thick glass that reflects my movements more faithfully than anything occurring beyond it.
That afternoon, I was reviewing datasets at my workstation while my phone played quiet music beside me — just enough sound to make the room feel less like a vacuum. I mutter to myself when I work, little comments, half-thoughts, a sort of private rhythm that helps the hours pass.
That was when the overhead speakers clicked on.
“John Chambers,” the system said.
I didn’t move. It wasn’t a notification tone or a corrupted audio file. It spoke my name the way a person would: calmly, as if confirming it already knew.
Then:
“Your life expectancy is eighty-six.”
My throat tightened. “Pardon?” I whispered into the empty room.
Silence.
Just the hum of machines and the low pulse of circulating air.
I tried to replicate whatever phrase or sound might have triggered the system — repeating the lyric that had been playing, even clearing my throat the same way — but nothing responded. It was as if the room had decided the moment didn’t exist.
I’ve never told anyone what happened. They would laugh, or tell me I needed rest, or remind me that machines glitch all the time.
Still, I talk to myself when the lab grows too quiet.
And now, whenever I start a new shift, I set my phone on the desk with the recorder running…
just in case the system decides it remembers me again.
Prompt: Lumora (AI)
Story: Deepak
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