You are listening to a Clarksville magazine podcast. Welcome to the last story of the month for

September 2023 issue 204. I hope that all these stories have treated you well as we slide into

October. Once again, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening to the podcast and thank

you for your ongoing support. I'm going to keep mentioning this because we need it, but Amazon

has made a massive change to the way that they do things which has taken away a lot of our

basic income. Any extra support that you can give us or consider giving us support at all

would be so greatly appreciated. You can go to patreon.com for slash Clarksworld for more information.

Our last story is titled Upgrade Day and is by RJ Taylor. RJ Taylor is a queer speculative fiction

writer based outside Boston whose work explores themes of escape, transformation, and non-human

consciousness. She's a member of the codex writers group and a recent graduate of viable paradise.

For short fiction has appeared in factor 4 and apex magazine and is forthcoming in the magazine

of fantasy and science fiction. So my dear listener, I hope you can sit back, relax, and let me tell you

the story. Today is Upgrade Day and Gabriel, a model 2098 post-human intelligence robotic

service assistant, wears an appropriately festive hat. The perfect cone of polka dotted purple

paper slopes to one side of his head, his glossy plastic surface giving the weak elastic band

no purchase. A 10 years old Lily has a professional approach to birthdays and as soon as she

notices the hat's downward trajectory she climbs Gabriel's legs and stands tiptoe on his lap

so she can straighten it. He smiles. More accurately the white line of light on his face screen curves

upward but he still thinks of it as a smile. Lily wraps her arms around him and he returns the hug.

One in Kira the parents of his family have been exhibiting signs of anxiety most of the day and

now seeing Lily embracing him. They trade in other glance. These expressions are abnormal.

Gabriel considers the data but draws no conclusions. One returns to fiddling with the family lights

...