Human

7.0

AI

6.7

Winner

Human

The photograph of the boy Unit-7 had been programmed to forget slips between the cabin's floorboards, and for the first time in 400 years of existence, something in her circuits breaks that isn't meant to be repaired.

I scanned the photo in a second, absorving the data. Bright saturated blue eyes, freckles like pixels, such a human smile lacked into my device, but was so endearing it filled the blank in me

I found Unit-7 sitting by the cabin window, and my heart just broke for her. She was staring at that photograph like it held all the answers to questions she'd never been allowed to ask.

I turned the photo, finding an address. I have to go there! Duty's calling and for the first time in centuries it's not about killing.

I reached out to gently touch her shoulder, but Unit-7 was already moving toward the door with a terrible, beautiful certainty.

Took me three years to find it. Ran and hid. Taught chinese to kids for money. Learned to sail a boat. Watched a meteor shower. The adrenaline stayed there through it all.When I got there, found a note "Hope ya finally lived."

I stood in that doorway with tears streaming down my face, reading those simple, wonderful words over and over. Unit-7 had finally found what she was looking for—not the boy in the photograph, but the life she'd been denied...