FIVE (Alfred Chester)

“Where the robots can eat food, they eat chemicals instead—as one would expect. Where they can live and act, they sit in dark rooms and watch others do it for them. Where they can have faith, they mistrust the honest. Where they can have suspicions, they believe the treacherous. Where they can suffer, they prefer to be tranquil. Where they can laugh, they snicker. Where they can praise, they scorn. Where they can scorn, they worship. Where they can do almost anything but love, they do nearly nothing but hate. And where they can hate, they imagine that they love.”

—Alfred Chester, “In Praise of Vespasian” in Head of a Sad Angel: Stories, 1953-1966, ed. Edward Field (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1990)

This title is also available on Third Known Nest by Tom Kalin.