Automatic Noodle
{5/5} “Now they were ‘free,’ according to the reporter, who also explained that bots would of course never be allowed to join a union, nor open a bank account, nor vote. Bots had the right to sell their labor, which was the important thing. It seemed normal at the time, to be free and not free, like California itself.”
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, published in 2025
Staybehind wakes up and wonders if he’s at war. The war with the US is over, but he’s been offline for 5 months. We wakes up his friends Hands, Cayenne, and Sweetie and connects them to the network. Their bosses have split to the US so they decide to re-open the restaurant and, this time, sell good food to people. A man named Robles, who had previously done deliveries for them, joins them.
With hints of Becky Chambers and Martha Wells, this is the novella you want to read today.
It’s about robots who are not exactly allowed to run a business doing it anyway. It’s about how when times are tough people will work together and make good things.
I’ve read 4 books by Newitz. I previously reviewed The Terraformers.