In honor of NYC Midnight's Flash Fiction contest (which started May 1), I'm sharing my entry from last year's contest. The prompts for the flash fiction contest (which is separate from the short story contest) include a genre, a location, and an object, and the story has to be less than 1,000 words long. My entry last year was my first attempt at flash fiction, and hoo boy, is that a tough format! My first draft of this story clocked in at about 2,000 words, so editing was a painful process.
My prompt for this story was genre: romance; location: an art class; and object: a passport. Romance is not a genre I gravitate towards either in reading or writing, so it took a bit to find something that I would be comfortable writing. It must have worked, though, because I managed to get an honorable mention for this story! Here is Ersatz AI.
Moira Carano stared at the message from Kathryn, intrigued. Teaching the art of passport forgery was a new chapter for her, and the pay offered was excellent. She started planning the first class.
Kathryn and Moira met online. “Hello, and thank you!” Kathryn waved excitedly, her blonde curls bouncing with the motion. “I’m so glad you’re doing this.”
Moira waved back. “Of course! I thought we’d start with the simpler pages in the passport to get our feet wet.” She tucked her jet-black hair behind her ear, hoping the tremor in her hand wasn’t too visible.
“Perfect! There’s one other person we need to add to the class, before we get started.” Moira froze, wondering if this had all been a trap after all. Instead, part of the screen filled with a waving stick figure. “This is Ersatz AI! It’s the system that’ll create the passports once we have the data you’re providing. It’s able to make several documents quickly, so we’re more efficient.”
Moira waved tentatively at the screen. “Nice to meet you, uh, Ersatz,” she said weakly. “Why don’t we begin with visa pages? There’s some anti-forgery details you’ll need to replicate for this to work.” Moira smiled as she saw the stick figure pull out an oversized pencil and begin to “take notes” while Kathryn sat up straighter in her chair.
Two weeks later, they met for their second class. Ersatz was a bit more fleshed out, with a rudimentary face and body, and Moira welcomed them both warmly. “How are my favorite students today?”
Kathryn flushed a bit, trying not reveal how much she enjoyed having an attractive teacher call her a favorite student. “We’re doing well. Ersatz did some practice with the visa stamps we looked at last time that I think you’ll like. Go ahead, Ersatz.”
Ersatz’s screen changed to show images from visa pages on a U.S. passport with a few different stamps. Moira studied them closely, nodding. “Wonderful! Though, there’s a little problem here. The second stamp on the first page, that’s not a real country. Guilder is from The Princess Bride.”
Kathryn giggled, while Ersatz, reappearing, looked mortified. “This is what happens when geeks get artsy,” she said, typing rapidly. “Somebody created visas for fictional countries and added them to a data set that made it into Ersatz’s library. I bet it would have made a TSA agent’s day, seeing that!”
Moira’s green eyes grew cold. “Or it would have caused the person holding the passport to be detained, thrown in jail, or deported. Do you not realize how important these details are? You may think this is funny, but you’re handling people’s lives with these documents. If you can’t be serious about this, you have no business working in this field.”
Kathryn bristled, her pale face flushed. “You had the luxury of time when you were working, which, I’ve noticed, you aren’t doing now. A lot of people need these passports quickly, and Ersatz and I are their best bet. I understand the risks, which is why I came to you to learn. If all you’re going to do is spit on my efforts, you can leave, and we’ll do it on our own.”
Ersatz ended the standoff by showing a new page of visa stamps. Moira nodded in satisfaction. “Nice work adding the smears of ink, Ersatz. It’s just the kind of human touch you needed.” She sat back and smoothed her hair, and noticed Kathryn doing the same thing. “Let’s take a break and come back to this next week, shall we?”
They were on edge with each other at the next class. “Ersatz, you’ve been working out!” Moira waved at the 3D cartoon sharing a screen with Kathryn.
“It’s been working overtime since our last meeting. Me, too,” Kathryn added, running a hand over her hair. “Listen, I’m sorry about before. I know how important this is. When I get nervous, I crack jokes, and, well, you make me nervous.” She bit her lip, waiting.
Moira sighed. “I’m sorry, too. What you do is so beyond my experience, I don’t fully grasp the ins and outs. I trust that you know what lies in your hands. Peace?”
Kathryn nodded, and they both grinned as Ersatz transformed into an olive branch for a moment. Mood considerably lighter, Moira began the lesson.
“I think it’s time to work on the most important part of the passport. The biodata page is the most scrutinized, and most like to cause problems. There are a ton of details meant to catch fakes, and you need to be prepared.”
Kathryn fought to focus on Moira’s words and not the way her hands moved as she spoke, with just the faintest tremor. Her face lit up as she spoke, and Kathryn found herself drawn to her lips. She was in trouble.
Moira tried not to let Kathryn distract her, but the way she twisted one blonde curl around her finger as she listened, and the way she shot up like she’d be struck by lightening when hit with an idea, it was too much to ignore. Moira found herself dragging the class out, dreading the end of it.
Too soon, they were done. The silence stretched awkwardly until Ersatz broke it. “Ms. Carano, thank you. Would you like to go to dinner with Kathryn?”
Kathryn waited for the ground to swallow her whole. Moira grinned, too delighted for words. “Ersatz, I would love to.”
“You would? Really?” Kathryn clapped her hands excitedly, all embarrassment forgotten. “Let’s meet up downtown, say, this time next week? We’ll play it by ear, yeah?”
“Wonderful. See you then.” With a final wave to them both, Moira ended the call.
Kathryn typed rapidly, and Ersatz studied the request. “Ideas for a date starting with lunch at a Thai restaurant in downtown Seattle for two women interested in art and technology.” Ersatz’s avatar cracked its digital knuckles and got to work.
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