Zen Cho’s “Unterminator” is an it-narrative that follows a robot’s realization that it has arrived on Earth too late to fulfill it’s mission: to avert the nuclear apocalypse. This story adds an interesting element to our previous class discussions of whether or not robots or other forms of machinery should be gendered or considered to have human characteristics. “Unterminator” is written in the second person, which not only allows the reader to sympathize more deeply with the robot, but also gives it a distinctly eerie feel–while “you” recognize that “you were not programmed to be lonely” and that “you are not permitted despair,” these emotions come through Cho’s writing in a manner which allows us, as readers, to sympathize in a way that the robot is not able.

The story is only 300 words long, and gives little orienting information aside from loose temporal guidance. I think that this only further contributes to an attempt to make the robot relatable–no matter what race, age, or gender with which one may identify, almost anyone can understand the very human emotions evoked by the robot’s story.

Link to story: https://zencho.org/unterminator/

More of Zen Cho’s work (“Stuff You Can Read for Free Online”): https://zencho.org/short-fiction/#online