Today I Am Carey

TODAY
Mildred has Alzheimer’s. As memories fade, she acquires the aid of a full-time android to assist her in everyday life. Carey. Carey takes care of Mildred, but its true mission is to fill in the gaps in Mildred’s past. To bring yesterday into today by becoming a copy. But not merely a copy of a physical person. A copy from the inside out.
I AM
After Mildred passes, Carey must find a new purpose. For a time, that purpose is Mildred’s family. To keep them safe from harm. To be of service. There is Paul Owens, the overworked scientist and business leader. Susan Owens, the dedicated teacher. And Millie, a curious little girl who will grow up alongside her android best friend. And Carey will grow up with her. Carey cannot age. But Carey can change.
CAREY
Carey struggles. Carey seeks to understand life’s challenges. Carey makes its own path. Carey must learn to live. To grow. To care. To survive. To be.

Martin L. Shoemaker is a programmer who writes on the side… or maybe it’s the other way around. Programming pays the bills, but his second-place story in the Jim Baen Memorial Writing COntest earned him lunch with Buzz Aldrin. Programming never did that! His Clarkesworld story „Today I Am Paul“ received the Washington Science Fiction Society’s Small Press Award, and was also nominated for a Nebula Award. It has been reprinted in multiple Year’s Best anthologies and has been translated into eight languages.
Others of his stories have appeared in Analog, Galaxy’s Edge, Digital Science Fiction, Forever Magazine, and Writers of the Future Volume 31. His novella „Murder on the Aldrin Express“ was reprinted in Year’s Best Science Fiction Thirty-First Annual Collection and in Year’s Top Short SF Novels 4. His novelette „Racing to Mars“ received the Analog Analytical Laboratory Award.