Speaker 1: Welcome to micro Terrors, scary stories for kids where it's
Speaker 1: always the spooky season, full of chills, thrills, and spine
Speaker 1: tingling spooks. Micro Terrors are family friendly frights for those
Speaker 1: ages eight and up, and while our stories are for
Speaker 1: younger years, we are still talking about things that go
Speaker 1: bump in the night, and some children may not be
Speaker 1: able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended
Speaker 1: now for tonights micro terror.
Speaker 2: The crab Acabra written by Scott Donnelly. I had never
Speaker 2: been so bored in my life. This was the worst
Speaker 2: summer break yet. It was hot outside, so going out
Speaker 2: to play wouldn't be enjoyable. Inside was even worse. I
Speaker 2: could have been playing video games, taking naps, drawing pictures,
Speaker 2: but the way our power kept cutting out several times
Speaker 2: a day made that nearly impossible. I'd be in a
Speaker 2: game in the electricity would shut off. I'd be taking
Speaker 2: a nap, but the air conditioner would die and create
Speaker 2: a gross, sticky atmosphere, impossible for sleeping. I liked to
Speaker 2: sketch crazy, nonsensical things, so drawing pictures worked to pass
Speaker 2: the time for a little while at least, But I
Speaker 2: needed music playing in the background while I did it,
Speaker 2: and obviously, if the power kept going out, that meant
Speaker 2: the music didn't stand a chance, and there was nothing
Speaker 2: more infuriating than a good song cutting out halfway through
Speaker 2: the rolling blackouts the air cutting off. It wasn't even
Speaker 2: due to the heat of the summer. It was because
Speaker 2: of my dad. He'd gotten fired from Science Tech, the
Speaker 2: lab he worked for, and decided to move all of
Speaker 2: his experiments and studies into our basement. Whatever he was
Speaker 2: working on down there was using so much power that
Speaker 2: it affected the entire house. My mom chose not to
Speaker 2: say anything, claiming that since my dad had been fired,
Speaker 2: he was desperately looking for a breakthrough with his research
Speaker 2: in order to hopefully have his job reinstated, and for
Speaker 2: the sake of my sanity, I wished him to be
Speaker 2: successful in that venture. After all, that might have been
Speaker 2: the only way for our consistent air and power to
Speaker 2: flow through the house if he was gone and back
Speaker 2: in his actual lab. I tried my hand to a
Speaker 2: PlayStation game. Since there was a solid hour that went
Speaker 2: by without the power shutting off. The thought I might
Speaker 2: have been able to squeeze in a quick couple of levels,
Speaker 2: but as usual. As soon as my game loaded in,
Speaker 2: the lights flickered in my house and the TV shut off.
Speaker 2: I heard the hum and the air conditioner slowly fade,
Speaker 2: and within seconds our house fell into a deafening silence.
Speaker 2: I screamed out in frustration. This was the worst summer
Speaker 2: of all time. Just then the basement door opened to
Speaker 2: my dad stumbled out. He looked like a wreck. His
Speaker 2: hair was disheveled. His lab coat was torn and splotched
Speaker 2: with grease and oil stains, which was odd since he
Speaker 2: worked mostly with computers and technology. I did it, my
Speaker 2: dad said, I actually did it. I rolled my eyes.
Speaker 2: If by it you mean ruined my summer, then yes,
Speaker 2: you did it, Dad. Congratulations, I said, tossing my controller
Speaker 2: on to the table. Sharon, my dad called out, ignoring
Speaker 2: my frustration. My mom came rushing in from the other room.
Speaker 2: What is it, Harold, she asked, worried at first, I
Speaker 2: did it. The AI RWM system works. I actually did it.
Speaker 2: This will get my job back, not to mention a
Speaker 2: huge payday for us. A smile grew on his face.
Speaker 2: I have to go tell mister Robertsfeld. My dad grabbed
Speaker 2: his car keys. Don't go down there, he urged as
Speaker 2: he rushed out of the house. Once the door was shut,
Speaker 2: my mom looked at me. Finally, she said, I got
Speaker 2: the feeling. She felt the same way about the summer,
Speaker 2: the power and everything as I did. She just never
Speaker 2: said it out loud like I did. Right then, my
Speaker 2: mom's cell phone rang. She looked at the caller and sighed,
Speaker 2: it's your aunt Janis. She said, I'll only be about
Speaker 2: three hours, she added with her own brand of sarcasm.
Speaker 2: She answered the call and walked out of the room.
Speaker 2: I was left alone with an open base door in
Speaker 2: front of me, the place I was told not to
Speaker 2: go into. But the power was out, it was hot,
Speaker 2: and I was bored. Nothing was going to keep me
Speaker 2: from descending those basement stairs to see what my dad
Speaker 2: had been working on in secret all summer, killing the
Speaker 2: vibes and moods around the house with each flicker of
Speaker 2: a light or death of a cool burst from the
Speaker 2: air conditioner. I made sure my mom was locked in
Speaker 2: on the phone call, and then slipped down the stairs.
Speaker 2: We used to use the basement as storage, but since
Speaker 2: my dad moved his lab there, it didn't even resemble
Speaker 2: a basement.
Speaker 1: Anymore.
Speaker 2: It looked like a science lab with brick walls and
Speaker 2: a washing machine in the corner. I walked through his lab,
Speaker 2: checking out the strange equipment on the tables and shelving
Speaker 2: units he'd installed. None of the machines looked familiar. For
Speaker 2: a lack of better term, they all looked futuristic. What
Speaker 2: even looked like it could be a prototype for a
Speaker 2: time machine. Then I laid eyes on it, the AIWM system,
Speaker 2: as my dad had called it. I only knew this
Speaker 2: was it from those letters scribbled on it. Otherwise it
Speaker 2: looked like a strange concoction of machines strung together with
Speaker 2: blinking panels and multicolored wires. There was also a computer
Speaker 2: screen attached to some kind of metallic saucer behind it.
Speaker 2: I tapped the computer screen and it flickered to life.
Speaker 2: Our house might not have had power, but my dad's
Speaker 2: basement lab certainly did. Must have all just been filtered
Speaker 2: down here when he was using his machines. The screen
Speaker 2: turned white and at the top for the letters AGAINRWM system.
Speaker 2: As the screen continued to load, the acronym was finally
Speaker 2: defined beneath it, the Artificial Intelligence Real World manifestation system. Curious,
Speaker 2: I skimmed the information that appeared along with it and
Speaker 2: realized what my dad had done. AI had come quite
Speaker 2: a long way in such a short time, allowing anyone
Speaker 2: to create an image and have AI it to life,
Speaker 2: or even just put in a prompt and have AI
Speaker 2: do it all on its own. This, however, appeared to
Speaker 2: be the next step in the ever evolving world of AI.
Speaker 2: A user could input a prompt on screen or create
Speaker 2: an image themselves, and not only would AI generate it
Speaker 2: or animate it, but this machine would actually manifest that
Speaker 2: image into the real world using its metallic saucer base.
Speaker 2: The more I thought about it, it was like a
Speaker 2: three D printer for AI. Two options at the bottom
Speaker 2: of the screen said prompt and create. I tapped create
Speaker 2: out of curiosity and boredom. A blank screen appeared.
Speaker 1: Next.
Speaker 2: I used my finger to draw a circle on the
Speaker 2: screen and then tapped generate. The metallic saucer came to
Speaker 2: life with a loud hum and blinking lights. Smoke billowed
Speaker 2: from it, and once it cleared, a spherical object sat
Speaker 2: in the center of it. I was blown away. I
Speaker 2: reached for it, careful not to burn myself. In case
Speaker 2: it was hot, but it wasn't. It was room temperature.
Speaker 2: I couldn't exactly tell what the sphere was made out of.
Speaker 2: It was heavy, but not like metal or rock. It
Speaker 2: was smooth and also seemed to emit some kind of
Speaker 2: static discharge from it. I set the sphere aside and
Speaker 2: went back to the computer screen. I need to try
Speaker 2: something cooler, I said, something insane. Let's test this puppy out.
Speaker 2: I tapped into my nonsensical sketching skills and drew a
Speaker 2: person's body with a giant crab claw as one of
Speaker 2: its hands. When it came to the face and I
Speaker 2: wanted something just as bizarre, I thought about the most
Speaker 2: random creature I could, a chipacabra. To the best of
Speaker 2: my ability, I drew the cryptid's head on the body.
Speaker 2: It was a little wonky, but it would do. I
Speaker 2: tapped generate when I was done, and watched the metallic
Speaker 2: saucer explode to life again with smoke, lights and so on.
Speaker 2: There was a lot more smoke than there was with
Speaker 2: the spear. I waved it away from my face just
Speaker 2: as the machine shut off, I stepped back and through
Speaker 2: the smoke, I saw the silhouette of my creation. It
Speaker 2: was life size, the size of a full grown person,
Speaker 2: and when the smoke cleared, it was even more hideous
Speaker 2: than I imagined it would be. It was a human
Speaker 2: creature hybrid with two massive crab claws for hands and
Speaker 2: a snarling head of a vicious choopacabra. It roared like
Speaker 2: an unholy beast as it jumped off the table at me.
Speaker 2: I turned and ran as fast as I could up
Speaker 2: the stairs. The crab cabra or whatever it was, was
Speaker 2: hot on my tail. I burst into the kitchen, where
Speaker 2: my mom was now yelling at Aunt Janis about something. Mom,
Speaker 2: there's a monster after me. My mom sighed, did you
Speaker 2: hear that? She said to Aunt Janis on the other line,
Speaker 2: This is how bored he is. I just wish he'd
Speaker 2: The crab acabra clambered into the kitchen and my mom screamed,
Speaker 2: throwing her phone at it. It beamed the monster in
Speaker 2: the head, which only upset it more. It growled, bent down,
Speaker 2: and snapped the phone between its claws, and then devoured it.
Speaker 2: We could hear Aunt Janie screaming in terror on the
Speaker 2: other line as the crabicamra swallowed it Janie, my mom screamed.
Speaker 2: I grabbed her by the hand and tried to lead
Speaker 2: her out of the kitchen through a second entrance, but
Speaker 2: she resisted, screaming and crying over her sister. Janis no mom,
Speaker 2: It was just a phone. I tried to tell her,
Speaker 2: but it was all to no avail. The crabcabre lunged
Speaker 2: forward and snapped its claws around my mom. Her screams
Speaker 2: became blood curdling as the monster lifted her off the ground,
Speaker 2: unt hinged its jaw like a snake, and began to
Speaker 2: swallow her hole. I panicked and ran for my life.
Speaker 2: As I blew through the house, listening to the disgustingly
Speaker 2: loud digestion of my mom in the kitchen, I was
Speaker 2: stopped dead in my tracks when the front door blew
Speaker 2: inward and an electrically charged blue smoke fuddeled in. I
Speaker 2: just stared into the smoke and watched a figure materialize.
Speaker 1: It was a man.
Speaker 2: One of his arms was made of metal, and on
Speaker 2: his head was a futuristic helmet with blinking lights. He
Speaker 2: removed the helmet and stared at me, creating an unsettling
Speaker 2: feeling in the pit of my stomach. I recognized this man.
Speaker 2: He looked like me, only older. I am you from
Speaker 2: the future, Kenny, he said, confirming my insane, implausible time
Speaker 2: traveling theory. I came to stop you from making a
Speaker 2: decision that will alter the future. I trembled, What are
Speaker 2: you talking about. There's a machine in your basement, one
Speaker 2: that allows AI images to manifest in the real world.
Speaker 2: You must not touch it. I gulped. I I already did.
Speaker 2: The me from the future dropped his jaw. You mean
Speaker 2: I'm too late, I nodded. No, no, no, he panicked,
Speaker 2: checking a strange computer like device on his wrist. Oh,
Speaker 2: I could have sworn, I am put in the correct
Speaker 2: time coordinates. The crevacabra is here right now. It's from
Speaker 2: the next room, and the future me grimaced. Please tell
Speaker 2: me it hasn't eaten mom yet, or even Aunt Janice.
Speaker 2: It just did, I stammered, and his dad home yet,
Speaker 2: the future me asked. I shook my head. No, okay,
Speaker 2: the future me sighed, showing some kind of relief. Then
Speaker 2: there might still be time. There's another machine in the basement,
Speaker 2: one that we thought looked like a time machine prototype. Remember,
Speaker 2: I nodded, you need to go down there, and what
Speaker 2: on earth's going on here? My dad's voice boomed from
Speaker 2: behind the future me, Who are you? I'm your son
Speaker 2: from the future, The future me said, I've come back
Speaker 2: in time to warn myself not to mess with the
Speaker 2: ai RM system. It creates a race of crevicabras that
Speaker 2: are very close to taking over the entire northern hemisphere.
Speaker 2: Crab o, what my dad questioned, Like like the Chinese
Speaker 2: food appetizer. No, the future me hounded, that's crab rangoon. Look,
Speaker 2: we need to focus here before the creature eats. Suddenly,
Speaker 2: as if ironically on cue, the crabacabra bounded into the
Speaker 2: living room and grabbed the future me, unhinged its jaw
Speaker 2: and devoured him. I was left and shot. If I
Speaker 2: was eaten in the future, what does that mean for
Speaker 2: me in the past?
Speaker 1: The present?
Speaker 2: Harold stood there as he watched the monster devour the
Speaker 2: future version of his son. Once he was gone and
Speaker 2: dissolving in the stomach acid of the beast, the younger
Speaker 2: version also faded away into oblivion.
Speaker 1: Harold's jaw was.
Speaker 2: On the flooring kill me, Harold stammered, but there was
Speaker 2: no one there to answer. Kenny, young and old was gone,
Speaker 2: Charon was gone, Janice was gone er kind of. And
Speaker 2: then a flurry of heavy footfalls clamored up the basement stairs.
Speaker 2: Dozens upon dozens of Crabacabras blooded into the living room,
Speaker 2: Some scurried through the house, others filed outside. Harold could
Speaker 2: do nothing but watch as the catalyst for the Crabacabra
Speaker 2: apocalypse transpired before him. Club Harold swallowed. Maybe this won't
Speaker 2: be so bad, he thought, incomplete denial. But before he
Speaker 2: had a chance to think any further, several cravacabres clamped
Speaker 2: their claws around him and shared a meal. From that
Speaker 2: day forward, the future of the entire Northern Hemisphere was
Speaker 2: in jeopardy. The Krabacabra Apocalypse was just beginning. Hey, big news,
Speaker 2: micro terrorist fans. The first ever micro Terrorists short film,
Speaker 2: The Dire More Phantom, inspired by the twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: micro Terror's original story Bump in the Night, is now
Speaker 2: available to stream over in the fan club. If you're
Speaker 2: not a member, now is the perfect time to join.
Speaker 2: From July fourth through August first, twenty twenty six, you
Speaker 2: can use the promo code c by Summer when you
Speaker 2: sign up to get fifty percent off your first month
Speaker 2: in the Terrified Tier. That's sci fi Summer all. One
Speaker 2: word over at micro terrors dot com when you sign
Speaker 2: up for the Terrified Tier. Thank you all for being
Speaker 2: such dedicated micro Terrors listeners. We'll see you next week
Speaker 2: when a dark secret is unearthed about an abandoned swimming hole.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to micro Terrors. Join us each
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