Thorn of the Rose

The true beauty of a rose (love) is that it responds so intimately and wonderfully in accordance to how it is kept, treated and respected; and there are always thorns there to remind, should one forget.This story was inspired by Brian Aldiss' Supertoys Last All Summer Long. But instead of exploring what happens when a couple recieves a child that is a robot this story explores what happens when a child recieves a surrogate parent that is a robot. It's done with alternate history, the year 1957, and aliens that resemble us but say very little about their origins are trading technology and advanced machines for some of our soil.Quickly companies form partnerships with the extraterrestrials and single mother, Lydia Meyer is convinced by a slick salesman that used to sell vacuum cleaners to purchase a new Solomon series robot to be a companion for her lonely son. It goes badly.