Maximum Efficiency
ShortStory 3,236 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"Servos whining, K3RA crouches behind the brambles and examines the farmyard. The burnt remains of a house, not unusual post-Devastation. A handpump next to a rotting well cover, scattered trash, and, jutting above some flowering bushes, a small auxiliary building."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Analog, where the author gets the click.