One Thousand And One Upgrades

by Allison Tebo

Zade is just a simple robot living out a dull existence as a servant at Baba Brother’s Cleaning Emporium. But when a rampaging security bot starts threatening the existence of every robot in the store, Zade decides she’s more than just the sum of her parts, and embarks on a dangerous mission to save her fellow robots from destruction.


This tongue-in-cheek short story puts an entirely new spin on One Thousand and One Nights and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by creating a world that blends Arabian Nights with futuristic technology.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Retellings

12 pages, ebook

First published December 1, 2025

About the author

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Allison Tebo is a Christian writer committed to creating magical stories full of larger-than-life characters, a dash of grit, and plenty of laughs. She is the author of Break the Beast, an epic fantasy retelling of Beowulf, and the Tales of Ambia, a series of romantic comedy retellings of popular fairy tales. Her flash fiction has been published in magazines such as SplicketySpark and Saddlebag Dispatches and her short stories have been featured in anthologies by Inklings Press, Rogue Blades Entertainment, Pole to Pole Publishing, Editing Mee, Dragon Soul Press, and Ye Olde Dragons Publishing.

Allison also writes under the pseudonym Al Thibeaux and co-runs the speculative fiction e-zine Worlds of Adventure.

Allison graduated with merit from London Art College after studying cartooning and children’s illustration and, when not creating new worlds with words or paint, she enjoys reading, baking, and making lists.

You can find out more about her work at https://allisonteboauthor.com/ or follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/allisonteboauthor/

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genie Inc is a company that deals in rare lamps and antiques. They keep their money in a cave, The Genie Cave. And people would love to make their way into that cave to steal their riches. But it is guarded by a nasty security robot who will do anything to stop that from happening.


This short story is inspired by One Thousand and One Nights and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Love the science fiction twist with the robots. The main character for example is a lowly slave robot who longs to show her true potential. It’s fun, cute and sweet. A rather straight forward, but amusing little read.

[Allison Tebo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well would you look at that! I released a new short story! And you can read it for FREE.

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/sikxa5p1ym

This ridiculous little romp blends together three of my favorite things: robots, fairy tales, and friendship. I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you have fun reading it!

[E.F. Buckles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super cute, quirky and fun retelling. It was so charming to see robots as the main characters and the whole thing was treat to read.

[Jaida (Fable Link in Bio) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't write a full review for this because it's only 12pgs long. this "book" was ok, not bad but not either. I will read some of the author's longer books in the future though.

[Angie Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this cute little sci-fi retelling! It would have been nice to get to see some of the interactions between the two main robots between the beginning and the end, but I liked the eventual discovery/understanding they came to. ;)

3.5 stars

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a cute, quick, robot retelling of 1001 Nights and Ali Baba. I enjoyed seeing the story through the eyes of a determined cleaning robot.

[funkelbunt.liest · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fun - and quick - 1000 and one nights retelling. With robots. Can’t say I have read anything like it before. Looking forward to reading something longer by the author.