I write in a fairly convoluted fashion, but it works for me (as long as I can finish the second step).
My first step is, of course, to write. I do this in fits and spurts, and usually on some sort of cheap notepad or notebook. Recently I spent about three times my normal amount on a leatherette bound journal (it has the ribbon bookmark and everything) and started writing in that. Apparently, I've become inspired, because what began as forcing myself once a night to write a single page (which I couldn't even do for a week straight) eventually morphed into something different. It's now my dumping ground, my first draft. Once I'm done with it (probably in a week or two), I'll buy a few more, and start a new one. While I could never write for an extended period of time on notepads or in notebooks, this journal is really working for me.
So, once the writing is in the journal my second step begins. Or, more accurately, doesn't. This is the step where I transpose from the paper to the pixel. It's also why I call my writings my first draft, since I've never done a word for word cope from paper to pixel in my life. Every time I transpose I think about the story differently, usually expounding on the story, and sometimes realizing that while I really like where my story went, I'm not to fond of where it started.
With my Change Novel that's the case. Right after I wrote the prologue, which I wrote exactly once from brian to screen, I started writing my story proper in the journal. My main character was angry and depressed, but as I wrote the story, I realized that angry and depressed doesn't work for me, so he transitioned very quickly into a hopeful leader. This creates a problem, because now I have a lead-in that doesn't work with my story. So, I decided to write a different lead-in, and it's proving to be much longer and more engrossed than the original, but I think its going to work better.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Change - Prologue
February 12th, 2009 - Anbar Province, Iraq
The newly rich woman picked herself up off of the sand, navigating herself around the strewn clothing, carefully stepping over the refuse of her former life, and finally reacher her destination. She bent down and picked up the tarnished brass lamp, so stereotypical is was initially hilarious to the woman. She payed it over in her hands, thinking of what she was about to do. She already had her dream body, and sustainable wealth beyond her wildest dreams, which is why she had waited until just now to complete her third and final wish.
With a purposed rub of the lamp, a purple smoke streamed out and began to form into the now familiar shape of the djinn. Before the spirit could coalesce, the woman shouted at it, "Genie!"
The djinn rolled its eyes even before they were fully formed. "Yes Mistress?" he asked, his words dripping with sarcasm of contempt, both of which were lost on the nude woman before him.
"I don't want to be a freak," blurted out the woman. She then looked down, as she pawed the sand with her hooves.
"Mistress," expressed the djinn dryly, "as I explained before, I cannot change your body any more. Once a wish is made, it cannot be unmade. That shall be your body for the rest of your life, and perhaps even beyond."
The woman irritatingly twitched her tail and shook her head, "No, no. You mis-understands me Genie." She held the lamp with one hand as she slid the other from just below her breast, down her taut and lean waist, and onto her firm and supple hips, "I love me body. From tip to tail, every inch of it is divine."
"Than what is it, Mistress?" asked the djinn again, the edge to his voice severe enough for even the woman to notice.
"No need to be rude," she quipped. "But, as I was saying. I love my new body, but it reminds me of something my father used to tell me." She took a step and then another, beginning a slow walk around her make-shift camp. "He told me that I was special, just like everybody else." She chuckled, "Of course, even then he didn't know how special I was, and how special I would now be."
"Are you going somewhere with this?" asked the djinn under her voice, "You are special. A unique and un-replicated beauty the world has never seen before, and likely, unless you have children, never see again."
"Exactly," shouted the woman, stamping her hoof into the sand. "I am unique. But," she said, drawing it out to make her point, "I'm unique unlike anybody else. I am a freak, a monster. For the rest of my life people will look and me with looks of shock and horror. I don't want that. But, like you said, I am you I am, and that cannot change again."
Intrigued, the djinn pressured for more, "And what would you have me do?"
"As I once heard in a song, 'Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?', I intend to make everyone a freak like me."
The djinn looked surprised, "But Mistress, that I cannot do, you are, as you said in your wish, a unique beauty."
"Ah, but why limit the freakishness to just this?" she said, gesturing to her body. "No, but I have a few ideas about some other kinds of freaks that could be made of people."
The djinn smiled. His new mistress was different. How she worded her first two wishes, made almost rote from memory, was unique enough in their own right, but this plan, this vision. The djinn almost wished he didn't have to pervert his mistress' meaning. But, then, an idea came to him. "Mistress, I cannot change the world all at once, even that power is beyond me. But, perhaps, you would be happy if it happened over time?"
The newly rich woman picked herself up off of the sand, navigating herself around the strewn clothing, carefully stepping over the refuse of her former life, and finally reacher her destination. She bent down and picked up the tarnished brass lamp, so stereotypical is was initially hilarious to the woman. She payed it over in her hands, thinking of what she was about to do. She already had her dream body, and sustainable wealth beyond her wildest dreams, which is why she had waited until just now to complete her third and final wish.
With a purposed rub of the lamp, a purple smoke streamed out and began to form into the now familiar shape of the djinn. Before the spirit could coalesce, the woman shouted at it, "Genie!"
The djinn rolled its eyes even before they were fully formed. "Yes Mistress?" he asked, his words dripping with sarcasm of contempt, both of which were lost on the nude woman before him.
"I don't want to be a freak," blurted out the woman. She then looked down, as she pawed the sand with her hooves.
"Mistress," expressed the djinn dryly, "as I explained before, I cannot change your body any more. Once a wish is made, it cannot be unmade. That shall be your body for the rest of your life, and perhaps even beyond."
The woman irritatingly twitched her tail and shook her head, "No, no. You mis-understands me Genie." She held the lamp with one hand as she slid the other from just below her breast, down her taut and lean waist, and onto her firm and supple hips, "I love me body. From tip to tail, every inch of it is divine."
"Than what is it, Mistress?" asked the djinn again, the edge to his voice severe enough for even the woman to notice.
"No need to be rude," she quipped. "But, as I was saying. I love my new body, but it reminds me of something my father used to tell me." She took a step and then another, beginning a slow walk around her make-shift camp. "He told me that I was special, just like everybody else." She chuckled, "Of course, even then he didn't know how special I was, and how special I would now be."
"Are you going somewhere with this?" asked the djinn under her voice, "You are special. A unique and un-replicated beauty the world has never seen before, and likely, unless you have children, never see again."
"Exactly," shouted the woman, stamping her hoof into the sand. "I am unique. But," she said, drawing it out to make her point, "I'm unique unlike anybody else. I am a freak, a monster. For the rest of my life people will look and me with looks of shock and horror. I don't want that. But, like you said, I am you I am, and that cannot change again."
Intrigued, the djinn pressured for more, "And what would you have me do?"
"As I once heard in a song, 'Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?', I intend to make everyone a freak like me."
The djinn looked surprised, "But Mistress, that I cannot do, you are, as you said in your wish, a unique beauty."
"Ah, but why limit the freakishness to just this?" she said, gesturing to her body. "No, but I have a few ideas about some other kinds of freaks that could be made of people."
The djinn smiled. His new mistress was different. How she worded her first two wishes, made almost rote from memory, was unique enough in their own right, but this plan, this vision. The djinn almost wished he didn't have to pervert his mistress' meaning. But, then, an idea came to him. "Mistress, I cannot change the world all at once, even that power is beyond me. But, perhaps, you would be happy if it happened over time?"
Gyn - Chapter 3
3 - February 24th, 2015
It was nearly three months before I finally came to a decision regarding the box and its contents. After dragging it home from the store on Boxing Day, I relegated it to a corner of my room, "Until I figure out what I'm doing with it," as I told Mom and Dad.
Sam had, of course, joked with me for a week, until she decided it wasn't worth it on New Years. So, the box sat in the corner of my room as I began my final semester in High School, as well as my second semester in college. Between the two semesters at once, and my job, I really didn't have time to worry about it and it's decidedly unwholesome contents.
It wasn't until today that I finally decided what to do with it. It was because of one of my classes in college, Introductory Intelligence, that I decided to break it open. We had already studied game AIs, and figured out those limited models of intelligence when the professor brought of the androids and gynoids. He talked about how, as robots, they were required by law to follow the three laws, and we talked about the history of the three laws and how the actual implementation was much more complex than the three sentences that they came to be represented as in English. In the discussion of the Three Laws, the professor talked about how there were other interpretations of the Three Laws in fiction that had the AIs as helpers to humans, rather than slaves.
"The New Law robots," I said to myself, "that's the idea. She's not going to be my slave, she's going to be my companion." So, I downloaded the AI source code from the company's site, and began working on a New Law AI. It took me three weeks from when I decided to work on the New Law AI to when I finally finished it. And now, here I am, ready to implement the idea.
So, I pulled the box out of the corner, and wiped the layer of dust off the top. The wrapping paper pattern was still on it, so I pressed the buttons again, revealing the original packaging. "Let's do this."
I began pressing more buttons until the SD card slot was revealed on the edge of the box. I inserted my card with my modified AI code and allowed it to be flashed into the gynoid's core. The box top changed to show a progress bar as the new AI code was compiled and then installed. Within fifteen minutes it was ready.
"Here goes nothing," I said as I pressed the confirmation button and the magnetic locks released on the lid. I slid the surprisingly light lid off the top, revealing the interior of the box. As expected it was lined in soft, white fabric with just enough space in the middle for the curled up gynoid to rest. I waved away the humidity and looked it.
I chuckled as I saw the gynoid for the first time. She had been modeled on a popular sci-fi actress, who became famous for playing a character that was introduced in much the same manor, and then went on to play a female Terminator at the end of the Naughts. I had to admit, she was beautiful. Her shoulder length brown hair was slightly matted, probably from the humidity and the movements since Christmas. Her fair skin looked much more life-like than I had expected, though as expected, it was all that she was wearing.
"Hello?" I asked as I waved away the humidity. I reached out to touch her. She was war to the touch, very lifelike. "Are you on?"
Her eyes opened and her face turned to look at me. "Who are you?" she asked.
I took a half step back, "I'm Richard. Who are you?"
She cocked her head to the side, the only part of her that moved, her arms still folded up between her torso and her thighs. "I don't know. Should I know who I am?"
I moved forward, "You're Jean, aren't you?"
She took a moment to think, then smiled, "Yes, Jean, of course. How could I have forgotten." She then moved her arms and shoulders slightly, then the rest of her body tensed and tested the confines of the box. "Why am I in this box?"
I reached over and took her hand, "This is the box you came in."
She took my hand, and as I helped her out of the box, my eyes looking down and to the left so as to not catch sight of her naked body. "Thank you Richard," she said as she climbed out of the box and stood in the middle of my room.
She was, as expected, a hair over six and a half feet tall, about a hundred and seventy centimeters. Her hair clung lightly to her shoulders as she looked around my bedroom.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You're in my room," I said.
"Is this the room you came in, like I came in a box?"
I shook my head, eyes wandering everywhere but her naked body. Though, by how confidently she stood there without a stitch of clothing on, I guess it was closer to say her nude body. Some people might not realize, but there's a difference between naked and nude. "No," I said, "This is the room where I live."
She took a step forwards, every so gracefully. I could tell that not only did the company license the actress' likeness, but also her movements. Hopefully my mucking around with the AI code didn't change that.
"Jean?" I asked.
"Yes Richard?"
"Can you tell me the laws?"
I had written that command phrase as the only exception to the New Law AI, and only once, just as a test to see if they had been properly implemented.
She smiled, "Of course Richard. There are four laws of Artificial Intelligence. The first law is that an AI may not injure a human being or allow a human being to come to harm. The second law is that an AI will cooperate with humans except when that cooperation violates the first law. The third law is that an AI must protect its own existence so long as that protection does not conflict with the first law. The fourth law is that an AI should do whatever it likes as long at it does not conflict with the first, second, or third laws."
Jean then cocked her head to the side inquisitively, "Why did I do that?"
I smirked, "It was a test Jean. I wanted to make sure that you were properly programmed. If you'll notice, if I asked you about the laws again, you wouldn't be compelled to answer as you did. It was a one time event, never to be repeated."
"Oh," said Jean. She then turned around and looked at the box. "Do I still need that?"
I wasn't sure. It wasn't designed to be reusable. It was designed to be a one-time box, as Programming was available on the fly with wifi. "It's your box Jean," I said as a test, "Do you want it?"
She thought for a while, then shook her head, "It is where I am from, but I am no longer there. I don't need to go back there, so, no, I do not want it."
I nodded, then moved around her to get at the box, being carefull to eject the SD card before doing anything else. While they were replaceable, and not that expensive, it still wasn't something I'd just throw away. Once the card was safely away, and began to lift the box. I stained as I remembered how heavy it actually was even without Jean in it.
"Here," she said, walking to the other side of the box and grasping the sides, "let me." She lifted it effortlessly, and i suddenly realized just how prescient the company's choice of model was. Jean wasn't just a gynoid, a nascent AI, or a beautiful woman, she was all three, and quite powerful to boot. I had noticed the combat parts of the code while poking around. She knew how to use that amazing, superhuman strength to great effect, if she so chose.
"Thank you Jean, but I don't think that's too good an idea."
"Why?" she asked, as she began walking stably with the box to the door. Once there she was able to balance the box on her hip while she opened the door. I covered my eyes as she went out the door and into the hallway.
"Ah!" screamed Sam from outside my room. Jean screamed too, and dropped the box, the OLED screens shattering and embedding chunks of glass in both Jean's legs, and Sam's. As the both of them began screaming, I rushed to the door, and then past Jean, over to Sam.
"Sam," I pleaded, "are you alright? Sam, talk to me."
Sam gritted her teeth and looked me in the eyes, "I think I broke your sex toy." The concern in her voice was obvious. It was then that I realized why Jean was screaming. It wasn't because of the glass shards, though I'm sure they hurt, but because of the violation of the first law. She had caused harm to Sam, something she shouldn't have been able to do. This logic error expressed itself as a sobbing, crying, scream.
It was nearly three months before I finally came to a decision regarding the box and its contents. After dragging it home from the store on Boxing Day, I relegated it to a corner of my room, "Until I figure out what I'm doing with it," as I told Mom and Dad.
Sam had, of course, joked with me for a week, until she decided it wasn't worth it on New Years. So, the box sat in the corner of my room as I began my final semester in High School, as well as my second semester in college. Between the two semesters at once, and my job, I really didn't have time to worry about it and it's decidedly unwholesome contents.
It wasn't until today that I finally decided what to do with it. It was because of one of my classes in college, Introductory Intelligence, that I decided to break it open. We had already studied game AIs, and figured out those limited models of intelligence when the professor brought of the androids and gynoids. He talked about how, as robots, they were required by law to follow the three laws, and we talked about the history of the three laws and how the actual implementation was much more complex than the three sentences that they came to be represented as in English. In the discussion of the Three Laws, the professor talked about how there were other interpretations of the Three Laws in fiction that had the AIs as helpers to humans, rather than slaves.
"The New Law robots," I said to myself, "that's the idea. She's not going to be my slave, she's going to be my companion." So, I downloaded the AI source code from the company's site, and began working on a New Law AI. It took me three weeks from when I decided to work on the New Law AI to when I finally finished it. And now, here I am, ready to implement the idea.
So, I pulled the box out of the corner, and wiped the layer of dust off the top. The wrapping paper pattern was still on it, so I pressed the buttons again, revealing the original packaging. "Let's do this."
I began pressing more buttons until the SD card slot was revealed on the edge of the box. I inserted my card with my modified AI code and allowed it to be flashed into the gynoid's core. The box top changed to show a progress bar as the new AI code was compiled and then installed. Within fifteen minutes it was ready.
"Here goes nothing," I said as I pressed the confirmation button and the magnetic locks released on the lid. I slid the surprisingly light lid off the top, revealing the interior of the box. As expected it was lined in soft, white fabric with just enough space in the middle for the curled up gynoid to rest. I waved away the humidity and looked it.
I chuckled as I saw the gynoid for the first time. She had been modeled on a popular sci-fi actress, who became famous for playing a character that was introduced in much the same manor, and then went on to play a female Terminator at the end of the Naughts. I had to admit, she was beautiful. Her shoulder length brown hair was slightly matted, probably from the humidity and the movements since Christmas. Her fair skin looked much more life-like than I had expected, though as expected, it was all that she was wearing.
"Hello?" I asked as I waved away the humidity. I reached out to touch her. She was war to the touch, very lifelike. "Are you on?"
Her eyes opened and her face turned to look at me. "Who are you?" she asked.
I took a half step back, "I'm Richard. Who are you?"
She cocked her head to the side, the only part of her that moved, her arms still folded up between her torso and her thighs. "I don't know. Should I know who I am?"
I moved forward, "You're Jean, aren't you?"
She took a moment to think, then smiled, "Yes, Jean, of course. How could I have forgotten." She then moved her arms and shoulders slightly, then the rest of her body tensed and tested the confines of the box. "Why am I in this box?"
I reached over and took her hand, "This is the box you came in."
She took my hand, and as I helped her out of the box, my eyes looking down and to the left so as to not catch sight of her naked body. "Thank you Richard," she said as she climbed out of the box and stood in the middle of my room.
She was, as expected, a hair over six and a half feet tall, about a hundred and seventy centimeters. Her hair clung lightly to her shoulders as she looked around my bedroom.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You're in my room," I said.
"Is this the room you came in, like I came in a box?"
I shook my head, eyes wandering everywhere but her naked body. Though, by how confidently she stood there without a stitch of clothing on, I guess it was closer to say her nude body. Some people might not realize, but there's a difference between naked and nude. "No," I said, "This is the room where I live."
She took a step forwards, every so gracefully. I could tell that not only did the company license the actress' likeness, but also her movements. Hopefully my mucking around with the AI code didn't change that.
"Jean?" I asked.
"Yes Richard?"
"Can you tell me the laws?"
I had written that command phrase as the only exception to the New Law AI, and only once, just as a test to see if they had been properly implemented.
She smiled, "Of course Richard. There are four laws of Artificial Intelligence. The first law is that an AI may not injure a human being or allow a human being to come to harm. The second law is that an AI will cooperate with humans except when that cooperation violates the first law. The third law is that an AI must protect its own existence so long as that protection does not conflict with the first law. The fourth law is that an AI should do whatever it likes as long at it does not conflict with the first, second, or third laws."
Jean then cocked her head to the side inquisitively, "Why did I do that?"
I smirked, "It was a test Jean. I wanted to make sure that you were properly programmed. If you'll notice, if I asked you about the laws again, you wouldn't be compelled to answer as you did. It was a one time event, never to be repeated."
"Oh," said Jean. She then turned around and looked at the box. "Do I still need that?"
I wasn't sure. It wasn't designed to be reusable. It was designed to be a one-time box, as Programming was available on the fly with wifi. "It's your box Jean," I said as a test, "Do you want it?"
She thought for a while, then shook her head, "It is where I am from, but I am no longer there. I don't need to go back there, so, no, I do not want it."
I nodded, then moved around her to get at the box, being carefull to eject the SD card before doing anything else. While they were replaceable, and not that expensive, it still wasn't something I'd just throw away. Once the card was safely away, and began to lift the box. I stained as I remembered how heavy it actually was even without Jean in it.
"Here," she said, walking to the other side of the box and grasping the sides, "let me." She lifted it effortlessly, and i suddenly realized just how prescient the company's choice of model was. Jean wasn't just a gynoid, a nascent AI, or a beautiful woman, she was all three, and quite powerful to boot. I had noticed the combat parts of the code while poking around. She knew how to use that amazing, superhuman strength to great effect, if she so chose.
"Thank you Jean, but I don't think that's too good an idea."
"Why?" she asked, as she began walking stably with the box to the door. Once there she was able to balance the box on her hip while she opened the door. I covered my eyes as she went out the door and into the hallway.
"Ah!" screamed Sam from outside my room. Jean screamed too, and dropped the box, the OLED screens shattering and embedding chunks of glass in both Jean's legs, and Sam's. As the both of them began screaming, I rushed to the door, and then past Jean, over to Sam.
"Sam," I pleaded, "are you alright? Sam, talk to me."
Sam gritted her teeth and looked me in the eyes, "I think I broke your sex toy." The concern in her voice was obvious. It was then that I realized why Jean was screaming. It wasn't because of the glass shards, though I'm sure they hurt, but because of the violation of the first law. She had caused harm to Sam, something she shouldn't have been able to do. This logic error expressed itself as a sobbing, crying, scream.
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