Thursday, December 23, 2010

ai continued

The story continues!
Updated story you say?  Hmm...let's have a look.
Now is the winter of my disconnect!

(I haven't had internet access for a week)

I hope everyone is staying warm and drinking lots of spiced cider.  Tis' the season to mix eggnog with whatever alcohol you have available (tequila, sweet-tea vodka, raspberry schnapps, etc) right in the carton.  Shake it up and drink it that way.  Jolly folly.


Here's a short story I'm writing.  I'll be adding a new part to it every few days in this same post until it's complete.



Abi remembered being trampled after every recess.   She was the quiet kid, sitting on woodchips at the edge of the playground.  She used the chips and rocks and gravel and sand to build little towns.   The chips would be buildings and small rocks were people.   The look and feel of the rock was the character of the person.  She often had a handful of rocks - ones that were very dear in her world - kept safely in her pocket.  There was the Chief:   He was brown flint, and looked like an unfinished arrowhead.  He painted beautiful outdoor scenes of mountains and waterfalls, and he wove fabric for tapestries and  for his wife to wear.    The Chief's wife was called Sis, for she was the sister that Abbi always wanted.   Abi couldn't marry The Chief, because she was too young, but Sis could. 

                Sis was everything Abi wanted to be when she grew up.  Sis was smart, but sweet.   She never let anyone talk mean to her or tell her to do something she didn't feel right about.  Sis was strong too, and she and The Chief would ride horses and chop firewood together.  Sometimes Chief and Sis would play at archaeology.  Although neither was trained, their dig-sites in the playground sand could yield fantastic things.  Old bones and Spanish Galleons were unearthed many noontimes. 

                "I swear," The Chief would confess to Sis and Abi, "This is the finest dig yet, and we've only just begun!"  There was the whole universe to uncover and learn about, down in the sands of time, under the redwoods and California sun.

                Then the bell would ring.  Recess would rush and scream and shout in a wave of shoes on pavement right at Abi.  She would run to the safety of the school entrance, but they always caught her somehow.  They pushed her down and they  even stepped on her back and legs.  Once, she was kicked in the face, and blood poured out with tears.  She never, ever dropped The Chief or Sis.   They were held tight in her fist as she fell, and even when her hand was stepped on she wouldn't let them go.


Part 2
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"I'll tell you what Hunter, it's Abi's moods that keep me up at night."

               "Which ones?"  Hunter was two meters of man bred solely for the rigors of space.  His handshake felt like a promise of violence, but he was docile and logical by nature.

               "All of them.  Shit, Hunter, she's not human, but I can feel her thinking about me."  Cali said this in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning across the smooth plastic table where they were hooked for lunch.   Her arms were corded olive branches - she came from two lines of Italian families that could trace their ancestry back to Renaissance Sienna.  She always wanted a name to reflect that.

               Her mother had been a lovely flower-child who ended up in Redondo Beach and transitioned to valley-girl around the same time Cali was born.  She'd spent the last thirty years of her life with her blonde head stuck in textbooks.  In college and beyond, Cali soaked up physics, artificial intelligence research, and a healthy amount of science fiction.  She did this to dispel stereotypes.   She was imaginative, and her vibrant green eyes sparkled with intelligence.

               Hunter looked at her for a while, then laughed gently and looked past her to the viewport.  It showed the distance between stars.  These stars had a blue-shift hue to them, making this their preferred room for meals, study, and meetings.  The whole ship was a mile-long needle with Windsor-Halleck Potential Drives spaced evenly from front to back.  Each drive had a reactor dedicated to it, and a backup generator of hydrogen fuel cells linked in to the extensive water and cooling system.  "Not full of yourself at all today are you?  Her job isn't to think about us."

               Cali laughed with him at herself,  closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.  Hunter knew she had more to say, and that his slight jab would only make her more adamant.  "I think we're on Abi's mind now more than ever before." She started out, toeing her way carefully through a streambed of thoughts.  She knew there was a big, slippery Wrongfish swimming here, and she wanted to catch it and show it to Hunter.


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