ommadawn.dk - Stories

Conversations on the Wedding Day

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Science fiction, Stories

Recently I've gotten confirmation that the short story "Conversations on the Wedding Day", written by Glen Stihm�e and myself, will appear in the APA called FAPA. It should appear online as well at some point. I look forward to this, because these APAs have a reputation for lots of commentary, so I hope this story will get a lot of constructive critique. Below a snippet from the text.

And I couldn't have guessed where we ended up anyway. That I would become a water technician, and help build the dams around Copenhagen, but move to Ringsted myself, because it was more practical living far from water. That the weekend cottage, we were convinced we would have, would be a boat.

The sound of their wings (IV 4)

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Science fiction, Stories

Ten-word Challenge 2

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Tags: Me, Stories

This is the writing exercise. And this is my contribution:

Another day, another spam. �... the Nigerian attorney general ...� I've actually heard of this one. But it's the first time I've seen it my mailbox. �... The account belonging to my father had been frozen ...� It desperately tries to catch my attention. To get me or someone, here or somewhere else, to do something. To turn me into a person willing to help. �... a trunk box containing us$25.5 million ...� Listen to it wail! Hear its pleas for help! But there is no mercy from me today, not today of all days. I will put it out of its misery. �... I and my mother had agreed to give you 30 percent of the fund for your assistance ...� Tomorrow will not be just another day. After the dispossession, the exorcism, call it what you want, the evil Internet will never write, edit or distribute another spam ever again to me or anyone.

Remix of "Biographical Notes ..."

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Benjamin Rosenbaum, Me, Science fiction, Stories

Benjamin Rosenbanum allowed, nay, begged us to remix the Ant King.

So here you go: one remix coming up.

Basis: 'Biographical Notes to "A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-planes" by Benjamin Rosenbaum'. Reason: Springing from a need to highlight the places, where the teller ponders the tale, he will tell - and the tale, that tells him.

Fiction

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Science fiction, Stories

Here we have Friday Free Fiction at Futurismic.

And here we have my contributions.

Control (IV 3)

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Tags: Me, Science fiction, Stories

The control room was empty - just the quality manager and a lot of screens, buttons and levers. Even the sound was off right now, and none of the pictures moved. He was looking for a target with a high empathy reading. He stopped looking when he found an agitated woman (she seemed to be pacing) and a quiet man. Then he went to work.

It didn't take long to install version 2.7a.4 of the Empathy Organizer. It never did take long to install. It was always the trouble shooting afterwards that took time. Then he started time and observed the pair, still with the sound off. The dials and the picture told him more than the sound anyway. The PR was, that 4 was twice as fast as 3, but then, that was PR.

She walked slower, and finally sat down. His empathy reading was high, and her emotional levels were dropping below the danger threshold. Good so far. Then she suddenly jumped up and started pacing again. The quality manager immediately stopped time and started his debugging routine.

The install had been successful, and the logs showed, that it was running. So it had to be a problem with the new version itself. He engaged playback, and this time included sound. He isolated a bit of conversation.

She: "But it was so obvious! He never did it, though he promised."
He: "So you feel angry because he didn't keep his promise?"
She: " I should've known something like that could happen. Actually I feel like a fool."
He: "You feel happy"?
(Here she jumped up.)
She: "Happy? What do you mean? I could kill that little clown."

Nothing screamed at him here. So he did the usual tests, and finally isolated a misunderstanding. The thesaurus told him, that while fools were often carefree and smiling, the reason usually was, that they were less endowed with intelligence, so if you felt like a fool, you felt stupid. Aha! He checked the specs for version 2.7a.4, and discovered part of the reason it was so fast: the thesaurus wasn't checked for the last word in a sentence. That wouldn't do at all. He'd been lucky to catch the error so fast.

So he went to work again. Re-installed 2.7a.3, and tested to make sure it was running again (the woman sat down again, and stayed seated). Filed a bug report. Checked his schedule: next was that report about the 2.7b.5. One way or another they would get the Empathy Organizer to work on this species and with this intervention - they always did.

Supervision (IV 2)

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Tags: Me, Science fiction, Stories

"I can't see why we have to do this."

And a knot, and this line over here, and then the braid ...

"I mean, we've never done anything like it before."

And another knot, and a new line, and bend it like this, and start a new braid here ...

"How can you do something like this?"

"Sorry, were you talking to me?"

"How can you agree with this? It's outrageous."

"Something like what?"

"These new additions to the devices. They go against everything we've ever done."

Clear eyes looked up from the lines and the knots. A sigh. And then the intricate work stopped. "I don't see that. It's just an extension of what we've done from the start."

"But what about free will?"

Another sigh. "Well, I guess it was time for a break anyway. Let me tell you a story. Back when I started in this department, our devices were very primitive. We could monitor good and evil, shame and innocence, but not much more. But that was enough. Later we added stuff like lust and gluttony, repentance, charity, faith and hope, and even martyrdom and saintliness. And I guess it just grew over time. Last year we added 'good with money' and 'environmentally aware'. That last one was a lot of fun."

"But that's not the same at all!"

"Well, I don't know. This new stuff, empathy, listening, observation, it's all pretty basic. And some of it we already had."

"You know that's not what I mean. Monitoring is one thing. But soon they'll start interfering. And that's new."

"Not really. The old Santa Claus trick, where we compiled 2 lists, and then distributed presents on that basis, I don't really see the difference."

"Back then, you knew how it worked. But as I understand it, this intervention will be kept a secret. And whenever they monitor low values of, say, empathy, they're going to add it - somehow. It's just not right. And it has nothing to do with free will - if I don't want to be empathic, why force me?"

"Hm. Well, this whole business with the free will is a bit blurry anyway. Whether it really exists, or it's just an illusion. Whether it was meant to be part of the spec, or it was a misunderstanding. So I'm not sure why we should pay a lot of attention to that."

"Well - well, what about the poor babies? I hear they cry a lot when the devices are installed?"

"Babies always cry. We go between time, insert the device, slip away, and the parents just see their baby crying again, for mysterious reasons. And babies forget quickly. I haven't done very much of installing and upgrading, but from what I've seen, it didn't seem to hurt. Grownups act like they have a little head ache, and forget all about it. No, these days we have pretty much perfected the process."

There was silence for a moment. The apprentice seemed to have run out of questions. "So, you think this is okay?"

"Sure. Anyway, we'll only be monitoring. It will be somebody else who do the actual changes. So don't worry about it. Okay?"

"Okay ... I guess."

"Well, I'm glad you asked. Just tell me if you have any other worries." The master went back to the workbench, and picked up the half finished device. The electrode of empathy over here, and the line of listening there, and a new knot ... The whole sequence was almost optimal now. There was such joy in a job well done.

A meeting (IV 1)

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Tags: Me, Science fiction, Stories

Three persons were sitting at a round table. We might call them A, B and C. A was leafing through some papers in front of her, and sighed now and then. Eventually she collected the documents in a pile and folded her tentacles. "Has the last prognosis of 90% been confirmed?"

B pulled his long, white beard while he nodded. "There is no doubt. The result has been verified by three independent committees, and we have used both old, recognized and new, fascinating methods. With the uncertainty to be expected, they all reach the same result. And as already mentioned the bottom line is 90."

C interrupted. "One of my colleagues has simulated the problem 16,384 times, and in 14,819 cases he had to abort the program within the standard horizon. And he didn't just have to abort - in several cases he had to reformat, after endings that were especially creative and destructive." C's diodes began flashing faster, because it was so eager. "In fact he wants to write a report about it - it's possible we have to lower the limit from 90 to 80 in these cases, because the ending can be so sudden."

"Very well." A leaned over the table, and her cilia began fluttering determinedly. "But then we know the next step. Shall we spend the next five minutes checking our backing?" B and C endorsed this, and there was quiet around the table, while A used telepathy to contact her staff, and C used its wireless network. B used the fact, that certain facets of his being was everywhere and everywhen.

(I know, there was no long, white beard, no flashing diodes, and no tentacles. In fact there was no table, no papers, and not what we would recognize as a conversation. This is just an attempt to describe an event, that really happened, in a way you and I can understand. As I know how intelligent you are, dear reader, I am sure this is no problem.)

When the five minutes had passed, C coughed slightly. "Are we ready to proceed?" As both A and B seemed to be fully present again, it continued. "I have a backing of 76.3%, among the 92.0% who answered. That puts us over a 2/3 majority."

"Apart from a smaller group of angels, who may be considering applying for a job with Lucifer, there's full backing - and this small group represents less than 5% of those who can vote." B seemed relieved about this solid result.

"Among the most influential nests, we have enough support to reach 67%." A seemed animated now action was at hand, and her skin was also a brighter green. "But then it's just the details. Are you taking this down?" C nodded. "Good. Project 2372 in the intervention class. Prognosis of 90% chance of self-destruction within the next 100 local years confirmed. Target: Earth."