Copy That

Julian and Fredy. Image
 by Leonardo, modified by Flow.

Below on this blog page is Chapter 6 of the science fiction story "War of Words". In Chapter 5, Fredy was trying to communicate to Julian facts about the Quyll, but she was still under the control of Quyll femtobots in her brain that were preventing her from speaking to him about the secret presence of the Quyll on Earth.

I've been using both Leonardo and Google's Flow to make illustrations for "War of Words". As seen in the image to the right, text-to-image software like Leonardo and Flow does not like to show men sitting at a table unless they are wearing a coat. In contrast, the women all have bare arms. I wonder how the AIs would set the thermostat so that everyone can be comfortable?

In Chapter 6, Julian finally finds the "magic words" that allow Fredy to make progress in communicating with him. Fredy believes that Julian is accepting of the idea that if he abandons his biological body then he will finally understand the mysteries that swirl around Second Contact magazine.

War of Words - Chapter 6 - Femtobot Option (Ch. 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Chapter 5)  

Julian had a fascination with dreams. He kept a dream diary, and with increasing frequency he found that he could use dream content in his science fiction stories. He reasoned that if some artists used drugs to help shake creative ideas out of their brains then he could get similar results by paying attention to the activity of his brain during the altered consciousness of vivid dreams during sleep.

He was puzzling over a dream he's had just prior to waking. He reached for his dream diary and his motion woke up Fredy. She watched him writing for a minute, then got up and started dressing. She glanced back at Julian, but held her tongue since he was still writing. She had already packed for the weekend but she tried to make noise by unzipping one of her bags and rummaging through its contents. 

Julian said, "I know, it is time to go." He kept writing, trying to capture the key points of his dream before they slipped back into dream-land.

They were quickly out of the house and on their way to the Grand Canyon where they were to meet the Onways for a hike to the bottom of the Canyon. The eastern sky was starting to brighten and Fredy could no longer resist intruding into Julian's thoughts. She asked, "Interesting dream?"

"Confusing dream. I blame you and your talk about artificial life. I had a dream about the waitress who you said was not a waitress."

"Oh. Her. Do you remember anything else about last night?"

"You tell me. In my dream, I was writing a story about femtobots."

"That sounds promising."

"It was not easy. Rose kept interrupting. She's so annoying."

"Don't criticize Rose. She is deserving of your compassion. She does the best she can with what she has. It is not easy being a pioneer. She was the first of her kind."

"The first famous writer for Second Contact?"  

"Not even close, but I suppose you don't know the history the magazine."

"No, I don't. I only discovered it two years ago." 

"I'm surprised that Rose did not help you with femtobots."

"If you look up 'surprise' in the dictionary, it says: 'Ambrose Quillion'."  

"You know, with out help from Rose, we never would have fallen in love."

"Really? I think for me it was love at first site. That first day when I found you in Boston."

"No. You just wanted to butter me up so that Second Contact would publish your goofy science fiction story."

"That's not true. You were strutting around in your little black dress and black boots. I was dazzled."

"You're just sucker for long blond hair. Speaking of which, how are things going for Tess?"

"Good. Her show just keeps running. Which should be a good thing, but she's getting bored and wants to move on to something else. By the way, she did not believe me when I told her that you are trying to get pregnant and have a calendar for tracking your ovulations."

"Tell Tess that I expect her to be at our wedding."

"I have. She'll try to be there. She pointed out that you don't have to be pregnant for us to get married."

"So your dream was really about Tess."

"No. I do still have dreams about her, but not last night. It was Rose. And Cyrano. And Marda's whole Stepford camera crew."

"Stepford camera?"

image source

"Did you ever read the novel 'The Stepford Wives'?"

"Oh. Well, that's pretty close. But first there should be the Stepford husband."

"Ya. You keep bring this back to me. But I'm too stupid to understand what you are trying to tell me."

"Use your science fiction imagination."

"In my dream, Rose and Cyrano were robots, pretending to be people."

"Why would a robot do that?"

"How could a robot do that. No robot is like Rose. Perfect right down to the individual hairs."

"There are robots and there are robots."

"Lyle's robots have computer chips for a brain, a bunch of motors, radar and cameras. Just a puppet with a battery."

"You just describes a model T Ford. Play the Sci Fi game. What will robots be like a hundred years from now?"

"Certainly not made of femtobots, whatever they are."

"Wow. You must have that time machine. You've seen the future."

"This is a silly game. Why can't you just tell me what you are trying to tell me."

"We're playing a game. A very sophisticated guessing game. You just have to assemble the puzzle pieces. Don't be so quick to give up. This is a long drive."

"What would you have me say?" Julian put the puzzle into the context of his own fiction. "That the Tyr could build a robot out of femtobots?"

 "Yes, that is a good idea. Too bad the Tyr exist only in your imagination."

"Ha! You've seen the videos of the Tyr that Marda made."

"Maybe you should write another Tyr story where you let the Architects play with femtobots. Don't they have interstellar space travel? Femtobots should be easy for them."

"So you are saying that aliens made Rose and Cyrano?"

"Well, why not. It certainly could not be done in Lyle's robotics lab."

"What, so Earth is a dumping ground for old unwanted robots, discarded by aliens?"

"That's pretty funny. The science fiction anthology series could use some funny episodes. Dumping Ground Earth."

"Maybe it is time travel. They are old robot, but they are from the far future, and they are very sophisticated. Indistinguishable from humans." Julian was trying to imagine how anything could function at the femto-scale. "It is all physically impossible... interstellar travel, time machines, femtobots."  

Fredy sighed. 

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION 

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