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Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY
IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I
generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family
rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write
down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote,
website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will
simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test
or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes
of them.
SF Trope: inside a
computer system
Current Event: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23343-interspecies-telepathy-human-thoughts-make-rat-move.html
Amelia Qasoori
curled her lower lip, tucking it under her teeth then tapped them as she stared
at the Apple 27 inch Cinema Display screen. She tapped another key on her
computer.
Artem Torres
tossed his backpack on the lab table, peeked over her shoulder then went to his
own computer and booted it up. His screen was much smaller however and there
were multiple images. All of the images were of rats.
Amelia glanced
over at him and wrinkled her nose and said, “I don’t know how you can stare at
those ugly things all day long.”
He smirked at her
and said, “I can open the cages and play with them if you’d like.”
“You’re both
obscene and disgusting at the very same instant,” she said, leaning closer to
her screen and tapping a section of an image. The screen was covered with tiny
squares.
“What’s even more
disgusting and obscene is that we’re trying to do the same thing with organic
and inorganic matter.”
Amelia nodded
slowly as she tapped another square then made an entry on an old-fashioned
yellow notepad with an even older-fashioned pencil. She made a few more notes,
then typed for several minutes. The images on the screen whirled wildly and
when they were done, Artem leaned back on his lab stool, looked at the image
and said, “I don’t see any difference.”
Amelia made a
raspberry. “That’s because you’re a wetwareologist. You people couldn’t feel
your way off a kindergartner’s graphing calculator.”
“That’s not true!
I use computer modeling all the time!” He waved at his smaller computer screen.
“Just because everything I do is reality instead of virtuality doesn’t mean
it’s not important.”
“I’m not talking
about ‘importance’ here, Art! I’m talking about relevance. What I do is
relevant. What you do is...cute in a sort of old-fashioned way.”
From behind them,
a stentorian voice spoke, “My two favorite high school geniuses continue to
banter mindlessly, ignoring my strict instructions to MELD the techniques and
technology to form something new.”
Artem and Amelia
jumped to their feet, spinning around. In unison they said, “Hello, Dr.
Willard.”
He nodded to them
and passed between them. He was tall. Unusually tall, well over two meters
tall. He patted both of them on their heads. “So, my tremendous twins, what do
you have for me today?”
“Look, Dr.
Willard, I can make a fine rat robot for you! There’s no need for...”
“Dr. Willard, if
you get me some really great tech who won’t talk back every time I ask for
something, I could have a ‘borg rat ready for you in two shakes of a…a...”
“A rat’s tail, Mr.
Torres? There’s no need for me to have a biological brain, Ms. Qasoori?” He
stood back and studied her screen. Then he stepped sideways and leaned forward
to study Artem’s screen. Straightening, he said, “What I need, dear pupils, is
a seamlessly integrated part organic-part inorganic creature to do a very, very
interesting job.” He favored each one with a cold glare, then left the lab,
adding without turning around, “A word from me can get you into the most select
graduate study programs in the world.” He stopped in the doorway, and still
without turning around, said, “A word form me can get you barred from the most
pathetic study programs in the world.”
Names: ♀
Australian (NSW), Pakistan; ♂ Russian, Spanish
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