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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.
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: “In
1953, Isaac Asimov published an article titled ‘Social Science Fiction’ in Modern
Science Fiction. In that article he stated that every science fiction plot
ultimately falls into one of three categories: Gadget, Adventure, or Social.”
This week: “Adventure: The invention is used as a dramatic prop. It may
be the solution to a problem, or it may be causing the problem itself, but the
main focus is on the caper and how the invention's presence helps or hinders
it.”
Current Event: http://news.yahoo.com/astronauts-poised-second-spacewalk-repair-station-020420313.html
Keven Mean floated
free of the International Space Station and turned so that he could look down
on the BA 330 module that had just been connected.
Beside him,
following NASA protocol, his fellow cadet Brooklyn Kukk floated. She said,
“They say it’s haunted.”
“What’s that
supposed to mean?” Keven asked. He was self-conscious of his Brazilian accent
and tried to imitate a Midwestern American one in his English.
“You must have
heard about the accident when they were putting on the finishing touches down
on Earth?”
“Accident?”
“Yeah,” she said,
stopping to breathe for a few moments and move closer to the module. “They were
working inside and a section of the floor collapsed – not that it would do
anything like that out here in micrograv – but on Earth I guess it was a big
deal. Killed him in a freaky way, too.”
Keven jetted
forward, pushing his tether out of the way. Behind them, two regular crew of
the ISS monitored their work. It was a simple maneuver – attaching a UHF
antenna to a socket on the BA 330. Nothing could go wrong. He focused. Brooklyn
made him nervous. Aside from the fact that she seemed to like him and was
always putting her hand on him, she was also very dramatic. He wasn’t much,
despite the reputation of his fellow Brasilias. His parents had been masters at
hiding everything – their anger, their joy, their divorce, when they gave him
to a state-run orphanage.
“You ever see that
old movie, ‘Gravity’?” Brooklyn said suddenly.
Over their
headsets, one of the crew said, “This is López, focus on your work, trainees.”
“I am,” Keven said.
López
continued, “Good job, Mean. But just to calm your fears, the Skysweeper Act has
done a good job of clearing out all the junk floating around out here.”
“What about the
robots themselves?” Brooklyn said as they moved toward the socket. The antennae,
delivered – ironically, Keven thought – by a robotic maintenance robot about an
hour earlier, floated on its own tether nearby.
“As far as anyone
has been able to tell,” López said with a laugh, “There have been no rogue AIs
wandering near-Earth space preparing to rain a hail of death down on the
governments of the planet.”
Brooklyn gasped
then said, “You’ve seen ‘Skies Of Death’?”
López said, “It’s how we
pass our nights and days here.”
“So there’s no
chance that an AI could spontaneously become an intelligence?”
“This is the
universe you’re talking about – there’s no assurances to apply for, none
given.”
“So...”
López cut her off,
“You have a job to do, Kukk. Please proceed.”
She snorted and
jetted forward. As she did, she muttered, “This was supposed to be an
adventure. I haven’t seen anything adventurous since I signed the contract…”
The edges of
Keven’s helmet abruptly turned red, flashing on and off and a keening sound
filled his headphones.
Names: ♀Canada (P.E.I.),
Estonia ; ♂ Aruba, Brazil
(Divine)
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