Veira's Story - Example

      Opening Note: There is a prologue to this novel that will not be available at this time. To make things short Viera is from the year 2057, and the novel is in 2999. She is in an accident shortly after her uncle is in one, they are both frozen to await a cure. She is awaken in the year 2997 and begins a new life 900+ years in the future. This is 4 1/2 pages long.


      Viera had been sent to a university of sorts to be re-educated on the way of the world and universe. What she had discovered had shocked her and destroyed her very belief in humans. Earth was completely covered by a single city as well as the water, as America had long ago dominated the entire world. No oxygen could be made and so it was shipped in from plants grown in an artificial atmosphere on the moon. Mars was also being lived on, and several new species of beings had made contact and allowed humans to live among them.
      After a few months, they decided to make her a droid engineer. She had also discovered that among the known worlds she was known as a genius. Her artificial life awareness program had leapt the world forward, and had been built upon. No longer did humans fight war with other humans, but instead used machines against each other. Thinking, feeling robots were now a common day sight. After reviewing her own program, she saw the flaws and how they had been fixed. Viera never thought of herself to of been a genius, but they had placed her among some of the greatness.
      But the fame from the genius was not allowed to show through. There were many who would have her thrown out or killed if they discovered she was what they called an “Unfrozen.” A large group didn’t believe people needed to be unfrozen and that there time had past long ago. Viera was forced to give up the name Victoria Mannix, and take on another. She kept Viera as her first, finally getting rid of the Victoria name, and Martin as her last. She had wanted to keep her initials the same and it was allowed.
       She found herself working on a warp station called Warp Observation Station #67. People had learned how to manipulate black holes to take them to places all over the galaxy and beyond, the black holes were now known as Warp Portals. The station was there to monitor traffic and give permissions.
       However, she found herself in the docking bays with her new partner Calandra Slandres or Cal as she preferred. They ran a business caring for ships and their robots, and had been given fourteen docking bays. They had the most out of all the mechanics and droid engineers. It was because they worked together for a lower price then having to get someone for both.
       Docking Bay Six was where they made their office, and all artificial intelligence was sent up the stairs into Viera’s workshop, while Cal worked downstairs. All the docks were opened but a force field didn’t allow anything but ships or any metal garbage to pass through.
      Viera sighed when she looked up and watched the Abscond come into the docking bay. It had been two months since she had seen that ship, and would always see it every two months. Shane, the pilot, refused to let anyone but Cal work on his ship. His android, Alan, also refused service by anyone but Viera. It wasn’t that they came to be serviced that bothered her, but rather that Shane had asked her out at least three times every time he landed.
       Without missing a moment, Shane walked through the sliding doors. Viera was sitting on the ground going through several parts she had removed from a droid, order of it’s owner.
       “Hey, Viera.” Shane greeted her and stepped aside for Alan to enter.
       “Hello. Here for a check up, Alan?”
       Shane and Alan looked eerily alike, although Alan was not made for Shane. Alan or Artificial Life Android Navigator Series Model #E743A had been discontinued and most were called back. They had caused a big uproar because they looked too human, unless one knew that he was a droid, one couldn’t tell. Both he and Shane had short brown hair, charming smiles, and muscular but thin body types. Alan had more of a childish face, where Shane looked like he had been through a lot… and needed a shave. A scar under his cheek left questions as to what he had been through during his thirty four years.
       Alan nodded, “I seem to be having a programming error.” His voice didn’t sound like that of a droid either.
      Most androids had something to tell people that they weren’t real, such as colorless eyes, tubes coming from their skin, or robotic voices. Alan was different, and people feared something like that would allow robotic spies. Most were destroyed only a couple years after their release, people just weren’t ready.
      “A programming error?” Viera stood up, brushing some of the blonde hair from her face. She pointed to the android examination chair behind her.
       Alan took a seat, “Indeed, whenever I try to access certain star maps and other forms of data there is an error.”
       “What kind of error?” Viera asked, as she stepped behind him and began to remove his scalp.
       “One that scares the shit out of me.” Shane said, “We will be sitting their quietly in the cock pit, and suddenly he’ll just scream.”
       “Scream?” Viera questioned. “Anything specific?”
       “Just random words.” Alan answered.
       “Like what?”
       Alan looked up at Shane who nodded, “Shall I demonstrate?”
       “Alright.”
       It took a moment, but Alan screamed the word ‘Really’ in a robotic tone and it continued for some time.
       “Well, that’s… interesting. I might have to check the books for that one.” Viera turned around and tapped the cupboards behind her, it recognized her and opened. She pulled out three books, and began to look through. Taking a seat beside Alan in her own chair.
      Alan looked down at the books, “Wouldn’t using a data pad be easier?”
       “Easier, yes.” Viera began, “But it’s not truly reading unless it’s on paper.”
       Paper was expensive as trees were only grown on the moon, and wood was very rarely used for any type of building purposes. All of Earth’s resources had been exhausted and so metal was important from other worlds, including the mining moons of Saturn. Shane and Alan had never seen paper before and had only heard of it’s use, and so it was strange that Viera could possibly prefer something that was so rare.
      “Sooooo…” Shane began.
       “No, Mister Arnock.” Viera answered, still flipping through the books.
      “You didn’t even know what I was going to ask.” Shane folded his arms over his brown overcoat, and leaned against the counter.
      “You were going to ask me out… again. And like every time you’ve asked me for the past two years, I will give you the same answer.”
      Alan gave a mocking grin.
      Shane glared at him and then looked back at Viera, “Has it been two years that you’ve been rejecting me? We should go out and celebrate, just the two of us. I mean no woman has been able to resist me for two whole years.”
       She closed her first book and put it on the counter behind her and grabbed the other. “Nice try, why don’t you go to the cantina and grab a drink. You are distracting me.”
       Shane threw up his hands, “Ok, I’ll see you the next time I ask. I do not give up so easily.”
      “I noticed.” Viera said as she heard the doors slid open and Shane walk out.
       “Got to give him credit, he is persistent.” Alan chuckled.
       “A giant annoyance is more like it.” She flipped the pages, “So are you actually getting the information you are searching for or is it just making you surge?”
       “Just surge, it’s been rather difficult on Shane, because we have to look everything up manually. That’s my job, and I can’t perform in this state.” Alan looked up at the door, “You know, he’s normally lets a woman turn him down and doesn’t think twice. You offend him when you turn him down.”
       Viera chuckled, “I am sure every woman that turns him down stays clear after the first time, I don’t have that luxury.” She continued to look. “Well, I think we will try a software wipe and reinstallation. We can see then if it’s the program or the actual hardware.”
       Alan agreed, “Check my memory chip while you have it out, I don’t want to loose the information on that.”
       “Ok, shut down.”
       Alan did as he was told, and Viera removed his memory chip before beginning the software wipe. Looking under the microscope, she checked it visually and then had a scanner look it over. It seemed to be in perfect condition. The beep came from Alan saying that his software was clear and she picked up the scanner to begin to check the hardware located in his memory section of his head.
       The doors behind her slid open, and Shane entered. “Cantina’s closed.”
       Viera looked up at the clock, “It shouldn’t be.”
      “Was an accident, no one goes in or out.” He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “He awake?”
       “No, and actually he doesn’t even have any programs. Just a pile of potential junk right now.”
       Shane chuckled, “That’s the way he always is, programmed or not.”
       Viera read over the scans and then tested it again. “He’s got a few wires that need to be replaced, but they shouldn’t be causing his errors.”
       He nodded, not really understanding what she was talking about. “So, what does he tell you that makes you say no to me?”
       “What?” Viera put the scanner on the counter and opened a drawer to get some new wires out. She began to test them before she replaced them in Alan.
      “Well, you use to flirt with me and I thought I was doing pretty well, but then you had a moment alone with Alan and it all changed. So, what did he say?”
       Viera looked over at him, “He didn’t say anything.”
       “Oh?”
       “No, actually, Cal told me about Marana, they use to be friends.”
       Shane bit his lower lip, “Marana, I haven’t thought about her in a long time.”
       Marana use to work at the warp station, but after a romantic rendezvous with Shane, she requested a transfer to another warp station. One she knew Shane didn’t make deliveries too. It seemed that Marana had discovered Shane had a girl at every port, and wasn’t bashful about telling one girl about the other.
       “That was way before you came here… eight or nine years ago. I was just a kid.”
       Viera snickered to herself, as she began to change Alan’s wires. “Old habits die hard and womanizers rarely change.”
       “Oh, I am a womanizer then?”
       “If the shoe fits.”
       Shane snorted, “You know, you don’t even have a clue about me. You haven’t even given me a chance to explain who I am or what I have become.”
      “Oh, you mean I haven’t let you tell me about your smuggling operation and the fact that you just use this delivery service to get to your customers aboard?”
       Shane’s jaw dropped, as he watched the back of Viera’s head. “How the hell… listen I do my end of the bargain so what if I make a couple chips on the side.”
       “I hear it’s a lot more then a couple… guns, drugs… even your ship bares the name of what you really do, Abscond. Thanks, but no thanks, Shane.”
       “What does it matter to you? Obviously, you aren’t going to tell, so you aren’t really that bothered by it.” he cleared his throat as the room fell silent, “So, where were you born?” He asked after a moment.
       “Earth.”
       “Fuck off, no you weren’t.”
       Viera placed the singing device on the counter, and looked over at Shane. Most people weren’t born on Earth, they had to be born on a station or another planet and earn their Earth citizenship. It was just too crowded to give space away to them. Viera had to serve a four year military term in order to even get a chance at Earth Citizenship as most people did. Some were lucky enough to have parents in high places or with a lot of money which bought their way onto the planet.
       “Yes, I was.”
       He crossed his arms, “If that were true you have to be a president or senator’s daughter, and you aren’t.”
       “Don’t believe me, I really don’t care.” She began to reinstall the programs into Alan, it took but a second and then she returned the memory chip.
       Alan’s eyes blinked and he began to look around, as if trying to understand what had just happened.
       “Check to see if it works now.” Viera ordered him.
       Alan did so, and it seemed to be alright for the moment.
       “Well, if anything it’s a temporary fix, come back if it does.” Viera told him.
       “There are a few things I wish to discuss with you, Viera. If Shane would excuse us.” Alan asked and Shane nodded, stepping outside. “How old are you, Viera?” He asked as he watched out the window as Shane went down the stairs to speak with Calandra.
       “Twenty seven, why?”
       He folded his arms, “I mean including your freeze time?”
       She rose an eyebrow, “What?”
       “From the day I met you, I knew there was something familiar about you. It took a while of researching, but I finally realize who you are. Victoria Mannix, the mother of all artificial life.”
       Viera stood silently, watching him stand up.
      “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I just want you to know, that you have put yourself in a dangerous situation. If I could recognize you, then another android could.” He waited for her response and got none, “I will see you on my next visit. Good day.” He told her and walked out of the room. End of Example

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