PART THREE OF A FOUR PART PROMPT RESPONSE
Signed, Sealed, Delivered!
Annalise begins her journey in an unfamiliar story
Having been arrested and sent into the work, “Deviant Behaviours of the 21st Century” by Nigel Kraft, Annalise must survive Insertion and begin to unravel the mystery into which she has been launched.
The Signing — Part One
The Signer Seals the Deal — Part Two
Part Three: A crushing, crash course in a new environment
It was a bad dream of awesome proportions!
I appeared to be standing, feet firmly planted in a town or city of some description. There was nothing particularly weird about that except my head was in the clouds, surrounded by falling volumes — representations of olden-style books. I assumed they were mere apparitions as none seemed to hit me or cause injury as they fell past.
Somewhere, in the distance, I could hear canned applause and if I peered through the bright blue of the sky that surrounded me, I could see spectres; faces and eyes intently focused on my falling into and from nowhere.
Were these cyber images ghosts of faces now watching my enforced adventure?
I turned my head to see an enormous book embedded below and behind me — I assumed it was a representation of the story I had been deposited into.
Then a thought struck me like a proverbial punch to the midriff.
If I was being transmitted then my wrist communicator might well be receiving information from the dimension I had left.
As I reached to touch my communicator to test my theory, I began to experience a strange sinking feeling. The ground seemed to be rapidly rising to greet me; fear cramped my insides and I was sure I would lose control of my bodily functions
Terrifying sounds and unknown aromas surrounded me as I succumbed to an all-encompassing darkness.
I regained consciousness to the sound of an irrationally irritating hullabaloo.
Mechanical noises and impatient blasts filled the air and even though I appeared to be lying in some sort of cultivated area, the underlying noise of birds and animals was like something I had never heard.
Raising myself to a seated position, I saw a wonderful expanse of vivid green; grass, real by its feel.
Fauna in many forms was vibrantly enjoying the brightness of day and expressing its delight with a variety of sounds.
The mechanical, impatient blarts of sound, seemed to arise from a mass of machinery moving on a wide pathway bounding the green area. I realised with a rush of adrenalin that I was looking at motor vehicles, the stuff of old transcriptions and stories I had seen and read.
It was time, I knew, to assess my situation, and figure out who I was and what the story was I had been inserted into.
Gingerly, I attempted to stand but was overcome with a sense of great heaviness which gave me vertigo, sinking me straight back into the lush welcome of the green carpet.
It was a chore to breathe.
In a few moments of careful thought, I realised this must be the effects of no longer being exposed to the ambient care of the dome. Perhaps the perfection of environment provided by such protection explained the longevity of the citizens of my century.
I hoped I would adapt quickly as I had a great deal of work to do.
On examination, my body seemed to be youthful. I was still a girl, thankfully, but I felt younger than in my real life. Perhaps about mid-teens would be my best guess.
Gratitude swamped me as I realised I still possessed my memories and my persona did not feel foreign or altered in any way. From the little I could see of my body, I knew my appearance had changed but not hugely.
My biggest concern at this point was getting up to date with the story I now found myself part of, and ascertaining if the deviant behaviour so described in the story title referred to something unsavoury, not to be welcomed by someone as young as I portrayed.
That thought chilled me to my centre.
To acclimatize, I sought refuge by crawling, to sit beneath a gloriously spreading tree with roots that were bursting through the soil. I had never seen such a sight and wondered what else had been missing from the perfect structure of the new world from whence I had journeyed.
Drawing a labored breath of air heavy with the odour of soil and the natural aroma of decaying vegetation, which threatened to overwhelm my sensibilities, I cautiously attempted to activate my wrist device.
It wasn’t unresponsive!
For the merest of seconds, I watched a kaleidoscope of colours whirling across the vision pad, signs that it was attempting to function.
Then suddenly, I had a list of icons depicting my previously stored data. The book I had accessed in my home century, was available to me here!
Tentatively, I selected the book and watched with immense relief as it opened and allowed me to read the material in a hologram before my eyes. I prayed that no passer-by would see me and approach out of curiosity.
I knew this was technology not yet available to the masses at this time.
By the time I had read Nigel Kraft’s rather dry book about the development of artificial intelligence in the 21st Century, I was very puzzled and relieved to know that I was not about to suffer some dreadful attack by a deviant personality.
The only thing of any interest was Kraft’s discussion of AI becoming so powerful in future that it would be able to create imaginary worlds where people could pay to live within books as an interactive experience.
But what was my fate? There was no mention of a girl my age, nor a pretty parkland setting or anything vaguely resembling the situation I found myself in.
Had The Signer stuffed up? Again? This would certainly be a turn-up for the books, pun intended! If so, what story should I be in? This was not my intended destination, or was it?
The only way to find out was to find more writings by the mysterious Nigel Kraft.
I reached for my wrist device and stabbed again, hoping to call up new information but it was as I had feared. The communicator was not able to provide me with any information that was not already installed in its memory.
However, I still believed that it was somehow streaming my story to the future. If that was the case, the viewers were going to be sorely disappointed — I prayed that AI was not able to extract me from this situation.
Fortunately for me, I realised, that was highly improbable as nobody had ever made it back.
“Hello there!” called a rather cheerful voice.
My head snapped up in immediate preparedness for an attack. I was still concerned about deviant behaviour, it would seem.
“It’s beginning to get dark, you know. You really should be off the streets before curfew — no one likes to see people arrested just for sitting in a park, but you know how it is!”
Curfew! I had missed this in my studies of the 21st century! What the hell? I had nowhere to go!
“Oh dear,” I whispered, trying to raise myself from the dampness of the ground. “I seem to have lost my way. I don’t know where home is.”
I looked at the rather unruly man-boy standing before me. His face seemed kind and attentive but who could judge in these circumstances?
His hand reached out and I allowed him to steady me.
“Did you fall or something?” he asked. “Perhaps you have amnesia.”
I recalled my recent tumble through cyberspace and the great shrinking of Annalise Mason.
“Well, yes. I believe I did.” I rubbed convincingly at my head.
“You have a strange accent. You don’t seem to be from around here,” he noted.
“I don’t remember.” Milking the amnesia cover seemed a good solution for the time being.
“My name is Mike,” announced the youth, steering me by my elbow, out of the park and onto the side of the thoroughfare that had quietened considerably since my landing.
“I think mine is, Anna,” I whispered. “I don’t suppose you know where there is a book collection?”
“A book collection? I’m afraid you have me a bit confused.” Mike thought for a moment. “Oh, do you mean a library?”
“Yes, yes,” I confirmed in relief. “I must find a large library.”
“I guess we can do that. At least you will have a legitimate reason to be out after curfew. The library has a café so we can get something to eat!” Mike announced enthusiastically. “By that time, you might remember where you live and I can drive you home.”
Relief washed over me.
It seemed I had solved my immediate problems but I was growing more afraid by the minute that I was involved in something much more complicated than a simple account concerning the developing power of AI in the 21st century.
Parts One and Two of the Signing:
Sadie Seroxcat prompted with her poignant story:
Alan J. Schwarz treated us to his prompt response:
