THE AI
It was 12 o clock in the night, there was complete silence in Gim-Iseul's house. Empty bear cans were lying on the floor. Her mini study desk was covered with chocolate wrappers. Her laptop was open. And she had laid her head beside it. She was tired of trying to write a bum ass story.
"The last day to submit for the contest is on 29th September and I came to know about it on 13th June. I have already wasted 10 days of my useless life by doing nothing. If I win that contest then my Life will be great but I don't have any ideas anymore. I probably just don't deserve to be a good writer." She grumbled to herself. From inside her computer interface, Miss Polly was listening to her. She felt a little bad hearing her down to earth words. So, she also started looking for ways to help her.
After squeezing her brain's juice for about 20 minutes. She finally found a way to help her. She came out of her computer's screen and threw one of those chocolate wrappers, aiming at her head. As soon as it hit her. Iseul turned her head to look at the screen. Little Miss Polly went inside the interface of her computer again. That's why she couldn't find anyone there. She did this about 4 times, which scared Iseul to death. She thought it might be a side effect of drinking 3 bear cans at a time. So, she closed her laptop and went straight to bed to take a rest.
"Oh, holy shit she turned off her computer. How am I going to help her now." Polly grumbled to herself. "Umm... Miss Polly, what are you doing here...staring at this blank screen. And meanwhile Peter arrived.
(The thing is, when Iseul opens her computer, that door way flashes automatically but when the laptop is turned off. That doorway also closes and it turns into a complete blank screen ).
"I'm not in such a good mood right now Peter..." she said with a sigh. And suddenly she started screaming at the screen which frightened Peter. "Um...Miss Polly, can you tell me what's going on here." he asked in a trembling voice. "Nothing and I know you won't be able to find a solution to this problem, so leave me alone." She cried again.
"Okay, but can you atleast tell me why you're in such a bad mood?" he shuddered.
"Can't you just let me sit here alone like this for a few more hours. I'm trying to figure out some way to give her some ideas to write our story. She needs to complete it before September 29 to enter that webnovel contest. But she doesn't have anymore ideas left. She won't be able to pay her bills then. And I'm afraid, she might stop writing our story midway. Then our story will remain in completed and no one will care to read us. Which simply means that... then we will be of no priority." She said all this in one breath, and her spit was falling on Peter's face as she was screaming.
"Oh so you...want to help her find ideas. You should have told me about it earlier, I know a way." He said with a smile.
"She has turned off her laptop, she's not online anymore. Then how can you find a way out." "Umm Miss Polly you trust me...right?" She asked Polly looking directly into her eyes, due to which her face turned red and she blushed. "Of course... you're my only friend here." She replied, looking away. Seeing her like this, the boy also blushed and kept his distance from her.
"Ah...hmm, follow me now," he said, clearing his throat. and went ahead? They both moved out of their hometown, which was the write up world. Peter then took Polly to a large door. which was sealed. And it was written on it that 'Keep your distance and do not enter this door'. There was also a danger sign. Thus, it frightened both Polly and Peter. "Hey, Peter are you sure this is the place that can help us reach Iseul." Polly asked. "Yeah, of course, it's only Miss. Katy who can help us now," he said in a trembling voice.
"Miss Katy?"
"Um...yeah, she's an artificial intelligence. So, she can control whatever she wants. Let's go inside," he then used his ID card to unlock the door and looked inside to confirm whether everything was fine or not.
"What is it? Why does this place look so dark, and scary? Does she really live here? Wow, that's awful." Peeking inside, Polly shouted from behind Peter. "Don't scare me like that Miss Polly...you'll give me a heart attack." He said, placing his hand on his chest, and took a deep breath. "Okay sorry, let's go inside," she answered slowly.
They entered the room without making any noise. But unfortunately Polly touched a red laser-beam. After a brief silence, an alarming buzzer started ringing inside that room. It said "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!". "Peter, what the hell is going on?" She got scared. "Oh...no, no one can save us now!" Peter shuddered. He grabbed Polly's hand and ran towards the entrance. He was about to reach the door, but suddenly it closed by itself.
"Intruder Alert" said a robotic voice from behind them. When they turned they found a floating computer. It looked really cool but it also seemed to be in a very bad mood.
"Umm...Peter Just a quick question...why is its face so red?" Polly whispered in Peter's ear. " "That's because it thinks we're intruders and that's a bad sign," he whispered back. And suddenly on the count of 3. Lasers started raining on them and those laser beams were quite dangerous. They damaged every surface they touched, Polly and Peter both jumped and began running. And did whatever they could to avoid the laser beam, but the computer didn't stop. It was about to shoot a strong laser towards them. That's when "Miss Katy, it's me Peter. I came here the previous day. I needed some information about my city as I'm new here." Peter said, showing his ID card." Verifying Users Identity (Verified) " Saying this the computer cooled down and its screen turned white. "ouff..." Peter sighed in relief.
"So, how can I help you sir?" asked Miss Katy. "Umm...yeah..what I want...umm" He trembled because he didn't know what to ask so he gestured to Polly to ask a question. "Umm... yeah, I just wanted to know if there's any other way to enter the real world from this computer. If the gateway to that world is closed." She asked this question in one breath.
"No, there is no way to enter that world. And if you have found a way to enter the real world, it means that an emotional connection has formed between you and the computer's owner. The door way you are talking about is the only one through which you can enter that world and interfere in her life," Miss Katy's words really disappointed Polly. Seeing her like this, Peter also felt sorry for her.
"So can you find something for us on something called the Internet," Peter asked.
"Sure, what do you want to search for?" Miss Katy queried.
"Okay, so please search 'how do you come up with the best idea to continue an unfinished novel? And make an interesting story that can grab the reader's attention?' " Peter said.
" Okay sir!"
Polly was really surprised to see her questions being solved so easily. She didn't know about the internet before as she was a new member there. AI found many ways to come up with some creative ideas to write good stories. And there it also found the blog of an anonymous author. His user ID was your writing buddy. The title of the blog post said 'To help you keep writing your novel if you get stuck somewhere'. There they found some key points like:-
1) Introducing new characters to the readers.
2) Create a unique and exciting event between the hero and his life.
3) Re-read the gist of your story to create suspense.
4) Focus on the main character's goal and much more.
5) Add some goofy romance.
But the thing that won Miss Polly's heart was the first point about introducing readers to new characters. She wanted to make a bunch of new friends. Because she only had one friend, Peter. So, her eyes lit up because that was the thought she was thinking about. Peter was also delighted to see her so alive again and thought they might have the same choice but "so..." as he was about to say something.
"So, we'll go with point no. 1, which is to add a new character." Polly interrupted. It really broke Peter's heart to pieces as he wanted to go with the 5th option. Which was about adding some goofy romance between the main characters. "Peter, were you saying something?" After completing her statement she asked him looking at his expressionless face. "No...nothing," he replied with a sigh.
"But we can't go to the outside world, because now her laptop is off," she frowned. And looking at the disappointed look on her face, the AI said, "No, there is a way you can go to the outside world even if the computer is turned off but..."