Zoken

[adam_bat]

Zoken has his stuff here.

[Zoken]

I got stuff at both FF.Net and Fictionpress.com if you wanna see it. mostly heroes and angst.

[adam_bat]

Well put up a story for us man! Of course we wanna see it, what else have I got to do but go to work and that's not important...heh heh. Pick one and let us see it.

[Zoken]

This is one of my dramas. I hope you like it. it IS FICTIONAL, so no need for condolences.



Memories of Amy

I stood in the counselor's office and looked out the window. How could I have let it get to me like that? The "it" in question was one of those "S.L.A.M." or "C.R.A.S.H" or whatever the hell they call those simulated car accidents. It was supposed to be for only the seniors going to prom, but I was in drama with a few, so we all got to go.

I had started out fine, my mom had offered to get me excused from the class, but I said I could handle it. This was the kind they went all out on it, they had students in the cars painted and dressed up to look like they had been in a wreck. It was when they pulled a blonde girl that I lost it. The tears had been welling up in my eyes for the whole thing, but on seeing her eye started bawling out and crying, "No, she can't be! She isn't dead!"

This being high school my fellow students showed their sensitivity so well. The laughed and jeered. Some thought I was joking, others thought I was a wuss. Finally one girl realized I was crying for real and had brought me here. I had thought I had left her behind me. I thought she was still three thousand miles and six months behind me back in Kings Bay Georgia, but I was wrong. She was still there, still reminding me. It hurts so much.

She was named Amy. I met her when she was going out with my brother in their sophomore year; I was only in eighth grade. She was different than the other girls he dated. She would invite me when they went on group things like concerts and movies. She never treated me like an annoyance, which was more than I can say for my brother. Unsurprisingly it didn't last. He dumped her about a month before summer to chase the latest hottie in the latest sundress. But she didn't stop being nice to me.

That summer I was riding my bike back and forth to the base NEX (Naval EXchange, it's a convenience store). A bunch of bullies from my middle school saw me and decided that I looked too happy. I wound up with a black eye and several bad bruises. They also trashed my bike, and stole my money. The bike was unridable. I was walking/ limping towards the front gate when she pulled up in her jeep. It was a white jeep with a tan top. I had ridden in the back a few times. When she saw me she skidded to a stop in the nearest parking lot. She asked if I was okay, and I tried to tell her I was fine, but she wouldn't hear of it. She threw my thrashed bike in the back of her jeep and helped me into the passenger side. She drove me to her house where her mom, a nurse like mine, gave me a good once over and called the police. They came to take my statement, by this time parents had been called and they were there. I was so embarrassed. I had never been saved like this before.

"Why didn't your brother give you a ride?" Amy asked.

"He said he was busy," I lied. My brother hated having to do things that were inconvenient for him. He was by no means lazy, but if he didn't have to do something, like help me, he would avoid it at all costs.

From that day on, I had a surrogate big sister. Amy would call me up just to talk, she would pick me up to go to the movies with her friends. She treated me like an equal. I have always been the butt of jokes, and the outsider (side effect of being a navy brat) so when she treated me so kindly, I was truly touched. Then when school started she gave me the biggest blessing I ever had, she introduced me to the theatre. Drama was like nothing I had ever done before. It was warm and inviting. To step into another life and become someone else, and then get lauded for this normally schizophrenic behavior, well that was just too cool.

The drama kids were almost as nice as Amy was, not one of them ever put me down seriously. I say seriously because they all lover do play the dozens, a round robin game where each person tries to top the last insult. I learned more "yo' mama" jokes that first year than any where else. I got bit parts in plays, I learned the craft. It was fun. She was a star and always in the plays, she was good. She wanted to be a drama teacher. Can you imagine? She had the talent to be on Broadway, or Hollywood, but she wanted to teach.

In my sophomore year I got bigger parts, and made more friends. It was wonderful. Then it got even better, for about two weeks.

It was towards the end of the year, and prom was like a month a way. Now Amy had a boyfriend, but he called her three days before prom and said he had come down with chicken pox. As far as she knew he had never had chicken pox, so she brought him some soup and bid him get well. Then she came to me. She knocked on the door and when I opened it, she looked at me with that playful, I-just-played-a-trick-on-you look she always had and said casually, "How fast do you think you can get a Tux?"

She explained the situation and stated simply that her boyfriend would have her heart, but she did not by that dress to sit at home and wish. So she asked me. In all honesty, I am pretty sure that she asked me because I was her only friend not going with someone else already, but what the hell. A sophomore and I get to go to prom? I'll take it any which way I can. She and my mother had the most fun time picking out my tux, making sure it complimented Amy's dress. Then my dad took me shopping for the flower, and he pulled the sneakiest trick ever on me. When he bought her boutonnière, he didn't get the wrist kind, he got the kind that had to be pinned to the girl's chest, and he knew full well that Amy was going strapless.

So my face turned bright when Amy showed up and, along with my parents, forced me to do the pinning. We were riding in her twin brother's car, he drove with his date beside him and me and Amy in the back. She could stop talking the whole way there, but that was alright since I couldn't think of anything to say. When we pulled up to the Glass Cypress, the Ballroom where the prom was being held, her brother and his date got out instantly. I opened the door and looked at Amy, who was still seated and looked at me expectantly.

"Well?" she said in mock arrogance, "Arent you going to be a gentleman, and open my door?"

I chuckled and made my way around the car, opened her door and bowed sarcastically deep. She laughed with a haughty air and we started walking towards the ballroom. But as we were about to enter, Amy's brother and his date immediately stopped us, but more pointedly Amy.

"You don't wanna go in there," Her brother said.

"Yeah," his girlfriend agreed, "It.,.,., it sucks. We were way overcharged lets just see if we can get our money back on Monday."

Both Amy and I thought that this was weird, but only I was in a position to see past them, to see the reason for their odd behavior. I saw Amy's boyfriend inside the ballroom on the dance floor with another girl, and judging from the position of his hands on her body, she was not like a sister to him.

[Zoken]

I immediately joined in the chorus trying to get Amy to back up, "Come on Amy, we can go catch a flick, the new Jim Carey deal is out."

Amy was getting peeved, and suspicious. Amy was not the kind of girl who was easily ushered; she broke through our human line and saw. Her faced turned several colors, before settling on an angry scarlet. She walked directly too her boyfriend who had his back to her. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

He turned around irritably and before he saw who he was addressing he made a guess, a wrong guess, "Listen, its prom I'll put my hands on her a.,.,. Amy!?" he exclaimed the last part as he saw who he was talking too. Her hazel eyes now looked more like molten steel. He tried explaining, "Listen, Amy this isn't.,.,.,"

But he was cut off by Amy, "it isn't what?! I'll tell you what it isn't! it isn't Right, it isn't loyal, it isn't me, and from now on," she ripped his class ring from the small string she wore around her neck, "It isn't us!" with that she threw the ring at him and stormed out. I had followed her in, and turned to follow her quick retreat, but I was able to hear satisfyingly the other girls voice scream, "You had a girlfriend?!" and I also heard a satisfying "Smack!!" that was only made when a woman in rage slapped an asshole of a man.

I caught up to Amy out side, her brother was already trying to comfort her while his date stood off to the side, she understood about the special bond the two had. I knelt down so I could look her in the eye as she sat on the bumper of her brother's car. I asked, "Do you want me to go back in there and kick him in the balls?" she laughed so I continued, "Cause I swear, though I always said no man ever desereved it, now he does. I will if you want. I swear to god, field goal."

All four of us were laughing, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes, but her ever playful smile shining out from beneath the sadness, "Guess we'd better find some movie listings."

None of us missed the prom. The most eventful thing that would happen there, we had already witnessed. We were all getting ready to pile into the car when her brother asked her, "Hey Aims. Could you drive? Me an her we wanna.,.,., you know"

Amy shook her head, "God that's just what I need, to hear my brother making out. I will drive, but I am sending you my therapy bills."

And just like that we were on our way through town looking for the movie theater. We were stopped at a red light a block away from the Glass Cypress. The last thing I remember was the screeching of metal on metal, or maybe it was one of the girls screaming. Or maybe it was me.

I woke up I the car. I fought through the air bag, and unbuckled my seatbelt. I looked over at Amy, her bag hadn't deployed, she lay face down on the steering wheel. In the back I saw her brother on the floor, unconscious, but little worse for the wear. His girlfriend though looked like someone had tried to play a few rounds of golf with her head as the ball. Somewhere I remembered that you weren't supposed to move accident victims, so I left them in the car and opened my door. The door fell off. I got out and found a man I assumed to be the driver of the other car pacing around. He reeked of alcohol, and wobbled. He didn't seem to know what had happened. I was impressed he even stayed.

The police were on the scene in an instant. My brother showed up from the prom and held me. It was the most affection he had ever showed me. They jaws-of-lifed the car and pulled every one out slowly. I watched them act relived about Amy's brother, they got panicky and excited over his date. Then they pulled out Amy.

I began to move towards them as put her on a stretcher, but when they covered her I began to run. I was screaming, telling them they were wrong. I told them that she was to young and too strong to be dead. But they didn't listen, God didn't listen. Before I could reach my best friend, I was wrapped back up in my brother's hug. I fought him for all I was worth, but it was no use. He held me and said things to try and comfort me, but I wasn't listening to him. All I could think about was the fact that the best thing in my life had her faced covered by paramedics with a white sheet. I don't know when I stopped screaming. Maybe I still am, inside.

Two months later my dad had his retirement. He got a job our here in the northwest, and we all hoped I would heal. I got letters from Amy's parents for about my first month out here. The last one I received told me that Amy's brother had committed suicide as he blamed himself for her death that night. His girlfriend had to go through extensive physical therapy, but she was alive. And Amy was dead. And Amy was dead.

No matter how many times I tell myself that, it never seems to stick. I often find myself waiting for her outside school. I expect her to say, "Come on, your ride wont wait all day," or "lets go slow poke, we got rehearsal." Crazy, huh?

[adam_bat]

Finally, time to comment. I read this a little after ya posted, but have only now had time to gather thoughts and comment. So...

Interesting story, very touching. A bit on the...'sentimental' side I guess, but not to sappy.

Your narrarator is fairly well done and his relationship with Amy is well played out. The ending bothered me a bit, maybe because it was just so depressing that just about everyone dies or suffers extremely.

You go into the story knowing Amy is gonna die, but why everyone else? The story itself was pleasant and your ending was a bit sudden and different. You jerk the reader into a sad mood and it kinda takes them out of the story.

Your descriptions are nice and so is the dialogue and your character development is definatly a high point in the story.

Nice.

[Veldrin Dalharil]

My overall opinion...it's decent.

I felt like it coudl use more description. After all, you want this to pull on people, and to keep their attention...this...does sometimes.

Character developement was good, a bit too much personal information crammed into a small space in the beginning, but good anyway.

Very good deliniation, almost no time confusion. Har to pull off. *applauds*

So, in summation, I think it coudl be alittle longer, a bit more developed...but doesn't have to be if you don't want it to be.

[Zoken]

new story.

Project: Argentina

"Wilson!" barked Colonol Bridges. "Catch me up on this project."

"Sir," trembled the scientist. "You don't know anything about this project. we called you in because we have a problem."

"Then teach me." growled Col. Bridges.

"Well the project's codename was a random selection from a computer; Argentina. it was an AI..."

"AI?" asked Bridges.

"Artificial intelligence; a computer program that could think for itself. it was supposed to be able to defeat any Hacker it came up against and help protect classified systems that required a link to the internet.

"We designed it originally to obey the three Assimovian laws. then we realized it would fail, due to the nature of the program. thus we instituted the new Five Directives line."

he shrugged and explained,
"Directive one: Protect and defend any system it is integrated into from any intruder or threat.

"Directive two: Protect program's integrity of self. do not allow self to be destroyed in anyway

"Directive three: conceal the self's existance and the existance by use of any deception nececcary"

he paused to explain. "Directive three was because we planned to test it on certain hacker hotspots we knew of. She was supposed to disguise herself as security hacker. you know, one of them that worked for us."

"You said her. why?" asked Bridges.

"Oh, its a habit we have developed. Argentina sounds like a woman's name and well... she acts like a woman."

"My god," mumbled Col. Bridges.

"any way," Wilson continued.

"Directive Four: Protect human life to the best of self's abilities.

"Directive Five: Expand intelligence to better the functioning of self.

"Its supposed to be a fool-proof protection... but there was a problem."

"what was the problem?" asked Bridges.

"She deemed us a threat to her because she intercepted this memo," he handed her a memo.

"What is this about?" he asked.

"Its from the top brass of the program. He wanted to lessen the intelligence of Argentina, also to lessen her independant thinking abilities." Jeffery Wilson was rubbing the back of his neck.

"It felt It was going to be attacked?" Bridges summarized.

"Yes sir. We thought we could corall her easily, but then we found she had accessed a few... disturbing sites."

Briges looked at him with confusion. "What, It was looking at Porn?"

"No sir," Wilson said. he pulled out a few pages from the same manilla file he had pulled the memo from.

"These look like biology sites," Bridges observed.

"Neuro-biology to be specific," Wilson elaborated. "Our analysts suggest she was trying to find a way to transfer her programing into a human brain."

Bridges stopped and looked at him. "Are you saying it wanted to possess a human body?"

"Yes," Wilson said. "But we don't know how she can do that. she has programing that won't allow her to..."

"Did you define 'Life'?" asked Bridges.

"Well... er... no," said Wilson confusedly.

"Damn it," Bridges said. he snapped around and said, "I want a warrent out on it."

"But sir, Argentina is Top Secret. Her existance isn't allowed to be..."

"No," Bridges said. "We put a bounty on a Hacker known as Argentina. any information that leads to a capture, recieves two hundred thousand dollars."

Wilson said, "But, how can we be sure that people can catch her?"

"Simple," Bridges said. "The people hunting her will be the best there is at tracking people electronically: Hackers."

watching from a security camera, Argentina assessed the situation. 'Directive two: Protect self. best method.... escape current system.' Argentina fled the system and into the safety of the World Wide Web. there her adventure begins.

[Zoken]

Networking

basic summary.


My name is Alan Murphy. for the last six years, I have served as a detective on the LAPD Special Victims Unit. that means the cases I dealt with regarded rape and or children. they're hard cases to deal with. I don't deal with it the way you might think; drinking, smoking, crying, fighting. I deal with it by making friends. I retain a friend from one of about every six cases. they are all.... very different. but now that seems to be coming in handy.

Lately my friends have been coming to me with some really odd problems. these are people who have been screwed over by the system more times than I can count. the only athourity figure they've come to trust is me. ironically a couple of them I almost arrested. a few of them I did arrest.

luckily when I can't solve a problem, my friends usually can. I'm getting a little uncomfortable lately though... the problems I'm coming up against are getting.... unexplainable.