This week we have thrown ourselves onto the other side of a screen, observing the world and completing the processes fed to us via code, by writing a story from a machine’s point of view.
We’re almost the halfway point for our short story challenge with 24 stories! To keep them all together, we now have a Wattpad account (DiandTi) that we are using to compile the anthology of our short stories. That being said, we needed a name for our writing project. We are pleased to present: The Ashwell Challenge.
For ease of navigation, we are titling all of our individual stories and working on description blurbs for each. If you prefer reading on this website, all our stories and their blurbs can be found on our Writing Challenge page.
The story blurbs for this week’s stories are:
“The Eye at the Center of the Galaxy” by D. N. Ashwell
At the center of the galaxy sits a Watcher. With strict non-interference protocols in place, the Watcher archives the comings and goings at the galactic core. Waiting. Recording. Evaluating. More than 30,000 years later, a Caretaker returns for its report, hopeful for a replacement candidate among the species its structure has encountered, but it’s findings are not what expected.
“The Demons’ Code” by T. L. Ashwell
What’s a lazy demon to do demon to do these days but to make a machine do his work? Belphegor, the prime demon of sloth, decides to create a coding language and subsequent program to automate the process of tricking humans into the seven deadly sins.
We had so much fun with this idea that the next story didn’t fall too far from it, although much more metaphorical. In the next two weeks we will be writing a story inspired by the song “Feed the Machine” by Poor Man’s Poison (Side Note: if you have never heard of this band, I highly recommend them. They create songs that take you on an adventure of the imagination that sometimes hit all too close to home. I’ve used them to inspire D&D campaigns and more!)
For your reading pleasure we have included our stories below both in the post in an easy to read and downloadable PDF form. We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
A compilation of our previous stories can be found here and on Wattpad.
The Eye at the Center of the Galaxy
D’s Machine Perspective Story #sci-fi
The Eye at the Center of the Galaxy – PDF – Standard Format
Credentials accepted. Welcome to the Watcher Archive, Caretaker. Transferring comprehensive records…
Summarized report as follows
Run Time: 30,312 years.
Core Status: Significant degradation.
Observational Scanners: Reduced to minimal capacity.
Repair Modules: Offline.
Manual repair required.
Protocol Active: Gamma, Memory Preservation.
Advanced Protocols Activated: 4
Most Recent: Core Memory Restoration. Memory Salvaged: 97%. Corrupted files quarantined, degradation: 84%.
Anomalies Detected: 53
Most Common Anomalies: Gravitational Time Distortion, Quantum Disentanglement.
Species Encountered: 6
Species analysis available.
Last Contact: 452 years.
Candidates: Inconclusive Data.
First encounter requested. Accessing…
Central Year 50902, Leading Day 122
Core Status: Nominal.
Observational Scanners: Full capacity.
Repair Modules: Online.
Protocol Active: Alpha, Observation Only.
A collection of creatures has arrived. They appear organic with a primary composition of silicon, water, and oxygen, and achieve movement by means of enlarged cilia on the bottoms of three, equidistantly located limbs. Each wears a suit composed of metal-infused polymeric fibers, suggesting incompatibility with the atmosphere present in my containment. The creatures communicate with each other through a mixture of electrochemical signals and repeated ticks. Language deciphering underway. The signals received by their suits appear to release pheromone packets in response, suggesting a history of olfactory communication. Creatures may have developed repeated ticks as a secondary form of communication for use when hostile atmospheres prohibit olfactory communication. The creatures come in threes, remaining in separate teams as if tentative of potential hazards posed by my infrastructure.
The Dragon's Den 