In case you wonder, my wife is ok and I'm enjoying her 3D version
English Version
The stove flame faded to a halt. Gert watched it sighing imperceptibly and, lifting the lid of the mocha, he realized that only a few drops of the precious nectar were filtered and just barely covered the bottom of aluminum.
He stayed like that, staring at the useless open-faced tool, from top to bottom, while the light of a pale, unhealthy sun filtered through the doorless entrance of the abandoned cottage.
"No last wish for the condemned, apparently," he told himself. He imagined, in a transitory moment of self-pity, that a tear fell to water down the cooling aborted version of an espresso.
The past came knocking more and more often at the threshold of its alternating current state of consciousness. How it all started, he remembered it all too well. The internet of things was progressively rampant in the lives of each one of us, implementing every object of common use. Improving them. Improving ourselves.
It was only natural to start seeing the pillow as an object presenting infinite possibilities for improvement, an item so close for so long everyday to the center of command of our existence, our brain. A confidant, after all, of our innermost thoughts and dreams, a silent and faithful life partner.
Even before the Singularity, the pillow had become much more than a place to relax your head. Why don't we make it monitor our sleep? Why can't it make us sleep by switching a button? And why not to learn something useful while we sleep? And register? Suggest? Plan? .. Dream what we want?
From the singularity onward, the pillow was transformed into a multifunctional POD that integrated instantly with our synapses and with all the other cushions.
Obviously, to fulfill its functions, as well as to perform the thousand simulations available in "lucid dream" mode, the pillow had to dialogue with other similar devices and even exchange money. This is how the IOTA Corp., grasping the market trend in advance, imposed its cryptocoin standard and became practically the only multinational to control the cushion industry and the millions of daily transactions. And that is how the Tangle - IOTA's protocol - became a sentient being through mass adoption of an AI enhanced device.
To control. Big word. Gert thought to think - but, in reality, he was mumbling loudly - that the illusion of control is nothing more than a lava lamp, where the luminescent bubbles of power games move slowly until they suddenly flip over.
When it had moved, this bubble had done it so quickly and pretty fucking efficiently.
He missed @omra-sky and his raging pastor sermons against the bots. He, among the mockery of almost all the community, had noticed before eveyone that the pillows were taking possession of us slowly and inexorably.
He and that crazy one, @brisby, with her detailed posts on how to reconfigure robo-squirrels for the purposes of fighting the Tangle.
He had followed all of them and supported them in the way he could, until the last disposable byte of his internet connection. So many times he dreamt to reach the Old Steemians Home and join the fight of that last bastion of human freedom, under the skilled command of general @deaconlee. The last posts he could read from them broadcasted that @snook and @simgirl were building an anti-pillow basement with the help of an advanced SIM algorithm. If only @mariannewest had come back from her dangerous quest. Noone knew about that woman, a brave sparkle of hope in this neverending darkness.
Oh God, he wanted to see his little ones and Margareth again. You are all well, right? Of course you are. Of course. Far from this shit. He would have liked many things, for what it is worth. It would have been enough for him to still have some tears to cry.
"This courtyard was once full of children playing", thought Gert staring at that desolation, starting to fade into a confused, fragmented sleep.
"Soon they'll get me and I have not even drank my last fucking coffee". A laugh became a cough. He closed his eyes and laid his head down on a damp piece of wood.
Versione Italiana
La fiamma del fornello si affievolì sino a spegnersi. Gert la osservò sospirando impercettibilmente e, sollevando il coperchio della moka, si accorse che solo poche goccie della preziosa bevanda erano filtrate e coprivano appena il fondo di alluminio.
Restò così, a fissare l'inutile arnese scoperchiato, dall'alto verso il basso, mentre la luce di un sole pallido e malsano filtrava attraverso l'entrata senza porta del casolare abbandonato.
"Niente ultimo desiderio per il condannato, a quanto pare", si disse. Immaginò, in un transitorio momento di autocommiserazione, che una lacrima cadesse ad annacquare l'insufficiente aborto di espresso che si andava raffreddando.
Il passato veniva a bussare ormai sempre più spesso alla soglia del suo stato di coscienza a corrente alternata. Come tutto era iniziato, se lo ricordava fin troppo bene. L'internet delle cose era dilagato progressivamente nelle vite di ognuno di noi, implementando gli oggetti di uso comune. Migliorandoli, migliorandoci con loro.
Fu nient'altro che naturale iniziare a vedere il cuscino come un oggetto dalle infinite possibilità di implementazione, un oggetto così vicino per così tanto tempo al centro di comando della nostra esistenza, il cervello. Un confidente, in fin dei conti, dei nostri pensieri più intimi e dei nostri sogni, un compagno di vita silenzioso e fedele.
Già da prima della singolarità, il cuscino era diventato molto di più che un posto dove rilassare la testa. Perchè non gli facciamo monitorare il sonno? Perchè non gli facciamo indurre il sonno? E perchè non imparare mentre dormiamo? E registrare? Suggerire? Pianificare?.. sognare grazie a lui ciò che preferiamo?
Dalla singolarità in poi, il cuscino si era trasformato in un POD multifunzione che si integrava alle nostre sinapsi e a tutti gli altri cuscini.
Ovviamente, per adempiere alle proprie funzioni, nonchè alle mille simulazioni disponibili in modalità "sogno lucido", il cuscino doveva dialogare con altre periferiche simili e persino scambiare moneta. Fu così che la IOTA Corp., afferrando in anticipo il trend di mercato, si impose con il proprio standard di cryptomoneta nonchè divenne praticamente l'unica multinazionale a controllare l'industria del cuscino e dei milioni di transazioni giornaliere. Fuu così che il Tangle - il protocollo IOTA - divenne un essere senziente attraverso l'adozione di massa di periferiche dotate di intelligenza artificiale.
Controllare. Gert pensò di pensare - ma in realtà stava biascicando a voce sostenuta - che il controllo non è altro che una lava lamp, dove le bolle luminescenti dei giochi di potere si muovono lente sino a capovolgersi all'impovviso.
Quando si era mossa, questa bolla, lo aveva fatto velocemente. Eccome.
Gli mancava @omra-sky e i suoi deliri da pastore infervorato contro i bot. Lui, fra lo scherno di quasi tutta la communità, se n'era accorto per tempo che i cuscini ormai si stavano impossessando di noi lentamente e inesorabilmente.
Lui e quella pazzoide di @brisby, con i suoi post sulla guerriglia anti-cuscino mediante l'uso di robo-squirrel debitamente riconfigurati. Gli ultimi post che aveva potuto leggere parlavano di un rifugio anti-cuscino predisposto da @simgirl e @snook attraverso un avanzato algoritmo SIM. Li aveva seguiti e anche sostenuti finchè la connessione internet era durata. Avrebbe voluto raggiungere la Old Steemians Home e unirsi alla lotta di quell'ultimo baluardo di libertà umana sotto il comando risoluto del generale @deaconlee. Se solo @mariannewest fosse tornata dalla sua pericolosa ricerca. Quella donna era l'ultima scintilla di speranza in questa oscurità dilagante.
Oh Dio, avrebbe voluto rivedere i suoi piccoli e Margareth. State bene vero? Che domande..Certo che state bene. Certo che si. Ben lontano da questa merda. Avrebbe voluto tante cose, gli sarebbe bastato avere ancora qualche lacrima.
"Questo cortile una volta era pieno di bambini che giocavano", pensò Gert guardando le macerie, iniziando a scivolare in un sonno confuso.
"Presto arriveranno a prendermi e non ho bevuto nemmeno il mio ultimo cazzo di caffè". Una risata si trasformò in tosse stizzita. Chiuse gli occhi e adagiò la testa su un un umido pezzo di legno.
Outstanding @f3nix. I love this tapestry we are all weaving together. I can't wait to discover more about this world. Bravo!
Grazie my friend 😉 I enjoyed to think about us as the last lighthouse for a humanity in the brink of the abyss.. I have a story I want to write about since some time ago..
so do I @omra-sky it's a very special world You started building for us All to be a part of. Thank YOU so much for that!
You're welcome. 😊
What makes you think it's only a world? You have no idea what you've started...😎
Hopefully, I will find my way back to the house. so lonely out here in the big dark world!!!!
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-69-5-minute-freewrite-prompt-grounding
You have the most important role..you are the One, Neo! 😛
Neo as in dark-haired and broody guy or as in new and a newborn baby? lol
🤓
Okay, it's 3:45 Am and I have not slept yet........... don't ask loll and I ahve read this 5 more times cuz it's brilliant by the way! in case you didn't know.......... but you should know cuz it IS brilliant........ now what I really NEED to know is a couple things..........
and 2nd who the HELL sent poor @mariannewest, the only sane person? in the bunch AWAY!! does she make it back safe?!!!!!!!
who is going to answer these and so many other questions????????? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?
and now........I best stop typing and go to sleep......cuz my best friend has told me on more than one time I'm not allowed to write notes late at night! LOLL and there IS a lot of truth to that! LOLL
OH, and one last thing.......yes, I know.no typing but :P just listen........then I can sleep........
YOUR REAL name BEST NOT BE "Gert" cuz then you might? be dead and THAT my friend is wayyyyyyyyyy to easy of an out for YOU! :D
okay now I'm going LOLL
Snoooook! Thank you so much for your interest..I think at this point my idea of a long novel is becoming something more than just a wish. Well, let's just cut to the chase..
:D a trial on the basement.
😮 A-MA-ZING !!! Looks like the garden of Eden (no butterfly collection though 🤔)
ohhhhhhhhh there is!! the pink bright dots are all butterflies.....they help make up the force field that keeps the pillows out :D and the coffins are beds of course..... cuz you turned into a vampire at some point to help save the world..........someone else did too but not sure who yet LOLLL and that red dot is a spider...........
oh yeah...now i'm fully satisfied @snook! :-D (sorry but with the screen i'm using I couldn't go into the details). I liked the part of turning into a vampire, maybe I just remembered it because I already am.
well of course you are........F3nix.........rising from the ashes as a dark soul to use his powers for good and maybe a tad bad :D LOLLL
Oh, will we be needing a spaceship? do you think? I have a hosue I'm doing now with a couple...so trying lots out there first loll
Wow! Did you give freewrite a whole new meaning! This is amazing work! Much love.
I think I read too much Asimov 😉 wow to your comment! you're a fine writer and it's a great pleasure to know you enjoyed my work. 5 minutes apart (I never manage to respect the rule) I try to respect the time of the reader by creating something worth to be read.. thank you again @wandrnrose.
Well... We are allowed to bend the rules for freewrites, and Asimov must be a good inspiration for you! Thank you very much for the kind praise... I take that to heart from such a fine writer as yourself.
Very nicely done. I thought the tone was set early and remained consistant. Ah, is this the tone for the entire tail? Or this character? Nifty Prologue? Not sure yet about the strange characters you mention. Angels? Creatures of power....
A story in episodes within the freewrite group would be a good initiative for some aspects but probably it would divert a bit too much from the spirit of this project as freewrites are quite free and not pre-ordered / structured in a plot. So this is not a sequel of the previous story. As we were saying, I'm sure my previous work will be inserted in a novel but probably not within this community and, maybe, even out from steemit. Thank you for your comment and appreciation, my friend. What strange characters? @omra-sky and @brisby ? Oh you don't know how right you are about it!
La speranza nei cuore di coloro stare in piedi. (I also hope that I'm writing this correctly since I really want to use the translator app.)
Glad to hear that 3D wife is doing well! (Happier,no doubt, with the addition of 3D @f3nix!) I'm sure that you're absolutely sick of hearing how fantastic your writing is, so I won't say it. 😁 I feel for Gert, alone, not even able to use a pillow as comfort. @Brisby would happily rewire a squirrel companion just for him. Now as to the Tangle, in my mind, the fight spans further than most can fathom.
L'hai scritto da sola? Bravissima! Pherhaps we can put it like this "La speranza risiede nei cuori di coloro che stanno in piedi" ..the message is very true and nice. The 3D is another thing, and I don't even need specific glasses! The squirrel companion is a great idea..if Gert only would know that the Old Steemians Home team is not so far from him as he thinks ;-) You're very right about the fight and the story, I think that there is much much to say about this and maybe one day it will be said. Btw, a birdie told me that you're working on something big..mmmh. I personally would love to write a long novel, although I enjoy to describe all these little flashes of alternative and imaginary worlds.. Oh, I was forgetting, a warm non-thank you for your non-compliment :-D
Grazie for the correction!! You may not need glasses, but whose to say you can't use them anyway? LOL
Was the little birdie drunk? (My squirrels have told me to watch out for birds, lushes they say.) You've mentioned a novel before. If there is a story that you want to get out, go for it. You clearly are creative enough, and these freewrites are only 5 minutes (20 or so on my part to format in markdown and find a pic when I'm done). Is it a matter of discipline? (I personally need to work on that a LOT!) If it all ended tomorrow, what tale would you wish to leave behind?
Wow! Love the poetry of your writing! Do you write in English first or Italian?
Thank you @felt.buzz .. I love yours, you're one of the finest. I make a mix of the two, you know one language influences the other and vice-versa, as I realised that my mind and my creativity follows different paths whether I write in one language or another ;-)
I don't really write in French, but I do most of my novel reading in French, and I think it has changed how I write. Also because I read more slowly in French I think I notice how sentences are structured (and because I read mostly books that were English Language but have been translated into French I like to imagine how the sentence would have been written in English).
Interesting my friend. I guess that perhaps someone already wrote about how the language, the box, may influence the content in it. A bit as a driver who is influenced in choosing his destination by the car he's driving. Chomsky? I am too into other things to check right now but I will :-) However, how the structure of a sentence and - I'd say - how a thought articulates itself, based on a certain language, is a very stimulating argument.
THIS IS SO SO SO SO SO SO GREAT!
LOVE this line but I might be a tad prejudice here LOLL
Your writing always amazes me. Thank you for taking some time to write today!!! :D
You know that the basement won't be only an anti-pillow one...don't you? :-P
(sorry for my reply in bullets of before, I was a bit rushy with wife wanting to go out to take some daylight and couldn't say thanks enough for your support)
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