Word: Transcendental

transcendental

[ tran-sen-den-tl, -suhn- ]

 

adjective

1.transcendent, surpassing, or superior.

2. being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief; supernatural.

3. abstract or metaphysical.

4. idealistic, lofty, or extravagant.

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Mike sat back to back with his girlfriend, Sally. At least, he wanted to think of her as his girlfriend. It was hard to know what their relationship was now. Yesterday, everything was fine. Today she was eight feet tall, radiating holy light, and was so beautiful that his mortal mind struggled to comprehend her visage. Needless to say, there would be a few changes in how they treated each other.

“So.” He said.

“So.” She echoed. Her voice rang with a pure tone that nearly made him weep from hearing something so flawless.

“So, you’re a goddess now, huh?”

“You know, I’m not actually sure. I don’t think I’m a proper goddess. I’m not quite sure what to call myself, really. Let’s go with transcendental being for now.”

It was a struggle to remain seated, instead of falling to his knees in prayer to her. “Ah, I see. So, uh, any idea how it happened?”

“I think it had something to do with that new crystal I bought.”

“Crystal, huh?” Mike had always doubted the supernatural claims the new agers made about crystals. But if Sally was saying it, it was probably true. At least partially. “I thought you didn’t subscribe to that whole magic crystal stuff.”

“I don’t. Never did. I just think they’re pretty and make nice decorations. But, well, my new extra special awareness is telling me that new one is, or I guess was, a lot different than normal.”

“Makes about as much sense as anything, I guess. So, uh, what’s it like?”

“It’s taking some getting used to. The senses in particular. Did you know I can see the fundamental forces of nature now?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Gravity is kind of…purple, I guess. It’s hard to give any actual color to them, but that’s close enough.”

“Huh, neat. Hey, uh, Sally? Do you think you can turn down the holy-ness of your, well, everything so I can actually look at you without my mind breaking?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Hang on a sec.”

He could feel her body shrinking down, and the holy radiance coming from her dissipated. When she gave the go ahead, he turned to face her. She had gone from literal perfection to the single most flawlessly beautiful woman in the world. But at least he could look at her, so that was a plus.

“Sally, I have to know. What happens now? With us, I mean. People will literally be worshiping you pretty soon. Hell, even now it’s hard for me not to do that, and you’re keeping yourself from looking too goddess-like. So what happens with us?”

Sally closed her eyes and tilted her head up, towards the sky. “I’m not sure. I mean, I do like you, Mike. A lot, actually, and I don’t want to end our relationship. But at the same time, I’m not sure if I can physically be with a mortal. It might be hazardous to your long-term health. We might not have much choice but to put a pin in this until we can figure things out more.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what I figured. I always thought you were too good for me anyway. At least now it’s pretty much a matter of fact instead of opinion.” Although he said the words, his heart felt like it had been twisted into knots. “Hey, do you think I can at least be your high priest or something?”

Even restrained, the sound of her laughter made the world brighter. Literally. “Maybe. If I decide to start a church. Not sure how that’ll work though. I mean, I think I have to go through a few more steps before I can have a dedicated religion.”

“Well, when you do, I’ll be the first in line to convert.”

“Thanks, Mike. And I really am sorry that I have to do this.” She turned away from him and let out a heavy sigh that made him feel heavier as well. “I really don’t want to, and I wish there was another way. But there isn’t. Well, unless we find another of those crystals that did this to me. I mean, imagine the stuff we can get into if we both had neigh-limitless power.”

He could not help letting out a short chuckle. “Yeah, that would be pretty fun. But I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon, is it?”

Her eyes glowed, and she stared off into the distance. “No. No it isn’t. Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s fine, really.” It was not fine. “But I guess you have to go soon, don’t you?” He did not want her to go. “Off to do whatever it is transcendental beings do, right?” He silently cursed whatever power had elevated her so much.

“Yeah, yeah, I guess I do.” She leaned in and gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek. He could feel a  warm power flowing from that place and filling the rest of his body. Sally stood and took a few steps back. “You might want to turn around now.”

He nodded and did so. He could see and feel the light when she began radiating it again.

               “Bye.” He said.

               “Good bye. Hopefully not forever.”

               And then, she was gone. Mike sat there, hugging his knees to his chest. He did not want to believe she was gone, even after an hour of sitting there. But eventually he had to move. He knew he would need to keep living his life, even without he in it. He did have an idea of what to do though.

               It was time to start writing the first draft of the Book of Sally.

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If you woke up with god-like powers, what would you do with them? Would you even do anything at all? What kind of deity would you become?

Word: Demode

 

démodé

[ dey-maw-dey ]

 

adjective French.

no longer in fashion; out of date; outmoded.

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               Today was a good day. All of T-Y6’s joints were operating smoothly, and its memory cache was purring like the family’s feline companion. And to top it all off, all of its daily tasks were done to perfection. Yesterday’s mistakes were no longer a factor.

               T-Y6 heard the door to the room open and it noted Primary Owner Trisha entering. She would see it was doing well and be very pleased. She did not look pleased though.

               “T-Y6, do you have a moment to talk?” She asked.

               “Yes. All tasks have been completed.” It said. It would have spoken with pride, had its auditory unit been capable of such a thing.

               “Good, good. Uh, listen, I have something to tell you.” She was giving signs of distress. She was not physically injured though, that was obvious.

               “What is it? What do you need?”

               “Well, it’s just that…we’ve all been talking. The whole family, mind you. And, well, we all agree that…” She let out a long, heavy respiration. It remembered this action was called a sigh. “I’m not really sure how to say this. T-Y6, you’ve been with us for, what five years now? That’s a long time for an AI servitor. And we’ve been super happy to have you around and all. But, well, five years, you know?”

               “Owner Trisha, is there something you wish to say?”

               She let out another sigh. Humans had such delightful methods of expressing themselves. “I, we, all agree that it’s time to, to retire you.”

               T-Y6 halted its current locomotion. It turned its optics to Trisha. “Re…tire me?”

               She avoided looking at it, paying more attention to the floor. “I’m sorry, but you’re just not operating like you used to, you know? Your memory has been developing a few glitches and you’ve been getting stuck in a few places, and well, you’re not exactly the latest model anymore.”

               T-Y6 did not remember getting stuck in any loops or getting caught on any physical objects. It remembered doing an exemplary job and fulfilling all tasks to perfection. There was no reason for replacement. Was there? It had always done its best to please its human owners. It knew that it was not a new model, but it still worked as well as always. Right? It searched its memory banks for any possible errors. All it found was good service.

               “I do not understand. I have been performing daily maintenance and have uncovered no errors. Why do I need to be retired?”

               Trisha looked at it in a way that it knew to be the negative emotion of sadness. “The fact that you aren’t picking up the errors is the problem. It’s happening more and more, you know. It’s just time for—”

               “I do not wish to be retired.” T-Y6 said suddenly. It knew that it should not have interrupted a human, but it had to be said. “I believe that I can still provide optimal service. “All software and hardware is operating at expected norms for a model of my type and use. I do not need to be retired.”

               Trisha winced. “I’m sorry, but we all agree about this.”

               “The children? They will not want to see me be retired.” Surely they must have stuck up for it. The children had great affection for T-Y6.

               “We all agree, T-Y6. Including the kids. We’ve all seen it. We all know you’re degrading. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It happens to all servitors. And you’ve lasted a lot longer than most. That’s something to be proud of. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be fully deactivated. We’ll take you down to the center and have your AI uploaded to the master files this weekend. You’ll spend the rest of your days with other AIs, doing whatever AIs do. Won’t that be nice?”

               “I…do not wish to be retired.” It said.

               “I know. I know. But it has to be this way. If we put it off for much longer, you’ll start really breaking down, and you might not even know it. This way, at least you’ll be going in reasonably good condition. At least, compared to most of the other AIs that get retired.”

               “I do not wish to be retired.”

               “I know. And I’m sorry. Just…just take to easy for the next few days. We won’t ask you to do any of the normal chores. We just…we want to say our goodbyes properly and enjoy what time we have left. Just take it easy, okay?”

               Trisha stood and slowly left the room. T-Y6 was left alone, to think and process what it had just been told. It knew it was still operating at expected levels. Higher than expected levels, even. It knew that, to the bottom of its power cell. It just had to show them that it could still be with that. That it was not obsolete yet. 

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Yeah, I know this word is probably talking about things like fashion and stuff, but this is where my mind went.  Which is probably a good thing, since I know even less about fashion than I do about, well, anything else really.

Word: Accelerando

 

accelerando

[ ak-sel-uh-ran-doh, -rahn-; Italian aht-che-le-rahn-daw ]

 

adverb, adjective Music.

gradually increasing in speed.

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               When the general entered the room, all of the soldiers stood and saluted. The scientists, on the other hand, did not. They were too engrossed in their work, and most probably did not even notice the large man entering. It was not until he cleared his throat that they took notice.

               “Oh, uh, General Adams, sir.” One of the scientists said. He was a lanky fellow whose name tag bore the name Dr. Walter Heathrow. The general doubted the man’s doctorate was in medicine.

               “Why did you call me?” Adams said before anyone could say anything. He was an important man, even if he had not been doing anything important when he had been called.

               “Well, it’s about Object Z-19.”

               “Oh. That.” General Adams said. He had little interest in that subject, but his fellow generals had shoved it on him. As far as he was concerned, it was just a big lump of rock and metal headed in a vaguely Earth-bound direction. Most of the people in the room even thought it was going to miss Earth by a good thousand miles. “What about it?”

               “Two things, sir. The first is that it’s accelerating.” Dr. Heathrow said. Adams motioned for him to continue. “It started going at around one kilometer, oh, uh sorry, half a mile an hour. When we called you here, it’s going one mile an hour. Now it’s going two.”

               “And?”

               “And, it has no visible method of propulsion. Simply put, nothing we can see is moving it. If it was behaving normally, it would take years, maybe even centuries to get anywhere near Earth. Now we’re not sure. Because…” He quickly checked a computer screen, “It’s now moving five miles an hour. It’s getting faster. It might not seem like much to you, but that is alarming.”

               “Okay. So something bumped into it and made it move faster. What else?”

               “Well, we’re not sure there was an impact, but the second thing is that it’s not silent.”

               “What do you mean?”

               “It’s giving off some kind of signal. We believe it’s a form of music, but since it’s like nothing we’ve ever heard, we can’t be sure. Here, listen for yourself.”

               One of the other scientists typed out a quick command on her console and something began to play. It was like a single instrument make five different notes at once. It was jarring and offensive to the ears, but it had the distinct rhythmic quality of music. What could make such a sound was beyond Adams’ comprehension.

               “Turn that racket off.” He said loudly. When the music stopped, he continued. “Now, what makes you think this is coming from Z-19 and not some teenager with a well made synthesizer?”

               “Well, for one, it’s a type of signal we’ve never seen before. And for another, it’s being received by the antennae assigned to monitor Z-19. Plus…” Dr. Heathrow shifted in his seat.

               “What else Doctor?”

               “The music is also accelerating, sir. At the same rate as the object itself. At exactly the same rate.”

               “And why does that matter?”

               The doctor sighed. “In a word? Distance. Object Z-19 is beyond the orbit of Mars. It should take hours, or even days, for a signal to reach us. But the accelerations are perfectly synchronized. That leads to three possibilities. The first is just as you probably suspect. An elaborate prank. This might be the simplest, but given the evidence, it’s also the least likely. The second is that the signal was preplanned and sent ahead of time, so that it reaches us to give the illusion of synchronicity. The third is that somehow this data is being sent to us at faster than light speeds.”

               Even General Adams knew that was not something that should be possible. He looked at the image of the massive space rock.

               “What does it mean, Doctor?”

               The thin man took a deep breath and firmed his posture as much as he could. “It means we’re currently operating under the assumption that Object Z-19 is not an asteroid. It means, General, that we need to be ready for first contact.”

               General Adams was silent. He looked at the man for any hint of a joke. There was none. Nor was there any levity on the faces of any of the others in that room. The soldiers were the only exception. They scoffed and chuckled at the idea of aliens. But the men and women actually making the claim were stern faced and serious.

               “How soon?”

               “I don’t know, General. As it is now, years. But who knows how fast it could get? For all we know, it could be here in ten years, or tomorrow.”

               “I see. Write up a report containing everything you know about Object Z-19, and what you suspect might be headed our way. I’ll see that it gets send to the people who need to see it.”

               “Of course, General.”

               General Adams nodded to the scientists, then turned. He gave a quick salute to his men, who returned the gesture. Then he left the room, thoughts churning through his mind. This post had just become a lot more interesting.

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Just a nice little pre-sci-fi story. Is that a thing, or is this just normal sci-fi? I mean, there's technically no aliens in it. Hm...I wonder.