My fic for challenge 4x6 Mini Pop
I generally post fics to AO3, but since this challenge specified it needs to be on lj, here it is. I will probably edit this post to include another one once I wrote it (I have an idea I just need to write it). Fandom is Song of the Sea, rating G, no warnings apply. It's also here on AO3.
The Big Adventure of Tiny the Seal
Being a seal was an amazing life. It mostly involved swimming, hunting fish and just relaxing in the water or lying on the beach or stones the rest of the time. And of course, playing with friends. There were a lot of games the seals played, like catching each other, seeing who could jump out of the water the highest and piling up on the sand on each other until everything collapsed. And of course, stealing fish from each other and swimming away with it as fast as they could.
That was Tiny's favorite game. She was the best of all of her group at it. Nobody could catch her in the water, she was the fastest. Obviously, she would never steal fish from someone who actually needed it, it was more about the teasing, the seeing if she could. And everyone in her group was an accomplished hunter, so it was very much guaranteed that nobody would go hungry.
All in all, Tiny loved her life and was absolutely content with how things were. The seals' lives had been uninterrupted by any big events for a long time, though Tiny still remembered the night when the last Selkie came to them into the sea and gave birth to the small one, the small one who would play at the water but never put on her coat, never join the seals in their games in the ocean.
The seals did not know why that was, if the small one didn't like them or if her coat was lost to her. They stayed away from other humans, out of sight, but they were friendly to her and her family, even when that included that big, hairy four legged creature who was far too excited about chasing them.
In general, their relationship with humans was one of mutual respect but also mutual agreement that their elements were theirs, not to be disturbed by the other. The small one played at the sea with the dog, of course, though the other child stayed away from the water as well as the big one for the most part, and the adults who did come with their boats didn't venture too far into the ocean, didn't disturb their hunting grounds more than just catching themselves some fish in their big nets.
Then, one night, things changed. They heard the music, the music they hadn't heard since that stormy night, since the last of the Selkies had left. They had been certain they would never hear the music again, but now, there it was, clear and loud.
They all hovered with their heads out of the water, knowing that this meant something was about to happen, something big. And sure enough, only a short time later, the small one came to the beach, finally in her coat. Tiny was as excited as her friends and family, all of them welcoming her with their loudest barks.
And then, she actually dove into the water and changed into one of them. A little white seal, who swam just as well as any of them, who dove in and out of the water with abandon, changing form at will, and joined them in their games. They had so much fun, including the small one in all of their games.
It was funny that Tiny was not all that tiny compared to the small one, even though she was one of the smallest of her group, excluding the pups, of course. But the small one was still a human pup, a child, so Tiny assumed she would grow to be as big as her mother. All of the seals who had been alive at that time had fond memories of their Selkie friend, she would often come and play with them.
That was why they gladly welcomed the small one into their midst and played with her as much as she wanted. But after a while, the old one was looking for her and found her on the beach, taking her away. A little later, the seals saw a chest being thrown from the lighthouse into the sea, followed shortly by a key. They did not know how, but they could sense it had the small one's coat in it and they knew they had to remember where both the chest and the key were, to help the small one get it back.
But the next morning, the old one took the two small ones and went away, across the sea and onto solid land. Tiny and the others were curious, bopping their heads out of the water and looking after the boat the entire way it went. And when the four legged furry one jumped into the water and swam after the boat, they accompanied them safely to the other shore.
After that, they waited, hoping this would not be the last they had seen of the small one, hoping they would be able to play with their Selkie friend again. They knew it was not good for the small one to be separated from her coat and they were ready to help guide her to the chest when it was necessary.
Then, only shortly after nightfall, they saw something astounding. Huge creatures were flying through the air, and with them the two children and their dog, landing eventually on their island, by the lighthouse. The seals all gathered around the island, curious to see what would happen. When the humans boarded their boat and then, in the middle of the sea the human child jumped into the water, they were ready, together with the magic they guided him into the sea towards the chest.
Tiny was the fastest of them all, so she went for the key, bringing it to the chest as fast as possible, knowing that humans were not able to survive under water for long. Once the human child had opened the chest and taken out the coat, Tiny and the others helped him up, towards the air, until the big one was able to take him back into the boat.
They only had to wait a short while, then the small one joined them once more, turning into the small white seal. The human child and the big one were with her and the seals swam with them towards the stone giant, the child on the back of the small white one and the big one on one of Tiny's sister's backs.
The seals knew something amazing was about to happen, so they all gathered around the stone giant. And sure enough, soon the small one started to sing and the entire sky lit up with the melody, bringing to life all the creatures that had been turned to stone. The seals watched as they were led towards the big light by the flying one and the stone giant who was no longer stone.
They watched in awe as their long lost Selkie friend came back, but only for a moment until she too, went towards the light. The small one stayed though, without her coat and the seals never stopped calling her a friend and would still play with her most every day, even when she was not a Selkie anymore.
It did not matter to them, since they were just happy to have two new friends in both of the children.
-------------------------------------------------
Trying to Make Things Better
Causing the destruction of the human race was a humbling experience. Becca was trying the hardest to not let it keep her down, to not fall into a dark hole that there was no escape from. Her way of doing that was work. Work on ALIE 2.0, work to help what was left of humanity survive.
Nobody knew that it had been her fault, of course, nobody knew that her invention had caused the end of the world because of a faulty equation. She wasn't usually someone to dwell on the past, she took what she had done wrong and put it into work to be better next time, but this was something she couldn't not think about all the time.
What if she had taught ALIE differently? What if she hadn't come to the conclusion that the main problem was too many people and the solution was to annihilate the vast majority of them? What if she had been more careful in containing her, what if she had send the kill code immediately after she had realized what that solution could mean?
That last one hurt the most, because the only answer to it was vanity. Vanity and pride. She hadn't wanted to destroy her creation because even when she was faulty, even when she was scary, she was a functional AI who had been able to think independently enough to make her own decisions. Even to choose her own avatar.
Maybe that was why she hadn't been able to bring herself to kill ALIE. How could you kill something that had your own face? But she shouldn't have been stopped by that. Because now, the destruction of the human race, of Earth, had been carried out by something, someone, with her face.
And that was a horrific thought and brought her back to the beginning of this circle. So instead of falling into it once more, she put all of her energy into working on the interface. She had drawn from the technology she had invented for the memory drives Eligius members had gotten implanted.
This version of ALIE would be similar, in that it would be able to hold vast stores of memories and information. But it would also be different, because it would alter the hosts brain in the way that it would intersect with ALIE, that it would open up all the possibilities and mathematical equations that the AI saw but that were impossible to see for a mere human.
It was a dream, a vision and she couldn't stop thinking about how it would be to actually succeed. How would it feel? To see how events would turn out before they had even begun? To understand things she couldn't even begin to understand now? To hear and see things in a completely different way?
It was marvelous to think about it and she had to admit that it was one of the reasons she was working so hard on perfecting the interface. She had caused all this destruction, she had caused the pain she saw around her every single day and she needed to be able to do something to help, something to make it at least a small little bit better.
Her assistant hadn't agreed. She was the only one here who knew about ALIE and about what Becca had done, that it hadn't been the Chinese randomly deciding to start a war they were never able to win, a war that lasted five minutes and in which all of humanity lost.
And she was convinced that Becca's insistence on working on the interface that was another incarnation of what had destroyed the world was wrong and that she should scrap the entire project. It was tiring to have the same conversation over and over again for days now, but neither of them were ready to give in.
"What if it just turns out like ALIE did? Wouldn't it be better to use your time to come up with solutions for this space station to survive? For the others? There are only few people left alive and now you want to work on the thing that caused that?"
Becca didn't even listen much, she knew all the arguments. She had been working on ALIE 2.0 before ALIE destroyed the world and her assistant had been willing to do it then but now, she grew more and more resistant to helping her. It wasn't like Becca wasn't able to do this alone and at this moment, with all her spiraling thoughts and all her dreams and anticipations of a better AI, an AI that would help humans instead of destroying them, she couldn't take it anymore.
"You know what, why don't you just leave? I don't need your help if all you do is constantly try to stop me. I will not stop. I don't care how long it takes, I don't care how many set backs there will be. I will do this and nobody can stop me."
"The commander could."
It was a threat and a very thinly veiled one at that. Becca looked up sharply. This was a new level her assistant hadn't dared to go to before. After a long moment of staring at each other, Becca sighed.
"Then tell him. If you truly want me to stop, if you truly think that what I am doing is so evil, tell him. Because damning me to be executed, that is the only thing that you can do to stop me. So go. Tell him."
It wasn't what she wanted, of course. But deep inside, she knew she deserved it for what she had done, in a way, she wanted people to know, she wanted people to punish her. The only thing stopping her from telling them herself was that she knew her work was too important, they would stop her from trying to find a way to help, to fix what she had broken. And she couldn't have that.
But at this moment, she was fully prepared to deal with whatever her assistant decided, going back to work seeming far calmer than she actually felt.
Apparently, her assistant still at least kind of liked her, because she sighed deeply and went back to work too, never talking about this again for the next two years.
The Big Adventure of Tiny the Seal
Being a seal was an amazing life. It mostly involved swimming, hunting fish and just relaxing in the water or lying on the beach or stones the rest of the time. And of course, playing with friends. There were a lot of games the seals played, like catching each other, seeing who could jump out of the water the highest and piling up on the sand on each other until everything collapsed. And of course, stealing fish from each other and swimming away with it as fast as they could.
That was Tiny's favorite game. She was the best of all of her group at it. Nobody could catch her in the water, she was the fastest. Obviously, she would never steal fish from someone who actually needed it, it was more about the teasing, the seeing if she could. And everyone in her group was an accomplished hunter, so it was very much guaranteed that nobody would go hungry.
All in all, Tiny loved her life and was absolutely content with how things were. The seals' lives had been uninterrupted by any big events for a long time, though Tiny still remembered the night when the last Selkie came to them into the sea and gave birth to the small one, the small one who would play at the water but never put on her coat, never join the seals in their games in the ocean.
The seals did not know why that was, if the small one didn't like them or if her coat was lost to her. They stayed away from other humans, out of sight, but they were friendly to her and her family, even when that included that big, hairy four legged creature who was far too excited about chasing them.
In general, their relationship with humans was one of mutual respect but also mutual agreement that their elements were theirs, not to be disturbed by the other. The small one played at the sea with the dog, of course, though the other child stayed away from the water as well as the big one for the most part, and the adults who did come with their boats didn't venture too far into the ocean, didn't disturb their hunting grounds more than just catching themselves some fish in their big nets.
Then, one night, things changed. They heard the music, the music they hadn't heard since that stormy night, since the last of the Selkies had left. They had been certain they would never hear the music again, but now, there it was, clear and loud.
They all hovered with their heads out of the water, knowing that this meant something was about to happen, something big. And sure enough, only a short time later, the small one came to the beach, finally in her coat. Tiny was as excited as her friends and family, all of them welcoming her with their loudest barks.
And then, she actually dove into the water and changed into one of them. A little white seal, who swam just as well as any of them, who dove in and out of the water with abandon, changing form at will, and joined them in their games. They had so much fun, including the small one in all of their games.
It was funny that Tiny was not all that tiny compared to the small one, even though she was one of the smallest of her group, excluding the pups, of course. But the small one was still a human pup, a child, so Tiny assumed she would grow to be as big as her mother. All of the seals who had been alive at that time had fond memories of their Selkie friend, she would often come and play with them.
That was why they gladly welcomed the small one into their midst and played with her as much as she wanted. But after a while, the old one was looking for her and found her on the beach, taking her away. A little later, the seals saw a chest being thrown from the lighthouse into the sea, followed shortly by a key. They did not know how, but they could sense it had the small one's coat in it and they knew they had to remember where both the chest and the key were, to help the small one get it back.
But the next morning, the old one took the two small ones and went away, across the sea and onto solid land. Tiny and the others were curious, bopping their heads out of the water and looking after the boat the entire way it went. And when the four legged furry one jumped into the water and swam after the boat, they accompanied them safely to the other shore.
After that, they waited, hoping this would not be the last they had seen of the small one, hoping they would be able to play with their Selkie friend again. They knew it was not good for the small one to be separated from her coat and they were ready to help guide her to the chest when it was necessary.
Then, only shortly after nightfall, they saw something astounding. Huge creatures were flying through the air, and with them the two children and their dog, landing eventually on their island, by the lighthouse. The seals all gathered around the island, curious to see what would happen. When the humans boarded their boat and then, in the middle of the sea the human child jumped into the water, they were ready, together with the magic they guided him into the sea towards the chest.
Tiny was the fastest of them all, so she went for the key, bringing it to the chest as fast as possible, knowing that humans were not able to survive under water for long. Once the human child had opened the chest and taken out the coat, Tiny and the others helped him up, towards the air, until the big one was able to take him back into the boat.
They only had to wait a short while, then the small one joined them once more, turning into the small white seal. The human child and the big one were with her and the seals swam with them towards the stone giant, the child on the back of the small white one and the big one on one of Tiny's sister's backs.
The seals knew something amazing was about to happen, so they all gathered around the stone giant. And sure enough, soon the small one started to sing and the entire sky lit up with the melody, bringing to life all the creatures that had been turned to stone. The seals watched as they were led towards the big light by the flying one and the stone giant who was no longer stone.
They watched in awe as their long lost Selkie friend came back, but only for a moment until she too, went towards the light. The small one stayed though, without her coat and the seals never stopped calling her a friend and would still play with her most every day, even when she was not a Selkie anymore.
It did not matter to them, since they were just happy to have two new friends in both of the children.
-------------------------------------------------
Trying to Make Things Better
Causing the destruction of the human race was a humbling experience. Becca was trying the hardest to not let it keep her down, to not fall into a dark hole that there was no escape from. Her way of doing that was work. Work on ALIE 2.0, work to help what was left of humanity survive.
Nobody knew that it had been her fault, of course, nobody knew that her invention had caused the end of the world because of a faulty equation. She wasn't usually someone to dwell on the past, she took what she had done wrong and put it into work to be better next time, but this was something she couldn't not think about all the time.
What if she had taught ALIE differently? What if she hadn't come to the conclusion that the main problem was too many people and the solution was to annihilate the vast majority of them? What if she had been more careful in containing her, what if she had send the kill code immediately after she had realized what that solution could mean?
That last one hurt the most, because the only answer to it was vanity. Vanity and pride. She hadn't wanted to destroy her creation because even when she was faulty, even when she was scary, she was a functional AI who had been able to think independently enough to make her own decisions. Even to choose her own avatar.
Maybe that was why she hadn't been able to bring herself to kill ALIE. How could you kill something that had your own face? But she shouldn't have been stopped by that. Because now, the destruction of the human race, of Earth, had been carried out by something, someone, with her face.
And that was a horrific thought and brought her back to the beginning of this circle. So instead of falling into it once more, she put all of her energy into working on the interface. She had drawn from the technology she had invented for the memory drives Eligius members had gotten implanted.
This version of ALIE would be similar, in that it would be able to hold vast stores of memories and information. But it would also be different, because it would alter the hosts brain in the way that it would intersect with ALIE, that it would open up all the possibilities and mathematical equations that the AI saw but that were impossible to see for a mere human.
It was a dream, a vision and she couldn't stop thinking about how it would be to actually succeed. How would it feel? To see how events would turn out before they had even begun? To understand things she couldn't even begin to understand now? To hear and see things in a completely different way?
It was marvelous to think about it and she had to admit that it was one of the reasons she was working so hard on perfecting the interface. She had caused all this destruction, she had caused the pain she saw around her every single day and she needed to be able to do something to help, something to make it at least a small little bit better.
Her assistant hadn't agreed. She was the only one here who knew about ALIE and about what Becca had done, that it hadn't been the Chinese randomly deciding to start a war they were never able to win, a war that lasted five minutes and in which all of humanity lost.
And she was convinced that Becca's insistence on working on the interface that was another incarnation of what had destroyed the world was wrong and that she should scrap the entire project. It was tiring to have the same conversation over and over again for days now, but neither of them were ready to give in.
"What if it just turns out like ALIE did? Wouldn't it be better to use your time to come up with solutions for this space station to survive? For the others? There are only few people left alive and now you want to work on the thing that caused that?"
Becca didn't even listen much, she knew all the arguments. She had been working on ALIE 2.0 before ALIE destroyed the world and her assistant had been willing to do it then but now, she grew more and more resistant to helping her. It wasn't like Becca wasn't able to do this alone and at this moment, with all her spiraling thoughts and all her dreams and anticipations of a better AI, an AI that would help humans instead of destroying them, she couldn't take it anymore.
"You know what, why don't you just leave? I don't need your help if all you do is constantly try to stop me. I will not stop. I don't care how long it takes, I don't care how many set backs there will be. I will do this and nobody can stop me."
"The commander could."
It was a threat and a very thinly veiled one at that. Becca looked up sharply. This was a new level her assistant hadn't dared to go to before. After a long moment of staring at each other, Becca sighed.
"Then tell him. If you truly want me to stop, if you truly think that what I am doing is so evil, tell him. Because damning me to be executed, that is the only thing that you can do to stop me. So go. Tell him."
It wasn't what she wanted, of course. But deep inside, she knew she deserved it for what she had done, in a way, she wanted people to know, she wanted people to punish her. The only thing stopping her from telling them herself was that she knew her work was too important, they would stop her from trying to find a way to help, to fix what she had broken. And she couldn't have that.
But at this moment, she was fully prepared to deal with whatever her assistant decided, going back to work seeming far calmer than she actually felt.
Apparently, her assistant still at least kind of liked her, because she sighed deeply and went back to work too, never talking about this again for the next two years.