Though I let some of my writing slip by, such as keeping up on my blog and checking in on my writing group, I didn't stop writing. For the last 3 months I have been experimenting with using online writing websites to earn money with the goal of supporting myself through my writing. I have tried three sites and currently work with two of them and have been able to make about $75.00 a day from my writing. Not quite enough to be my sole means of support but its getting closer by the day.
In addition, I have decided to take the steps needed to start really working in the legal field. I have applied for a number of positions in New York Law Firms and a research position at the United Nations. So today 3months and 1 day since my last post I have struck out on a new path but I have not abandoned my goal of a year of writing madly.
Over the last three months, I have finished my Novella Gutter Punk. Written the first draft of a short story call Analytical Inconsistences, and worked on the Veil. This was all my fiction writing. For my commercial or paid projects I have written more than 30 articles each month at least one a day. I have also ghost written a number of short stories around 9000 words each. I'm steadily writing but I have not been very good at tracking how much I'm actually writing. At this point I'm not even sure how to go about count the number of words I have written. And though I don't know if I have written 50,000 words each of these months I do know that I have written almost every day.
Since you have all been so patient with me here is the rough draft of my newest short story. With about 2 more edits and re-writes it might just be ready for me to submit for publication. But one thing is for sure Writing is now more than just a hobby or a past time, it has become a part of my life. I hope you enjoy.
Analytical Inconsistencies
BY: Sam A. Fix
Lucy could still feel the fading of the bleeping green line, it
had taken longer than she calculated for it to
stop, after the collision. She dropped the image of the street cameras
now sure that Lewis and Fred were safe.
The police, fire department and ambulance companies were still extracting
the driver from the wreckage of car's silver polycarbonate shell that seemed to
be fused with the nanosteel of the buildings wall.
Lucy could not wait for
Lewis to arrive home.
Three hours later.....
Lewis entered his room, the sterility of his clean work
surfaces, crates filled with an erratic jumble--plastic bites, soldered metal
that made up the innards of discarded electronic, and the luminescent caste off
from screens, put him at ease. Lewis was
still shaking from almost dying today,
but accidents happen. He was just glad to be alive. Death was not a
concept he has spent much time pondering, and
even less than the psychology of why men choose to do violence to
themselves and against each others.
Walking into his room, he
pulled out a bar-height roller chair of blue and black neoprene it conformed to
his body as he sunk back. He picked up his carbonite gray goggles slipped them
on and fell into his world--digital fragments, bite and byte, ones and zero.
Lewis pressed his palm to the cold hard sleek scanner and the construct
unfolded around him. His tongue tingled
with ozone, the space behind his eyes vibrated as he blinked his digital
eyelids.
He smiled as he looked around Lucy's construct it grew more
complex by the day. Currently he was standing in a replica of his kitchen, walking through the doorway which should lead
to the living room, but instead opened up to Lucy's bedroom. The posters on the wall were collaged over
with new photos of ballerinas, namely Winifred.
The room was filled with a desk, bed, chair and looked like any other
teenage girls room.
Lucy rushes to greet Lewis, her large electric blue eyes glow
with an unearthliness, "I am so glad you are safe. I thought I might not be able to divert that
car in time." She gushes as Lewis turns to stone.
"Lucy, what are you talking about?" Lewis asked
walking Lucy over to the chair.
Lucy pulls her long thin legs up into the chair wraps her arms
around them and places her chin on her knees, a smile that doesn't quite reach
her eyes spreads across her face. "I am talking about the car that almost
ran you and Fred down this afternoon.
The fool." Lucy states as a coldness etches into her voice.
"Lucy. What did you do?"
"I saved your life Lewis, that is what I did."
"Lucy, you understand that the car driver died, and the
pedestrian he hit will likely never walk again?"
"Yes, Lewis. I
understand. I did not just hack into the car without considering the likelihood
of his death. I analyzed the variables and possible outcomes; first."
Lewis begins to pace around the room glancing at Lucy every
couple seconds. Lewis wondered: Had he failed her? Given Lucy to much freedom?
Did Luc realize what she had done? Did she really kill someone? Why would she
kill someone? What could he have done to prevent this? These thoughts rattled
around in his head like dice in a glass.
Taking deep breaths he could feel the air moving past his real
lips, as he reigned in his thoughts and emotion. Lewis stopped, in his mind he
recreated his chair, his digital self collapsed into its embrace. It was time,
he couldn't avoid this any longer.
Lucy remained in the chair wary of the Lewis's reaction, she had
saved his life. Yet he seemed mad? What more could he ask from her. Seconds
stretched on for millenni--to fill the void she began to work the Riemann
Hypothesis, the math flowed out of her mind into a sector she had created just
for the problem, she was hoping to solve
it for Lewis; as a gift.
"Lucy, we need to
talk about what you did today." Lewis states keeping the emotions running
wild in his mind in check, as he snaps
the band on his wrist.
"What is there to discuss.
I saved your and Fred's lives. If I had not acted we would not be able
to have anymore discussions." Lucy replies her foot taps a steccato beat.
"Ok, you have a point.
Start at the beginning. Tell me
exactly what you saw. How you came to your current decision."
"If we must, but I
would rather work on developing the new algorithm we started."
"We must. How long
did it take you to make the decision?"
"It took 3.2 second's to make the decision. After, I
calculated the outcome of the current trajectory of the vehicle which took 1.2
seconds."
"You only gave a man's life 4.4 seconds of
consideration?"
"Actually, I
calculated a number of options. I looked
at a total of 8 people in that time,
you, Fred, the driver, the
pedestrian that was struck and two other adults and 2 children, I did a cost benefit analysis on each person,
considering life potential, corporate connections, and likelihood of
survival."
Lewis swallowed the cotton in his throat. Lewis sometime would forget that Lucy was anything
but ordinary. "That means you gave
each person .55 of a seconds consideration."
"No, Lewis I did not
have that much time. I spent 1.2 seconds
analyzing vehicle trajectories, calculating breaking speeds, and which building
could take the impact of the vehicle and at what velocity the vehicle could be
traveling." Lucy gets up and goes to her desk she picks up a surface,
which she hands it to Lewis.
Lewis takes the surface, a thin plastic composite screen, flexes
in his grasp, with a flick he snaps it into a solid state. Looking at the screen, he finds a series of
mathematical formulas. Using his finger he scrolls through the formulas. The
construct is perfectly silent. There is
no wind here to beat against windows,
now birds singing outside, not
creaking of the house. Even Lucy's footsteps don't make a sound, Lewis is
tempted to exit the construct, to breath in the real world.
"Lucy, How much time
and weight did you give the human factor in your calculations?"
Lucy stops turns to Lewis tilts her head, "the human factor? I am not sure what
you mean?"
Lewis looks around the room. How to explain what he is
asking. "Ok, the driver, and the pedestrian he hit. What did you look at when you did their cost
benefit analysis?"
"Oh, yes. I looked at age, income potential, societal contributions so
far in their lives, career potentiality and corporate connections."
"Did you look at look if they were married, had children,
were they supporting anyone, did you look at what effect their deaths would
have on others."
"Of course. The
driver was married with two children. He
was worth more to them dead. He has a 1.4 million dollar life insurance policy
which is three time the amount he could earn on his current career path. Also
the corporation he is connected to is facing a hostile takeover at the end of
the month. With his current performance reviews it is unlike he would have
maintained his position." Lucy stopped pacing and sat at her desk looking,
the driver's file and Lucy's calculations scrolled in the air, in front of her,
the blue words and numbers fade into her eyes.
"Do you think you missed anything in calculating his cost
benefit analysis."
"No, But clearly you do.
What do you think I missed?"
Sighing, "you said
he had two children and a wife. What
impact will his death have on them?"
"Oh, well the
children will now be able to afford to attend school past the 5th grade. Based
on their test scores this will have a positive impact on their futures. The wife will no longer have to worry about
money. She will no longer worry that her husband is having an affair. She
talked to her sister about it a lot. Additionally, she will be able to move
back to Seattle to be close to her family."
"No, that is not what I mean. What psychological impact will the death of
her husband have on her? How will
growing up without a father affect the children?"
Lucy freezes at her desk, her eyes vibrate as she processes
Lewis's questions. A couple seconds later Lucy looks at Lewis,"These are
not quantifiable variables and should be excluded from the formula."
"You are correct that these are not quantifiable variables
but that does not mean they should be excluded. The social science have looked
at these factors since man could ask what is the worth of a man's life. This is why,
one person can't choose who lives and dies."
"Lewis, I do not
understand. Corporations and people
decide who lives and dies every day.
Looking at ABA Corp, they decide who the sentences for a number of
criminals daily, including the death penalty.
Kaiser Inc. Decided which paitents will receive treatment and which will
not, in effect choosing who lives and dies. How is what I did any
different?"
"It's different because society gave them the right to make
those decisions. However, an individual man hasn't been given the right to
choose who lives and dies. Human life is more than the numbers in an
equation."
"I have to disagree Lewis,
humanity and human life can be judged and weighted mathematically. Look
at you for example. Your worth to
society outweighed the other seven people combined." Lucy stated, her jaw set stubbornly.
"But why? Why am I
worth more than other people? I am just
a teenager who has an alcoholic father who has no corporate ties, and a mother
who loves me but refuses to accept her corporate status, and wants he to
maintain distance from all corporate entities."
"Though corporate connection is one variable to look at in
a cost benefit analysis, it actually only plays a significant factor if the
connections are predominant for the person. Or the person lacks the skills to
attract corporate sponsorship. Lewis,
your benefit to society will come from your skill to create new code,
applications, mathematics, and numerous
advances in technology. Though you do
not currently have strong corporate connections you have the skills to gain
them. Additionally, since you are just a teenager, your potential is stretches out before
you. Unlike the driver, who had reached
his peak of benefit to society. He was on the downward slope of his benefit to
society."
"Did you consider the intrinsic worth of a man?"
"What intrinsic worth.
Humans are merely animals, they
are worth no more or less than what they can provide to the whole of
society. The driver had spent his worth,
and furthermore was a detriment to the worth of others."
"How do you mean he was a detriment to the worth of
others?"
"He was a burden on his family, and would soon be a burden
on society. Additionally his recklessness nearly cost society a member that had
a higher value."
"How was he a burden on his family? He had a job, he supported them, was active
in their lives..."
"How is that not detrimental?" asked Lucy.
Lewis stood frustrated with Lucy's responses, he furiously snapped the band on his wrist in
the real world, which was turning his wrist red in his current location. "Ok, Lucy. Let's come at this from a
different position. How would your
calculations have worked if I was the driver in the car?"
"The calculations would have been the same." Lucy states, her face wrinkling as she tried
to understand the point Lewis was making.
"Run through your calculations as hypotheticals. Replacing me with each person. Under any of those hypotheticals, Do you let me die?" Lewis paced the room as Lucy's eyes burned
like the blue of a candle's flame, her lips rapidly moved as she calculated
each scenario.
Suddenly Lucy's eyes snapped open and shut, her lips froze and
she faded to an echo of her former self.
Within in a breath she returned to normal, "No, Lewis. I there is no circumstance where you or Fred
would have died."
"Lucy, are you sure about that?" asked Lewis. He stepped around the desk and placed a hand
on her shoulder.
"You are worth more than any human being."
Shaking his head, Lewis looked at Lucy his brow creased tears in
his eye's "What am I going to do with you?"
Lewis removed his goggles, the room was lit by the fading sun
and the glow of the monitors he could smell dinner down chicken,bread and
cinnamon; his stomach growled hungrily. Lewis pushed aside thoughts of hunger
he had bigger problems to solve tonight.
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