Some of my fiction

[Maruno]

I may end up regretting this, but I've decided to share some of what I've done with you people.

Bear in mind, though, that pretty much everything in the links I wrote several years ago. I'd like to think my writing style has improved since then, even if I'm currently very slow at it (to the point of practically being stopped) - work is distracting me too much. I've just abandoned these two websites for years because I keep getting distracted from writing by Uni; hopefully I'll seriously get back into it once I graduate and have my year off. If I'm not distracted by a hundred other things instead, that is.

Note that in both links, when you're reading a story, there's a drop-down menu in the top and bottom right corners with all the other chapters, and a button to go to the next/previous chapter.

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www.fanfiction.net/~maruno

This link is to my fanfics. I've got one Dragonball Z story (probably the first one I ever wrote, and I've since lost the last few chapters), some Tenchi Muyo! fanfics (it was pretty much my main anime at the time), and one huge mess of crossovers (a single story in three arcs, the first of which is Continuum T).

My favourites are "Mind Swap", "Memory Lapse" and "Outpost in Sol". Heck, I like them all, really (as far as I can remember, anyway).

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www.fictionpress.com/~maruno

This link is to my original stories, ones I wrote way back (as I've mentioned). "Encounters" is relatively recent, only 2 years old, and I've spent ages in the middle of the process of rewriting the chapters to make them a lot better (so I think). I may even finish and upload them at some point too.

My favourite, though, has to be "Omoikane" (named after the computer of the Mobile Battleship Nadesico). The three I haven't mentioned I think are meh.

I've also got a few other stories lying around my computer, mainly ones I wrote for the Sci-Fi Soc fanzine, which I may get around to uploading.

[Navarre]

*reads Omoikane and Outpost in Sol*

hehehe, aww, Ryoko and Aeka, always blowing stuff up...

I like Omoikane, but it was almost over too quickly... which makes sense I guess, since he/she/it's a computer so the whole reasoning process thing takes a lot less time, but overall is was a really interesting piece.

[Maruno]

navarre said:

I like Omoikane, but it was almost over too quickly... which makes sense I guess, since he/she/it's a computer so the whole reasoning process thing takes a lot less time, but overall is was a really interesting piece.

It makes more sense when you consider I wrote it yonks ago, and I wasn't so much used to writing longer things (or things at all). I've been considering rewriting it. I'm sure it could do with it. But later, of course; I have a degree to finish first.

I'm glad you liked what you read ^_^

[Indefinite Description]

I'm just dropping by to note that the reason I'm presently not commenting is that I'm busy preparing for a mini-conference event in a couple of days. I'll have a look at the stories after that.

[Mu-chan]

<this post contains spoilers ^^>


I read the Omoikane one... It's interesting, and I quite liked it... although some concepts seem a little bit bizarre to me~

The way Omoikane was transferred to the 'dedicated server' was misleading to me at first since it didn't seem like that was what was happening, but saying Omoikane is the OS doesn't completely make sense to me still. It at least doesn't seem like an OS... more like a client application running on the OS...

Secondly, about the Internet. You can't go anywhere on the 'Internet' without having a destination. An application can't move anywhere on the Internet, just send packets/messages to each other, which is one of the basic principles of networks and distributed systems, so it's strange IMO that Omoikane is moving about on the Internet in that manner, being an application, when it would really have to communicate with other servers/applications more. Also, what does the user mean by 'proper Internet'?? Does he mean the World Wide Web as opposed to the Internet in general? They're two very different things. >>;;;;

Also, I found "I want you to decompile my program" quite funny...
(Decompiling is for restoration or creation of higher-level code... XD)

The ending itself was interesting, but I wasn't really keen on the whole lack of sincerity from either character... the whole I don't want to live I will be a part of you by letting you kill me from Omoikane and the no I don't want to okay I will short argument from the clearly dense user, didn't appeal to me.
Well, I guess he could always try a restore to bring Omoikane back again since the format doesn't seem complete since it doesn't have a file structure yet, so all the pointers are possibly just set to available with no data overwritten! :V

The name Omoikane is actually a bit ironic with that ending, don't you think? ^^

If you like the computer application gaining human emotions, friendship, love, a soul etc concept, then as always I recommend Ever17, one of my most favourite video games. It's very well done IMO, especially in Akanegasaki Sora's route with the really romantic and heroic ending... not to mention all the other sci-fi and philosophical elements that make up that game's full story. ^^

[Maruno]

muchan said:

The way Omoikane was transferred to the 'dedicated server' was misleading to me at first since it didn't seem like that was what was happening, but saying Omoikane is the OS doesn't completely make sense to me still. It at least doesn't seem like an OS... more like a client application running on the OS...

Secondly, about the Internet. You can't go anywhere on the 'Internet' without having a destination. An application can't move anywhere on the Internet, just send packets/messages to each other, which is one of the basic principles of networks and distributed systems, so it's strange IMO that Omoikane is moving about on the Internet in that manner, being an application, when it would really have to communicate with other servers/applications more. Also, what does the user mean by 'proper Internet'?? Does he mean the World Wide Web as opposed to the Internet in general? They're two very different things. >>;;;;

The simple answer is that I wrote this years ago, before I started thinking about laying out stories properly. At the time, I probably just wanted to get the point down.

I can go to make up all kinds of explanations if you like. Omoikane is a large sets of programs, firstly residing and running on a computer as an application. When she's transferred, she's put onto a better computer which has half an OS on it, which when combined with Omoikane's programs works as a proper OS. It is certainly likely to have flaws, still, and that could be a point I can touch on in the rewrite. But essentially, the new server has her programs running as the OS, instead of within it. She's now in complete control of the computer she's in (and can be said to BE the computer, as opposed to being ON it). That's one of the main motivations for transferring her in the first place.

The Internet access is part of the "half-OS" already on the new server (along with a bunch of other functions). It is able to create connections to all computers networked to hers via her modem, meaning it can connect to and browse every computer currently connected to the phone lines around the world. You have to remember that the learning process for computers is much different to that for humans. The new applications (Internet access and so on) came with an "information module" that describes all the functions of those applications. Omoikane read those and immediately knew how to use them. Obviously there were some mistakes in the new applications, because Omoikane linked to the computers rather than the Internet servers (which contains the "Internet proper", webpages and so forth - the user's language isn't perfect either; of course he meant the WWW when he said "Internet"). She was told she was looking at the wrong things, thought about it and wrote some new applications (she tried a different method). She displayed a webpage to the user as a test to see if her different method worked, and it did.

Omoikane doesn't move her program around to other computers, if that's what you were thinking; she moves her browsing location. It's all pictographically represented in her mind (as described), a method which helped the development of AI. It's like learning to walk, only learnt much faster - all the connecting to servers, pinging and negotiating with hosts and all that is done mostly automatically by her subconscious "net" (all the core functions that say exactly how to open a file or connect to a server or whatever - analogous to tensing specific muscles in just the right way in order to walk). She's smart enough and powerful enough to be able to bypass any weak firewalls and such on the other computers.

Basically, she knows how to do things, and does them (although human error on part of the user/programmer meant she was initially making the wrong type of connections). She was told how to, so she immediately knows exactly how to do so (in theory, anyway - testing is still necessary to catch the mistakes, such as the connecting to computers thing).

muchan said:

Also, I found "I want you to decompile my program" quite funny...
(Decompiling is for restoration or creation of higher-level code... XD)

You mean with reference to the next chapter? Fair enough. I'm sure at the time I thought "decompile" meant "format", and I wanted to use a different word for "format" (since it's one of the commands, I recall).

muchan said:

The ending itself was interesting, but I wasn't really keen on the whole lack of sincerity from either character... the whole I don't want to live I will be a part of you by letting you kill me from Omoikane and the no I don't want to okay I will short argument from the clearly dense user, didn't appeal to me.
Well, I guess he could always try a restore to bring Omoikane back again since the format doesn't seem complete since it doesn't have a file structure yet, so all the pointers are possibly just set to available with no data overwritten! :V

Again, I have no idea what the details were supposed to be. It was most likely just a way to end the story (now that I'd said everything I wanted). I'll certainly agree that the ending was flat and entirely unrealistic. Perhaps the user wasn't so anxious not to lose Omoikane because he had a recent backup of all the programming. Clearly something else to improve on in the rewrite (coming this summer, maybe, if this happens to be one of the stories I end up redoing).

Alternatively, it could be just as you say, that the user would then try a restore of Omoikane's data. Then it turns out the restored programs don't run, thus being proof that Omoikane did develop into a unique individual that floated away as a spirit. And it's not mentioned because I didn't think of it, and because the storiy is a kind of chat log between the user and Omoikane, and said chat log wouldn't be made after Omoikane died. Perhaps that leaves too much to the imagination, especially with no hints that that might even happen.

muchan said:

The name Omoikane is actually a bit ironic with that ending, don't you think? ^^

I don't get the reference. What were you thinking of?

I just named her Omoikane after the computer in Nadesico (I'd been watching it recently, and it was as good a name as any). In fact, my current computer is called Omoikane (it's my first computer that I thought about naming when I got it, 4 years ago, which explains it being the first in the naming line even though it's not my first ever computer). The next computer I get will be called Nanikane, incidentally, and the one after that Nanalie. There's no significance at all to those last two names (merely a fun twist on the preceding names).

[Mu-chan]

Theoretically by the way, from what I remember, it is best to keep the size of the OS as minimal as possible, so for efficiency, Omoikane would be better to run as an exclusive client interface of the OS with full-access IMO. It is also better maintenance-wise making the distinction between applications. ^^

Network connections work by either being provided with addresses of other systems, perhaps on other servers that may be found via a directory listing, or from following hyperlinks or being entered manually etc... otherwise it would be like entering phone numbers randomly into the phone hoping to find someone... It would sound like Omoikane possibly hacked into the ISP's server to get information it shouldn't have, so the user may receive some unfriendly guests at his door in a few days time. XD
I don't fully know what you mean by instead of connecting to the server it connected to the computer... Omoikane if anything is accessing the directory listings instead of any specific files and is illegally hacking into directories it shouldn't have access to without second thought.

Just to clarify, 'proper Internet' is absolutely terrible terminology XD... If anything, the 'proper Internet' is what Omoikane originally found. The WWW and the Internet are not equivalent (the WWW is more like a subclass). It is strange how Omoikane understood the 'bad command' without hesitation IMO... XD

The user wouldn't necessarily need to run the files after recovery, just find the traces of the saved data i.e. the memories and try to recover the information from them. It's all to do with computer forensics~ ^^

(I hope I haven't said anything mean or rude and sorry if I have, but I thought it would be nicer to clarify some of these points even though I'm mostly just agreeing with your last post ^^;


I found it asking the user to decompile it funny because of what that sentence means alonside the rest of what Omoikane says. It's like it's saying "I want you to understand me better... no wait... I want you to kill me and don't ask questions because you can't possibly understand me." ... What a moody application. :V
A higher-level language should be easier for humans to understand. A decompiler could be used in maintenance of legacy systems or conversion of a program from one language to another. A decompiler is still a compiler. Really, the 'de' part is only there because compilers are usually thought of as high-level to lower-level so it's the opposite, but a compiler is really just the series of steps converting one language to another, including parsing etc.
Omoikane asking the user to format it doesn't make much sense either IMO. I mean, it's already formatted otherwise it wouldn't run. :V Asking to be reformatted would be strange since it would be the computer itself that would be formatted/reformatted not the applications... Therefore, Omoikane asking for 'deletion' is probably the best terminology out of the ones mentioned here IMO. ^^


Omoikane =
Omoi + kane =
(memories or thoughts or emotions or love etc) + (bell or metal)

Roughly, it can be thought of as something artificial containing emotions/feelings etc, or maybe something artificial that can communicate with humans. It's ironic how something named to virtually preserve and encourage memories and conversation asks for it to have all of its memories erased and tells the user he/she can't possibly understand it. ^^

[Maruno]

muchan said:

Theoretically by the way, from what I remember, it is best to keep the size of the OS as minimal as possible, so for efficiency, Omoikane would be better to run as an exclusive client interface of the OS with full-access IMO. It is also better maintenance-wise making the distinction between applications. ^^

Network connections work by either being provided with addresses of other systems, perhaps on other servers that may be found via a directory listing, or from following hyperlinks or being entered manually etc... otherwise it would be like entering phone numbers randomly into the phone hoping to find someone... It would sound like Omoikane possibly hacked into the ISP's server to get information it shouldn't have, so the user may receive some unfriendly guests at his door in a few days time. XD
I don't fully know what you mean by instead of connecting to the server it connected to the computer... Omoikane if anything is accessing the directory listings instead of any specific files and is illegally hacking into directories it shouldn't have access to without second thought.

I think that's what she was doing. Dialling random numbers until she found a response, then dove straight into the computer and had a look what was on it. I think it was just a random person's computer, though, not necessarily the ISP server or anything.

I figure it's all feasible since she's an AI in the first place. And an intelligent one at that, so she's immediately better than any other computer around. Maybe quantum comes into it somewhere. She was told how to do something, so she did it. She does have some sense of morality, but initially she thought that was what she was supposed to do. Once the user told her that was wrong, she corrected things and decided that hacking straight into people's computers was wrong.

muchan said:

Just to clarify, 'proper Internet' is absolutely terrible terminology XD... If anything, the 'proper Internet' is what Omoikane originally found. The WWW and the Internet are not equivalent (the WWW is more like a subclass). It is strange how Omoikane understood the 'bad command' without hesitation IMO... XD

No one's perfect. Although yes, the user should have enough of an understanding of computers (since he's involved with the Omoikane project) to know exactly what the Internet is and what to call it. But for the moment I'm putting it down to human error.

muchan said:

The user wouldn't necessarily need to run the files after recovery, just find the traces of the saved data i.e. the memories and try to recover the information from them. It's all to do with computer forensics~ ^^

(I hope I haven't said anything mean or rude and sorry if I have, but I thought it would be nicer to clarify some of these points even though I'm mostly just agreeing with your last post ^^;

Well, whatever he did, it wasn't logged, and thus not in the story. Apparently it failed, because of the events of Nanikane.

You say what you want. Freedom of speech and all that. I'm not even offended, because I wrote this story so long ago that I know it's poor quality. I just welcome the comments - they'll help with a rewrite.

muchan said:

I found it asking the user to decompile it funny because of what that sentence means alonside the rest of what Omoikane says. It's like it's saying "I want you to understand me better... no wait... I want you to kill me and don't ask questions because you can't possibly understand me." ... What a moody application. :V
A higher-level language should be easier for humans to understand. A decompiler could be used in maintenance of legacy systems or conversion of a program from one language to another. A decompiler is still a compiler. Really, the 'de' part is only there because compilers are usually thought of as high-level to lower-level so it's the opposite, but a compiler is really just the series of steps converting one language to another, including parsing etc.
Omoikane asking the user to format it doesn't make much sense either IMO. I mean, it's already formatted otherwise it wouldn't run. :V Asking to be reformatted would be strange since it would be the computer itself that would be formatted/reformatted not the applications... Therefore, Omoikane asking for 'deletion' is probably the best terminology out of the ones mentioned here IMO. ^^

I didn't intend there to be an "understand me!" aspect to the story. Rather, Omoikane was trying to understand herself better, trying to decide what her purpose is, and finding out exactly what she is. She was asking for her wishes to be respected, like it's a sign of recognition that she's responsible for herself.

Moody... Well, Omoikane did have emotions. Apparently they were too strong. Yet another aspect she improved in Nanikane.

The jargon is appreciated. I just wanted to use fancy words, rather than correct ones, obviously. It sounds like you're thinking of a different definition of "format", though; I meant in the sense of wiping the hard drive (with or without writing over it a few times with random 1s and 0s like the data protection maniacs do). Essentially, erasing her program.

muchan said:

Omoikane =
Omoi + kane =
(memories or thoughts or emotions or love etc) + (bell or metal)

Roughly, it can be thought of as something artificial containing emotions/feelings etc, or maybe something artificial that can communicate with humans. It's ironic how something named to virtually preserve and encourage memories and conversation asks for it to have all of its memories erased and tells the user he/she can't possibly understand it. ^^

Heh, fair enough. I didn't know about all that. Perhaps I'll keep the irony aspect of her wanting to be deleted. Although, she was searching for some kind of absolute truth (life after death, what is real, who am I, something like that), so it might make some greater sense that way.

[Mu-chan]

Nanikane...? =_=
I didn't notice there were two chapters before... it didn't show up on the menu... maybe I'll read it later~

(Nani ka, ne? XD!!)

maruno said:

It sounds like you're thinking of a different definition of "format", though; I meant in the sense of wiping the hard drive (with or without writing over it a few times with random 1s and 0s like the data protection maniacs do). Essentially, erasing her program.

Umm... That's not really correct from what I know...
Formatting is giving something a format. If you select to format your drive, you are recreating the file structure and making it suitable to write to (for example, you may reformat the drive or memory card if the file structure or the registry is so messed up or corrupt it's better starting again from the beginning or not really possible to continue as it is). While doing this, to recreate the file structure, all the unnecessary clutter is marked as 'available', making it appear erased. Corrupt sectors are likely marked as unusable.
Merely deleting doesn't actually delete anything. The only way to erase something (from non-volatile areas) is for data to be overwritten by more data. ^^
Although I'm not an expert on formatting, at the end of Omoikane it says to insert a disk to reinstall the FAT. That lead me to believe possibly nothing has been overwritten yet, as it doesn't even have a file structure anymore, so everything is just marked as 'available' as if it was a fresh start (default, structureless format). Overwriting data would likely require additional work. That's just from what I know though. ^^

I would have thought an application would already have a format set when it's initialised, that's why it didn't make much sense to me for an application, rather than a drive, to be formatted when its already working. But, thinking about it more, perhaps it might make sense if the saved data was erased or archived but the working application itself unchanged, so like returning the application back to the beginning. Perhaps that could be considered as a reformatting... kind of. XD

[Maruno]

Again, all jargon. So sue me for being a layman.

I don't know what the details are. I'll invent some coherent-sounding details when I rewrite it. Perhaps I'll just go for non-familiar commands (seeing as how Omoikane is rather unique in terms of programming anyway, so there can feasibly be a whole new set of jargon) so that people can't complain that I got a meaning slightly wrong.