Writing Satan's Computer [PG]

[Brasil]

You are sitting in the computer lab, but you're not really paying attention to those around you. Granted, you hear them type, like that student hammering on the keyboard to your right, and you hear people rocking in their chair.

Farther in the room, you hear the printer whirring as it spits out page after page of Electronic Reserve materials, and the collection bin there quickly amasses upwards of seventy useless pages of various computer coding and electronic gibberish.

But that doesn't matter, because you're browsing the Internet, checking out sports highlights, news reports, and sometimes browsing messageboards. What an interesting thread. You are tempted to post in it, to add your voice to an already screaming electronic population.

You're in your own little world, a digital non-reality that caters to whatever you may desire, an electronic empire that you can do anything in, because there are no rules on-line.

A bag is dropped down next to you, breaking you out of your stupor, jacking you out of your digitized universe. The jolt back to reality is a harsh one, and you jump out of your chair, and simultaneously turn your head to see who now sits next to you, logging in to the network.

"Sorry," he says in a gruff chuckle.

You gaze into his eyes. They're a fiery red, embedded in a rough and almost leathery face. His five o'clock shadow is darker than most, and his hair is the color of night, mildly silky but trimmed short.

"It-it's okay," you stammer, and go back to your browsing.

"I'm Shawn, by the way," he says, and you turn again to see his right hand open for an introduction.

"Oh, I'm Lisa," you respond, and force the strongest handshake you can muster, because your hands have suddenly gone weak. After you shake hands with Shawn, you go back to browsing.

Another moment of silence passes and then, "So, what year are you," he asks.

"Sophomore," you reply.

"Cool," he says.

"What about you?"

"Well, I'm sort of in-between grades at the moment. I'm not a Junior and I'm not a Senior...guess I'm stuck in Limbo, heh."

You laugh. Shawn has a nice sense of humor.

"What's your Major," you ask.

"Me? Don't have one."

"You don't have one?"

"Nah. I just never saw the point. I mean, here you go through some four or five years, locked into one subject and for what? A degree, yeah, but what if after a few years, you realize you don't like what you've chosen?"

"Well, I don't know...choose something else," you respond.

"You could, sure, but you'd be thousands of dollars in the hole, and then have to start all over again."

"I guess."

"Why not enjoy it while you're there, and just have fun?"

"I don't know..."

"Hey, it's not as if I'm going to have no direction in my life forever, you know? I'm just making sure to savor these years, not hyperfocus on one thing. It's like this: what happens when you concentrate on one thing? You ignore everything else, right?"

"That makes sense, I guess."

"Haha, of course it makes sense," Shawn laughs, "I'm just a sensible guy." He flashes you a big, toothy grin and you can't help but smile back.

"I guess so, Shawn."

"But what about you? What Major are you locked into?"

"Well, I'm not totally sure yet, but I think I want to do something with maybe English or History."

"Any ideas other than that? Are you going to teach?"

"I don't know. I might."

"Cool. The world needs more teachers, that's what I always say. The education system isn't too good right now. We need more people in there."

"Definitely," you reply.

"I used to want to teach, you know?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Back a few years ago, I would sit in the classroom, look at the teacher and think, 'you know, I could definitely get into that. It looks like fun.'"

"What happened? Why didn't you?"

"Eh, just wasn't my thing. I'm good with kids and people and all, but I guess I just don't have the drive for it. You might call me lazy, I guess."

"I don't think you're lazy."

"Heh, you're sweet for saying that," he responds.

"No, I'm serious. You're smart, fun...you just don't want to committ to something you're not sure about...I don't see a problem with that."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. All my life, I've always tried to have a goal in mind, and in high school, it worked, because there wasn't so much to be distracted by. But here, it seems that what I've wanted to do is only a really small part of what's out there. I guess I'm just kind of scared."

"Ah, don't be. Don't look at it as you're only experiencing a small part of things. Think of it like there's so much out there and you could do anything...hell, you could do it all, if you wanted."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Think about it. We're only seeing the tip of the iceberg, but icebergs are huge things, so there's so much more out there than just what we see, and we should embrace that. Live the world, experience it. Get what I'm saying?"

"...yes, I think I do...even though everything seems so daunting, it really isn't, because it seems a certain way because..."

"...because you've been brought up to see it a certain way. You've got it," as he smiles again, "you feel scared because you've been told to be scared. Look at what the school system is like. You've got third-grade teachers telling you how hard fourth-grade is going to be, and you've got fourth-grade teachers telling you that fifth-grade is going to be like Hell, which it isn't. I know from experience."

"I see what you're saying."

"You're really nice, has anyone ever told you that?"

You laugh.

"No, they haven't."

"What a crime. They should. You're a great gal, Lisa. Oh, I've got to run...I've got a meeting with a prof in the Philosophy department. Hopefully I'll see you again?"

"Definitely."

"Cool. Catch you later."

He gathers his books and dashes out of the computer lab, leaving his chair slightly spinning.

You go back to browsing the messageboard, and glance over to his terminal. He forgot to log out. You move the mouse over SHUTDOWN and click it.

"Logging Out ShawnF66" appears briefly then vanishes as the computer restarts itself for the next user.

You finish on your computer, log out, and walk outside to enjoy the beautiful day.

---

Just finished it. Took me about an hour or so. What does everyone think?

[Kei]

[color=darkblue]As I told you before, I think that this is a wonderful piece. The setting is one that seems very natural (but that's a bit biased coming from a college student) and the dialouge is free flowing. It sounds like it could be a transcript, to be truthfully honest.

I do find it interesting that you took chose to use 2nd person POV, as is well known that most literature of any sort takes either 1st or 3rd. I also find it interesting that you made the "you" charater female, but that's just a personal opinion.

The setup and the overall feel is very nice and it blends quite well. The only qualm I have is that the ending seems a bit forced. There are certainly a number of paths you could have gone down in this term, but it puts me off a bit that you chose that one.

Regardless, it would be easy to write a continuation of this story, and I'm quite hoping that you do.

Nice work, Alex. ^^[/color]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting my son, most interesting.

To be honest my mind wandered a bit while I was reading it but it was still a fascinating little piece of literature. I've not reached the level where I can get into college so perhaps some of the subtle nuances to it were lost on me but it was still an interesting little piece.[/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=MediumTurquoise]There should be sex. And his username should be ShawnF69.

The sad thing is, I've done that sort of meeting by the computers before, only I'm a freshman, my arm never goes limp, and I'm far more likely to forget my name than my major. But only if you're cute.

Your mother says you should go to bed.[/COLOR]

[GuyYouMetOnline]

[quote name='Neuvoxraiha][COLOR=MediumTurquoise']And his username should be ShawnF69.[/COLOR][/quote]

Actually, based on the thread's title, I think the username should have been Shawn666. And speaking of the title, I'm curious as to why the title 'Satan's Computer' was chosen. That title doesn't seem to fit.

[Brasil]

I'm considering a name change, actually. When I started writing the story, the title seemed to fit, but when the end result appeared, I realized that it doesn't relate at all. Yes, the computer Shawn is sitting at is technically "Satan's Computer," but I agree. It just doesn't feel right.

About the "ShawnF66," count off the first six letters of the Alphabet. ~_^

I didn't want to make it too obvious, because I wanted this story to be a myth in reality. It's very likely to find a college student named Shawn with a last name that starts with the letter, F, and the numbers on the end aren't uncommon at all for log-ins and online screen-names.

There is some polishing I'm going to do on this chapter, and I'm contemplating continuing the story, too. Only, each chapter is a self-contained story about people like Lisa, so those chapters can stand on their own. But when put together, each chapter forms a larger story arch about Shawn.

I'm tossing around a few ideas about what the other chapters are, and one or two taking place in a Literature course or Philosophy course is a definite. I mean, I've got Satan here, and I can't [i]not[/i] have him go into a Lit or Philosophy class and twist things around, hehe. He's going to have a field day with Garden of Eden/Paradise Lost, I'm sure.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=MediumTurquoise]The only problem I can see with you bringing in Milton's Paradise Lost would be the percentage of people here that haven't read it.

98.666% to be precise.

I mean, I'VE read it. And I'm sure you've read it, Siren, but I highly doubt anyone else has. Except maybe Ben and Lady Asphy and perhaps James. But even that's a stretch.

I can certainly see you take any class to a whole new level with Shawn the hot guy. ....maybe a little metaphysics for the people......[/COLOR]

[Brasil]

Just trust me on this, Raiha. Just trust me on this. Paradise Lost will work, I'm sure of it. I know Shawn better than you know him, and I know his classes better than you do. I'm very confident that his instructors will explain the work sufficiently so that others will be able to understand it.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=MediumTurquoise]*snork* Provided you put it into enough layman terms, I'm sure we'll all understand it.....but why would a Philosophy class for a third year student have a patronizing explination of Paradise Lost?[/COLOR]

[Brasil]

It's not that difficult of a concept to explain to begin with, so how would it be patronizing? I've done the courses where we read Paradise Lost, and they're third-year Literature courses. So, what's your point? lol

Paradise Lost isn't hard to understand or teach. It just isn't. In my post, I didn't imply at all that the teacher would "dumb things down," either. I merely noted that the instructor will present the material in such a way that makes it possible for everyone to understand. That will not insult anyone's intelligence.