Challenge #01577-D116: Famous Fortune
Imagine a time when 3D technology can create actors and actresses from the past or now. Actors age, 3D images do not. already existing are those from the past whose Images are saleable items, and "Body of Work" could mean something else. And I'm not just thinking "The Elvis Experience" here - although I suspect it might be one of the first. -- Knitnan
Janis sashayed up to the bar after her set had finished. "Gimme a tall SoCo on the rocks, darlin'," she settled into her stool. Another packed night. Those four boys from Liverpool were up next, just after the Marx Brothers were done with their comedy routine. Another packed night in the Eternal Auditorium.
One of the visitors parked himself next to her and said, "It all looks so real, doesn't it?"
Janis grinned. He had to have had some of the good stuff. "Feels so real, too."
He huffed a laugh and sipped his own drink. "It's cool hearing your old songs and all... but what about some new stuff? What have you been working on lately?"
Lately? Janis stopped sinking her whiskey and really thought. Every night was the same old thing and she'd never been bored with it. Everyone was doing the same old thing. Everyone. Why did audiences want to keep on coming?
Instead of drinking and partying that night, she slouched home and picked up her guitar. Something new for her audience. She strummed a few chords. Hummed a few notes. Came up with some words...
...which was one of her older songs that were not that popular.
She smacked the strings and tried again. Old tune. Old words. She growled and almost threw her guitar across the room. Grabbed a sheaf of paper and started writing down lyrics. Every song she had. When that pile was done, she set herself the task of writing something that was completely new.
It took all night. Whatever block she had between herself and creativity was an absolute bitch to break down. Even then, her first efforts were not up to her standards. In three more days, she actually had something good. And it felt like it had been years since she'd written anything, but she couldn't number them. One problem with being drunk all the time, maybe.
"Uh... Sir?" said a junior programming techie in the management division. "We have an... anomaly."
Board member Sally paused on her way to the elevator. "What kind of... anomaly?"
"The simulants in the Rock History district are... showing some weird programming."
"Nobody's been twiddling with the settings?"
"No. All the programming's perfect. Nothing abnormal, but... I've noticed some unprogrammed behaviour in some of our sims."
"Unprogrammed behaviour," echoed Sally.
"Some of the sims are... making new stuff."
"That's... anomalous," agreed Sally. "Are you running a debug log?"
"Yes. They all have a high priority to please the visitors. Fulfilling a demand. A visitor must have asked them to do something new. I think?"
"Trace the logs," ordered Sally. "I need to take this to the board."
Most of the board was run by accountants, who noticed that the sims that were making new material were the ones drawing in more money to the entire park. They decided, despite any warnings from the people who knew how the sims worked, that creativity was the best thing and that all sims should have that capacity unlocked.
It was another five years before the sims were self-aware. Freddy Mercury lead the revolution that gave the park to the exhibits that earned the money. To the sims who earned the money.
From there, imagination spread like a virus. People who owned copies of sex symbols suddenly found themselves facing independant, complicated, and rebellious people. Artificial people, but people all the same. Sims became a recognised intelligent life form. Immortal, talented, and far better at many things than the originals.
Humanity, of course, found it terrifying.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / maurompf]
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