iFrankenstein (sequel to iDrakula) (iMonsters Book 2)
Page 1
iFrankenstein
by
Bekka Black
COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Any resemblance to any other characters, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © by Rebecca Cantrell
Artwork:
Friedrich, Caspar David.
Woman on the Beach of Rugen 1818, 1818. Oskar Reinhart Foundation, Winterhur, Switzerland.
Village Landscape in Morning Light (The Lone Tree). 1822. Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany.
Woman at a Window, 1822. Nationagalerie, Berlin, Germany.
The Wanderer above the Mists, 1817-18. Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany.
The Cemetery Gate (The Churchyard) c. 1825-30. Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
Graveyard under Snow. 1826. Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany.
Grebe, Fritz. Blick in den sommerlichen Hardanger Fjord. Oil on wood. Private collection.
Marszewski, Jozef. Nocturnal Landscape and Windmills. 1864. Oil on canvas. National Museum, Warsaw.
Millet, Francisque. Mountain Landscape with Lightning. c. 1675. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London, UK.
Odevaere, Joseph Denis. Lord Byron on his Death-bed. c. 1826. Oil on canvas. Groeningmuseum, Bruges, Belgium.
Pearson, W. Atlantic liner Titanic sinking bow first, 1912, with eight full lightboats nearby and iceberg in the distance. 1912. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.
Schouman, Martinus. The Explosion of Gunboat nr 2 Under Command of Jan van Spejik. Antwerp. February 5, 1831. 1832. Oil on canvas. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Van Gogh, Vincent. Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass. 1888. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Dedication
To my son and favorite reader.
Table of Contents
October 22 - The ship sets sail
October 23 - Victor releases the crawler
October 24 - Elizabeth tours Amsterdam on her own
October 25 - Victor starts the AI analysis
October 26 - Virtual Victor (V.V) is alive!
October 27 - Victor gets hacked
October 28 - Victor gets an email from his dead mother
October 29 - V.V is like nothing seen before
October 30 - Victor faces V.V
October 31 - Doorway to death?
Biography
Other Works
October 22 - The ship sets sail
Text from Elizabeth Lavenza to Henry Clerval
October 22
10:45 AM
Elizabeth
Vacation goal: Blast Victor out of the cyberworld & into the real one
Henry
Not enough dynamite on the planet
Elizabeth
I hope u r wrong
Henry
Where r u guys now?
Elizabeth
Southampton, England
Henry
Where the Titanic sailed from?
Elizabeth
Yup. Here’s a painting I just saw in Greenwich Maritime Museum
Henry
It’s all fun and games till someone loses an…iceberg
Elizabeth
Ha ha. At least the beginning of THAT cruise was fun
Henry
Uh-oh. Where’s Victor?
Elizabeth
Hiding in his cabin on ship. Banging on his laptop
Henry
Sounds like u’ll have a fun trip! Almost as much fun as staying here in Palo Alto and watching him type
Elizabeth
Advice?
Henry
Maybe u’d be better off hanging out IRL with ur mom?
Elizabeth
Mom & Victor’s dad are busy planning their National Geographic piece about the Walton’s last voyage
Henry
That IS how the trip is getting paid for: free tix if they chronicle the ship’s final voyage
Elizabeth
Whatever. It’s not the same without u here. Victor & I r like Huey & Dewey without Louie
Henry
Am closer to Scrooge McDuck these days
Elizabeth
That’s Victor
Henry
Except it’s his computer not his gold coins that he loves
Elizabeth
Even Scrooge came around in “Mickey’s Christmas Carol”
Henry
All u need r invisible Christmas spirits and u r set
Elizabeth
Hmmm…
Text from Elizabeth Lavenza to Victor Frankenstein
October 22
10:55 AM
Elizabeth
The SS Walton won’t disembark for hours. Come onshore with me!
Victor
Isn’t it raining out there in nature?
Elizabeth
Not any more. It’s kinda like this
Victor
Looks windy
Elizabeth
It’s exhilarating!
Victor
Exhilaration is overrated
Elizabeth
Ur body. Only u can live in it
Victor
Technically, parasites can live in it too
Elizabeth
Ha ha. R u coming?
Victor
Can’t. Have 1 more object to debug
Elizabeth
I’ve heard that a million times
Victor
It’d be faster if the damn ship had internet like my father, the Sperm Donor, promised
Elizabeth
What’s wrong with the internet?
Victor
It keeps breaking + they won’t let me fix it
Elizabeth
Can u survive 2 weeks without internet?
Victor
Maybe not
Elizabeth
Have u ever gone a DAY without internet?
Victor
Why would I want to?
Elizabeth
So u can meet urself IRL!
Victor
Cyber-me is still me. That whole IRL distinction is crap
Elizabeth
Gotta go enjoy life, Sunshine Boy
Victor
Return to me in one piece
Elizabeth
Not more than two pieces. Promise
Henry's Browser
October 22
Cruise Itinerary for the SS Walton
October 21
Southampton – Great Britain. Sail early evening. Check-in 12 to 5 pm
October 22
Bruges – Belgium. Full day on shore
October 23
Amsterdam – Netherlands. Full day on shore
October 24
Oslo – Norway. Full day on shore
October 25
Stavanger – Norway. Full day on shore
October 26
Flaam – Norway. Full day on shore
October 27
Cruise in Sognefjord – Norway. Evening
October 28
Cruise in Nordfjord – Norway. Evening
October 29
Trondheim – Norway. Full day
October 30
Bodo – Norway. Morning
October 31
Reykjavik – Iceland. Full day
November 1
Southampton – Great Britain. Arrive early morning, disembark 9 to 11 am
Henry's Browser
October 22
ASK FRANK Search Results
Your search for "queen mary Southampton" returned 4,000,600 results.
Southampton –
Queen Mary – The Queen Mary’s maiden voyage was out of Southampton on May 27, 1936…
Queen Mary – Southampton – One of our favorite ghost-hunting tours, the Queen Mary has more ghosts than…
Queen – “We Will Rock You” The Mayflower Theater Southampton. After the success of the regional tour…
Victor's Phone Notes
October 22
Use crawler to retrieve text from all portals I used in the past 5 years: email, Facebook, MySpace, twitter, Amazon reviews, Netflix reviews, YouTube reviews, SecondLife, Runescape, World of Warcraft, other online games, etc.
Dump the texts into a database, separated by end of message, periods, hard line breaks, etc. Borrow processing power to speed this up
Move results into AI database
Set up data mining engine to sort out meaningful questions + answers: AI chatbot complete!
Win the Turing test in all major online contests: True Turing, Conversationalist, etc.
Get scholarship + early admittance to Carnegie Mellon
Leave home a year early!
Finally spend “quality time” with Elizabeth
Rule the world
Screw up massively + be stuck living with the Sperm Donor another year until I graduate
Victor's Browser
October 22
True Turing Prize
Alan Turing, celebrated mathematician, postulated that a machine could be said to think if it could answer questions such that a human asker assumed the machine to be human. As simple as it sounds, it has proven to be very difficult to create a chatbot that can pass this test.
The True Turing Prize is awarded yearly to the chatbot who comes the closest to fooling a human interrogator. Winners receive a medal and a $10,000 prize, plus additional scholarship money.
Elizabeth's Browser
October 22
ASK BRANDON
How To Find Out What Boys Really Think
Dear Brandon,
I have this guy who’s been my closest friend since forever, but I want something more. How do I get him to notice me as something besides a BFF?
Jessica
Dear Jessica:
You have to show him it’s a new world now. Take him someplace you’ve never been together. Do some activity with him that you’ve both never done. Try a new look. Don’t go overboard, but maybe try something a little sexier than usual. Guys are very visual.
If he still doesn’t figure it out, you can either decide he knows how you feel and is just pretending not to know to spare your feelings, or take the risk and tell him how you feel.
Good luck!
Brandon
Text from Elizabeth Lavenza to Henry Clerval
October 22
9:10 PM
Elizabeth
I dragged Victor out of his cabin & on deck this evening
Henry
Bet he hated it
Elizabeth
U r not going to believe this, but he was almost struck by lightning!
Henry
Figures. Is he OK?
Elizabeth
Fine, but mad! Now he swears Mother Nature hates him. He’s nursing a grudge in his cabin
Henry
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did u like the play?
Elizabeth
Southampton’s amazing!
Henry
The Queen Mary had her maiden voyage from there. Remember that trip?
Elizabeth
U were scared to go on the ghost hunting tour
Henry
The entire Clerval/Lavenza/Frankenstein clans were there! If I screamed like a girl I’d never live it down
Elizabeth
U were very brave in the end
Henry
So patronizing. Ouch. That trip was awful!
Elizabeth
I thought the Queen Mary ghost hunting tour was cool
Henry
U thought all the yearly trips were cool
Elizabeth
Every single one. Every single summer since we were 11. I miss them. Don’t u?
Henry
Doesn’t matter, E. After that trip everything died
Elizabeth
Not everything. Just Victor’s mom & my parent’s marriage
Henry
And my freedom
Elizabeth
What r u up to today?
Henry
U 2 r missing the Palo Alto junior/senior homeschool prom right now
Elizabeth
Is it fun?
Henry
Didn’t go. Didn’t want to dance in the wheelchair
Elizabeth
Remember when u taught me to dance in 5th grade for our first homeschool dance?
Henry
My poor sad toes remember
Elizabeth
If u can dance with me, u can dance with anything, even a wheelchair
Henry
Do u know how gratingly cheerful u can be?
Elizabeth
It’s not easy either
Henry
:)
Elizabeth
Miss u
Henry
Miss u both. Tell Victor Mother Nature might not be so angry if he visited more often
Elizabeth
Will do. G’night
Henry
Sleep tight
Text from Alphonse Frankenstein to Victor Frankenstein
October 22
9:14 PM
Alphonse
Hey, Victor! Where are you?
Victor
Alphonse
Don’t wait up for me, kiddo. I’ll be up late working. Lots of historical photos to plow through. Good night.
October 23 - Victor releases the crawler
Elizabeth's Browser
October 23
Bruges, Belgium
Art Museums
Text from Elizabeth Lavenza to Lydia Lavenza
October 23
9:35 AM
Elizabeth
May I go into Bruges today? Visit museums, take pictures, do sketches
Lydia
More Elizabeth art specials? I’d love to see them. Of course you can go.
Elizabeth
Want to come with me?
Lydia
We’re meeting with the captain who first piloted the SS Walton for the piece. Otherwise you know I’d love to!
Elizabeth
I’ll see if Victor wants to go
Lydia
Oh, I hope so! And don’t miss the last boat back!
Elizabeth
I’m 16, Mom, not 6
Lydia
I know you’re very responsible, Lizzie. Sorry I nagged you.
Elizabeth
I forgive u. :) Especially because Bruges is going to be COOL!
Lydia
Have fun!
Text from Elizabeth Lavenza to Victor Frankenstein
October 23
10:00 AM
Elizabeth
Wanna go into Bruges for lunch? Their specialties are French fries & waffles, ur kind of food
Victor
I saw the movie In Bruges. Don’t need to see the real life version
Elizabeth
Real life might be more complex than u think
Victor
+ last time we went someplace ur Mother Nature nearly murdered me
Elizabeth
U can’t text Mother Nature. U have to meet her on her own terms. Unplug
Victor
They’ll have to pry my laptop from my cold dead fingers
Elizabeth
Bruges has an Internet café in a windmill…
Victor
Internet!!!! I’ll be right there. With my laptop. Ready to download the crawler
Elizabeth
I ring with joy
Victor
Meet me on deck, smarty pants
Email from Victor Frankenstein to Henry Clerval
October 23
&nbs
p; 11:32 AM
It’s begun!
The damn windmill Internet café has no wireless access! I had to beg them to let me plug an Ethernet cable into Dad’s old laptop because my files are too big to transfer with a jump drive. The teenager in charge really didn’t want to, because of course he worried I have some heinous virus that will destroy his entire computer network, but in the end I prevailed.
I set the crawler loose! It’s trolling the Internet for every bit of text I ever wrote. It’s going to take some time to collect it all, even with my “borrowed” computer resources. Don’t tell Elizabeth how I’m borrowing them either. You know how anti-hacking she can be. And it’s not like the computers I’m borrowing it from are using it. No harm, no foul, right?
Based on my results with the test databases, I think my chatbot’s a cinch to win the True Turing, unless you can pull a rabbit out of a hat. If you can’t, it’s early admission to Carnegie Mellon for me. I won’t have to be dragged everywhere on the globe that the Sperm Donor gets paid to photograph. Nirvana. Or it’ll be a massive and tragic failure and I’ll be aimlessly walking the earth another year in his shadow. Some days I think it’s a coin flip.
Elizabeth says “hi” and also to tell you that “the Internet café is in an old windmill and while Victor was banging away I ordered some delicious bread that was ground on a working windmill and it tastes awesome and no Victor won’t try any because he says it’s not Wonder Bread which is exactly the point, but You Know How He Is (caps mine).” Also, there were some eyerolls.