《Goddess of Computation》 chapter5.h
Advertisement
"I can't believe I'm saying this but the systemhelper is even worse than Siri," Ada muttered in frustration and sat down.
She had just turned off systemhelper. This was after half an hour of trying to converse with the program to find a class that can help her either figure out where she is or provide her a faster mode of travel than just running. Ada realized that she needed to know this after looking over the worldmap data. Her perfect memory helped immensely where she mentally sorted the parameters of latitude, longitude and biome classification and arranged it on a 2D grid in her mind. Through this mental map, she was able to determine that there were only three grassland biomes in the world. Unfortunately, each of these places covered huge areas and if she didn't go in the right direction, she would end up either at an equally desolate ocean or desert.
The systemhelper turned out to be completely useless. The standard library has nothing above the level of medieval era technology. Never until now had Ada realized how easily she took GPS, the Internet or smartphones for granted like most people on Earth. As far as a method of travel goes, there were no classes for cars, motorcycles, trains or even bicycles. There was a class for a sailship but that would be worthless on land. After giving up on modern technology, she decided to try traditional tech for travel, i.e. animals such as horses. On Earth, the fastest method of traveling for millennia was the horse. She had no idea if this world has any domesticated animals for transportation but after some futile attempts, she realized there was one of three possibilities:
1) This world doesn't have any horses, elephants, camels, etc.
2) The standard library doesn't have any of these classes.
Advertisement
3) The standard library does have these classes but she wasn't allowed to access them.
"You would think that being a goddess personally appointed by God to change the world would imply that I would at least know where I am," Ada huffed.
"I suppose I could build an engine or a battery to power some vehicle with wheels but I'm not entirely sure what that would require," Ada said as she dug through her brain where her perfect memory revealed absolutely nothing useful in regards to practical engineering. For the first time ever, she regretted not going into a robotics summer camp back as a junior in high school. She had instead chosen to take a course on programming at a local community college that summer. This choice wasn't any less nerdy but Ada felt that suited her more; she always felt more inclined to code on the computer than get her hands dirty with actual hardware. This is probably why I was chosen as the goddess of computation instead of crafting or engineering, she thought.
Last that she checked, in this world of Urth, there were no gods dedicated to the craft of engineering or design. The ancient Greeks had Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The Hindus have Vishwakarma, the god of engineers and architects. Why this world lacked what most human mythology would consider a basic god was beyond her. On the other hand, even if there was such a god or goddess, Ada doubted that she would contact that entity. Given her stunted divine capabilities and lacking any knowledge of the motives of the other gods, she wouldn't risk initiating contact. This led her back to realizing that she would have to figure out everything on her own.
Feeling self-defeated, she suddenly thought of a piece of wisdom her dad would frequently say to her -- when hard thinking doesn't work, try not thinking at all. At the thought of her dad, she felt a surge of sadness coupled with a deep sense of loneliness. Nothing was familiar here and there was no one she could talk to. She wished that she could give him a call and just hear his voice. Even if he couldn't help resolve her current quandary, talking with him always calmed her down to where she could better handle the problem herself.
Advertisement
"If my dad was here, what would he say?" Ada wondered aloud. "He would tell me to close my eyes and take a few deep breathes. Calm down. For a few minutes, with my eyes closed, just focus on breathing and not thinking."
Ada closed her eyes and meditated for a few moments. After a minute, she snapped her eyes open and facepalmed herself.
"Duh! If I'm higher up in the sky, I could easily see distinguishable geographical features and cross reference its location with that of my world map. My eyes aren't any better than that of a mortal but that doesn't matter," she shouted.
She remembered that when she was above a mile above the ground, she hasn't noticed any distinguishable landmarks. If she went higher though -- which would require changing her platform's density -- she should be able to see features which would enable her to figure out where she was. Ada wasn't worried about dying from lack of air or the cold seeing that she had survived in space just fine. She was sure that the density of her palace walls was greater than that of the cloud and so if she transmuted some of parts of the wall to more clouds, her platform should rise higher up in the atmosphere.
"Unpause systemhelper! Create cloud!"
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
As her floating palace started rising into the atmosphere, Ada had another thought:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"Well, I'm done. It was worth a shot."
...
...
"Pause systemhelper. I guess I will just have to stick with making a pinhole camera if I really need to get a better picture from up here."
Two and a half minutes later, after she converted some of her palace walls to more clouds, Cloud Ada rose in altitude to at least two miles. Ada looked out and saw a long range of relatively low mountains next to a sparkling sea with a small island in the distance. Correlating those two geographical features in their relative positions to her mental map database, she smiled. Ada knew where she was.
Advertisement
- In Serial24 Chapters
Killshot Apocalypse
Trace Taylor was at a shooting range when the world was kidnapped by the alien species called the ‘Esvol’ to begin humanity's integration with the System. Each individual person is given a femtochip implant and a class to fend for themselves before being sent back to Earth. Once Trace returns, she finds that the planet too is left scarred by this encounter, now filled with Dungeons packed with monsters and Gates that lead to the multiverse. With nothing but a handgun and her trusty new AI by her side, how will Trace come to survive this newly-changed planet? This story is a YA take on the “LitRPG Apocalypse” genre. It takes place in an alternate reality where, in addition to numerous other things, Earth's population reaches ten billion in 2030. I do hope you consider giving it a shot— no pun intended. Proof of ownership: KillshotApocalypse.com
8 209 - In Serial58 Chapters
New God
Who said being a God was easy. If you started omniscient; omnipotent and omnipresent then it might be. However, without those powers it would be a different story entirely. This is that story. Adam is thrown into a new world with no choice and no instructions. At least he is a God, whatever that means... Lovely Royal Road readers: Imagine a tutorial with no instructions and no idea what the game was meant to be and what you are trying to achieve. All you know is that you are a God (whatever that means). So this is quite slow to start; mainly world building for me; a bit of base building by the MC and some good old minion development. I'm developing/practicing my writing and love the format of RR to get it out of my head. So hopefully it gets better with time as I get better. All feedback welcome - but please critique and tell me why you don't like it (if you don't) I'd rather a 1-star review than a 2-star(plus) rating!
8 177 - In Serial41 Chapters
And So We Leisurely Walk
The boy wants nothing more than to return to his reclusive life of studying history in Lanzhou, yet the whims of fate are too willing to drag him into the conflicts of Great Zhao, both external and internal. The girl, bored and wanting to do anything, travels from Lanzhou to the capital where she will meet her father for the first time, not understanding that she is stepping onto the path of seeking The Way. Things never go as expected in this beautiful but chaotic world. So let’s take things one step at a time. --- Feedback is welcome in the comments. Open criticism leads to improvement. I will also try to answer every question.
8 189 - In Serial7 Chapters
Daffodil amongst Thorns
Based on a true story.Bullying has always been there and has caused so much pain and suffering.This is a story about a teenage boy that goes to a boarding school. He is not like other boys and is bullied and teased constantly. What will happen to his self-esteem and will he have courage?Will he survive?(NB there are references to abuse in his life before boarding school)
8 299 - In Serial56 Chapters
I'm Just the Librarian
Thea is the daughter of a landless baronet whose love for books resulted in her becoming a librarian in the library for commoners in the Elourian Empire's capital. When her homeland becomes the epicenter for people mysteriously gaining unique skills, she remains on the sidelines and skill-less for a decade, but that all changes when the reason for those skills walks right into her quiet little library--with a whole lot of trouble in his wake.Follow this tale of a skillful book lover as she protects what she loves, builds relationships she never expected to have, and smashes former gods into the ground. She may achieve great things, but she's still "just the librarian." This story is more on the lighthearted side, but there are some scenes with violence and possibly gore. Content warnings will accompany chapters with sensitive topics or descriptions. Those scenes should be read at the reader's discretion. [Updates will be starting back up soon! (Note added 5/13/2022)]
8 151 - In Serial13 Chapters
The Interim
An epistolary novel exploring one woman's survival during the first year of the pandemic. She finds herself recovering from the recent breakup of her long-term relationship, but must also handle the discovery that she might not be alone in her new apartment after all.
8 81

