~Lily Rose Brookshire~

Hello, readers!

We've finally finished our picture of Lily Rose. Thank you for waiting so long! ;)

Thus ends the very long journey of Lily Rose Brookshire. But in a sense, it's only the beginning. What if AG sees our work and decides to make her the 2017 Girl of the Year? Wouldn't that be amazing? I hope it really happens.

Have a lovely day, ya'll. :)

-Sylvia

Cyberfantasy: Episode 3

Hello, everyone!
     Enjoy the next episode of Cyberfantasy. :)

Episode 3

I grabbed the laptop out from under my pillow, where I had stuffed it an hour or two before. I still felt wary about it.  

Gingerly, I put it down in front of Chloe, opened it, and typed in the password. The email was still there from when I had slammed the computer shut. Chloe glanced at the cyberbot’s sentences.

“Say something in your mind,” I suggested. “It might reply.”

Before the words were fully out of my mouth, however, a row of new words snaked across the page. My name is Sona. You have permission to call me that.

Chloe leaned forward, and I pointed wildly at the screen. “Did you see that? Did you see that?”

“This is weird,” my friend murmured. Then she narrowed her eyes at the screen, and I knew that she was talking to the cyberbot in her mind.

More words appeared. Are all humans this ignorant?

I almost felt like laughing. “What did you ask her?”

“I asked what a cyberbot was. Wow, I didn’t know that a computer could have such an attitude.”

For the record, I am a cyberbot, not a computer, but that is of little relevance. I am in need of your assistance.

“This is getting really bizarre,” I said, fiddling with my paper plate. “This Sona person needs our help? I’m starting to feel like I’m in a bad sci-fi dream.”

“Maybe we are,” said Chloe, being inconveniently mysterious. “I’m not sure of anything anymore. But this,” she motioned at the laptop, “is pretty amazing. Very advanced technology. I like it.” And she narrowed her eyes at the screen again.

Thank you for asking. I am glad to see that you have more sense than your friend.

“Apparently I’m smarter than you,” said Chloe, with a playful smirk at me. “At least, Sona thinks so. I asked her what she needs our help with.”

I rolled my eyes.

We - that is to say, myself and other cyberbots - are currently under attack. An army of viruses is threatening to destroy us, and if they do, all devices connected to the Internet will detonate.

Without meaning to, I began imagining all the people who owned electronic devices. Kids as young as five or six had phones now. That would be a lot of explosions, injury ... and death.

I forgot that I had decided not to speak with Sona again. My thoughts were whirling, but I organized them enough to ask, What do we do to stop the viruses?

I am glad that you care for your race, replied the cyberbot. It has taken me a long time to find a personal computer network that I could trust. You are the first who has responded rationally.

“We still don’t know what a cyberbot is,” I said out loud to Chloe. “I want to know who I’m working with before we do anything crazy.”

“Sure, I’ll ask her,” said Chloe, smiling at me. She must have known what a leap of absurd faith I was making. To be honest, I didn’t know what made me trust Sona. I still don’t know.  

After a moment: Cyberbots exist within electronics. We protect the owners and keep their technology running. 

Chloe gazed at the screen for a second, then looked
up at me. “I’ve asked her what we have to do. Now pay attention.”

Before we begin, said Sona,

are you equipped for extensive travel?

     Hope you've enjoyed the episode, and have a lovely day! :)

-Kirsten

Cyberfantasy: Episode 2

Greetings!
     Here's the next episode of Cyberfantasy. Enjoy!

Episode 2

After the words “I am a cyberbot” appeared on the screen, my human panic reflexes kicked in and I slammed the laptop shut. I didn’t know what a cyberbot was, but it sounded terrifying. 

There was a pause while I stood there, half-expecting the computer to blow up or something. Nothing happened, however. The only sound to break the stillness was my cat, Tanuki, yowling at me to get him breakfast.  

Relieved, I got up and dumped the remains of my coffee into the sink. I wasn’t taking any more chances with that stuff. It was probably time to buy fresh coffee beans, anyway.

I poured some kibble into Tanuki’s dish and glanced idly around the kitchen. I wasn’t hungry anymore. 

Just then, my phone buzzed. My friend Chloe was texting. For a second, I hesitated - was this Sona cyberbot person trying to contact me again?

The phone buzzed again. I pushed down my fear and tapped on the text.

Hey, Ri, it said. What are you doing today?

Chloe has this habit of using perfect spelling and grammar when she texts. I get on her nerves by using all those little abbreviations for things.

I replied, nothing much.

Would you like to get together for lunch at your place? I’ll bring pizza.

sure! sounds gr8.

GREAT, she corrected immediately. 

I grinned a little. yes i know. 

See you then!

c u.

SEE YOU, she sent as a parting shot. 

I laughed and tucked my phone into my pocket. Life always seems better after talking to Chloe - even if it’s just a few texts. And I could feel my appetite returning. 

At twelve, the doorbell chimed and I opened the door.

Chloe walked in, balancing a pizza box on one arm. 

After saying hello and giving her an awkward side hug (the pizza box got in the way of a proper hug), I put paper plates and a few napkins on the table. We sat down. Chloe said grace and then we started eating.

“Well, this is fun,” she commented. “Thanks for having me over.”

“You pretty much invited yourself,” I said with a grin. “But I was glad you were coming, because something really strange happened this morning and I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I was checking my email, and there was a message from someone I didn’t recognize. Then words just started typing themselves onto the page. It could read my thoughts, Chloe.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you making this up?”

I looked at her straight in the face. She knows I’m not joking when I do that.

“No, this is real. The thing said that she was a cyberbot - whatever that is - and that her name was Sona.”

“It might have been a virus. Is your computer all up-to-date?”

“Yes. But a virus couldn’t read my thoughts, and this thing did.”

“Hm,” said Chloe. “I wonder if it would happen again if you showed me the email.”

“I’m not talking to that crazy computer mind-reading robot again, thank you very much. You can do it if you want. But -”

“Well, then, get me your laptop,” Chloe interrupted, wiping her fingers on a napkin. “If this is really real, it might be the beginning of an adventure.”

     Stay tuned for Episode 3! Have a lovely day. :)

-Sylvia

Cyberfantasy: Episode 1

Hello, everyone! This is Kirsten.
     Well... it's here. It's finally here. What you've all been waiting for. The first episode of our first photostory series, Cyberfantasy! (Sylvia may or may not be screaming in the background.)
     We're all really excited about this - we've been working hard, and Episode 1 is finally ready! So what are we waiting for? Let's get started!

Episode 1

Before we begin, let me clarify one thing.

I am very ordinary.

My name’s Riley, and I live in a normal apartment overlooking a normal street. I read books and I drink coffee and I own a grumpy, unreliable cat.

Most main characters in stories like this have some superpower or special gift, but I never have and never will. Don’t get me wrong - sometimes I’ve wished for superpowers. (I wouldn’t mind being able to fly - just saying!) But you don’t need powers or special gifts to be part of an adventure. And that’s what this story is about.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

A sliver of sunlight fell across my face as I floated out of sleep.

Saturday at last.

I snuggled deeper under my blanket and let that warm, comfortable feeling sort of wash over me. 

I was pleased with myself for remembering to turn off my alarm clock the night before. A few times, I’ve forgotten to to do that, and crawled out of bed at 6:00 AM only to find that it was the weekend. Frankly, I’m not sure how the alarm clock survived my wrath.

I rolled over and squinted at the clock. 8:03. I decided to stay in bed until 9:00. I shut my eyes and drifted away.

At 9:36, I finally managed to drag myself out from under the blanket and get dressed. 

Now, I’m not what you would call “fashionable” - I wear what’s comfortable (and what my wallet can afford.) Today, that meant a tank top and shorts. 

 Ponytails are nice. You know what I mean? Just pull back your hair, secure it, and you’re done. When I’m feeling inspired, I do pigtails instead. Today, being that it was the weekend, I felt inspired - so pigtails it was.

Then I got myself a cup of coffee and sat down with my laptop. I figured that I could make breakfast a little later. 

In my email, there was a new message sent by someone I didn’t recognize. After wrestling back and forth in my mind, trying to decide if it was spam or not, I finally clicked on the email. 

Hello, it read. This is not spam.

That was all.

Huh, I thought. It’s like it knew what I was thinking.

A fresh line of words snaked across the page. Startled, I leaned forward to read them.

I do know what you're thinking.

I gasped. Was this email ... alive? Impossible.

It is not impossible. Now, let's get down to business, shall we?

At the appearance of this new sentence, a chill went up my spine, and my heart began beating faster than normal. I glanced at my coffee cup, struck with a suspicion that the coffee beans had gone rancid or something and they were causing these weird illusions. Then I looked back at my laptop, just in time to catch the words: 

Your coffee is just fine.

Who are you? I asked mentally. 

My apologies. I forget that humans prefer introductions.

Even through the plain black type, I could feel the sarcasm.

You would not understand my language, it continued, but in English, my name is something close to Sona. Does that satisfy you? 

No, I retorted, rather snappish in my bewilderment. I don’t care about names. What are you? How are you messing with my email - and my mind?

Do you not understand? came the reply. 

I am a cyberbot. 

     Dun dun dun.... ;)

     So there you have it. We hope you've enjoyed this first episode! Stay tuned for the next one - we'll get it posted either this week or next week. Tell us what you think, and have a lovely day!

-Kirsten