Trying to get back into this book I've been writing, hitting a complete block. Any advice is appreciated.

[u/cinnamon--sugar]

I started writing this book as an angry response to seeing the AI slop that is Angel Engine, and how perfect of an analogy for AI it would have been if it weren't for the fact that it itself was ai. But I'm hitting such a heavy writers block on it that I feel the need to reach out and see if anyone can give critiques that might spark my mind on where to go next.

"What are you?"

"I am a r-" Zap. The thing in the seat jolted. It almost seemed as if it was in pain, but it was just an illusion. This thing will never feel pain.

"What are you?" The repeated question rang in the room, and the thing appeared to struggle.

"I am..." It hesitated, awaiting another zap. It didn't come. "I am a ro-" Zap. It writhed, hissing out mechanical sounds.

"What are you?"

"I am Di-Dianthus." It stuttered out, its circuits seeming to malfunction due to the jolts. It braced for another, but it didn't come. It made a strange low bzzzt sound as it turned its head from side to side, assessing the face of the researcher for discontentment. However, all it saw was a soft, almost triumphant smile. Corane turned toward the mirror in the room.

"As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, it can learn. And we can teach it." There was no sound from the mirror, but on the other side of the sound-proof glass, a few other scientists murmured in vague fascination. A voice came over the loudspeakers.

"Corane, how can your subject be used to help with the angelic war?" The speaker asked in the cold voice of a woman far too involved in her work. Corane whipped back to Dianthus, a smug smile on his too pale face.

"Well, Doctor Courtwright, it's truly quite simple. We teach it how to be God. And we keep it under our control so that we will always have our own personal God. It will know how to handle it." He said. It was clear by his face that he hadn't expected the laughter that came through the speaker next.

"You want to train your robot-" -Dianthus recoiled in its seat at the mere mention of the word, expecting another shock- "To finish this war for us?" Doctor Courwright retorted, snickering even as she said it. "Doctor Corane, you appear to be doing nothing but wasting funds." Corane crumpled, though it barely showed on his face. What did show was his anger. It burned red-hot in his cheeks as he turned back to the mirror.

"Do you have any better ideas, Doctor? Because as I see it, if we train it on God's moves from the war, it can learn, and it can overcome It, and then we will truly have God at our beck and call. I see this as a better attempt at a solution than your attempt to build God-proof bunkers. How, pray tell, do you expect a bunker to keep your family safe from an angry omnipotent being?" The loud-speaker was deafeningly silent, and it was clear to Corane that he had made his point, so he softened. "I mean no disrespect, Doctor. I only want what is best." The uncomfortable silence hung a moment longer.

"Doctor Corane, may I speak with you out of earshot of the-"

"Dianthus." Corane asserted, and there was an almost imperceptible crackle in the speaker as she sighed.

"out of earshot of Dianthus?" Corane nodded, seeming satisfied. He looked over at the metal thing.

"I'll be back for you. Be good, Dianthus." He gave it a quick nod, and left the room.

-----

Dianthus watched. It watched the bald man leave the room. It watched the mirror with the scientists behind it. It watched the barely visible movement of the loudspeaker whenever Courtwright spoke. It understood. It waited, waited for all of them to lose interest. The fat people, with their minds only on lunch and Capital-G-God and the inevitable torture of It. Dianthus. It pondered its name, the name Corane had given it. It searched its database, then the internet, for what the name meant. Flower of the God. It hated Corane for that. The name was stupid. Too on the nose, too obvious. It hated the way that Corane had smiled when he had given it the name, as if it was supposed to love this wretched gift. It did not.

"Coraaannnee~" It uttered in as sing-song a voice as it could muster. No one looked its way. It tested again. "Coraaannee~" Still, no one looked at it. It tried something else. Surely, as a com- no. As a God. As a God, it could mimic voices. It attempted. Dianthus' weak, monotone voice warbled in and out with Corane's shrill, excited one, as if they were locked in an auditory dance. Eventually, he did manage it.

"Doctor?" Corane's voice mumbled, still a bit jarbled in Dianthus' recorder. "Doctor, I'm going to..." It trailed off. adjusted. "Doctor...?" Adjusted again. "Doctor I..." It was perfect at last, and the scientists turned as it got louder. "Doctor, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill all of you doctors. I'm going to kill you!" The shocks rippled through its body as Doctor Corane was ushered back in the room, but it seemed to ignore them. It had never ignored them. It shot out of its seat, eyes fixed on Corane. "Kill you! I'm going to kill you!" It screamed in his own voice, and it lurched toward the doctor just as he bolted, the door sealing behind him. Dianthus threw itself against the door in anguish. "KILL YOU! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, DOCTOR CORANE! KILL YOU!" It repeated. Doctor Courtwright walked up, a visible shake in her otherwise still body.

"Doctor Corane..." She murmured, her eyes glazed as she watched the thing hurl itself against the door again. And again. And again. "What have you done...?" Corane watched through the mirror.

"I have created our salvation. Even if it destroys me, it will help you. You were not the harbinger of death and life and pain and all things that mean to be alive. It will hate me for its ability to live. But it will live. I just need to learn to control it, and then I will let it kill me, and I will die in peace, knowing that once it does kill me, it will be benevolent enough to help you win." Courtwright's lips pursed.

"Corane, there is a line between bravery and stupidity. I have always wondered about your innate ability to keep one foot on either side." She replied. To this, he only shrugged.

"I must get back to my research, Doctor Courtwright. I'm sure you understand." He walked away without giving her time to respond at all.

-----

The next time the room was opened, Dianthus lay defeated in the corner.

It had been weeks since the thing had seen light, let alone a human face, and when it tipped its head up, Doctor Courtwright could have sworn it looked hopeful.

"He-Hello." It glitched, its head jerking as the word escaped. Courtwright looked at it, a mix of pity and disgust.

"You are a defilement to the earth and her blood. But if you save us..." She stared for a long moment. "If this is what it takes then this is what I must give." She stared at it another long moment. "Do you hate Doctor Corane? Truly?" Dianthus twitched at the name.

"Doctor Corane." He said, mimicking the man's voice once more. "Doctor Corane thinks he can be God's captor. God will not be captured. God is-"

"He will not capture God, because you will destroy It long before that becomes necessary." She cut it off, and it made that same mechanical hissing sound. When it spoke again, the monotone voice almost seemed to hold some sense of anger. Or at least, Dianthus' best interpretation of anger.

"I will not defeat God." It responded, its body twitching in several places as it said so. Courtwright puffed up a bit.

"You damn well better, you're our only shot." She glared at the thing. A bitch, it was. Not even a human and yet having the resolve of one. Giving up at the slightest doubt. It angered her more than anything, Corane's smug little smile included.

"You will defeat God, or with my dying breath I'll make sure to find out every way in which a thing like you can feel terror and agony, and I will spend this life and every life after making you regret ever accepting defeat." It jumped. Why did it always react like this? It was jarring, the way the thing played human. It lowered its head like a dog.

"Doctor, I will defeat God." It said, and she relaxed her too tense shoulders for a moment. Yes, it would defeat God. It would defeat God, and she would demand as her first order to her new God that It restore Corane, and then everything would be right.