Paul dropped me a note — The latest version of his interactive fiction system was ready, and I had been chosen to try it out.

He gave me a quick rundown of the new features.

“I think we have really taken it to the next level with this release. Version 7 was the first one where you would write your story in a simplified form of English.Version 8 understood any arbitrary English sentence. This version takes what you write and extrapolates at need so you no longer have to describe every last thing the player can try.”

“Here, let me show you.” He typed a sentence into the system:

There is a bucket here, full of water.

“With that assertion alone, the player can go ahead and pour the water. Or use the water to make soup. Or put out a fire. Or turn the water into rocket fuel, and explore an alien planet! Isn’t it great? And we’ve found no way to break the system. It just works!”

I sigh. Unfortunately for him, I know about Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. I type:

I didn’t write this story.

CRASH