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Monday, 7 November 2005 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keaaluTECHNICALLY, this is Chapter Two, but according to the way I've been posting it this would be four. Ahwell. LE FOON!
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Automata
Chapter Four
The short journey to the computer terminal in the next room afforded a small eternity of time to think. Time to work out exactly what the Mistress wanted, and to realise it had no idea.
Oh, it was certainly capable of confusion – it was one of the vestiges of code that the manufacturers had left in place from the original “Siinu” models. They’d found it useful – after all, confusion typically occurred if a piece of information was missing, and missing information could lead to wrong assumptions and wrong results. Automata “emotional responses”, such as they were, were rudimentary (particularly when comparing them to their Kiravai predecessors) and existed purely to help organic beings relate to them. Anything not directly useful (or that could allow Syntheticorp to charge a little more for reinstalling) was ditched.
And right now, it was confused. In its “cognitive repertoire” were sets of pre-programmed stimuli, to enable it to interact with the population - and its new owner – straight out of the box. She would direct it as to what she wanted it to do, and it would do it. Advanced issues would be dealt with once it had learned appropriate responses. And already she was asking it to make great leaps of thought! It would do its best, of course, that was automatically expected of it, built in at a basal level, almost a religious commandment, thou shalt serve to the best of thine ability, but without the knowledge to process such an input…
It – he – settled in front of the computer, and made a brief assessment of his surroundings. He had already decided that a strong male would be the appropriate gender, in counterpart to his mistress’ female delicacy – in spite of the fact his was not a real gender, but rather a simulation to make him easier to relate to (although a lot of Owners seemed to revel in their Automata’s sexlessness). Something to protect her, guard her from other males with more predatory ideas.
He examined himself very briefly, wondering if there would be any subliminal clues to what the mistress wanted, buut… there was nothing. Even his feet were ‘double-duty’, just as capable of walking flat or on tiptoe. He was right now little more than a skeleton, average build, average height… just… average. So it was down to him.
For a long while (that is, a long while as in his perception, it was probably only a minute or two) he simply sat and stared, wondering how to interpret “want”. Of course, he knew what it was, but the execution of it left him… unsure. He had no desires, there was nothing he immediately needed but did not possess, so how could he know what he wanted? It was a test, of course, he realised, a test as to how he would respond, but he was stuck as to what the “correct” response would be. What did she want from him? He flicked through the commonest species in the database, wondering if this intangible “desire” would lead him to one species in particular, but it didn’t. Of course, it must come down to logic, what was the most logical choice, like his chosen gender was the logical option.
So. How could he logic his way to the correct answer. The mistress was fairly small in stature; barely half as tall as some of the species on here, and a fraction of their bulk. So the sensible option, to properly execute his potential duties, would be something larger, taller; he thus discounted the small species, the Yil and the Nyen, the Zaar, DuSkai and Ondraii. Some were unsuitable to the environment – the lower-limb-less Kabrii weren’t the most mobile, and the hexapod Eqqari were just that fraction too big, and a little clumsy to boot with their stiff tails. The mistress seemed fairly demure, also, from what he had observed; she would probably not wish for too many people to stare at her, so something not too flamboyant; he discounted the Xniki. The mistress seemed to prefer clean lines and elegance, as well, he had noticed from her home – perhaps because of her own lack in height – so that left only a few choices. The heavy Usurians looked rather too “brutish”, and the rest were highly uncommon.
Which left Kiravai. Appropriate of build, certainly – tall, elegant, well suited to the quiet, amenable persona of the average Synth – and yet not very common in this environment. Perhaps his choice was wrong. Perhaps he should rethink his logic – perhaps it was faulty. Incorrect assumptions about the way the mistress thought. But then, he recognised, he had no other assumptions, and the answer would turn out the same, so he decided to keep it as it was – for now at least.
His choice of colour ran down similar lines. Something not too outlandish, something fairly demure, something which could blend into the background and pass largely unnoticed. No electric blues or hot pinks, at least. He eventually decided on a pleasant warm satin beige-silver, rather like the dusky grey of manganese, basing his judgement off some of the minimalist décor he’d seen, augmenting it with darker feathers and soft, considering green-grey eyes. Later on he’d come to describe it as a “noncolour”, but for now he was satisfied. He hoped his choices would be vaguely correct.
“Mistress?”
Ivy glanced up from her work and backwards, over her shoulder. “Yes?” There was a definite change in timbre to the voice, she noticed – subtly deeper, it had lost the ephemeral feminine overtone. Must mean ‘it’ had become a ‘he’, now. “You can’t be finished already…”
“I can go back and do it again if you wish, mistress.” He stood in the doorway, a silver wraith.
“No, no, I just expected you to take a lot longer…” she swung her feet off her footstool and dropped to the floor, lightly. “You think faster than I do.”
He offered a patient, skeletal smile. “My processor does operate at a several trillion operations per millisecond,” he agreed, relinquishing the databoard into her slim white hand.
She gave it a very brief once-over. Unusual choices. “Kiravai?”
“You disapprove?” the transient flash of dismay in his voice was entirely simulated, but oddly persuasive of deeper, more genuine emotions.
“No, no… I was just a little surprised.” She smiled back, reassuringly, wondering if he’d understand the significance of it. “I’ll get the supplies I need ordered and we can start work on your construction…” She watched him for a moment, and wondered if there was something subliminal to his choice – after all, the Synth had come from the Kiravai, where they were much more highly respected, free people. But… no, he was far too “young” to be making such leaps of sentient thought like that. It must just be a coincidence. “Well, I… suppose… that’s that sorted out. How about a name?”
“A name, mistress?” he looked at her, blankly. “I will recognise your voice if you speak to me.”
“That’s not the point,” she sighed. “You need a name to make you easier to relate to. Besides, if anyone else speaks to you, they need an identifier to let everyone else know they’re talking to you. People need to name things, to label things – it’s just the way we are! And I’d like you to have a name as it means you’re less like an unthinking machine and more like a person.”
“Hm,” he mused, cast his gaze briefly to one side, then suggested; “Perhaps Surei…?”
Ivy winced. “Well, on the face of it, no problems, but I’d really not like to have to call you by the Kiravai for ‘servant’.”
His eyes flickered, briefly. “It is what I am, is it not?”
She folded her arms, impatiently. “I’m a lab technician, but I don’t use that as my name.”
“I wonder, then, if Lannu may suffice?”
Ivy raised a brow. “That one’s not bad, actually. Does it mean anything?”
He inclined his head. “It means ‘new’, mistress. In old high Kiravai.”
-------
On other matters, I've been redesigning the Ondraii, and the Nyen. (Well, a little).
Ondraii are now "Ondra" - Ondraii is the feminine, Ondras is the masculine, and Ondrai'i is the language. Cerv = mr, Dama = mrs, and "She'heem" means "sir" (although I need a "madam" now). Trying to model them a little off giraffes - doodled something up at lunch but it reminds me of a picture I saw a while ago of a Kirin, so I'm going to work on it. Giraffes have nice eyes, after all. :) Females no longer have true antlers, but little stubby bony growths.
Nyen are not just GM-ed, but rather GM-ed of pre-existing species; males have horns/antlers because they're a throwback from their Ondra genes (but since the GM workup isn't very good, older males tend to get a calciferous buildup on their skulls, whereas true Ondra drop antler cleanly) although females don't grow them at all. The tentacles are derived from DuSkai, the long tail from Kabrii. So... yay!
More later. :) And maybe art.
Edits: *adds in the tags so she can find it again more easily*
-------
Automata
Chapter Four
The short journey to the computer terminal in the next room afforded a small eternity of time to think. Time to work out exactly what the Mistress wanted, and to realise it had no idea.
Oh, it was certainly capable of confusion – it was one of the vestiges of code that the manufacturers had left in place from the original “Siinu” models. They’d found it useful – after all, confusion typically occurred if a piece of information was missing, and missing information could lead to wrong assumptions and wrong results. Automata “emotional responses”, such as they were, were rudimentary (particularly when comparing them to their Kiravai predecessors) and existed purely to help organic beings relate to them. Anything not directly useful (or that could allow Syntheticorp to charge a little more for reinstalling) was ditched.
And right now, it was confused. In its “cognitive repertoire” were sets of pre-programmed stimuli, to enable it to interact with the population - and its new owner – straight out of the box. She would direct it as to what she wanted it to do, and it would do it. Advanced issues would be dealt with once it had learned appropriate responses. And already she was asking it to make great leaps of thought! It would do its best, of course, that was automatically expected of it, built in at a basal level, almost a religious commandment, thou shalt serve to the best of thine ability, but without the knowledge to process such an input…
It – he – settled in front of the computer, and made a brief assessment of his surroundings. He had already decided that a strong male would be the appropriate gender, in counterpart to his mistress’ female delicacy – in spite of the fact his was not a real gender, but rather a simulation to make him easier to relate to (although a lot of Owners seemed to revel in their Automata’s sexlessness). Something to protect her, guard her from other males with more predatory ideas.
He examined himself very briefly, wondering if there would be any subliminal clues to what the mistress wanted, buut… there was nothing. Even his feet were ‘double-duty’, just as capable of walking flat or on tiptoe. He was right now little more than a skeleton, average build, average height… just… average. So it was down to him.
For a long while (that is, a long while as in his perception, it was probably only a minute or two) he simply sat and stared, wondering how to interpret “want”. Of course, he knew what it was, but the execution of it left him… unsure. He had no desires, there was nothing he immediately needed but did not possess, so how could he know what he wanted? It was a test, of course, he realised, a test as to how he would respond, but he was stuck as to what the “correct” response would be. What did she want from him? He flicked through the commonest species in the database, wondering if this intangible “desire” would lead him to one species in particular, but it didn’t. Of course, it must come down to logic, what was the most logical choice, like his chosen gender was the logical option.
So. How could he logic his way to the correct answer. The mistress was fairly small in stature; barely half as tall as some of the species on here, and a fraction of their bulk. So the sensible option, to properly execute his potential duties, would be something larger, taller; he thus discounted the small species, the Yil and the Nyen, the Zaar, DuSkai and Ondraii. Some were unsuitable to the environment – the lower-limb-less Kabrii weren’t the most mobile, and the hexapod Eqqari were just that fraction too big, and a little clumsy to boot with their stiff tails. The mistress seemed fairly demure, also, from what he had observed; she would probably not wish for too many people to stare at her, so something not too flamboyant; he discounted the Xniki. The mistress seemed to prefer clean lines and elegance, as well, he had noticed from her home – perhaps because of her own lack in height – so that left only a few choices. The heavy Usurians looked rather too “brutish”, and the rest were highly uncommon.
Which left Kiravai. Appropriate of build, certainly – tall, elegant, well suited to the quiet, amenable persona of the average Synth – and yet not very common in this environment. Perhaps his choice was wrong. Perhaps he should rethink his logic – perhaps it was faulty. Incorrect assumptions about the way the mistress thought. But then, he recognised, he had no other assumptions, and the answer would turn out the same, so he decided to keep it as it was – for now at least.
His choice of colour ran down similar lines. Something not too outlandish, something fairly demure, something which could blend into the background and pass largely unnoticed. No electric blues or hot pinks, at least. He eventually decided on a pleasant warm satin beige-silver, rather like the dusky grey of manganese, basing his judgement off some of the minimalist décor he’d seen, augmenting it with darker feathers and soft, considering green-grey eyes. Later on he’d come to describe it as a “noncolour”, but for now he was satisfied. He hoped his choices would be vaguely correct.
“Mistress?”
Ivy glanced up from her work and backwards, over her shoulder. “Yes?” There was a definite change in timbre to the voice, she noticed – subtly deeper, it had lost the ephemeral feminine overtone. Must mean ‘it’ had become a ‘he’, now. “You can’t be finished already…”
“I can go back and do it again if you wish, mistress.” He stood in the doorway, a silver wraith.
“No, no, I just expected you to take a lot longer…” she swung her feet off her footstool and dropped to the floor, lightly. “You think faster than I do.”
He offered a patient, skeletal smile. “My processor does operate at a several trillion operations per millisecond,” he agreed, relinquishing the databoard into her slim white hand.
She gave it a very brief once-over. Unusual choices. “Kiravai?”
“You disapprove?” the transient flash of dismay in his voice was entirely simulated, but oddly persuasive of deeper, more genuine emotions.
“No, no… I was just a little surprised.” She smiled back, reassuringly, wondering if he’d understand the significance of it. “I’ll get the supplies I need ordered and we can start work on your construction…” She watched him for a moment, and wondered if there was something subliminal to his choice – after all, the Synth had come from the Kiravai, where they were much more highly respected, free people. But… no, he was far too “young” to be making such leaps of sentient thought like that. It must just be a coincidence. “Well, I… suppose… that’s that sorted out. How about a name?”
“A name, mistress?” he looked at her, blankly. “I will recognise your voice if you speak to me.”
“That’s not the point,” she sighed. “You need a name to make you easier to relate to. Besides, if anyone else speaks to you, they need an identifier to let everyone else know they’re talking to you. People need to name things, to label things – it’s just the way we are! And I’d like you to have a name as it means you’re less like an unthinking machine and more like a person.”
“Hm,” he mused, cast his gaze briefly to one side, then suggested; “Perhaps Surei…?”
Ivy winced. “Well, on the face of it, no problems, but I’d really not like to have to call you by the Kiravai for ‘servant’.”
His eyes flickered, briefly. “It is what I am, is it not?”
She folded her arms, impatiently. “I’m a lab technician, but I don’t use that as my name.”
“I wonder, then, if Lannu may suffice?”
Ivy raised a brow. “That one’s not bad, actually. Does it mean anything?”
He inclined his head. “It means ‘new’, mistress. In old high Kiravai.”
-------
On other matters, I've been redesigning the Ondraii, and the Nyen. (Well, a little).
Ondraii are now "Ondra" - Ondraii is the feminine, Ondras is the masculine, and Ondrai'i is the language. Cerv = mr, Dama = mrs, and "She'heem" means "sir" (although I need a "madam" now). Trying to model them a little off giraffes - doodled something up at lunch but it reminds me of a picture I saw a while ago of a Kirin, so I'm going to work on it. Giraffes have nice eyes, after all. :) Females no longer have true antlers, but little stubby bony growths.
Nyen are not just GM-ed, but rather GM-ed of pre-existing species; males have horns/antlers because they're a throwback from their Ondra genes (but since the GM workup isn't very good, older males tend to get a calciferous buildup on their skulls, whereas true Ondra drop antler cleanly) although females don't grow them at all. The tentacles are derived from DuSkai, the long tail from Kabrii. So... yay!
More later. :) And maybe art.
Edits: *adds in the tags so she can find it again more easily*