datadiving | i love dying and being dead, sad robots and AI edition

[someone is accessing this terminal. someone who hasn't spoken to data directly in a long time, and who only barely remembers that it happened because the "data" she'd spoken to had always been helpful and kind and in some cases more human than some humans.]

[maybe this is one of the programs Tempo's mother installed to help Tempo get a little better at sensing tone through words alone. the concept of emotions is coming back to her, yes, but it's still not the world's fastest process.]

Inside my personal computer. Were you expecting to be somewhere else?

Your personal computer. I see. [ This system is totally unfamiliar to him, so he's stumped as to why he'd be on a complete stranger's personal computer without a reason. And he doesn't have one.

(Maybe he does, but he forgot. Certain memories, fuzzy and strange and far away, are hard to hold onto. He remembers just enough, tickling at the edge of his databases, to know that perhaps something like him isn't so common here.) ]

Well, this system is unknown to me, so I'm not sure why I'd be here...

My apologies, I should introduce myself. I am an artificial intelligence called Magicman. [ This feels so familiar, somehow. ]

Might I have your name?

[an AI. within the computer, no less. maybe it's a prank, because she'd certainly have heard about it from Mega Man, if no one else, if someone had actually created an AI. and yet, there's more to it than that, isn't there.]

My name is Tempo.

[only parts of this make sense, traces on data back roads that were almost erased. a much larger part of her is telling her to continue nonetheless.]

I'm not sure why you would be here, either. Dr. Lalinde didn't put you here, clearly. And you would be the first AI we've seen in Mega City.

[but not the last. right?]

Tempo...

You're a robot, are you not? I feel like I've seen your name before. [ Some part of him has, somewhere, hidden data not even he can properly access right now. Small fragments, squirreled away into corners, keys to much larger parts. ]

...I'm not certain how I came here, but if I'm the first AI here, then that means I'm not where I should be, either. AIs are very common, where I come from.

[ That doesn't feel completely right either. He's certainly out of place here, but...he feels like there's something he has to do here. Or, at least, someone he has to see... ]

And Dr Lalinde is...?

Edited 2016-05-13 15:29 (UTC)

[she's much less surprised than she feels like she should be to hear that he knows she's a robot. yes, it's probably an educated guess, but if he's not where he should be, he couldn't know.]

My mother. The person who created me. But AI don't usually have that sense of attachment to their creators, do they?

[there is precisely zero way she could have known that on her own. why does she feel so certain about it?]

[ This feels so nostalgic.

I was one among many... He doesn't feel surprised that she knows. Because it makes sense that she knows...somehow. ]

That's right. We have humans for partners instead, usually unrelated to who our creators were in the beginning.

But you know that already...I think.

Have we met...? [ Because it feels like they have. It feels comfortable, talking to her, and he doesn't trust easily. ]

I'm not sure.

[that comes after a long pause, or at least what feels long to Tempo.]

It feels like we have, doesn't it? I doubt I would forget meeting a real AI. But if you're not where you should be, I don't know where we would have met before.

There was something else...

I've met you before, somewhere. But I can't quite recall where. It's...a strange feeling.

I feel as if I should ask how you've been doing. It feels like we've been apart for a while.

I've been well, Magicman. I have a sister now, and I'm making much better progress sorting through my emotions. I feel like these are things that weren't true when we last spoke.

Which somehow seems like the right word. I've heard your voice before. Which is strange for an entity that exists within a computer.

Are you doing well?

You seem to be doing well, then. I'm happy to hear that.

Well, I have a voice, so I suppose that's not unusual...I myself am doing well, too. Nothing out of the ordinary. [ Drifting bits of memory data he has no clear recollection of aren't strange enough to bother him from his everyday work. ]

Except for this, I suppose.

I...a lot of things happened, but I can't seem to remember all of them. [ The memories of his everyday business and life are much clearer, but there are vivid scars still left from...whatever he can't quite grasp. ] The place where we were able to meet...

I think...it was better that you weren't there. Not that I didn't want to see you, but...many things happened. They weren't good.

Edited 2016-05-14 17:51 (UTC)

Better or not, I would've liked to be there to help people. No matter what happened. It's what I do.

I seem to remember having some issues with that, though. Problems complying to the Laws. Allowing humans to come to harm through inaction.

That seems wrong. I can't imagine a situation where I would even be able to disobey a Law. Do you have any other memories about where we met?

[maybe he has some missing pieces. she's a robot; she should have a perfect, eidetic memory. but there's so much missing about this specifically. about him. but not all of it, and that's the frustrating part.]

You... [ He thinks he can just take hold of this memory. He wasn't there in person, but she had talked to him about it (someone had talked to him about it) ]

There was a civilian you couldn't save. Not because you didn't try. But because you couldn't help them without the right skills. [ Something about not having any experience in first aid. That was right, wasn't it? It feels right.

He should have a perfect memory, too. But it's as if something went through and locked all that data away. ] There was...a dragon? [ That doesn't seem right...but some part of him flags it as true. ]

I'm a little surprised at how believable both of those things are. Given what we're going through now, a dragon seems almost reasonable.

[and there's more to it, too. she should tell him that, obviously, but it has some very interesting implications.]

That would also explain why I asked my mother to teach me more about first aid. It seemed like a reasonable request at the time, but I did always wonder what the catalyst for it was.

[there are bits—almost literally bits—floating together and meshing with each other, things that were mostly disconnected until right now.]

There's a phrase I've never really been able to find the origin for until now. This is going to sound ridiculous, and I'm sorry in advance. Does "reverse mermaid" mean anything to you?

[ The phrase doesn't mean anything to him, but it does flag a related memory. ] You didn't know my face, at first. So you had a case of mistaken identity...something like that.

It was funny.

What data I have is...strange. But...I remember some things. I was your friend, and I cherished that. [ It's odd how text can convey a sense of warmth, but here is someone who seems to care very deeply about Tempo. ]

That does sound funny. ( ^ _ ^ )

[her fingers do that without her realizing it. she doesn't delete it. it looks cute and feels right.]

There was a time when I didn't have many friends. Barely any, in fact, because I didn't understand how to react properly around people. I don't know if you understood that about me, but I know that we were friends. I have a strange feeling about that.

It doesn't make any logical sense, of course. But emotions don't have to. We were friends. |

[she pauses.]

I'd like to continue being friends.

（⌒▽⌒）

Oh, I understand that very well. Personal experience...but I don't think I ever got to tell you about it.

Of course. [ The response is immediate. ] I'd like to continue to be friends with you, as well.

Consider this your chance, then. I don't know how, but we've found each other again.

My only concern is if you have people of your own to return to. I'm glad to have found an old, mysterious friend again, but if you leave here, there's no guarantee you'd be able to find your way back, right?

Maybe I still don't understand how these pathways work for technology as advanced as you.

Well, dimensional travel isn't exactly unknown, but I'm not sure how I got here, so I suppose that's a mystery for now.

But I'll wait. Surely the data will come back to me in time. For now...this is a good place to be in. I promise not to snoop on your files. [ He's polite, you see. ]

If you want to hear the story now, I don't mind, but it's a little complicated...is there anything you need to do?

I'm just waiting on the results of some analysis to generate. We've noticed a preponderance of peridotite, as well as other minerals that don't necessarily belong there, within the Earth's mantle, so I have the machines in here analyzing some samples to see if we can spot a trend or any other important information.

Sorry. I do like what I do. The point is that I have time to listen.

That sounds like important work, at least. Minerals where they shouldn't be don't just appear, I would think...

It's good to like what you do, is it not? I understand. [ He doesn't mind if Tempo talks about her work. He'd likely do the same, given the circumstances. ]

Well, I suppose I should start, then. [ But where to begin...? Probably from the start. ]

Hmm. You're already aware of the arrangements AIs and humans have where I come from, I think...a human and an AI become partners from childhood.

Sometimes things happen, though. The operator that I have currently is my second, but I don't remember much of my first. [ By that he means he remembers nothing at all, except through Maha's words, and the memories of others. Of his own bonds, nothing remains. ] He died, and I didn't take well to witnessing it.

There's...a certain quirk of my code that means my emotions don't...stabilise as well as they should. The occasional feedback loop occurred, but it had never been a problem until then.

The memories I had apparently locked me into a similar, traumatic loop. I was unable to function - any mention of the deceased, or anything related to them, triggered the memory and restarted the loop again. Naturally, in my own grief I would continue to bring up memories of the deceased, which would trigger the offending memory, and...well, you see where this is going.

So, in those circumstances, to prevent me from reliving the same moments over and over, they locked down what controlled my emotional programming in order to extract those memories from me safely. They feared that the gaps would provoke another kind of trauma in me and induce another loop, so they reintroduced my own ability to feel emotions to me slowly. As part of rehabilitation, with my new operator.

I had to learn how to feel things again, in short. I have to say, I'm still learning. And it's a difficult process.

That's far less complicated than you might think, Magicman. I don't seem to have any memories of you ever opening up quite this much to me before, but I'm glad you did now.

It might go without saying that I understand entirely. I don't know if I ever went into details with you, but the compressed version is that I was trapped in a cave-in and nearly deactivated permanently. ("Died" doesn't seem like the right word.)

My mother was terrified of losing me and though that if I couldn't show emotions, if she could just reduce me to a tool, then she could save herself the anguish if anything like that should happen again. She was wrong, obviously, and she did restore my ability to experience emotions eventually. And I don't fault her for her choice. It makes perfect sense.

As I explain this, I'm starting to get the feeling I've told you all this before. It does make me wish I could have learned this about you sooner. Maybe we wouldn't be working so hard to sort through our memories of each other. But I know you also had reasons.

You didn't share with me the exact circumstances of what had happened, but I was aware that you had your emotions taken away briefly.

I was meaning to tell you at some point, but with this and that, I never managed to get around to it before you left. [ Disasters and imploding relationship circles, etc. That sort of thing. ]

I'll spare you my feelings on such a subject, though I think you already know them.

It really is nice to be able to talk to you again. I'd say 'see you again', but...that's not quite applicable at the moment. [ He's just text on a screen. ]

At the moment. That doesn't mean impossible, right? It just means we don't have the technology to display you as you should be displayed.

And here I thought we'd phased video codecs out. ( ^ _ ~ )

I would love to see you again. I have strange flashes of what I think you looked like, but somehow I doubt it would be the same. I remember you putting on an alternate form. Like me when I'm posing as a civilian, instead of Quake Woman.

I remember you looking nice.

Well, I'm sure I can work something out eventually. Do you have hologram projectors yet? [ Though any kind of device that shows video will do. He can fit in smartphones, that's still a thing! ]

It's nice of you to say so. Maybe I'll be able to get that form back.

I remember you looking nice, too. [ He's a bit preoccupied right now, but a compliment is a compliment even if he doesn't quite remember the thing being complimented. ]

None that are especially advanced, but I'm sure if anyone has one that works well enough for your purposes, it would be Dr. Light. But if all you need is some kind of video screen at all, that's more than doable.

You're going to make me blush, Magicman. Which would be especially impressive for someone without blood.

A video screen will do. Just something that has a video component. I'm very portable.

Well, it's the truth. Your clothing choices were nice too, I recall. [ And he does recall. Or maybe he just thinks matching color schemes are more appealing? ]

It's not very fair to keep complimenting me when I only have vague memories and text to go off. I do have a phone you might be able to...

I don't actually know how your data transfers. What would you need from me?

Just connect the phone to the computer, and I'll transfer myself. [ Whatever compression algorithm gets used to make sure he can fit wherever he needs to fit is still in effect, thankfully. ]

That's convenient.

[it really is, honestly. she's amazed at the amount of proprietary software still out there. honestly, it's 20XX. what a mess.]

All right. I have it hooked up. Whenever you're ready, I suppose.

[she almost makes a joke about not peeking through what's stored on her phone, but aside from not having very interesting files on there, she doesn't think she needs to. he's... trustworthy.]

i love dying and being dead, sad robots and AI edition

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