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

[hypnotherapy]

[ He has...something of a headache.

He can't quite remember what he was doing before - he remembers who he is, yes, he remembers history, connections, but...

He doesn't know how he got here, in this computer. He drifts for a little while, still dazed from whatever had brought him here.

Where is he, again? He doesn't know. He idly looks through a few files, names he doesn't really recognise, one that keeps coming up (Lalinde)

But someone's accessing this terminal. So he might as well say something. ]

Hello?

Where am I?

Comments

[hypnotherapy]

（⌒▽⌒）

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.

[functionoverfeels]

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.

[hypnotherapy]

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?

[functionoverfeels]

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.

[hypnotherapy]

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.

[functionoverfeels]

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.

[hypnotherapy]

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. ]

[functionoverfeels]

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.

[hypnotherapy]

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. ]

[functionoverfeels]

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.

[hypnotherapy]

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? ]

[functionoverfeels]

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?

[hypnotherapy]

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. ]

[functionoverfeels]

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.]