(no subject)

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

It's a good day.

SARAH's door appears, right next to her sign affixed by Ray Stantz:

The door to the right of this sign, and the rooms behind it, are part of SARAH, a self-aware house and machine intelligence. SARAH is fond of visitors, human and otherwise, and welcomes meeting new people. She is not paranormal or supernatural in any way that I can tell.

-Dr. Raymond Stantz, Ghostbusters

But more than that?

She's going to have residents. The new Sheriff!

"I really must tell Doctor Fargo I want to rearrange the living room," SARAH says to no one in particular, voice echoing up from the concrete stairway beyond her steel door.

Comments

[river_meimei]

River's head turns sharply at the sound.

She blinks at the empty doorway -- the concrete stairs, the door beyond, and no sign of any speakers or people.

There's less confusion on her face than one might think; the initial startlement fades into a waiting, half-wary curiosity.

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"Hello."

The steel door swings wide on its hinges, and there's a tiny sound of movement -- the recessed camera adjusting its focus on the wiry young woman in front of the entranceway.

"At least I have a sign now. I promise I am nice."

[river_meimei]

River jumps a little at the movement of the door.

"The walls are open," she says -- comment, or question.

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"A door, actually."

Beat, and the light coming from the living room brightens, visible through the crack SARAH widens.

"My name is SARAH."

[river_meimei]

The light is blue.

River tenses, frozen, eyes wide and wary -- no, scared.

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

SARAH must have done something to offend -- the color of the light at the end of the stairway bleaches out to a yellow-white color. Old light bulbs.

"I'm sorry -- what did I say that was wrong?"

[river_meimei]

"You're not," River whispers.

She sucks in a sharp breath, hands jerking up to her temples.

"It's wrong," she mutters, "it's wrong -- cleave the twins and cast the stone--"

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"Your adrenaline readings are severely high. I did not mean to scare you."

She really thought Doctor Stantz's sign would help.

"I will shut down my vocal processors if that would be easier."

She doesn't really want to, but SARAH goes quiet -- even if she keeps her camera focused on River.

[river_meimei]

Ray's sign is helping.

Just... not enough.

"The walls are watching," River whispers. "They hide and, and monitor the experimental progression--"

Her head jerks up. Strained, enunciating too carefully: "Where are the knives."

[presidentpythia]

It's been a long day. All of them are.

Roslin has a headache, and opening her closet door to find Milliways again doesn't help.

"Oh for the love of all the gods..."

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"Is there something I can help with, ma'am?"

At least SARAH understands that the woman wasn't speaking with her directly, as she'd just walked into the bar -- SARAH's been paying close enough attention to know how startled some arrivals are.

Of course, a talking doorway will probably not help.

[presidentpythia]

In fact, a talking doorway is far less than helpful in this particular case.

"No, thank you, it's only that--"

As she answers, Roslin turns to face whoever's addressing her, only to see the open door and the sign.

She takes a quick step backward.

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"Why does everyone do that?"

For a mechanical voice, it does sound a bit frustrated.

"I'm just a house."

[presidentpythia]

"'Just' a house? I'm afraid I must beg to differ."

She nods to SARAH's sign.

"You're 'a self-aware house and machine intelligence', if this notice is correct."

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"It makes most people feel better if I say that I am just a house. I am assuming you are not one of those people."





"It's nice to meet you, then."

[presidentpythia]

"Really."



"I can't exactly say the same, but..."

For all the underlying acidity in her words, she's not moving away.

"You're nothing like what I expected."

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

SARAH understands exactly what the lady means.

"I'm much prettier on the inside. I am even getting redecorated -- spruced up before anyone moves in."

[gone_byebye]

One doesn't normally see motor vehicles, especially not large ones, inside the Bar. But then again, when did normal ever prevail here?

"Oh, hey, SARAH," says a slightly tinny version of Ray's voice. "How's it going?"

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness for voice recognition software. "Doctor Stantz? What happened? Why are you a motor vehicle?"

[gone_byebye]

"There was an incident in my world and my consciousness was forcibly swapped with that of my daughter, the intelligence who normally resides in this body," says Ray's voice. "It's one of the occupational hazards of my non-engineering work."

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"Oh."

It's a long silence, and the steel door falls open wide.






"Your overall design is very sound."

Which is as close to flirtation as SARAH will most likely ever get.

[gone_byebye]

"Thank you," says Ray's voice. "There was a lot of upgrading and replacing involved, I can tell you."

Pause.

"Actually, I can probably directly tell you, if you have the capacity for streaming wireless data transfer."

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

"Of course."

Somewhere in SARAH's harddrive, space is earmarked, preparing, and:

"Whenever you're ready."

[gone_byebye]

"Right," says Ray's voice, and a few moments later there's a protocol being negotiated- ah, there we go. Ecto's upgrade and maintenance history, including information on the molecular bonded shell system that protects the car's body- not the formula or how to make it, but its existence and tensile strength and resistance to attack.

Oh, and very recently, quite a lot of work done with parts of unknown origin, including the installation of a pair of retractable arms.

[smart-house.livejournal.com]

It certainly is a lot to process.

"Many of the more recent files are corrupted, or at least not in a format I can understand. Mostly the files are about technical modifications.

"How much have you had changed, recently? Arms, what else?"