milliways_bar | Cubefall

"I'm going back to my human one," Ray says. "As neat as it is to be able to fly transatmospheric, there's nothing actually wrong with my regular body, and my wife and my other daughter are both organic. Plus it's kind of hard for me to do my daily work if I'm this big."

"And humans are not equipped to control more than one shape at a time," she says, a little tentatively. "Correct?"

"Well, most humans aren't," Ray says. "There's a psychic ability called 'bilocation' that supposedly allows individuals to maintain a temporary presence in two places at one time, but I've never been able to find a verifiable case in my own universe. Outside of various kinds of superpower, that's the only situation I know of that- wait, are you referring to humans only having one unit presence, or do you mean humans don't normally shapechange?"

"I referred to bilocation, yes. Or remote control of a unit such as this one, simultaneous with one's accustomed physical form." A beat. "Multitasking."

"Yeah, by and large unless your name is Jamie Madrox, humans can't do that," Ray says. "All the humans I knew who could assume any degree of control or observational presence via the bodies of other organics had to leave their own bodies essentially asleep or comatose while they were out, too."

"And controlling a remote unit takes a great deal of concentration, such that going about one's accustomed duties at the same time is not feasible."

The arachnoid doesn't have a face to show much in the way of emotion, but something about the body's slight slump somehow conveys puzzlement.

"It must be very difficult."

"Well, it might just be a design issue of the biological brain," Ray says. "Ecto can parcel out a portion of her consciousness to piggyback on the sensor data and motor data from Francis, her robot dog. Difficult for us squishy types isn't the same thing as difficult for machines or magic intelligences, really."

"Exactly," she says, sounding a little more cheerful. "A design issue."

It's much easier to think of it that way than as a design flaw.

"Biological brains are better at random and novel thought patterns than machine processors, so that balances things out a little," says Ray. He should know. This is his third chance for comparisons. "It's just part of the package."

The arachnoid raises itself as high as possible on its legs to peer at Ray's robot head.

"Do you currently possess a machine processor or a biological brain? I regret that I am currently unable to scan closely enough to determine."

"It's a processor. Everything in here is completely machine," Ray says. "Other than the Spark, but that's metaphysical anyway."

"Metaphysical," she repeats, sounding pleased. "Like me."

"Yup," Ray says. "Or like a human's soul, more or less, although its form is different."

The robot's head cocks to one side. Actually its entire body cocks to one side, poised on its delicate legs.

"Can you perceive the difference?"

"Well," says Ray, reaching for one of the panels in his chest, "you can't actually see a human being's soul. Whereas with a Spark-"

He flips the panel open to reveal the shining ball of multicolored light inside.

"-they're kind of obvious."

"..."

The mobile's eyes aren't built to widen, but the way it leans forward and stretches to the tips of its legs, it is entirely obvious that it is staring.

Ray smiles. (G1 Cybertronian designs are good that way.) "Kind of weird, I know," he says. "But it's a feature of the race."

Congratulations, Ray; you've just rendered a magical AI speechless.

One more notch in the proton pack, then!

*ahem*

Anyway. Ray closes the panel and fastens it up. "It'll go back to normal when this is all over," he says. "Probably just as well."

The mobile glances down at itself, shifting from one foot to another. "I do not believe this unit is meant to last only for the duration of the holiday."

Faint unease. "I hope not."

Ray considers this for a bit. Eventually he says, "Are the cells still physically in existence? Because if they are, and you're both there and here, then this is a new body, not a changed version of the old one. So it'll probably last."

"Of course they are," she says, sounding slightly shocked. "It would be dangerous for the cells to cease to exist, or to be no longer under my control. It would be a breach of security."

It would, in fact, be a violation of Baby's entire reason to exist.

"That's probably a gift, then, not a transformation."

"And a gift will last beyond the holiday itself." It's a statement, but a cautious one; let's see if I've got this right.

"I'm guessing that it will," says Ray. "I don't see any reason why it shouldn't. Especially considering that people who get transformed can choose to keep the transformation."

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stilljustandrew - 2009-06-01 03:17 (UTC) - Expand