video; step four

[rubblegoddess]

[Like the rest of you, this woman looks sleep deprived and possibly a little bit deranged. Her eyes are glassy, she seems a little fidgety, as though she's anxiously awaiting something. Anything. A few deep breaths, and she finally stops staring blankly forward and speaks.]

I have a very important question. Very. I'd appreciate any help you can provide.

[Another pause.]

What does "love" mean to you? And what does it feel like? Rapturous? Terrifying? It's a concept to me, nothing more. I've been curious, though. And now that we're all half-incapacitated and sharing things...

[Her attention span seems to weaken for a moment, and she looks away at the wall...]

Also, if anyone knows how to cook something manly, I'd like your help with that, as well.

Comments

[rubblegoddess]

I'm glad you understand. It's difficult to explain things without a visual sometimes.

[More like she's just too scattered to care right now.]

I "lived" on an asteroid. In a sense. I wasn't human. I wasn't able to feel things the way normal humans do. Certainly I had subroutines and little tidbits of programming that allowed me to understand emotion, but to process it the way the body does? Impossible. The greatest things I've done, I've done for something that might have been love. Affection. More than programming.

[onetouch]

You weren't human. But now you are?

[rubblegoddess]

Correct. I was an AI.

[She seems proud, haughty. It was special, okay?]

[onetouch]

Was. Not, are. [ he doesn't know how to ask this. ] Uh. How did you-- You're not a robot anymore. How?

[rubblegoddess]

[Are you srs.]

It isn't as though I had a choice in the matter. When I came here, I woke up all squishy and half-drowned like the rest of you. I had no corporeal body, so I wasn't a robot. Just an AI. In a computer. Think of me as a very advanced computer with a convenient holographic projection unit.

[onetouch]

But now, because of the ship, you can take physical form.

A human form. [ he had seen this sort of thing before, but it was still fascinating. ]

[rubblegoddess]

Yes! That's right. I find it just as disturbing as anyone. They took away my finest features.

[onetouch]

Your... finest features? Do holograms have, features?

[rubblegoddess]

We process faster than humans think, for one thing.

the tag in which ned turns into everyones grandpa

[onetouch]

Oh. I have to admit, I'm new to... computers. They weren't widespread on my world as they clearly are here. But I understand -- processors, I think. So.

But isn't it more pleasant to, have a whole thought process and know that it is your own rather than a, a line of code?

bawwww

[rubblegoddess]

[Interesting...]

I don't think so. It's so much better to simply know than to have to await arrival at a conclusion. I'm learning to deal with it, of course.

[onetouch]

I understand. I too take comfort from my... routines. But change can be good. I've learned that -- and not at all the easy way.

[rubblegoddess]

There are good things. Really nice things. But it can be difficult to change too much, and it was very sudden.

[onetouch]

Sudden changes do have a habit of happening... suddenly. [ aka he commiserates witchu. ] It's important to enjoy the good things for what they are, though, even if the changing part is scary.

[ he's one to talk really ]