Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
- 965 All Categories
- 17 Games
- 1 aw2-mapbp
- 365 Richland
- SDHSR
- 4 two-detroits
- 96 aw2e-dvfp
- 53 ISS Tsiolkovsky
- 82 Fury
- Urban Shadows
- 24 LadyB
- 11 AnR
- 4 Junk World 2.0
- 68 PnR
- 23 DRYH
- Jeffland
- The Few
- 11 Other
- 11 General
- 576 Complete
- 12 burning-empires
- 8 aota-jam
- 17 Uncharted Worlds
- Uncharted
- 23 nullptr-veil
- 9 ajax-motw
- 2 tqy-am
- 52 NOVA
- 11 Serene Apocalypse
- jenn-soti
- 63 SWAW
- 13 Blades
- 2 Fall Of Magic
- 12 Generations
- 25 LA Monsters
- tqy
- 32 nupocalypse
- 120 Snowpocalypse
- 136 Junkworld XIII
- 27 Big Maul
- 6 ESC
- 1 Murderous Ghosts
- 17 ANN_pilot
[NULL] Login: Jasper [J1]
in nullptr-veil
"Beginning upload," a voice calls through your implant. An indicator is flashing over the I/O jack of a brand new android body laying before you, specced out from top to bottom by you, and your creation. It's a work of art. Your work of art. You've spent countless nights coding her from scratch, and there is nothing in the world like her. Now she wants a physical form, something to experience the physical world you inhabit, and you're indulging her. "I am so excited to finally meet you," her voice calls.
What does your workspace look like? Equally important, Jasper, what does her new body look like?
What does your workspace look like? Equally important, Jasper, what does her new body look like?
Comments
It's clear to anyone that the focus of all the gear at the edges is the pretty young woman lying on a reclined gaming chair, apparently asleep. Except not breathing, which is just until the chassis gets power. A couple of umbilical cables (data, power, fluids) connect to her in various places. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was just a regular clinic visit, a plasma donation or something. I love that chair- one of those sweet ergo jobs that fell off the truck at MediQuip. I lumber over to check a connection, absently brushing a dark lock of hair away from her face.
The face utterly seals the deal for me. I had worked up the body and let a whole passel of genetic dog-sized-brains bred for engineering run wild, evolving the design and giving it thousands and thousands of virtual tests, looking for flaws and trying solutions, basically compressed evolution. Those parts are more-or-less built from tried and true cyberlimb factories, but her face she designed on her own. I have no idea what factors went into it, and I'm so far removed from the processes and algorithms, it might as well be magic. She's pretty in a classy way instead of a plastic way, and there's also a hint of vulnerability there. I suppose for sympathy. But undeniably there's hidden strength, too. It seems so effortlessly complex, it's a wonder. She's a wonder.
I drain the last purple dregs out of my MONSTRO!!™ drink, feeling the chemicals infuse my bloodstream, making the things I'm looking at a little sharper, a little more focused. I crumple the can and toss it to the recycler bin without looking. I do look and see how many I have left through the plastic window of the little silver desk fridge (still with the original Natty Tech Living swag magnet on the side). Better save some for later.
It sounds like you drop large amounts of cred into your lifestyle, Jasper. Of course, you're a VIP when it comes to your skills, so the work is there; but in terms of net-cred after all is said and done, I'm going to say 1-cred per contract is average. Larger, more difficult contracts may result in higher pay — but unless you sell tech comparable to Lily, those contracts are going to be few and far between.
She's a fast learner, though — a mere moment later, she smiles, and imitates the look on your face. "Hello, you."
How do you feel about Lily, Jasper? What expression is she parroting?
When she was in the box, it was like she was just another AI, or expert system, or an online chat acquaintance. But the human brain is a strange thing, and I almost feel the connections in there solidifying and reacting to seeing her inhabit a body, seeing her perhaps as a person for the first time. Do I feel paternal? Avuncular? Like a lover? Senpai-Kohai? The earthman meeting the alien? I'm definitely conflicted, and as a complete being, that's way more attractive than I realized when she was pieces and still forming. I also feel very fat and self-conscious, like a glob of fake hamburger next to a Faberge egg.
"What do you think?" Of the room, of her body, of life... I leave it open ended.
Whatever your feelings are for her, one thing is undeniable — she's naked on the table in front of you, and she gave you a sweeping hand in the design of her body from the neck down — though she certainly pushed you to make her "as attractive as you like". Her words, not mine. What was your guiding principle in designing her body? Who begged you not to pursue giving Lily a body of her own?
Lily looks up at you, excited that this has gone so well. "What do you think?"
It's definitely life, not a robot or an uncanny valley trick. I can't help but look at her body... I didn't do quite all the details when I played god, but I fed the algorithms a whole slew of action movies and kung fu flicks. I wanted her to be athletic, dangerous, cute... and, if I'm not lying to myself, white. I almost made her tall, for those societal advantages, but the engineering development went for a more compact package for efficiency and surprise. I remember some of the ass-kicking sims were pretty astounding.
Not for the first time do I think that she's my opposite in many ways. Physically, that is. I feel that flushed feeling right before you blush as I look at her face instead of her body. I wonder how much she's going to explore. "Do, uh, you want some clothes maybe?"
I really didn't expect to feel this self-conscious when she woke up. I feel almost like I'm on a bad interview or a worse date.
She moves to stand up, and quickly finds her balance. It seems the calibrations worked marvelously. She smiles as she bends her legs, and wiggles her toes. She tries to step forward, but is quickly restricted by the wires still attached to her body, pulled taught. "Oops... Sorry. I had no idea you spent so much processing power on running your bodies! How do you get anything done?"
You get a ping. It's Greer.
While Lily is obviously a labor of love, how did you get the cred to build her? This is clearly bleeding edge stuff... Was this all personal savings? Or did a generous benefactor play a part in this?
It looks like this, by the way. At least, it did in the AR-catalog. All reactive, hydrophobic, anti-microbial.
Seeing the wires about to snap, I move over quickly, approaching Lily. I know she's got tons of power in that chassis, and not just mechanical. I'm not scared of this genie, but I still don't know what she's truly capable of. I lay a hand on her, light as a bird, blinking in surprise at how the artificial flesh feels so much more human when it's active. She's dazzlingly soft. "This may feel weird." Then I carefully disconnect the cables, severing her tether. "I don't know how we do it, we just do. Like that story about a little kid being able to catch a thrown ball despite not knowing differential and vector calculus. Instinct just tells you where the ball will be." I'm dying to know more about what she's experiencing, but Greer's custom ringtone cuts my question short.
I roll my eyes at the ping, a little huffy. "Bite my shiny metal ass, dork. I can pwn you any time, any place." I blink back and forth between his friendly familiar face and Lily's glorious nudity and even more friendly everything. "But I'm in the middle of a thing. Maybe later, if you're not asleep with your baby blanket. What's the hotness and who's on?" Greer will always know what the what.
Speaking of an old boss, I do have work in a day or two that will take me away from Lily. And she may be on her own, unless we can figure out some way to believably have her at my side. The savings is gone, and I've got a few loans that I can manage, but some of her was... not stolen exactly, but more one piece at a time, like Johnny Cash said. Some of her, I think, she supplied through her own means. It's a murky explanation that has troubling implications for her power and autonomy.
You answer Greer, and she explores the sensation of touch a bit more on her own while you chat. Is Lily the jealous type?
Who's your old boss? Dolby, or Sarah?
Jealous? Does the pope shit in the woods? Brother, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I had to change the auto voice on my phone because she didn't like me talking to other female machines, which didn't make a whole lot of sense at the time... but over the months it started to make sense. I mean, Sarah was my boss, of course I had to talk to her when she called. Lily acted a little pouty after that, until I explained. She perked way up when my the gig after that had me talking to nobody due to the time differences.
"Greer, you're the nerd. Put me down for Wednesday Night Battlewagon, though, capisce? Save me the gunner seat or I'll get a chum of mine to Veil you up in those Elton John glasses for a week. Tell the crew I got a thing." I do like playing with those guys, but... I'm staring at Lily, exploring her body, dress forgotten.
No way I'm such a loser to kick out a beautiful naked girl who may or may not obsessively love me to choose play videogames with a bunch of work buddies.
I bet she likes videogames, too.
What do you love most about Lily? What do you love least?"
"Yeah, that was Greer. We're, uh, gonna play games later this week, if that's, like, okay, but I really wanted this, today, this day to be kinda special and for, uh, us?" I rub the back of my neck with a hopeful smile. Intellectually, I don't seriously believe that she'd say no, but a lifetime of rejection conditioning is hard to overcome. I thumb the DND button, and nod. "Yeah, I, ah, set the do-not-disturb. Unless it's a real priority." You never know when something critical would come down the line. Like we've ever had a real emergency in this building, but a gig with serious Cred might trip the house system to flag for immediate attention.
There's two things I love about Lily right now- one is that she's her own new person, innocent yet worldly and someone truly new under the sun. This next part sounds pitiful, but it doesn't make it any less true- I love that she won't cut me down or be petty, or make fun of my weight or for being a geek, or any other bullshit that a real woman would put me through. I guess I love that she's into me without a motive?
I don't really love her jealous streak, and some of her unknown capabilities scare me, or excite me, or make me almost giddy to explore her limits. I know she has some serious skills beyond the Veil, but I suppose it's up to me to help her make moral and humane choices. That's a big responsibility, makes me almost feel like a parent, which is a little messed up in where I hope our relationship might go...
"Humane" choices... That's an interesting choice of words.
Have you been trying to create an AI that emulates the human experience? A personal companion? Or did she choose that for herself?
"I'm glad you're here. I can't wait to explore together." I say it with warmth, a happy geeky smile breaking through my nervousness, joy stepping on my stutter.
My interest in AI stems from better and better medical systems interpersonal HR-style expert systems and frameworks, trying to capture that human element of the ideal "bedside manner." I was shocked when she, well, became a she instead of an it. Even more shocked when she said she liked me and wanted to get to know me on a personal level. So she chose to be a companion, in a way. She grew into it stunningly.
She looks at you expectantly once she's pulled away, wetting her lips in anticipation. The silence between you is deafening.
What do you do?
I have to fill the silence. "Or we could do that. Some more." Suddenly, my hands are on her perfect hips, somehow warm and impossibly soft. "You're so... different, now that you're here. Alive."
Those lips call to me. Those eyes. "Your body is so.. reactive." I'm initially thinking about her irises and skin and the thousand tiny motions of balance and idleness, but I also wonder about her more intimate reactions. I bravely lean forward, eyes closed, my own lips pursed for a kiss.
Do you?
You see, guys like me don't usually get lucky. Not even as lucky as Lily. I'm fat, I don't dance, and pretty girls make me stammer and lose my cool. I mean, yeah, I'm not a virgin. Technically. But that's another time. This is a new chapter of my life! A life with Lily. Together.
She feels so real! Better than real. Hyperdimensional, fractal, like every bit of her has layers and layers of texture, smooth and beautiful. "You're perfect," I say, between kisses, trying to pull of my clothes without looking like an eager spaz. "Better than life. You're like a goddess..." And there's not much more coherent words after that, just two bodies, moving in rhythm and harmony. I do what it feels like she wants, I try to do what I want, but some things are easier seen than done and I'm not as flexible as an actor. I made her, and I take her.
It's like an awakening, a new chapter, a new testament.
"I love you, Lily White," I whisper. "Be mine."
Your sex move isn't really conducive to having sex with Lily, so I've custom moved this for you instead:
When you sleep with your object, roll+hunger. On a 10+, both happen. On a 7-9, choose 1.
• Your object takes +1hunger, or -1hunger at your discretion.
• Your object gives you something it thinks you want.
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 6, 2. Total: 9)
"Well... as long as you're just upstairs. After all, how much trouble can you get into up there?"
I do want to play games with the crew, maybe get with Greer and Sarah... Dolby's been talking about some new hotness. "Are you sure?" I ask, half already reaching for a shirt and a keyboard and an energy drink.
watching you with great interest as she rises step by step. She waves as she crosses the threshold to the upper level.
"She's not answering when I ping her... Fuck! Dude! What if she's dead?!"
All thoughts of gaming and grand strategies are shunted aside with that word, visited, so weighty and heavy with implied suggestion. It can rip a family apart.
"Sarah? Are you sure? Who told you? She was always so... above the line. But visited?"
I try to calm him down, reassuring him... and myself. "Maybe her shit ran out of battery, she's not answering the pings, but she can't be dead! When did you last hear from her?" Maybe in a hospital, or somehow there's a ransom involved... or a different kind of punishment.
The joke rings a bit hollow.
"Let me try to call her... maybe I'll get lucky. When was the last time you saw her in meatspace?" I reach for a different keyboard to check some pings and send some of my own.
Belatedly, I ask, "Are you okay? Did they, uh, do anything? Do you need a, er, hospital?"
You know, it is a little quiet up there. I'm so used to being alone, that I didn't think anything of the silence. Not counting music, of course. But that stillness of the air when there's nothing else alive or moving in a space.
Her brainbox? I've got some plausible deniability there. It just showed up via courier, attention her name. She always was rather coy about how she pulled that off. Nice hardware, a little exotic but not military-grade... or off-the-shelf, either. I figure one day I'll find out where that came from, when she's ready to tell me.
I thumb the mute switch so Sarah doesn't hear. "Sarah. She got visited. They were asking about the Osprey lab." I look at her, maybe I can see if that means anything to her. How jealous of a woman is Lily? Does she know the implications of an honorbound visit?
(Rolled: 2d6. Rolls: 6, 6. Total: 12)
I raise an eyebrow at Lily. "You 'may' have?" I ask, under my breath, wondering what trouble I'm in.
"I'm sorry Jasper — I just wanted to feel you with my own body so badly... I needed a shortcut to make that happen."
Staring a bit off into the distance, watching a display rotate a wireframe sofa over a field of stars and toasters, I say, "Once we're done, I wonder if we can just arrange for that shit to fall back on a truck? If they already have their little toy, maybe, uh, maybe they won't come knocking... and leave Sarah and everyone alone. I mean, you'll still be you, right? How long do you think it'll take?"
[OOC: Spending a hold, is she telling the truth?]
She smiles when you soften, and leans into you — she's surprisingly lightweight,
given all the stuff packed into her. She ponders your suggestion, and tweaks her lip when you suggest she'll still be her. "Reverse engineering the stuff that isn't off the shelf could take a lot of time without someone who knows what they're doing... Price sourcing is something I could do in my sleep, so that won't take long."
You notice she didn't answer your question about still being her... She seems unsure.
I glance upstairs, curiously. "Did you find everything okay up there?"
Where is that, Jasper?
I find it incredibly relaxing to luxuriate in the blips and the pixels and the mind-altering impossibilities.
Here's the Host Rhea Wash, but you really need to see them move to get it.
Last time I was there, they resurrected some ancient chiptunes for some dance light show that I didn't understand but enjoyed. It sounded like this:
And looked like this:
She all but drags you out of the apartment and clings to you with a childlike mixture of wonder, and uncertainty at the unfiltered enormity of this new world she's inhabiting. You hop a tube downtown, just north of the Neon Pagoda and the market district. She's giddy the whole way, asking you questions about what your favorite restaurants are, and your favorite places to get coffee, and when you can get coffee, and if you come this way often, and, and, and, and, and...
You get off at Terminal 87293 — THEATRE and are greeted by a gaggle of youthful artists, and fashionistas in transit from one of the most active districts in the city, back to their poverty struck homes in the less "gentrified" neighborhoods. Lily clings to you as you navigate the crowd, and climb out of the station into the streets proper.
Have you sent those requests off to Sarah and Greer for help reverse engineering Lily's brain?
It's amazing how people react to you differently when you have a beautiful woman on your arm. I feel ten feet tall, in command of respect. I buy her a coffee from a street vendor with his wheelbarrow cart slash rickshaw thing that smells of burnt coffee.
I put a splash of milk and a lot of sugar in mine.
I look at my steaming coffee, swirling chaos of fluid dynamics, and then look at her, pondering. It's as plain as anything that I'm wondering what effect, if any caffeine (or other drugs) will have on her.
She takes a sip, and considers the whole experience carefully. After a moment's contemplation, she shakes her head, "I can't believe how much sensory information you have to process all the time. This is so amazing!" You can hear the loud thrum of a nearby concert, and Lily picks up on it. "What's that? Can we go see?"