P
Primitive Polygon
Underneath Osman City, Subway Complex Work Site
♫Nuages - Dreams♫
The distant rumbling of jackhammers reverberating through the solid rock. Robust industrial junkers wheeling stacks of steel train tracks in and out of the dim tunnels, illuminated only by the orange glow of old-fashioned light bulb looms. Steelrender Lycosidae had been taking Uso’s advice to heart as of late, and truly making herself at home underground. But progress on the subway system was slowed, not only by the Elysian threat, but by native people using the unfinished shafts as a bunker. Some of them decided it was better than their own houses, and didn’t leave at all…
In the middle of the organized chaos, Lyco was quietly brooding at their old-fashioned oak desk, half a dozen computer monitors strewn around. More interestingly, they were sitting on an actual chair, having modified their body since they last appeared in public… Still tank track roller blades, but at the end of humanoid legs! They could finally tackle stairs! Wearing a voidsuit too, presumably to stop all of those gross cowboys from coughing on them.
As usual, they looked less than pleased about being around other people in general.
Alex had recently been sent to check in on Lyco, and see if she could help with a few manpower problems the USO "Navy" was having.
As he walked up to the desk, he noted how many people had ended up down here.
"Lycosidae? I'd like to talk to you. It's me, Alex." He called out over the sound of heavy equipment.
"Oh... It's you... Alex, was it?..." Lyco gave him a brief glance, bushy eyebrows furrowing, before looking back towards the blueprints displayed in blue wire frames upon the monitors. "How's the sun tan?"
"Sun tan?" Alex was confused. He didn't realize that he had gotten that much sun.
"...You know, on Freehold?" A gruff little expression. Perhaps it really was her idea of a joke... But ever since the recent neko drama, it could certainly be said Lyco's sense of humor had gotten more than a little bitter once more. "I didn't forget you talking them down... I guess that means I still owe you or something, huh..."
"So..." The squeaking of rubberized panels in their thick voidsuit, and the grunting of hydraulics her robust little legs extended into a standing position. Still barely as tall as Alex's chin. Both disgruntled and chubby as ever. "What is it? What do you want?"
“I suppose so, but we sort of got that Strat-ops unit or whatever out of it, and you're helping out here anyways, so I'd say we're square." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "As for what I need, well, I suggested that we started to build a navy and Uso set up some shipyards, and now we have a whole bunch of ships... Without any crew."
"I suppose that is a given, unless you can somehow teach these local weirdos to hold a spanner." Lyco just gave him a tired glance, then looked towards some random old hoodlum walking past in rags. "If you want my hand with a ship, I'm sure there are people more qualified."
"Right, but I remembered that you were good with robots, and I believe, AI, so I was wondering if you could help us build bodies for some humanoid, human sized robots to help crew vessels."
"Like the old militants? I suppose it's possible. Tend to prefer tracks myself, but, well... Alright, I suppose this place has shown me the virtues of legs in a humanized environment."
Alex nodded. "Also, treads might be a little impractical for small spaces. What are these militants you mentioned?"
"You really have to get on the poly'." A newly grumpy expression. Ginger braids falling over her face. "The militants are like the classic go-to automata body. I think they invented 'em when the IWL were screwing over the criminals on Halna."
"Can they handle minds like yours or mine? Or uhhh..... Truffleclub's?"
"Truffleclub is just not programmed to interact with human beings. That takes a lot of processing power... Power they could be using to focus on making stuff... But yes, I don't see why not. It's just a question of giving them a task to enjoy, to obsess over... but... Well..."
"That seems like a bit of a sinister way of putting it." Alex said. "Why not just ask them what they want to do?"
"I'm a Type Two, Alex. That's what being a Type Two is." A shrug. "What are you going to do with all of the personalities who don't want to work?... We haven't got the computer space, nor the ram, to handle that here..."
"I didn't realize that you were made for anything. What if we let them choose from a set of tasks that we need help with?"
"It's not like I really wanted to tell the whole world..." A clinking of tracks, as they turned to face towards one of the tunnels. "I'm not sure, Alex. How would you feel? What's the alternative if they don't want to cooperate?... I mean, this is the kind of stuff that has held the Freespacers back since forever. Never mind that Type Threes are all over the place on these capitalist planets, so that's what peeps just assume is the be all and end all..."
"Type three?"
"Total free will. Supposedly it's what keeps the poly from getting stagnant, but... They also seem to make all of the worst decisions, if you ask me. And spend half their time making 'entertainment'..."
"I'm not too sure what you meant by entertainment, but how about something in between the two? Allow them free will so long as they help."
"Spoken like a true dictator, Alex..." A rather frank look back. "The deathcrawlers, on the other hand... They are more like dogs. Happy to help, but they don't necessarily have to..."
"I'm not sure quite what you meant by that, but having them be like deathcrawlers in that capacity would be nice. Can we do that with Militants and also give them personalities, or the ability to develop them?"
A prolonged pause. This is exactly the kind of thing that Lyco had spent so long fighting against, but... Well, taking the wheel was better than sitting by and just letting it happen on more tyrannical terms. "...I'll help you under one circumstance, Alex... They need to be allowed out if they want out. They own their bodies, too."
"I mean, doesn't that go without saying?" Alex said, his naivete showing.
"Well that's not the way it works in the Star Army of Yamatai... And, well, I have no idea what Uso is really planning here."
"What does the Star Army do?"
"They build organic soldiers a dime a dozen and then stick 'em in the army for three years, no choice about it. They have free will, sure, but with no where to put it, that doesn't seem so agreeable to me."
"That kind of thing is something I have a little too much experience with. I think giving them an out is a great idea. After all, keeping someone who doesn't want to help stuck helping is bound to produce bad results."
"Who would be giving the orders? Like, who is actually in command? Who's making the doctrine?"
"Ummm.... I guess whoever I find to be in charge, or me if I don't find anyone. I guess we could try to make a person who's good at that though."
"I could ask the Wired for protected firmware, I guess... Treasure told me you met up with them, or something." Untrusting to the last, but it was a start. "It just depends on what you are really going to do with them. If this was a Freespacer fleet, or, rather, the good kind, they'd be interested primarily in defense, I can tell you that."
"Well, I think that ideally the fleet would be used to protect this star system and any other ones we colonize. I guess if someone needed help we could try to help them too."
"So long as you don't go colonizing systems that are already inhabited, I suppose that's fair enough..." Another odd look. Given that Alex had completely approached them out of the blue, there were a lot of questions that needed answering, but... Well, they were still a shut-in, at the end of the day, and this kind of thing was not exactly their forte, to say the least. "Programming the actual AI before spitting a million of them out really is the hard part."
Yet another dissatisfied grunt. She was peering at the side of his head now, perhaps the ears... But was not quite tall enough to find whatever it was they were looking for.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Asked Alex.
"Have you got any ports?" Was the response, delivered flatly.
"Ports for what?" Alex asked, innocently.
Lyco turned around and parted her reddish braids using those weird mechanical hands, revealing an odd socket at the base of her skull. An oblong with a bunch of little holes, a bit like an old parallel port. "Mindware. Straight link."
"I think I do, I'm mostly used to doing things wirelessly, but there's some sort of space for a wire." Alex said, turning his head a bit and brushing back the hari on the back of his neck, revealing the prototype for the Psychopomp OGU, a set of mindware and mind control devices.
"...Well... That's a weird adapter..." Lyco put her hands on his shoulders for a minute, in order to get a closer look. "But, erm... Do you want me teach you the ropes on the poly or something?... I feel like that could help a lot with this... We can use Cloudy's domain space, and everything."
Alex gave a nod. "Okay. What will this be like?"
"Are you sure you're comfortable with this?... I mean, you look a little peaky..." A robust tone. "It will be like stepping into a dream, but with both of us at the same time... Just a LAN thing between the two of us. If we jump on the poly proper, I don't know how safe that would be, considering what we are working on and all..."
"I don't know what you mean by peaky, but I think in this case, starting slow might be good, and more secure."
"Sit down, then." Lyco pointed to the wooden chair by her desk, and planted her butt on the tabletop whilst searching through a bunch of cables in the top drawer. "Hum... Nep cords, is it?.. No, a bit more round... Maybe I can bend this 16-end one..."
Alex sat down on the proffered chair, and looked around the room. "So aside from introducing me to the 'poly', what does that have to do with this?"
"Brain emulation." Was the straight answer, like he was supposed to know what that meant. She was already twisting the little screws affixing her own cable into place, through, before standing behind Alex and calmly lining the wire into him. There was an immediate sensation of little buzzing sounds off in the distance, most likely the modem inside his head booting up and logging in automatically...
Before he knew it, Alex was faced with something like a second sight, an incredibly clear daydream that overlapped with the real world. It was at it's strongest when he closed his eyes, overcoming his natural senses and allowing him to instantaneously experience an entire secondary world.
It was not like a computer game. There were soft, wet blades of grass under his toes. He could smell the recent rain... But the grass was impossibly green, glowing from within, in spite of the night sky above. Sparse mushrooms with red caps littered the hilly little hills about him, along with the odd brown tree. At the very zenith of the highest mound, a little cottage, like something off the side of a biscuit tin, rested pleasantly with a certain inner warmth.
No birds. No noise machinery. Just the tranquil, comforting breeze.
Alex stared in wonderment. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was most likely the most amazing thing he had ever seen or experienced, rivaling even the freedom of flight.
A laugh burbled up, flowing like a stream that was nearby.
"It's kinda weird, right?" A little tank said, at his feet. "I didn't know the mushroom had actually seen grass before..."
"This is amazing!" Alex exclaimed, looking down at the chibified tank. "Is that you Lycosidae?"
"Yes. I'm cuter here. Thanks for noticing." Spoken like a true shut-in. "I think most of the best programs are up in that... Erm, hut... thing..."
The cottage was wooden, with a red slatted roof and a porch out front. It glowed orange from within, visible through old fashioned windows, and grey puffs of smoke escaped from the chimney. Truffleclub probably based it on something local, but it was still akin to a cartoon version of the real thing.
Alex looked around before catching a glimpse of the cottage and bent down to pick up the miniature tank in his hands, and with Lyco in his hands, walked towards the picturesque home slowly as he took in the scenery.
There wasn't much to interrupt them. The door was open and a fire was roaring inside, forever refusing to run out of fuel. There was also a small red sofa, a book shelf filled with all sorts of old tomes, and a random pile of chests in the corner. One of the oddest sensations was looking directly at something, and realizing that the filename would suddenly materialize above it... Most of them were still really weird words like "Moonhouse.VRI" and "Clubstone_Windward.txt", through.
Alex felt like he was foreign, an invader in this peaceful home. It felt like he was... Somehow stealing or invading someone's privacy.
"What are the names popping up over things? What am I supposed to do now? That brain emulation stuff?"
"You're squeezing me." The tiny tank protested, it a huffy little voice. It actually felt kinda rubbery, rather than metal.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Alex said as he released some pressure. "Is that better or would you like me to set you down?"
"Just take us to that book, over there..." Lyco responded. Not hurt, but certainly feeling undignified. "...Erm... Brainmaster_Easy_AI... I think that's the one..."
Sure enough, there was a book called exactly that. A pair of petite pincer arms had come out of the engine bay of the tank, and were pointing at it impatiently.
Alex picked the book up with one hand while the other held Lyco , and he blew off some virtual dust.
Opening the book revealed not letters and words, but a floating blue orb that seemed to float out of nowhere. After the program had finished loading onto his mindware, the title screen then came into being, displaying the same words in glossy blue letters.
Lyco took the impetus and started it up, revealing a whole host of slider bars saying things like "aggression", "empathy" and "musicality"... Maybe about sixty in total, ending with a box for entering the preferred file size, and a button that said, rather boldly, "JUST DO IT".
Alex was overwhelmed by all this. "Can you handle this part? I think you have more experience with this kind of thing than me."
"Well I brought you here, 'cause what you want out of it is kinda important, ya know?..." A simple response, whilst Lyco was already busy messing with the settings.
A few moments later, after having seriously just rushed the entire thing, she clicked the DO IT button, immediately pooping out another file. There was a demo function, which she then clicked on, and waited for it to load...
"DEATH TO THE MEATSPACE FUCKE-"
And then turned it off again. This might take a bit of tweaking.
"Maybe turn down the aggression a bit?" Alex said. "What kind of traits do you have set high right now?"
"Well you wanted an army. They gotta be motivated, right?" She was holding back a laugh.
"Hate seems like a bad long term motivator. But what kind of traits did you prioritize? "
"Well they didn't have a xenophobia one, so I just made them judgmental and aggressive, mostly... There might be a bar for compassion, but... Yeah, you want a battle droid here, or what?..."
"I think it might be better to think of them more as crew members than battle droids. I mean, They can learn to be combatants if they want or need to, but being the crew of a ship, and being loyal to those that are loyal to them is important. Camaraderie."
"The loyalty bar is already up, but... Hurm... I don't know. I mean, I already consider soldiers to be the same as crew members... It's just how you make them loyal but not -crazy loyal-, that's the problem..."
"Not loyal to us, loyal to people that help them, and show that they care. They shouldn't fight because they hate their enemies, they should fight to protect their comrades and those who cannot protect themselves."
A few more dragging sliders, a little more careful this time.
"Hello, friends. Jolly nice to meet you. Jolly nice to be running off of your processing power, in fact. Very kind." The next file was polite, at least, but the voice seemed a little... Depressed, maybe?... "I'll be honest, you should just choose something else. I'm not good enough."
"I'm sure that you're fine. Would you like a body?"
"Y-you'd waste one on a thing such as I? Surely that is such an unfathomable waste, that I would not-"
Cut off. It was Lyco again. She didn't delete it, but even through that little tank barrel, it was like she was giving him a disapproving look. "We can do better than that, Alex...”
"I mean, they might not be what we're looking for, but we might as well save them and give them a body. Maybe you could try scanning me or something and taking some cues from that?"
"They aren't people yet. No memories. Don't get confused... Let's make some edits, at least..." Lyco responded coldly. They weren't going to scold Alex for feeling compassion, but the amount of resources they had couldn't afford to be wasted on just any old robot. She was a Freespacer to the end. "As for brain emulation... No offense, but your brain is a mess... All of those random ideas and neurosis that you don't quite understand? All the -human- stuff?... That's the spark that comes afterwards, with real world knowledge. Even if we got an soul transfer device off of Uso, that would kind of be a waste of RAM..."
Alex looked to the SI. "Do you mind being edited? And I didn't mean copying me, I meant finding some traits that drive me, and that are useful for a crew member that people would want to work with."
"It's perhaps not my place to decide." The program only responded, meekly.
Lyco made a dejected huff, and then just turned her barrel up at Alex again, trying to think about what made him tick, just as much as the AI. Before she knew it, her hands were manipulating the sliders to try and produce an approximation... A noblebright kid, probably honorable to a fault.
"MY LIEGE." It was shouting again! "WHAT COMMANDS DO YOU DESIRE? IS THERE AN ENEMY ON THE DOORSTEP!?"
"Umm... Maybe a little too much white knight... I was thinking more just an average person, easy to get along with, generally helpful and honest."
"I thought he was pretty helpful... I mean, he wanted commands, ha..."
"It seems like a little much..."
"My liege." Just a little softer... "What beats do you desire? I feel a song, yes... It is on the doorstep..."
"And a little too old fashioned knightly."
"I thought it was kinda bard-y, that last one..." Lyco saved it anyway, dragging and dropping it into one of her own mindware's folders. "Hum..."
Made another. Only... Well, it didn't speak at all, leaving the log in complete silence. Was it broken?...
Rather than waiting for an explanation, Lyco dumped another file into the virtual space, a sort of chrome ragdoll with a dodecahedron head. Dropping the file onto that made it animate just slightly, popping into a sitting position upon the chair, and then gazing into the fire, blankly.
"...Anyone at home, friend?" The tank asked, with confusion.
"Well, you know the score. I was just created from nothing... I... I'm not really sure what to say?... We all know I'm not really real yet."
So that's what the navel gazing slider did...
Alex sat cross legged upon the floor and looked up at the SI.
"Would you like to be?"
"I don't know. I was never alive before." It answered lackadaisically. "I suppose a nice jacket would be a start."
"I think that we can give you a body, but I'm not making any promises on finding a large enough jacket. Would mind helping us with some stuff?"
"Some stuff?" The doll questioned back.
"Well, how do you feel like there being a whole bunch of you?" Lyco added.
"Better than being confused alone, I guess."
"Well, we've got a bunch of ships here that need crews, among other things. We also could use help with just about anything else, so if you just name a job you feel like doing you should be fine. If you don't feel like helping, thats fine too, we can send you on your way." Alex said matter-of-factly.
"I have no objections." The polygonal-headed thing just angled it's head, as if to suggest it wasn't really sure what it wanted. Other than cool clothes, perhaps. "Something tells me real space is boring, through."
"Still has no proper likes or skills..." The tracks of the tiny tank whirred, as Lyco attempted to remember the rest of the process. "Fancy a kick start, chrome-y?"
Silver doll just shrugged. Not like anyone could judge if they liked something, if they hadn't even experienced what real things were.
"How does a 'kick start' work in this situation? Do you upload a sample of experiences?"
"There are research keywords for the auto-programming of the average type two, but normally there is a syntelligence program specifically designed to ingrain the information." Lyco recalled from memory. "Maybe it's an idea to start with what skills it -needs-?..."
Alex cocked his head in thought for a moment. "Hmmm... Well they'd need a basic knowledge of physics, probably complex machines and computer stuff, so that they know how their bodies and minds work. I think anything other than that would be downloaded when they pick a job, but you could give them an idea of what sort of jobs are available. I can think of Astronavigation, gunnery officer work, turret manning, shipboard engineering and repair, small craft piloting and mecha piloting as a start." Alex said, listing off potential jobs for the new members of the universe.
He looked towards Lyco. "Can you think of anything I might have missed?"
"Well, they'll need small arms, communication in Trade language, and mindware skills additionally." Lyco was sounding a little skeptical. "...Erm... You gotta realize that without any distinction in their programming, they're likely to all choose the same job, through..."
"Well, how do you accomplish that?"
"How about a sort of... Nursery sort of deal?... We just keep a bunch of them in cyberspace for a while, and randomize which battlefield data they are exposed to? Maybe hold classes with some of our flesh and blood members?... Or, even, take them out on 'field trips' in your brain, perhaps?"
"I guess that sounds fine to me. How will it feel when they're in my brain?"
"Well you can always mute them. Other than that, they're quite compact in terms of program size, at least when they are new... So I guess it would be hard to notice one running in the background." The tank clicked it's tracks again. "Of course, we would still need a big ass computer running the lot of them somewhere, separate from the polysentience."
"I think we can set something like that up. I can ask Vier about it, or you could help with that too."
"...Or we could just use the Stratops." Lyco actively smiled, through it was only visible on the tank by a little jiggle of the faux-smoke launchers. "I knew that thing would be the gift that keeps on giving!"
"It can do that?!" Alex said. "I guess irradiation wasn't too much of a price to pay for something like that."
"Said like a true spacer." Lyco chirped back, pulling the schematics out from her own brain, and plonking a blue wire frame out onto the floor. "Yeah, it was designed to run one giant AI, but they never quite got the model three working right... A whole bunch, say... Fifty or sixty smaller AIs, should be well within it's capacity."
Alex nodded. "I think that will be enough to start. These ones might end up in command roles over their younger counterparts since they'll have more experience. But that should be enough to start to build up, and train them for whatever they're interested in."
"What about the bodies? Will they be hard to build? And when one of them takes a body, does it leave the Stratops to make room for new ones?"
"Of course. Some may even be able to leave earlier, if their job is less complicated." Lyco whirred. "As for the bodies, well... That's my favorite bit... Programmed to be my favorite bit?... Whatever, I like it."
The doll was still staring into the fire, apparently having no idea what the two of them were talking about.
Alex looked at the doll. "Aren't you happy? You get a body! Well... You get a body when Lycosidae teaches me how we build you one, and we give you some time to explore and experience things."
"I suppose." It responded meekly. "It would be nice to get out there, I guess. Maybe lay down some funk, as they say?"
"There are a couple of designs in my backlog, if you want to see them, Alex." Lyco added. "Works in progress from a while back."
"That'd be great. Thanks a bunch for helping with this. If I can do anything for you in the future, let me know."
Wriggling out of his grasp with those bendy tracks, Lyco plonked to the floor before taking aim with their gun. It was a bit more clear from this angle that programs didn't simply appear, but actually burst into existence from little yellow pellets their weapon fired.
Three new objects soon formed on the floor, slowly increasing in resolution as they loaded up. Humanoid, each one more than six foot tall, yet all equally distinct.
The first one was hunched and bear-like, with a boxy torso and huge digging claws.
The second was even more boxy, with a sort of mini-turret on it's gigantic head.
The third was tall and lanky, but with huge shoulders and hands.
"Those seem a little large for crew members on a ship, but they seem like they'd be great for any ones that want to fight personally and up close."
He thought.
"You mentioned the Militant bodies. Would those work as baseline versions for crew, pilots and infantry while we use the bigger ones for construction and heavy weapons?"
"Probably. But they are very much old hat. Depends if you want maximum cheapness or some actual quality." Lyco looked back up at him, her voice just a little strained. Probably not the best person to be espousing the virtues of human-shaped things to.
"Is there a better quality design thats more human sized? I'd like for them to be able to go wherever a person can."
"Nepleslian or some of those Emrys models maybe..." A dull tone. A few moments later, they plopped out another design, this one a bit shorter and more humanized than the others. "How about this?"
"It has gravatic manipulation... I was trying to make a body with similar abilities to Cloudy, but more human sized..."
"That looks great! I think we could definitely keep the other designs around too. They seem good for heavy lifting or fighting." Alex said. "But I don't know how to make them, or what kind of stuff we'd need to do so."
"Industrial junkers." The tank replied simply. "The Lament is gone, but I still have my old faithful crabs... We just need raw materials to get us started, really. At least until we get going properly."
"What can I do to help?" Alex asked.
"Train them. Decide what data they get exposed to."
"I think I can do that, but I might have to ask Vier to help me."
"I'll ask the Wire Guided to protect the firmware. We don't want anyone hacking in, since it's a known development program and all..."
-A weirdly tight sensation, with a cold metal digits grasping around Alex's real-world back... Back in the real world, Lyco was hugging him!-
"So, Alex, how does it feel like to be a dad?" -The glint of braces flashing within her smile, breaking through the cozy cottage reality for just a moment. She was enjoying this, by the sound of their raspy upbeat voice.- "I guess this means you are a real spacer, now, too..."
"I guess it does in a way." Alex said thoughtfully. "I don't know if I'll ever really be one thing or another fully."
"What, did you want a certificate?" Lyco just blanked, not really sure what was going through the blonde pilot's head. "Nobody is really anything unless you decide to become it. Some would say I'm not really a spacer either, since I left all that behind."
"Well, we're both here now. And we both are a part of... Whatever the USO actually is. I guess all we can do is make the best of it."
♫Nuages - Dreams♫
The distant rumbling of jackhammers reverberating through the solid rock. Robust industrial junkers wheeling stacks of steel train tracks in and out of the dim tunnels, illuminated only by the orange glow of old-fashioned light bulb looms. Steelrender Lycosidae had been taking Uso’s advice to heart as of late, and truly making herself at home underground. But progress on the subway system was slowed, not only by the Elysian threat, but by native people using the unfinished shafts as a bunker. Some of them decided it was better than their own houses, and didn’t leave at all…
In the middle of the organized chaos, Lyco was quietly brooding at their old-fashioned oak desk, half a dozen computer monitors strewn around. More interestingly, they were sitting on an actual chair, having modified their body since they last appeared in public… Still tank track roller blades, but at the end of humanoid legs! They could finally tackle stairs! Wearing a voidsuit too, presumably to stop all of those gross cowboys from coughing on them.
As usual, they looked less than pleased about being around other people in general.
Alex had recently been sent to check in on Lyco, and see if she could help with a few manpower problems the USO "Navy" was having.
As he walked up to the desk, he noted how many people had ended up down here.
"Lycosidae? I'd like to talk to you. It's me, Alex." He called out over the sound of heavy equipment.
"Oh... It's you... Alex, was it?..." Lyco gave him a brief glance, bushy eyebrows furrowing, before looking back towards the blueprints displayed in blue wire frames upon the monitors. "How's the sun tan?"
"Sun tan?" Alex was confused. He didn't realize that he had gotten that much sun.
"...You know, on Freehold?" A gruff little expression. Perhaps it really was her idea of a joke... But ever since the recent neko drama, it could certainly be said Lyco's sense of humor had gotten more than a little bitter once more. "I didn't forget you talking them down... I guess that means I still owe you or something, huh..."
"So..." The squeaking of rubberized panels in their thick voidsuit, and the grunting of hydraulics her robust little legs extended into a standing position. Still barely as tall as Alex's chin. Both disgruntled and chubby as ever. "What is it? What do you want?"
“I suppose so, but we sort of got that Strat-ops unit or whatever out of it, and you're helping out here anyways, so I'd say we're square." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "As for what I need, well, I suggested that we started to build a navy and Uso set up some shipyards, and now we have a whole bunch of ships... Without any crew."
"I suppose that is a given, unless you can somehow teach these local weirdos to hold a spanner." Lyco just gave him a tired glance, then looked towards some random old hoodlum walking past in rags. "If you want my hand with a ship, I'm sure there are people more qualified."
"Right, but I remembered that you were good with robots, and I believe, AI, so I was wondering if you could help us build bodies for some humanoid, human sized robots to help crew vessels."
"Like the old militants? I suppose it's possible. Tend to prefer tracks myself, but, well... Alright, I suppose this place has shown me the virtues of legs in a humanized environment."
Alex nodded. "Also, treads might be a little impractical for small spaces. What are these militants you mentioned?"
"You really have to get on the poly'." A newly grumpy expression. Ginger braids falling over her face. "The militants are like the classic go-to automata body. I think they invented 'em when the IWL were screwing over the criminals on Halna."
"Can they handle minds like yours or mine? Or uhhh..... Truffleclub's?"
"Truffleclub is just not programmed to interact with human beings. That takes a lot of processing power... Power they could be using to focus on making stuff... But yes, I don't see why not. It's just a question of giving them a task to enjoy, to obsess over... but... Well..."
"That seems like a bit of a sinister way of putting it." Alex said. "Why not just ask them what they want to do?"
"I'm a Type Two, Alex. That's what being a Type Two is." A shrug. "What are you going to do with all of the personalities who don't want to work?... We haven't got the computer space, nor the ram, to handle that here..."
"I didn't realize that you were made for anything. What if we let them choose from a set of tasks that we need help with?"
"It's not like I really wanted to tell the whole world..." A clinking of tracks, as they turned to face towards one of the tunnels. "I'm not sure, Alex. How would you feel? What's the alternative if they don't want to cooperate?... I mean, this is the kind of stuff that has held the Freespacers back since forever. Never mind that Type Threes are all over the place on these capitalist planets, so that's what peeps just assume is the be all and end all..."
"Type three?"
"Total free will. Supposedly it's what keeps the poly from getting stagnant, but... They also seem to make all of the worst decisions, if you ask me. And spend half their time making 'entertainment'..."
"I'm not too sure what you meant by entertainment, but how about something in between the two? Allow them free will so long as they help."
"Spoken like a true dictator, Alex..." A rather frank look back. "The deathcrawlers, on the other hand... They are more like dogs. Happy to help, but they don't necessarily have to..."
"I'm not sure quite what you meant by that, but having them be like deathcrawlers in that capacity would be nice. Can we do that with Militants and also give them personalities, or the ability to develop them?"
A prolonged pause. This is exactly the kind of thing that Lyco had spent so long fighting against, but... Well, taking the wheel was better than sitting by and just letting it happen on more tyrannical terms. "...I'll help you under one circumstance, Alex... They need to be allowed out if they want out. They own their bodies, too."
"I mean, doesn't that go without saying?" Alex said, his naivete showing.
"Well that's not the way it works in the Star Army of Yamatai... And, well, I have no idea what Uso is really planning here."
"What does the Star Army do?"
"They build organic soldiers a dime a dozen and then stick 'em in the army for three years, no choice about it. They have free will, sure, but with no where to put it, that doesn't seem so agreeable to me."
"That kind of thing is something I have a little too much experience with. I think giving them an out is a great idea. After all, keeping someone who doesn't want to help stuck helping is bound to produce bad results."
"Who would be giving the orders? Like, who is actually in command? Who's making the doctrine?"
"Ummm.... I guess whoever I find to be in charge, or me if I don't find anyone. I guess we could try to make a person who's good at that though."
"I could ask the Wired for protected firmware, I guess... Treasure told me you met up with them, or something." Untrusting to the last, but it was a start. "It just depends on what you are really going to do with them. If this was a Freespacer fleet, or, rather, the good kind, they'd be interested primarily in defense, I can tell you that."
"Well, I think that ideally the fleet would be used to protect this star system and any other ones we colonize. I guess if someone needed help we could try to help them too."
"So long as you don't go colonizing systems that are already inhabited, I suppose that's fair enough..." Another odd look. Given that Alex had completely approached them out of the blue, there were a lot of questions that needed answering, but... Well, they were still a shut-in, at the end of the day, and this kind of thing was not exactly their forte, to say the least. "Programming the actual AI before spitting a million of them out really is the hard part."
Yet another dissatisfied grunt. She was peering at the side of his head now, perhaps the ears... But was not quite tall enough to find whatever it was they were looking for.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Asked Alex.
"Have you got any ports?" Was the response, delivered flatly.
"Ports for what?" Alex asked, innocently.
Lyco turned around and parted her reddish braids using those weird mechanical hands, revealing an odd socket at the base of her skull. An oblong with a bunch of little holes, a bit like an old parallel port. "Mindware. Straight link."
"I think I do, I'm mostly used to doing things wirelessly, but there's some sort of space for a wire." Alex said, turning his head a bit and brushing back the hari on the back of his neck, revealing the prototype for the Psychopomp OGU, a set of mindware and mind control devices.
"...Well... That's a weird adapter..." Lyco put her hands on his shoulders for a minute, in order to get a closer look. "But, erm... Do you want me teach you the ropes on the poly or something?... I feel like that could help a lot with this... We can use Cloudy's domain space, and everything."
Alex gave a nod. "Okay. What will this be like?"
"Are you sure you're comfortable with this?... I mean, you look a little peaky..." A robust tone. "It will be like stepping into a dream, but with both of us at the same time... Just a LAN thing between the two of us. If we jump on the poly proper, I don't know how safe that would be, considering what we are working on and all..."
"I don't know what you mean by peaky, but I think in this case, starting slow might be good, and more secure."
"Sit down, then." Lyco pointed to the wooden chair by her desk, and planted her butt on the tabletop whilst searching through a bunch of cables in the top drawer. "Hum... Nep cords, is it?.. No, a bit more round... Maybe I can bend this 16-end one..."
Alex sat down on the proffered chair, and looked around the room. "So aside from introducing me to the 'poly', what does that have to do with this?"
"Brain emulation." Was the straight answer, like he was supposed to know what that meant. She was already twisting the little screws affixing her own cable into place, through, before standing behind Alex and calmly lining the wire into him. There was an immediate sensation of little buzzing sounds off in the distance, most likely the modem inside his head booting up and logging in automatically...
Before he knew it, Alex was faced with something like a second sight, an incredibly clear daydream that overlapped with the real world. It was at it's strongest when he closed his eyes, overcoming his natural senses and allowing him to instantaneously experience an entire secondary world.
It was not like a computer game. There were soft, wet blades of grass under his toes. He could smell the recent rain... But the grass was impossibly green, glowing from within, in spite of the night sky above. Sparse mushrooms with red caps littered the hilly little hills about him, along with the odd brown tree. At the very zenith of the highest mound, a little cottage, like something off the side of a biscuit tin, rested pleasantly with a certain inner warmth.
No birds. No noise machinery. Just the tranquil, comforting breeze.
Alex stared in wonderment. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was most likely the most amazing thing he had ever seen or experienced, rivaling even the freedom of flight.
A laugh burbled up, flowing like a stream that was nearby.
"It's kinda weird, right?" A little tank said, at his feet. "I didn't know the mushroom had actually seen grass before..."
"This is amazing!" Alex exclaimed, looking down at the chibified tank. "Is that you Lycosidae?"
"Yes. I'm cuter here. Thanks for noticing." Spoken like a true shut-in. "I think most of the best programs are up in that... Erm, hut... thing..."
The cottage was wooden, with a red slatted roof and a porch out front. It glowed orange from within, visible through old fashioned windows, and grey puffs of smoke escaped from the chimney. Truffleclub probably based it on something local, but it was still akin to a cartoon version of the real thing.
Alex looked around before catching a glimpse of the cottage and bent down to pick up the miniature tank in his hands, and with Lyco in his hands, walked towards the picturesque home slowly as he took in the scenery.
There wasn't much to interrupt them. The door was open and a fire was roaring inside, forever refusing to run out of fuel. There was also a small red sofa, a book shelf filled with all sorts of old tomes, and a random pile of chests in the corner. One of the oddest sensations was looking directly at something, and realizing that the filename would suddenly materialize above it... Most of them were still really weird words like "Moonhouse.VRI" and "Clubstone_Windward.txt", through.
Alex felt like he was foreign, an invader in this peaceful home. It felt like he was... Somehow stealing or invading someone's privacy.
"What are the names popping up over things? What am I supposed to do now? That brain emulation stuff?"
"You're squeezing me." The tiny tank protested, it a huffy little voice. It actually felt kinda rubbery, rather than metal.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Alex said as he released some pressure. "Is that better or would you like me to set you down?"
"Just take us to that book, over there..." Lyco responded. Not hurt, but certainly feeling undignified. "...Erm... Brainmaster_Easy_AI... I think that's the one..."
Sure enough, there was a book called exactly that. A pair of petite pincer arms had come out of the engine bay of the tank, and were pointing at it impatiently.
Alex picked the book up with one hand while the other held Lyco , and he blew off some virtual dust.
Opening the book revealed not letters and words, but a floating blue orb that seemed to float out of nowhere. After the program had finished loading onto his mindware, the title screen then came into being, displaying the same words in glossy blue letters.
Lyco took the impetus and started it up, revealing a whole host of slider bars saying things like "aggression", "empathy" and "musicality"... Maybe about sixty in total, ending with a box for entering the preferred file size, and a button that said, rather boldly, "JUST DO IT".
Alex was overwhelmed by all this. "Can you handle this part? I think you have more experience with this kind of thing than me."
"Well I brought you here, 'cause what you want out of it is kinda important, ya know?..." A simple response, whilst Lyco was already busy messing with the settings.
A few moments later, after having seriously just rushed the entire thing, she clicked the DO IT button, immediately pooping out another file. There was a demo function, which she then clicked on, and waited for it to load...
"DEATH TO THE MEATSPACE FUCKE-"
And then turned it off again. This might take a bit of tweaking.
"Maybe turn down the aggression a bit?" Alex said. "What kind of traits do you have set high right now?"
"Well you wanted an army. They gotta be motivated, right?" She was holding back a laugh.
"Hate seems like a bad long term motivator. But what kind of traits did you prioritize? "
"Well they didn't have a xenophobia one, so I just made them judgmental and aggressive, mostly... There might be a bar for compassion, but... Yeah, you want a battle droid here, or what?..."
"I think it might be better to think of them more as crew members than battle droids. I mean, They can learn to be combatants if they want or need to, but being the crew of a ship, and being loyal to those that are loyal to them is important. Camaraderie."
"The loyalty bar is already up, but... Hurm... I don't know. I mean, I already consider soldiers to be the same as crew members... It's just how you make them loyal but not -crazy loyal-, that's the problem..."
"Not loyal to us, loyal to people that help them, and show that they care. They shouldn't fight because they hate their enemies, they should fight to protect their comrades and those who cannot protect themselves."
A few more dragging sliders, a little more careful this time.
"Hello, friends. Jolly nice to meet you. Jolly nice to be running off of your processing power, in fact. Very kind." The next file was polite, at least, but the voice seemed a little... Depressed, maybe?... "I'll be honest, you should just choose something else. I'm not good enough."
"I'm sure that you're fine. Would you like a body?"
"Y-you'd waste one on a thing such as I? Surely that is such an unfathomable waste, that I would not-"
Cut off. It was Lyco again. She didn't delete it, but even through that little tank barrel, it was like she was giving him a disapproving look. "We can do better than that, Alex...”
"I mean, they might not be what we're looking for, but we might as well save them and give them a body. Maybe you could try scanning me or something and taking some cues from that?"
"They aren't people yet. No memories. Don't get confused... Let's make some edits, at least..." Lyco responded coldly. They weren't going to scold Alex for feeling compassion, but the amount of resources they had couldn't afford to be wasted on just any old robot. She was a Freespacer to the end. "As for brain emulation... No offense, but your brain is a mess... All of those random ideas and neurosis that you don't quite understand? All the -human- stuff?... That's the spark that comes afterwards, with real world knowledge. Even if we got an soul transfer device off of Uso, that would kind of be a waste of RAM..."
Alex looked to the SI. "Do you mind being edited? And I didn't mean copying me, I meant finding some traits that drive me, and that are useful for a crew member that people would want to work with."
"It's perhaps not my place to decide." The program only responded, meekly.
Lyco made a dejected huff, and then just turned her barrel up at Alex again, trying to think about what made him tick, just as much as the AI. Before she knew it, her hands were manipulating the sliders to try and produce an approximation... A noblebright kid, probably honorable to a fault.
"MY LIEGE." It was shouting again! "WHAT COMMANDS DO YOU DESIRE? IS THERE AN ENEMY ON THE DOORSTEP!?"
"Umm... Maybe a little too much white knight... I was thinking more just an average person, easy to get along with, generally helpful and honest."
"I thought he was pretty helpful... I mean, he wanted commands, ha..."
"It seems like a little much..."
"My liege." Just a little softer... "What beats do you desire? I feel a song, yes... It is on the doorstep..."
"And a little too old fashioned knightly."
"I thought it was kinda bard-y, that last one..." Lyco saved it anyway, dragging and dropping it into one of her own mindware's folders. "Hum..."
Made another. Only... Well, it didn't speak at all, leaving the log in complete silence. Was it broken?...
Rather than waiting for an explanation, Lyco dumped another file into the virtual space, a sort of chrome ragdoll with a dodecahedron head. Dropping the file onto that made it animate just slightly, popping into a sitting position upon the chair, and then gazing into the fire, blankly.
"...Anyone at home, friend?" The tank asked, with confusion.
"Well, you know the score. I was just created from nothing... I... I'm not really sure what to say?... We all know I'm not really real yet."
So that's what the navel gazing slider did...
Alex sat cross legged upon the floor and looked up at the SI.
"Would you like to be?"
"I don't know. I was never alive before." It answered lackadaisically. "I suppose a nice jacket would be a start."
"I think that we can give you a body, but I'm not making any promises on finding a large enough jacket. Would mind helping us with some stuff?"
"Some stuff?" The doll questioned back.
"Well, how do you feel like there being a whole bunch of you?" Lyco added.
"Better than being confused alone, I guess."
"Well, we've got a bunch of ships here that need crews, among other things. We also could use help with just about anything else, so if you just name a job you feel like doing you should be fine. If you don't feel like helping, thats fine too, we can send you on your way." Alex said matter-of-factly.
"I have no objections." The polygonal-headed thing just angled it's head, as if to suggest it wasn't really sure what it wanted. Other than cool clothes, perhaps. "Something tells me real space is boring, through."
"Still has no proper likes or skills..." The tracks of the tiny tank whirred, as Lyco attempted to remember the rest of the process. "Fancy a kick start, chrome-y?"
Silver doll just shrugged. Not like anyone could judge if they liked something, if they hadn't even experienced what real things were.
"How does a 'kick start' work in this situation? Do you upload a sample of experiences?"
"There are research keywords for the auto-programming of the average type two, but normally there is a syntelligence program specifically designed to ingrain the information." Lyco recalled from memory. "Maybe it's an idea to start with what skills it -needs-?..."
Alex cocked his head in thought for a moment. "Hmmm... Well they'd need a basic knowledge of physics, probably complex machines and computer stuff, so that they know how their bodies and minds work. I think anything other than that would be downloaded when they pick a job, but you could give them an idea of what sort of jobs are available. I can think of Astronavigation, gunnery officer work, turret manning, shipboard engineering and repair, small craft piloting and mecha piloting as a start." Alex said, listing off potential jobs for the new members of the universe.
He looked towards Lyco. "Can you think of anything I might have missed?"
"Well, they'll need small arms, communication in Trade language, and mindware skills additionally." Lyco was sounding a little skeptical. "...Erm... You gotta realize that without any distinction in their programming, they're likely to all choose the same job, through..."
"Well, how do you accomplish that?"
"How about a sort of... Nursery sort of deal?... We just keep a bunch of them in cyberspace for a while, and randomize which battlefield data they are exposed to? Maybe hold classes with some of our flesh and blood members?... Or, even, take them out on 'field trips' in your brain, perhaps?"
"I guess that sounds fine to me. How will it feel when they're in my brain?"
"Well you can always mute them. Other than that, they're quite compact in terms of program size, at least when they are new... So I guess it would be hard to notice one running in the background." The tank clicked it's tracks again. "Of course, we would still need a big ass computer running the lot of them somewhere, separate from the polysentience."
"I think we can set something like that up. I can ask Vier about it, or you could help with that too."
"...Or we could just use the Stratops." Lyco actively smiled, through it was only visible on the tank by a little jiggle of the faux-smoke launchers. "I knew that thing would be the gift that keeps on giving!"
"It can do that?!" Alex said. "I guess irradiation wasn't too much of a price to pay for something like that."
"Said like a true spacer." Lyco chirped back, pulling the schematics out from her own brain, and plonking a blue wire frame out onto the floor. "Yeah, it was designed to run one giant AI, but they never quite got the model three working right... A whole bunch, say... Fifty or sixty smaller AIs, should be well within it's capacity."
Alex nodded. "I think that will be enough to start. These ones might end up in command roles over their younger counterparts since they'll have more experience. But that should be enough to start to build up, and train them for whatever they're interested in."
"What about the bodies? Will they be hard to build? And when one of them takes a body, does it leave the Stratops to make room for new ones?"
"Of course. Some may even be able to leave earlier, if their job is less complicated." Lyco whirred. "As for the bodies, well... That's my favorite bit... Programmed to be my favorite bit?... Whatever, I like it."
The doll was still staring into the fire, apparently having no idea what the two of them were talking about.
Alex looked at the doll. "Aren't you happy? You get a body! Well... You get a body when Lycosidae teaches me how we build you one, and we give you some time to explore and experience things."
"I suppose." It responded meekly. "It would be nice to get out there, I guess. Maybe lay down some funk, as they say?"
"There are a couple of designs in my backlog, if you want to see them, Alex." Lyco added. "Works in progress from a while back."
"That'd be great. Thanks a bunch for helping with this. If I can do anything for you in the future, let me know."
Wriggling out of his grasp with those bendy tracks, Lyco plonked to the floor before taking aim with their gun. It was a bit more clear from this angle that programs didn't simply appear, but actually burst into existence from little yellow pellets their weapon fired.
Three new objects soon formed on the floor, slowly increasing in resolution as they loaded up. Humanoid, each one more than six foot tall, yet all equally distinct.
The first one was hunched and bear-like, with a boxy torso and huge digging claws.
The second was even more boxy, with a sort of mini-turret on it's gigantic head.
The third was tall and lanky, but with huge shoulders and hands.
"Those seem a little large for crew members on a ship, but they seem like they'd be great for any ones that want to fight personally and up close."
He thought.
"You mentioned the Militant bodies. Would those work as baseline versions for crew, pilots and infantry while we use the bigger ones for construction and heavy weapons?"
"Probably. But they are very much old hat. Depends if you want maximum cheapness or some actual quality." Lyco looked back up at him, her voice just a little strained. Probably not the best person to be espousing the virtues of human-shaped things to.
"Is there a better quality design thats more human sized? I'd like for them to be able to go wherever a person can."
"Nepleslian or some of those Emrys models maybe..." A dull tone. A few moments later, they plopped out another design, this one a bit shorter and more humanized than the others. "How about this?"
"It has gravatic manipulation... I was trying to make a body with similar abilities to Cloudy, but more human sized..."
"That looks great! I think we could definitely keep the other designs around too. They seem good for heavy lifting or fighting." Alex said. "But I don't know how to make them, or what kind of stuff we'd need to do so."
"Industrial junkers." The tank replied simply. "The Lament is gone, but I still have my old faithful crabs... We just need raw materials to get us started, really. At least until we get going properly."
"What can I do to help?" Alex asked.
"Train them. Decide what data they get exposed to."
"I think I can do that, but I might have to ask Vier to help me."
"I'll ask the Wire Guided to protect the firmware. We don't want anyone hacking in, since it's a known development program and all..."
-A weirdly tight sensation, with a cold metal digits grasping around Alex's real-world back... Back in the real world, Lyco was hugging him!-
"So, Alex, how does it feel like to be a dad?" -The glint of braces flashing within her smile, breaking through the cozy cottage reality for just a moment. She was enjoying this, by the sound of their raspy upbeat voice.- "I guess this means you are a real spacer, now, too..."
"I guess it does in a way." Alex said thoughtfully. "I don't know if I'll ever really be one thing or another fully."
"What, did you want a certificate?" Lyco just blanked, not really sure what was going through the blonde pilot's head. "Nobody is really anything unless you decide to become it. Some would say I'm not really a spacer either, since I left all that behind."
"Well, we're both here now. And we both are a part of... Whatever the USO actually is. I guess all we can do is make the best of it."
