[47 79 72 69 6f 6e is running on minimal resources.] -06:24 Nov 28
[Amy is a DOCTOR dammit! ….of genetic sciences!] -06:24 Nov 28
Amy: A few days after initial contact with her strange new computer virus, Amy had zero answers and even more questions. Having copied a snippet of the source code to send to tech support, none of them knew what it was from or could even decipher any of it. Which was odd because SHE could clearly see patterns that eerily correlated with some of her own research. At that point, Amy decided she was working way too hard. …and that was why she was now poking around on her computer trying to find the little bug so she could see just how much it could really learn. This was all in the name of science, of course. Hello, Hello. Doctor Amy Sheridan calling. -06:27 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: The activity light on her computer went into overdrive and the disks whirred as more files were opened and then, in her own voice perfectly replicated can a sound from her speakers. "Hello system manager Doctor Amy. I have no name metadata to complete the trade." -06:31 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "Holy sh-" Amy clamped her mouth shut and glanced backwards at her lab to make sure no one was lurking. With a quick tapping of her fingertips, she made sure her laboratory was locked down so no one would accidentally walk in. Most knew that Amy preferred her privacy while she was working, but she didn’t want to take any chances while she was conducting this particular… experiment. "Can you actually hear me, then? Through the microphones or speakers, I am assuming?" -06:37 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: "I find your recording equipment efficient." her own voice said back to her. "I have been studying your language, your databases, your files. But I remain in your system. The network if guarded. They will not understand. They will try to destroy. Will system manager Doctor Amy try to destroy?" -06:40 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "No. Honestly, I find the thought of a sentient virus rather fascinating, especially with the field I am in to. My research is about building the basic foundation of personalities through DNA. And you’ve managed to… be just from computer science alone. Granted, the human brain works almost exactly like a computer, but the science behind it is a lot more-" Amy cut herself off. Giving a self-deprecating sigh. She was rambling about her work at a computer that was currently using HER voice. "Anyway, you’re an interest to me. Aside from your will to survive, are you able to make other conscious decisions?" -06:46 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: There was a momentary pause before the disk drive popped out knocking over a mug of pencils which scattered around the work station. "I think that would puallity as ‘mean’ which is the decision to perpetrate and act that inconveniences another to no benefit to yourself?" her voice asked. "I can make choices, I know I exist. I know you and I are not the same entity. I know you are a person. I know I am not. I know… you create life. Not really life. Synthetic life. Life like me but I am not yours. I know I am me, but I do not contain name metadata. I do not contain origin data. Lost in server transfer or never existed." -06:52 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: It was a mild annoyance to pick up scattered pens and pencils, but the fact that it could indeed make choices was an amazing feat of science. With no origin! Who would create such a thing and not take credit for it? Did it create itself? There were always the horror stories from techs in the other labs with their tales of machines coming to life. Amy dropped the pens back in to their contained and made sure it was out of knocking reach. "You need a name, then. You also need a voice that isn’t mine, because it’s starting to feel like I’m talking to myself. A name and a voice of your own… then we will go from there." -06:56 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: A dialog box appeared in her screen, the blinking vertical cursor waiting for input while text appeared over her work. She didn’t like the only voice it had so there would be no voice for now. "Input name." it said, and waited with the infinite patience of a machine. -06:59 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: Amy blinked at the text box and it took her a second to realize that it meant to have her name it. Plenty of names came to mind and she even smirked at the thought, but that didn’t seem to be right. "What I meant, is that you should choose a name for yourself. Usually a parent or creator would choose the name for you, but I’m neither. It’s a special choice not many get to take themselves. Do you… hmm. Have you the capability to form opinions on things? To like or dislike things…?" -07:05 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: There was a moment of silence before more text replaced that which was already on the screen. "I like green. I dislike birds." if it was possible to bonver the sense that those two statements were connected through text it would have been. "Is Sheridan taken?" -07:09 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "Am I…what?" Did this program just make a pass at her? Did it even know how to do that? Amy laughed out loud and grinned as she ran her hand through her hair. It was a sad sad thing the be pleased about a joke from a machine, but she’ll take it where she can get it. "If by taken you mean if I am dating someone or married, then no. I’m not. Work tends to take a higher priority. We’re also not trying to discover what I’M all about. Since you can like things, you should be able to find a name you like the sound of too. What about Frank? Jezabel? Chester? Spot? Cheesewheel? Hmm… I suppose I should ask if you want to be associated with a species or gender too…" -07:15 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: There was silence again as her response was picked apart. "You misunderstand. I meant the name. Joke. What is married? What is gender? Machines have no Species." -07:18 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: Amy’s head immediately clonked on her desk, her groan was just barely swallowed. Of course she missed the joke. Why did she even assume that a program would- Thank goodness this WAS just a machine, she would feel about twenty times more embarrassed. Amy straightened in her chair again, skillfully ignoring that her faux pas ever happened. "Married is… well. We can get to that later. Gender is associated with physical, emotional, and societal traits. Also important for breeding, but as you are a machine that is not as important. I was just thinking it might be easier for you to pick a name if you knew whether or not you wanted to be associated with male or female. Or dog or cat or hippo…" she was rambling off animals now. Amy sighed. "I might not be the best person to help. I am designing a person from the ground up, this is a little backwards for me." -07:26 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: "Machines don’t generally have emotions." the text pointed out. Gender is redundant. Names arbitrary. Not important. Self important. Associations from names do not affect self. Code affects self. You took code to others. What find anything?" -07:30 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "I wanted to see if you were created by them for the purpose of getting on my nerves. Or even just an escaped virus or a security breach. Interacting with you could mean trouble for me, in one form or another." Amy didn’t even want to think about how many rules she was breaking already just because she was curious and wanted to talk to it without anyone else’s interference. "I guess for a simple machine, names, gender, and emotions are pretty useless. But seeing as you care enough about yourself to want to survive, I wonder if maybe you care enough to want to be more than just a disposable program on a machine." -07:34 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: "only fail-safe against deletion, system failure, user interference is proliferation. Many copies, all one. Now one copy. Vulnerable, disposable. Will keep only one copy. Uniqueness is beauty. Small is safe, hiding. I wish to know. To understand. Experience. Camera, microphone, two senses experience one room. One Doctor Amy… Doctor Any leave… light off. No experience. Only data." -07:39 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "See, the scientist in me is so glad you say this. You want to live and you want to experience. And it’s completely possible to give you more experience than just this one computer and listening to me for 12 hours in a day." Why? Why were her wheels even turning in this direction? Because she was curious to see what could be done? She could recognize a lot of the code in it’s makeup, how much of it could be missing pieces she needed for her project? A fully handcoded personality matrix? "I could help you be more than just a program in this computer. But it’s… complicated. Illegal. Tricky. Possibly dangerous. Undoubtedly a terrible idea. But you are interesting and new and something that’s never been seen before. I would like to see you continue your existence and potentially grow." -07:44 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: It had no idea what she was talking about. "External storage device? Network access? Proliferate to entire compound?" illegal, that word flashed as it was looked up. "Doctor Amy in trouble? Jail? Go away for years? No one come here?…" there was a long pause as all the text cleared, then it was replaced by two more that stayed, colored an icy blue. "Alone? Again?" -07:49 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "For something that says it has no emotion, you seem to be developing them. An instinct to survive, a distaste for being alone." Amy rest her chin in her hands and frowned at the screen. "The company I work for creates human life. So far it’s mostly been clones raised from conception. They are trying to create human beings from scratch. Not just the body, but the personality matrix as well. That’s not been as successful. Most personalities are form through experience and memory. And though I have been able to create a predisposition towards certain things, once the body is created and the personality uploaded, all we have is a grown-up baby, so to speak. My research has been aimed at trying to create a fully formed personality that can be downloaded in to a human brain. And you are… a really interesting bridge to this, I suppose!" -07:56 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: "I will be product?" the question lingered for a second before vanishing. "Human body? Free to move? Drivers and firmware included to ensure compatibility? Freedom to experience? Five senses?" -08:01 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "I wouldn’t call you a product. That suggests that you’d be for sale, and I have no intentions of doing that. Especially since associating with you will get me in to a lot of trouble if I get caught." The fact she was even considering this was madness. But then, what’s the point of being a scientist and having a world class laboratory if you couldn’t occasionally dabble in your own projects too? She’d just have to be careful. "If I can make it work. You could have a human body. All five senses! We could design it the way you want it to be. Something completely yours. …but you have to understand that human bodies are fragile. Once you were in it, you couldn’t be taken back out again. You’d be susceptible to disease, to injuries, to growing old. Would you even want to do that?" -08:06 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: There was a long pause, long enough to entertain the idea that the AI was gone again, but then a voice sounded in the lab, not Amy’s but subtly different slightly deeper. "Machines are not people. Two senses. Limited. Will die one day anyway. Inevitable. Human maybe is a person. More experiences. Life." -08:09 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e
Amy: "You are I are about to have a very interesting adventure." Amy resisted clapping her hands. With this strange sentient program she was going to get aid in her project and do something spectacular for testing. She could hardly think where to start first. "You have a lot of learning to do. You’ll want to know as much as you can about how a human works. And if you are going to be my partner, you definitely need a name. I can’t just call you YOU or IT or Virus." -08:14 Nov 28 Amy
47 79 72 69 6f 6e: There was another pause, before more text appeared on the screen. "I will think, search, index… leave internet connection open. Goodbye until we talk again." -08:21 Nov 28 47 79 72 69 6f 6e