Welcome to Gaia! ::

All Alec could do was stare in dumb appreciation at the sheer speed 7 was downloading the information. Sure, she was a computer, so Alec supposed he should have expected this at some level. But even so, this was insane! It literally took her 3 seconds to triple all the information he had sifted through all day.

After hearing Seven's question Alec decided to pick his jaw up off the floor and replied as best and calmly as he could. "No, no, this is perfectly fine. I'm mostly looking for old contacts, people from his past. Maybe someone we can find out more about the man himself from."

However, the information concerning Silas was starting to become secondary now that Alec had a new thought in his head. A thought that simply refused to leave and demanded an answer. Alec had begun to think about Seven's 'emotions', and it just boggled him that a computer was even capable of comprehending human emotions, even with the aid of magic. Alec wasn't even sure that that was truly possible, so he decided to push the conversation further. "Seven, again, not trying to be a jerk here, but I just don't see how a computer can fully comprehend emotions. I mean, you seem to be doing a good job with happiness... I think it's happiness anyway... maybe more content?... Anyway, I digress. You seem to have some kind of knowledge about it, but how far can your understanding really go? I mean, people don't even fully understand their emotions on their own, and they experience them on a daily basis. Hell, that's why we have psychiatrists, to help people figure out their emotions for them."

Alec wasn't expecting such a disturbingly disheartening answer from Seven. Even for a machine he could almost hear a hint of remorse in that statement. It was almost as if... as if Seven was disappointed that she would never be able to feel a full range of emotions, like... like she was failing if she couldn't do that.

Alec vaguely remembered Seven saying something about how her primary directive was to observe happenings in the world and collect data on those observations when she went off on Riser a few days ago. Alec could STILL remember the painfully delicious look of sheer aggravation on Riser's face when he realized he was trying to argue with something that was only agreeing with him. Few other moments were as priceless as that one. But it got Alec thinking, if Seven's directive was to observe, and she couldn't fully understand emotions, that would be a direct violation of her programming. Alec wasn't tech savvy, but that didn't sound like a pleasant situation to be in for a robot.

Alec suddenly felt a twang of sympathy for the automaton sitting before him, and he wanted to do something about it. Alec looked over at the screen once again, and saw that Seven was now downloading information from other countries as well, still at the same speed as before, if not faster. Alec looked back at Seven, and realized that she didn't even appear to be paying attention to the information gathering anymore, like she had set it as a background program. If she could do that without even trying, Alec couldn't believe that she couldn't comprehend emotions at some level at least. Maybe a teenager that was having trouble understanding them as well, that might be a good level. It certainly wasn't great, but it wasn't like a child either that only understands selfishness for the most part.

Alec sat up in his chair and looked Seven in the eye as an idea came to him, one that he thought might cheer Seven up a bit. ...If he could even do that at this point.

It was difficult thinking about someone like this, but Alec was managing.

"Seven, do you want to learn more about emotions? I've done quite a bit of self study, and I think I can say that I know more than most people care to admit. I could answer any questions you have, if you want that is."

Alec just cocked an eyebrow at Seven and spoke as flatly to her as his eyelids had just drooped. He simply pointed at the computer screen that was STILL compiling information at a blinding speed, (now alphabetizing and sorting the information based on relevance, time created, time edited, authors, country, and estimated length. All in triplicate and most of it being translated out of Russian into English,) and stated the obvious while still keeping eye contact with Seven.

"...Seven, in case you haven't noticed, you're putting the entirety of NASA, NATO, and just about every computer on the planet COMBINED to shame in the background. I think your brain can stand to contemplate emotions for a few minutes and no fry itself."

"The science lab has skeleton models, and odd ball parts. I'm sure there are a few misplaced skelton heads around somewhere." He said, scratching his chin as he considered.
_________________________________________________

Danni listened as Ophi spoke, though some things didn't make sense to her. "Why...why don't you and Riser get along anymore? He can't be that bad. I mean, he gave me the power to help Ialo, made me his apprentice so I could be strong enough to survive. Why should you getting along with him be bad memories for the...the voices to use?" She asked, confused.

Seven shrugged. "Basically, so none of us become robot overlords. Master Ialo made it very clear. Machines with our power and ability cannot be allowed to have existential crises." She smiled ruefully.

"Both Master Ialo and I trust you, so I am allowed to tell you this. I am in perfect agreement, I am probably perfectly capable of comprehending emotion. But, I'm not allowed to. What if I developed a sense of anger, resentment, remorse, or guilt? Emotions like those would impede my purpose."

"Look at what I have done so far. Now imagine trying to stop me - keeping in mind I can wield moderate levels of magic, and alter my form at will." Her tone did not reflect the gravity of the situation she was describing. "We are far too dangerous to be allowed total freedom."

There was no change in expression on Seven's face. She looked.... frozen. Next to her, the computer slowed down, from its shameless speed before to a level more concurrent with Alec's speed.

There was a faint smell of hot metal and plastic.

".... System deadlock. Override required."

Ophiuchus almost answered Danni. He really was about to. He was having a serious conversation with her, and he felt as thought t was going somewhere good for Danni.

And then he heard his name.

"Come with me," he said briskly, and grabbed Danni's wrist. They teleported to the library immediately, landing in front of Alec and Seven.

"What?" the healer asked, frazzled and concerned. "What's the emergency?"

Danni blinked when she was teleported to the library, then raised a brow at Seven, taking a breath to pull herself together.

"...You try beaning her with a wrench?" She asked, clearing her throat when it came out hoarse and a bit squeaky.