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 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:57 pm
...Collection...Perri Indiya Perri strode into the lab, small and full of purpose. She'd learned long ago that they key to getting in anywhere was to appear that you were meant to be there, whether or not this was entirely true. The fact that she for once actually had a valid excuse for entry didn't mean she shouldn't practice her bluffing skills. And since she'd obtained this high tech, personalized computer legally and all by her lonesome, the swagger wasn't fabricated in the least. Setting her sights on a person with an official-looking ID badge, the business-suited woman walked over and introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Perri Indiya and I'm one of your clients. I just recieved a notice from Doctor Brune that my unit is ready for pick up. May I speak with him?" Doc Albert Doc, who was somewhat surprised by the slightly agressive manner in which the woman had approached him, looked down. "That would be me," he informed her with a smile. "I believe you're here about Zeta? Or Blue, as you may be familiar with her as?"
He produced a folder from inside his labcoat and flipped through the information sheets. Yes, everything checked out. He looked at the chip taped to the inside and was somewhat taken aback, though. Where had this design come from? He knew Sophie had done the building, but this was odd! Oh well, it seemed to be a pretty standard base with modifications. He'd have to ask about it later.
Might as well hand it over, he figured, plucking the chip out of the adhesive grip and holding it out for Perri.
"Now, you are aware of what the project entails, correct?" Perri Indiya They call it Zeta. The woman repeated silently to herself, memorizing as quickly as she could. She'd never been very good with that part of the con, so she smiled in a sweet-but-flustered manner to stall while she commited things to memory. "I believe so. It's an advanced unit that needs care and education, correct?" Be nice, Perri. People liked nice. Nice was a little bumbling and almost always mistaken for honest. Doc Albert Doc had never heard it described as such, but it seemed about accurate. "Yes. And it takes the form of a child." He studied Perri momentarily, though trying to be subtle. Something was fishy here... Perri Indiya "Of course. What better interface is there to ensure care?" she said with a smile, carefully looking over the card. When she had sent in her specifications this was not what she had expected. She wanted a slick laptop or an overpowered desktop - who said she signed up for a kid? "I know how to see to a child, but how does one care for this chip? Keep it away from dust and static and all that?" Perri asked prettily, exuding genuine concern. Doc Albert "Not quite what you expected, eh?" Doc asked, noticing her disappointment. "But you're exactly right. No dust, no water, and absolutely no playing ping-pong with it." Perri Indiya " Ping pong?!?!" she snarled, clutching the chip protectively. "What sort of fool do you hand these out to?" Doc Albert Doc winced. "It was the very beginning of the project. And the child turned out just fine. It's just as a precaution. So, I'll see you in a week or so?" Perri Indiya "As long as you can promise no similarly deranged indiviuals will bring harm to my charge, yes." She said with a huff, making use of her high ground. Kid or no, this was delicate tech, and ought not to be in the hands of those who couldn't or wouldn't handle it properly. "Come Blue, we're going home. Good day, Doctor."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:38 pm
...Contemplating Reality...
The first thing Perri did when she returned home was to see to the well-being of the chip. She took it straight to her computer lab and put into a homemade clean room, a.k.a. a jury-rigged closet that she usually used for building on of her hardware 'toys'. She'd mod another space if she needed to do that sort of work before the week was up, but it was doubtful that such a space would be needed. No one wanted hardware these days. It was too easy to track. All they wanted were masterpieces of code now, which was all fine and dandy of course, but she had always been a sucker for a well-composed hunk of metal.
Which was why she was in this mess.
It had been such a tempting offer at first, Perri had been sure it was another attempt by law enforcement to entrap her. But there had been none of the usual requests for illicit tech, and even the company had been more solidly legit than the feds had ever managed before. And the offer, gawds the sweet, sweet offer. The highest-grade tech barely rumored to be in existance, all built to her own personal specs and handed to her for no fee but the care of it. The education of it. A.I.! Glorious, shining, her-very-own-to-meld A.I. Could life get any better? Of course not! The shifts and scams and pulls she could swing with tech like that. The pieces she could cannibalize off it. Just the comps she could learn! All worth it, every bit. But the tech was supposed to be just that: tech. Thinking, learning, swifty as hell tech, but a machine. Not a person. Certainly not a kid. She was techie gone bad who'd learn to throw her own con, not a bloody little babysitter.
Not a, dare she think it? mother-type.
She shook her head at herself, the chip, and life's turn of events in general. Then she ran upstairs, stripped, pulled on something suitably shlumpy and college-age-nerd looking, and grabbed her pack. She'd already tossed in the laptop she'd need for today's job before picking up her tricky prize, and so swung it into the passenger seat of her rebuilt '67 T-bird with a measure of care. Of she went, sudden bread-winner for a two person family.
Bloody tech.
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:17 pm
...Damn It Jim!...
Glancing back at the clean-roomed chip as her main drive hummed through its compiling, Perri wondered again whether or not she should actually keep the beastie inside. On the one hand, advanced tech was advanced tech, and even one in kid form could be molded into a formidable system of great use. On the other hand, if it acted anything like her nephew Brady she'd be hard pressed not to lock it in a closet until it came off of its sugar high. It was highly unlikely it would be able to physically manage a suger high, but the point was she was not a patient, raiser-of-children by any stretch of the imagination. As long as it was more tech than flesh, she could probably handle it. Otherwise...
She sighed, repeating her new mantra "Tech is tech" in attempt to calm her snarling nerves. The system was being built to her specifications, kidness or no. It would be fine. It would be more than fine. It would be great. She was sure of it. This was the chance of a life time, and yet here she was, seriously thinking about throwing it away-
Perri paused for a moment in her musings to see to the machine that has just finished its work. Perfect. Another useful program ready for its new home. A few snips to the code here and there to remove her 'fingerprints', and it was herded onto a new disk that was sealed in a bag and put aside for delivery later the next day. That done she picked up the machine that had done the work and took it to the blanking closet, the huge magnets plastered inside the main walls of the small room wiping the drives perfectly clean. Once it no longer had a shred of recoverable data on it, the computer got put in her 'to be torn apart and rebuilt' stack along with six other machines that wouldn't be used for anything by anyone again until all the parts had been shuffled and mixed. She may not have been the best con when it came to interpersonal relations (which is why she was down here doing what she did do well), but she was nothing if not paranoid about being caught and so terribly thorough. She made a mental note to warn the kid about the BC - any magnets that could rip the data off a hard drive could scramble a tech-based life form's brains to kingdom come.
Ping! Her email surver blinked at her, saying that she had a new job request. Swifty. Perri glanced at it for a moment before setting the machines to sleep and trotting up the stairs for some lunch. No one wanted to turn into one of those wormy techs how lived in perpetual darkness on cheetos, and since she had to use her face for business every so often it wouldn't do to let it go pasty. She made herself a salad and read the paper as she munched. Must keep tabs on reality. Business people didn't let it get away from them. She was a techie first and formost, of course, which was why she'd practically bitten the doc's head off when he mentioned using her chip for a ping pong paddle. What time she'd spent in college before admitting to herself it was a waste of her time had been taken up by computer studies, and her conning work was really just an afterthough addition to her business practices tacked on to keep her a freelance worker as opposed to a 'recruited' tech for some gang. Techs lasted longer if they knew how to and took care of themselves. Then they could assure they wouldn't be sloppy.
Which was ultimately why she was twitchy about this A.I. being a person. If it really acted like one instead of a smart box, it could get her in trouble. Biiiiiig trouble. Perri worked alone because she could trust herself. A kid? Hell no.
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:55 pm
...Always Call it "Research"...
Yesterday, Perri had been wondering if there would be any turning back from this unwanted turn of events. Now she was sure the answer was no. How did she know? She was reading up on childcare online while she waited to make a software drop. It was official. She was doomed.
Even if the kid acted like a machine instead of a person, its caretaker was warped of the mind. She'd never been interested in the well-being of anyone but herself since she escaped the foster home at seventeen, let alone had any aspirations about caring for a child. Who wanted another bag of meat to look after when their were such fabulous machines, anyway? Not that this one was a non-machine but... well the point was that she had no maternal instincts whatsoever and the universe was playing a cruel joke on her implying that she might. She'd started out looking up stuff on the rearing of kids because only a fool went into the fray blind and unstudied. Really. That was the only reason. Still was the only reason. God forbid she care about anything but herself and her computers.
Underneath all her fretting and admission of acceptance/defeat, Perri's memories of her own terrible and love-lacking childhood fought to rise to the surface. She didn't like kids because they reminded her of the dark times before she took care of herself, and because she was always somewhat afraid that she would fail them. Being passed from foster home to foster home until she finally escaped a seriously flawed state child care system had not made her the most trusting nor cheery of people, and what child deserved having her inflicted on them? If she had any sense, she'd march right back into that lab, explain there'd been a mistake, and give the kid back. She'd thought she was getting a computer, not a bloody child. Who gave out children? Wasn't this illegal? Anyway, to return to the worry at hand, she should just give it back and walk away. But of course she couldn't. Child or no she was already to attached to send the pretty chip away. T'was the opposite of how these things were supposed to go, but she was a damaged wackjob as far as most people were concerned so that wasn't too suprising. The chip was just so damn... cute for lack of a more sensical word. She wanted a shirt with the spaceship on it. She wanted the tech it promised. She wanted to not be so alone.
Not really. Well, sort of. She was okay with her lot now, but it seemed like there was nowhere really to go but down, and jail was not something she aspired to. If up was her location, and falling wasn't wanted, a change required sideways. This was so big a sideways she never even imagined it could happen. But you don't like change her brain hissed at her. Perri ignored it, snapping her throw-away laptop closed and rising as she caught sight of the person she was swaping a program for payment with. No, she wasn't particularly fond of change. But if the choice was atrophy-ing to death or a tweak of life there was no contest. She'd take the change.
Swap made her computer was packed in magnets and tossed into a compactor to be crushed into oblivion. It's former owner winced lightly at the sound of metal squealing for life, but continued on her way. A few more roundabout stops, an errand or two, and then home.
Just a few more days of freedom...
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:13 pm
Perri attempted the morning crossword, was thwarted, and turned to doodling while she finished her breakfast. Soon the margins of the newspaper will filled with fleets of spaceships that all looked suspiciously similar to the one adorning the chip downstairs. The young woman frowned at the paper and pushed it away. How dare it reveal what was on her mind!
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:25 pm
The phone rang - a very welcome distraction, probably. Though Silvy wouldn't have known, because she was on the other end, wondering why on earth Doc had asked her to call one of the new caretakers. Someone by the name of Perri?
Oh well. Might as well check it out.
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:32 pm
Perri leapt out of her chair as her back pocket began to buzz. Swearing under her breath, she pulled out the cell phone and flipped it open. She would never get used to that sensation of a phantom hand tickling her bum. "Yeah?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:43 pm
It took Silvy a moment to actually comprehend that this Perri person had picked up the phone.
"Perri?" she asked uncertainly. "You don't know me, but my name is Silverah. I've got a child from the Kybernetika Institution. Doc told me to call you? That you've recieved guardianship of a chip?"
She laughed in consternation.
"Actually, I have no idea what this is about. I think he's trying to get info on you."
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:50 pm
"So this is an interrogation?" she asked with a chuckle, leaning back in her chair. If she acted her part she would sound more like it, and even over the phone one had to be convicing. "Yeah, I think he's a little worried about me. I just about bit his head off when he let it slip that someone else had used their chip as a game paddle. I'm a bit of a technophile."
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:44 pm
Silverah winced. Poor Yvette. That ping-pong story had gotten so overblown, hadn't it? "Good, then," she replied, shrugging it off. "You'll fit right in. Doc will love you." She considered the other parents and continued, "It's a pretty mixed bag at the institute. There are technophiles like yourself, but there's people from almost every background. Part of the nature of the project, I think."
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:44 pm
"Speaking of, what is the exact nature of the project? I was originally under the impression that I was getting a computer, not a child." Perri asked idly, spinning on her barstool. Think non-chalance.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:10 pm
Silverah considered the question carefully. "In a way, it is a computer. I know one that is very analytical - no personality at all. But they've got personalities if they aren't malfunctioning. I think Doc programs that, so I don't know if you can change that."
She paused, wondering what else to talk about.
"What does it look like?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:13 pm
"Square and chip-like." She said with a yawn. "Yellow with a blue spaceship graphic etched into it. It's a great piece of work, but looks more like jewelry than hardware. Is the kid... in there?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:18 pm
Darsais thought back to when Darsais had been a chip and didn't believe she had looked like that. It had to be a custom job.
"The personality is there in the circuits," she assured Perri. "It can probably hear us, too."
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:26 pm
"You don't think she'll mind being in a plastic bag will she?" the young woman asked with a touch of concern. "I wanted to keep her clean and safe."
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