Morph #3: The Struggle. [Action/Video]

[xenamorph]

[As weird as it was staying in Spock's guest bedroom, they were polite enough. Still, she really didn't spend much time there.

At first, she'd spent a lot of time just flying around, but it didn't really ease the tension. Something was missing. She was having trouble sleeping. She had so many nightmares, she lost track of which ones were which, and she'd wake up in the middle of the night, screaming into her pillow.

And then she'd fly again.

It wasn't enough.

Something is missing.]

[Video]

"So, um. Can anybody show me how to program that... battledome thing? And what else do you people do to entertain yourself around here."

[She stops for a moment, staring blankly at the camera as visions of violence and blood fill her head, before she blinks and snaps out of it.]

"Uh. So, if anybody could help me out on either end, I'd appreciate it."

[Action]

[She's going to be at the battledome today, trying to figure out how to make it work. She needs to...

Something. She's looking for something. She's not sure what.]

Comments

[Action]

[xenamorph]

[Wow, it sounds like she startled the crap out of the poor guy.]

"Sorry if I scared you. I'm just trying to get used to how this place works."

[Action]

[semper_cogitans]

[No, he just stammers like that with everybody. Especially strangers.]

Do not apologize... [He smiles, nervously and entirely too self-consciously.

The exact opposite of Rachel - he has "I am a target" written all over him.]

Are you... i-interested, in the simulations...?

[Action]

[xenamorph]

"Yeah, I was trying to get the hang of them."

[Action]

[semper_cogitans]

[Completely reasonable and not at all odd in any way. Robert nods knowingly and looks more directly at Rachel - though she will most certainly notice that he does not make eye contact for more than the briefest of moments, and when he does it's... odd. Stilted.

He doesn't seem afraid of her though, as much as he just seems afraid of... everything.]

May I... ask how much y-you are already... familiar with?

[Action]

[xenamorph]

"I've got the hang of a basic room, and I managed to make an animal, but it only did one thing I programmed it to do. I've never made anything that complicated."

[Or big.]

[Action]

[semper_cogitans]

Ah... w-would you like assistance in... programming a m-more complex simulated organism, then...? I am... an a-astrobiologist, and... modelling life-forms in the simulations can be... e-enjoyable...

[And heartrending, sometimes, when he models beings that he misses.]

[Action]

[xenamorph]

"Uh..."

[Another image flashes through her mind, Hork-Bajir and Taxxons killing and ripping and-]

"Um, what about humans, can you program those?"

[Action]

[semper_cogitans]

Ah... c-certainly. Is there... a specific person you m-mean to program, or... just a generic individual...?

[He's not sure why you would need to program humans, though, and they aren't exactly sapient by programming standards.]

[Action]

[xenamorph]

"A generic person, I guess. One you could... I don't know. Use for stuff. Like a..."

[Like an opponent she could fight-]

"Like a gymnast, maybe?"

[Action]

[semper_cogitans]

A... gymnast...? [This is a profession that is very rarely practised on Terra, so Robert doesn't have a good idea of how they look.] May I have some... ph-physical characteristics to... work from...?

[As he asks, he's already setting up the basic programming for a hominid.]

[Action]

[xenamorph]

"Um. Small, thin, graceful? Something I can use to practice my technique against. I mean, I know what it would have to be able to do, I just couldn't program it."

[Action]

[semper_cogitans]

[Okay, Rachel, you are getting one small, thin, graceful Terran-styled human.

The resulting person is an unconscious pastiche of all the traits Robert has been socialized to see as "perfect" - though the model is slender, its build is androgynous, and it sports a medium tone somewhat similar to olive, with darker features that don't skew in any particular direction.

It's sort of like if Rachel asked Robert to make the most "average" human she could think of. It might even remind her of Ax's human morph...]

[Action]

[xenamorph]

[Rachel steps into the chamber and looks at the figure. The simulation doesn't have any movement, so the person inside is just sitting still, but that figure, that shape, that tone, that was pure gymnast- the clothing was even skintight. Robert had definitely done the job there.

And it was kind of unsettling. The simulated person was like if Ax's human morph was even prettier and less masculine- she couldn't figure out a gender. It was kind of odd, but it was still exactly what she'd asked for.]

"Yeah, this definitely looks right. Let me see the controls for a second."

[She takes over the control panel and begins setting up gymnastic equipment- a padded mat for the floor, a balance beam, the uneven bars, the vault course and springboard- and then turns back toward Robert.]

"So. How do you make her... do stuff?"

[Action]

[semper_cogitans]

Typically, you... s-specify such behaviours in the... s-subroutine programming for such autonomous beings... th-that is, in this menu... [A few more taps of the console, and Robert brings up the relevant menu. Many generic actions already exist as selectable defaults, but one can easily code one's own. At least, that's how the mun sees the console.]

... As this was i-initially designed for... combat simulations, of course they are... e-easier to program; many defaults e-exist for such levels of specification. But... one can always o-override the defaults, for... whatever purposes one might have...