Some more plot that got done today. Including a section provided by Henning
EDIT: Sod.... cut the first sector out by mistake.
Most of the above emails are probably happening concurrently to this......
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
EDIT: Sod.... cut the first sector out by mistake.
Quote:"Are we there yet?"
Arelia rolled her eyes as Niaka repeated the question.
"Just another ten minutes, I told you two minutes ago!"
"But I want to stretch a little bit! We’ve been in here for hours!"
Arelia engaged the cruise control with a huff and turned to face the four catgirls and the two Exocomps crowded into the backseat of the Stargazer.
"I told you we should have waited for two days. We could have taken the Serenity Valley. But no, you all said it would be okay to use the Stargazer. You even had to take two of your racing Exocomps with you into the car, instead of throwing them with the cargo!"
One of the Exocomps in the back made snickered to itself.
"But... but... but my little friend doesn't like to travel without me!" Arelia stroked it’s chassis.
"So it was your own choice... now keep quiet and let me drive the car, unless you want me to turn right around and go home to Jenga."
A sullen quiet descended up the car once more. Arelia punched open a comm channel
"Frigga 77, this is Stargazer.”
The radio stayed silent. She tried again.
"Uhh... Frigga, this is the Stargazer, is someone at home?"
Two minutes went by. The Catgirls exchanged murmured thoughts.
“Frigga Control, this is Stargazer,” Arelia tried for what she hoped would be the final time.
“Yes!” someone’s voice gasped. “This is Frigga,” Whoever she was, she was panting hard. “We see you on our scanners. Escort should meet you soon enough,”
“Copy Frigga. We’ll see you soon,”
Arelia smiled and floored the accelerator.
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Shinji was trying to lose himself in the effortless thrumm of the V8 engine powering the buggy. ‘Warthog’ according to a nameplate on the glovebox. Of all the things on Frigga, it seemed the most ‘normal’.
It wasn’t that different from the open-topped off-roaders NERV used to get around the Geofront. In the driver’s seat to his left, Mackie was telling a story he was only half paying attention to.
“So, we limp back to Frigga on three engines hoping nobody saw it... and for a few days all is well until we see on a news feed. “Space Patrol still searching for origin of mystery failed nuclear test,”
The boy had a grin on his face spread from ear to ear.
“That’s nothing to be proud of,” Shinji said, giving him a sour look. He’d still already decided he liked him. He seemed real somehow. Brown eyes, dark hair, slightly european complexion. An ordinary human being like Kotono.
Mackie shrugged. “Not proud of it. I just think it’s funny is all, We have an engine accident and the Patrol thinks somebody’s trying to set off a nuclear bomb,”
Shinji found himself chuckling.
“What happens if they find out it was you?”
“They probably won’t believe we managed to blow one up. It’s supposed to be impossible,”
He even spoke Japanese properly. Almost properly. He had the same strange almost-urban Tokyo accent as his sister... but without the hard bullying edge. He was far more normal. If he was Osakan, he might’ve been Touji.
“We used to have a saying. The impossible is just something you haven’t done yet,”
“Huh?” Mackie blinked at him. “Who said that?”
“Misato did,” Shinji answered. “She was my guardian in Tokyo-3.”
The cheer drained from him once more. He slunk down into his seat, focusing on the tunnel illuminated by the warthog’s spotlights.
“You miss her?” Mackie enquired.
Shinji gave a sullen nod.
“Well trust me, anything’s possible up here,”
Shinji didn’t answer.
“Hey, you want to know a cool secret?” Mackie pressed.
“Hey Mackie!” the centre console yelled. Another woman’s voice. Even in English she sounded chirpy and sweet. Shinji thought of cupcakes for some reason.
Mackie grabbed a mic from the rollbar, pinning it between his shoulder and ear like a mobile phone, while driving one handed.
“That’s dangerous,” Shinji said, meekly.
“Yeah, what?” Mackie answered, switching languages.
“Daryl’s waiting for you in the main bay. Stargazer’s coming in,”
“Right, right... I’ll be there in a few seconds,” Mackie responded.
A moment later, the engine roared as his foot hit the floor. It lugged, propelling the warthog forward. Shinji braced himself a moment before the automatic transmission caught up and kickdown. The roar became a bellow, resonating off rock walls and ringing in Shinji’s ears.
He learned the true meaning of torque, pressed hard into his seat, supporting himself with a pair of handrails trying to cling on.
His eyes went wide as his body thrilled. Mackie wore a demented grin as the gearbox shifted. It powered forward once more, lunging into the darkness trying to catch the pool of light cast by the headlights. The engine banged off it’s rev-limiter in top gear, crackling and popping through it’s exhausts. It’s roar softened back to high warble as Mackie eased off on the throttle.
“Fast, isn’t it?” he grinned.
Shinji nodded limply. “Safe?”
“Safe enough,” the teenaged boy shrugged. “Anyway, you want to know my cool secret?”
“What?” You’re a robot, the back of his mind quipped.
Mackie tapped on the side of his head. “I’m an AI Shinji. Artificial Intelligence,”
Shinji’s mouth engaged before his brain did. “Bullshit,”
“It’s true. I’m an android Shinji. I awakened four years ago in the computer systems of a spacecraft. I lived inside a computer for two years before my sister bought me this body so I could have a normal life,”
His expression was flat, cool and totally serious.
Shinji laughed. “That’s not funny. I mean, if Jet’s your sister....”
Mackie seemed to glance away from him “It’s.... complicated. She was hooked up to the computer at the time I awakened, so I’m sort of based on her and it munged both our memories so we’d think we were family, but....” and he stopped, spinning it over in his mind. Shinji gave him a skeptical look “It’s really complicated,”
Neither of them spoke
“If handwavium can turn ordinary human beings into my sister, or ordinary cars into interplanetary spaceships, don’t you think it could also turn ordinary computers into full-blown artificial intelligence?”
Shinji thought about it. He glanced at the boy beside him... who seemed to be two years or more older than him. He seemed so real.... his complexion was a little too neat to be natural maybe but still, he was a far cry from an obvious puppet. He seemed more human than his own sister...
Who technically probably wasn’t really
“So... you aren’t a real person?” he tried.
“Oh I’m a real person alright. I just amn’t human. Being an AI doesn’t mean I amn’t a person.”
Rei was a person too, Shinji reminded himself. And wasn’t she just as artificial? Bitter memories kept him quiet for the rest of the journey.
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Most of the above emails are probably happening concurrently to this......
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?