thisavrou | audio; march 7th

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audio; march 7th

[The recorded voice that addresses the crew through the MID is affable and slightly apologetic.]

Hello everyone. This is Alan Bradley speaking. I have a couple of questions for the crew, and I think I might as well use this opportunity to introduce myself to those I haven’t met yet: As I said, my name is Alan Bradley, and I’ve been assigned as one of the ship’s MID Technicians. I’m afraid I don’t have any particularly interesting abilities outside of computer programming, but that should be enough for me to do my job here. Some of you may have already met Sam Flynn, my godson from back home, as well as Tron and Rinzler, two, ah, programs that I’ve written. [Is that how he’s supposed to introduce them? It’s quite clear from the misgiving in his tone that he isn’t completely sure. He isn’t even certain he can correctly refer to them as two programs if you want to get technical, but explaining that would be far too involved for a simple introduction, so he’ll have to settle for the potential inaccuracy.] If you ever need to contact me, I’m always available at my personal inbox. [A slight chuckle.] I guess we all are since these things are strapped to our wrists.

Introductions aside, I was hoping someone could tell me who I should see about getting a new pair of glasses? Mine seem to have been lost as I was coming through the portal here. And seeing as my job on the ship will probably require spending most of my day staring at lines of code, I’d like to get a replacement sooner rather than later.

Speaking of my job here, I’m also looking for suggestions for programs people would like added to their MIDs, or improvements made to the interface. I’ll admit, the technology here is quite a bit more advanced than what I usually worked with back home, so anyone with more technological know-how is welcome to offer guidance: other programmers, engineers, AI… I’d be grateful for any advice.

Just leave a reply if you want to get in touch. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

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[Nihlus takes the prescription from Alan and quietly frowns at it for a moment.]

The 'PD' number is probably pupillary distance. Everything else... hm. I would assume the numbers are meant to measure dioptre.

[It's been a while since he's had to use metric. Assuming it was metric anyways.

As he ponders this, he tucks the omni-gel back into his pocket for the time being.]

Would you be so kind as to look straight forwards and hold still for a second?

[Alan is pleasantly surprised to find that Nihlus actually sounds at least somewhat informed on the subject.] You sure you don’t have any experience in optometry? [He asks, only half-joking.

He obliges the alien’s request, though he does momentarily glance back at the “omni-tool” on his arm. With a name like that, Alan assumes it has some means of measurement.]

I've made a few lenses- just not anything for an eye before. The difficult part is going to be how to convert these numbers into something I can understand and use.

[Holding the omni-tool up about a foot away from Alan's face, Nihlus activates a quick scan. A stream of light flashes outwards and maps out the planes of the man's face.]

There we go. Thank you.

[He brings up the scan and starts roughing out the shape for the glasses.]

By the way, I met Rinzler at the local museum. He brought up a rather interesting difference between his and my definition of 'program'.

[Alan blinks, surprised as the flash of light passes over his face, though he otherwise remains still. He’s impressed with the speed of the scan, especially for a handheld device.]

No problem. Little bit like getting my picture taken. [Hopefully the fact that he blinked won’t be as much of a hassle in this case.]

[He isn’t quite expecting the shift in subject, nor the information that comes with it. It’s still jarring to hear of other people’s apparently reciprocal conversations with Rinzler when Alan can barely get the program to look at him on a good day.] Oh? What difference was that?

He said programs were entities. Not necessarily different from my definition, but he didn't differentiate between programs written to be AI and programs made to execute, say, a game or something.

Why is that?

[The eyeglass frames were starting to look like something from the 70's. Nihlus pauses a bit, tilting the rendering platform slightly so that Alan could see it and give an opinion.]

Ah. [That discrepancy in definitions is something Alan himself has had to reconcile himself to in the past few days.] Well, he doesn’t differentiate between the two because on his side of the screen, there isn’t a difference. I’m not completely clear on all the details, but as I understand it, any program past a certain level of complexity has the same potential to develop sentience -- regardless of whether it’s written to be an AI or a video game. We just don’t usually see it on our side of the screen.

[Alan smiles almost apologetically.] I know it’s a lot to take in. If I hadn’t seen the proof with my own eyes, I’m not sure I would have been able to believe it myself.

Honestly, one of my roommates is a witch. At this point, there isn't much I won't believe.

[That IS interesting though. And it would explain why Rinzler had been so annoyed when he'd asked for the clarification.]

So is it just in certain systems or is it a more generalized phenomena?

[Point taken. Even Alan has seen a few things since coming aboard the ship that would give the notion of sentient programs a run for its money in terms of sheer improbability.]

I don’t see why it couldn’t be possible on any system; there wasn’t anything that special about the server I programmed Tron for. [Alan’s smile grows rueful here.] It’s certainly made me think about my former job as a programmer in a different light.

Finding out you've been accidentally creating sentient life must have come as a shock.

[Not to mention all the ethical problems that would have popped up, especially considering the fact that the system was something as standard as Alan described.

He thins out the frame of the glasses a bit more and pops the omni-gel out of his pocket.]

How did you first establish communication with them? Or did you only find out here?

It did. [The ethical issues haven’t escaped Alan’s notice either. He’s already spent a few sleepless nights wondering about the half-finished programs he’s written over the years, not even to think of the one’s he’s deleted.]

I met them here: Tron, then Rinzler. [He doesn’t mention that it was someone else who made first contact before him; his memory of Flynn and the questions that linger after his death are still too raw to discuss with someone he’s just met.] The Ingress must have pulled them out of the system and onto the ship. I never would’ve known otherwise. [He can’t completely keep the sorrow out of his voice here. It isn’t that there was no way of knowing -- it’s that the people who did know had chosen to keep it from him.]

[There was a lot being unsaid, but the gaps were easy enough to figure out, especially with the tone of his voice. If Alan didn't know about the sentience of his programs then someone else must have. Which means the next links in the chain were Sam and Tron.

He considers going to find them after this chat, but dismisses the idea after a moment. Not his immediate area of interest and there was plenty of time to puzzle things together without straining things unnecessarily.]

Do you have an any information on what their culture might be like? I'm quite curious because Rinzler scanned me during our meeting. I wasn't sure if that was a standard greeting with them.

[Unwrapping and popping the block of omin-gel into the rendering field, the Spectre watches it form the specified outline, making sure there there'd been no error in the rendering. The final result was a thin, gray plastic frame, the left over gel reforming into a block. There was no actual glass yet and no folding hinges, but it was a prototype.

Nihlus plucks it out of the field and hands it to Alan.]

Try that on?

[Alan smiles faintly.] To tell you the truth, I don’t think I know any of what’s “standard” for either of them. [Not just because he’s only known them for such a short period of time, but from what he can tell from Rinzler’s behavior around him compared to the reports on the network, it’s also likely their conduct in his presence varies significantly from how they act around someone who isn’t their User.] They didn’t scan me, but both of them seemed to recognize me on sight, so it might just be that it wasn’t necessary.

[Alan watches the gel take shape on omni-tool with interest. The process reminds him somewhat of how a Grid baton could form physical objects from a coded template, though the baton hadn’t seemed to require a physical substrate such as this “omni-gel.”

Alan takes the rudimentary glasses frame from Nihlus, taking a moment to examine the material. It feels like any other plastic, far from the doughy mass it had been formed from. Nihlus hasn’t quite reached the really difficult part of making the prescription lenses, but Alan is already impressed with the tech nonetheless. After the brief inspection, he tries on the not-yet-glasses.]

Seems to fit.

[Satisfied, he takes off the frame, his gaze returning to the omni-tool.] Is that common technology where you’re from? [It’s certainly more advanced than what they have outside the Grid on Earth, though that seems to be a pretty common theme here.]

About as common as MIDs are here, particularly with the space-faring population. They are standard issue in a lot of places.

[He lets Alan keep hold of the glasses for the time being as he brings up the prescription again. He's not sure what OD and OS are, but sphere, cylinder and axis were all familiar. There was also ADD, but that box was empty.

Metric? Probably. He'll have to convert it all to Standard.

They recognized you even though you've never met before? Is it something to do with you being their creator?

[As Nihlus talks, he brings up the specialty program for his sniper scopes and starts inputting the numbers for OD, pausing now and again to mentally check his conversions.]

Sounds convenient. [Revolutionary, really, but with all the other advanced technology he’s seen on the Moira, that practically goes without saying.] We’re only just getting the hang of 3D printing back on Earth. [And it’ll certainly be a while before they can make that technology portable like Nihlus’s omnitool.]

It must be. Both of them recognize me as “Alan-One” -- my username on the server I wrote them on. [Judging by the smile on his face saying it, Alan doesn’t mind the programs’ preferred soubriquet for him.]

I guess it’s a little misleading to say the recognized me on sight; really they seemed to know me the second they heard my voice. [His tone grows pensive.] Which means they must have had some means of hearing it in the system. [Curious, not least because the early ENCOM computers which he had written them on had had no means of audio input.]

The tech has been simplified a lot with the use of Element Zero in my universe. It generates a mass effect field that can essentially manipulate material in various ways.

[As he's demonstrating now with the omni-gel. More of it splits off of the blob and rearranges itself, turning transparent before flattening out into a lens.]

Your voice? [On a server? Nihlus doesn't think to assume that the systems Alan had been working with were actually old enough not to have audio input. Even then...]

I'm assuming you didn't put recordings of your voice onto those servers.

Element Zero? [A bemused smile.] Sounds like something out of science-fiction. [Says the man from a world with personified computer programs.]

Back when I wrote them, there weren’t even microphones installed on the computers. [A slight shake of the head, half amused, half-perplexed.] I really have no way of explaining it. Not scientifically, anyway.

Well, I am from 2183, which is apparently rather far in the future for a lot of humans here.

[Honestly though, Alan, he's got a 3D printer on his wrist called an omni-tool and you're wigged out by Element Zero?]

You must have been like the voice of Spirits to them. Or, uh. Godess? Gods? God?

[One of those anyways. It certainly sounds oddly mystical, although the association of decidedly non-mystical technology with it was strange to say the least.]

How does this all work then? I... can't imagine programs living particularly peacefully considering how often I purge data off of some equipment.

Almost two centuries in the future to be exact.

[Come on, Nihlus, you have to admit “Element Zero” sounds a lot more novel than “portable 3D printer.”]

I can’t imagine myself making a very convincing god. I didn’t even make that convincing of a CEO. [The good thing about not being a CEO anymore, not to mention no longer even being on the same planet as ENCOM, is that he can admit that without fallout.]

I don’t know. [And he’s been thinking about those kinds of questions a lot lately.] Tron hasn’t complained any about life on the ENCOM servers. [After that though… Alan sighs.] I worry about it. If everything I program is actually sentient somewhere inside the system, I can’t help wonder if I should be programming anything at all. [It’s an insecurity he’s kept mostly to himself, especially with his assignment as an MID technician on the ship.] I’ll have to ask Tron about it. [A faint smile.] I’m sure there’s a humane way to go about it.

One poor woman is from 1947.

[Mentions of Element Zero is about common enough in his world's media that it's used as in adverts for sports drinks, okay. To Nihlus, it was kind of like hearing about electrolytes.]

It could just be something that happens in your universe? I... would've thought someone would mention it here considering the local mechanical and digital sorts that we have around.

[He plucks the new lens off of the rendering platform by a small tab sticking out of its side and examines it for flaws before holding it out for Alan to test out.]

That said I would be very interested in what Tron would have to say on the subject. I know I want to know if there's some sentient life running around on my systems without my knowing so.

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audio; march 7th

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