Upon Vestia: Chapter Nineteen

First topic message reminder :

(Day 11 I think)

Hewitt laughed again. "How very kind of you." He went to look. "They may have utterly foolish views on magic here, but they do at least seem to vaguely understand quantum mechanics. " He glanced over at Ethan. "You don't have to look so bitter about it, i'm sure the company will show up to collect me eventually. If they don't, i'm keeping their drone." He snickered. "you know, as compensation for mental anguish and all that." He sounded dismissive.

"You think they'll be willing to part with company property? That'd be interesting to see. Seems like most corporations don't want to give away their computers, even as compensation for emergencies." Ethan pulled a book off a shelf and reshelved it in its proper place. He looked mildly interested, "Do Aketi even really suffer mental anguish? You're so different from all the squishy species, it wouldn't surprise me to find out you didn't."

Hewitt shrugged. "We don't really fear death the same way meat creatures do. Perhaps inconvenience is a better term? And if they want their Host, they have to come get him." He snickered. "Incentive to come and get me and all that right?" He shook his head. "fools didn't think to install some sort of homing instinct into the things, I suppose they didn't really expect them to move that far from the escape pods." He shook his head. "Or maybe they've already claimed him on the insurance and registered me as dead. THAT would annoy me, if they've seized my assets then heads will roll." He settled into a chair with a sigh.

"I guess since you guys don't really have families and stuff, you don't get so attached to each other and that makes death less stressful for everyone," Ethan said, "It's funny, I always thought androids didn't do family either, but now these guys here have gone and adopted me, and sometimes I actually like it. I think I'd actually be disappointed to lose them."
He smiled an odder than usual, tired smile, "Guess you'll have to have them sued if they declared you dead already. I'm sure they'd give you your drone to make you happy after that."

Hewitt shrugged. "We don't have family, doesn't mean we're not disappointed when people we find mildly interesting cease to be. I miss the debates with some of my contemporaries sometimes, there was one who... well he was extraordinarily easy to rile up, it was entertaining. " He laughed lightly. "But no, I don't think we really do grief like the meat creatures do. " He waved a hand. "He's not my drone, but i'll say this, watching his programming try to adapt to something so beyond his intended purpose is extremely interesting. " He smiled fondly. "I always had a soft spot for robots." He admitted.

Ethan nodded. "Not exactly the same thing as the way meat creatures grieve for their dead friends, sounds like. More like how they'd feel about losing a favorite possession, maybe. Amity's certainly interesting to watch," he added, "he tries so hard to fulfill his programming, even though the situation his obviously well beyond what he can comprehend." He picked up another book and carried it to a display shelf to set face out. "What did you do before you were an astrophysicist? Amity mentioned a lot of Aketi have multiple careers and retirements by your age."

Hewitt nodded. "I studied quantum mechanics for my first doctorate. A few years in astrocartography and navigation. I've dabbled in multiple other fields." He looked thoughtful. "I'm starting to get bored of retirement again. Perhaps it would be nice to study again. " He chuckled, shaking his head. "But i'm old, stubborn and set in my ways. I'm not sure how much more you can teach an old weed like me." He stretched and nestled back into the chair comfortably.

"Is it normal for Aketi to learn so much science?" Ethan asked. "Do you have anyone who does normal stuff, like plumbing, or waiting on people, or is that pretty much all handled by robots?" It was nice to talk to Hewitt, the guy was a good, non-threatening distraction for his tired mind. "You could learn about magic," he suggested idly.

Hewitt made a face. "Magic? " He grumbled. "Lazy shortcut, it's like telling a chef to microwave a readymeal rather than cook themselves. " He snorted derisively. "Science is common yes, or arts. We have a fair few writers and artists, musicians even, though they tend to be a little strange. Robots or automation handle anything untrained like customer service or construction, though there are architects to design cities and programmers to build and maintain the robots. Business and commerce and management are handled by real people, though often with the help of AIs. " He shrugged. "academia is one of the few things we can't or won't give over to the machines, and it gives us something to do. I expect we'd all lose the will to do much of anything except sunbathe if we didn't have that. Some speculate that eventually that may be the case, and well all just return to the trees and the robots will inherit society." He laughed. "A load of tosh if you ask me. People always find reasons to keep going I find."

Ethan went to lean against a bookshelf, but it creaked ominously so he stopped. Maybe leaning on bookshelves while being a heavy robot wasn't such a good idea. "It'd be a completely different field of study though," he pointed out, not for one instant believing he could convince the Professor to consider it. "Sounds pretty nice. Someone else to handle the dirty work while the sentients get to study and do their jobs in peace," he said. "Good thing you don't have sentient robots yet, or that might become complicated."

Hewitt nodded. "That's precisely WHY we don't have sentient robots. They just rebel and get surly. The engineers had the sense to throttle the potential of the AIs for public use, though there are a few who try to create living AIs just to see if they can. There will always be those who can't resist." He chuckled lightly. "Never met one personally though, before this place. Or maybe I have and just didn't realize, who knows? " He smiled. "Hardly matters. Point is, our robots do their jobs and have no ability to hate it or slack off or be genuinely disobedient. Not that it was done for ethical concerns, it was entirely to maximize efficiency."

"Sensible. Would have been nice if the Terrans were like the Aketi and made responsible choices, nonsentience seems like a much better option for robots," Ethan said. What he would have given to not be sentient... Ugh, if only it had been an option. He shook his head, "Then again, the Terrans have always had a funny relationship with their egos, and they've made some dumb choices because of that."

Hewitt laughed. "nothing wrong with having an ego, their problem was a lack of foresight." He nodded. "I've heard they had such trouble differentiating you from fleshy terrans they went so far as to make you all wear identification? Ridiculous. What's the point of creating something to emulate life so effectively and then not letting it do so?"

"Yes, over here they're very strange about identification," Ethan agreed. Over here? Not really good phrasing, hmm. He needed to tread carefully around this topic "You'd think they'd let us blend in since they made us to do that, but apparently not. Very bizarre."

Hewitt tilted his head, curious about Ethan's odd wording. He let it go. "Extremely strange, it's like, they wanted to create life in their own image but they also wanted new tools and just merged the two. " He rolled his eyes. "So inefficient. "

Ethan was relieved when Hewitt didn't ask. Explaining the mirror universe to an astrophysicist didn't sound like a great idea to him. He smiled oddly at Hewitt's observation. Yeah, the looking like a Terran thing was kind of a practical thing too, not that he was at all in the mood to explain Terran mating urges right now. "We'll take you to MegaBrainTech someday and you can scold them for being stupid and impractical," he said. "That should be very satisfying for both of us."

Kooshie wrote:Ellie shook her head. She didn't get it, she'd grown up in a republic, and monarchies confused her. She smiled at Shane, "Guess you're a bit young for her anyway."

Shane nodded then shrugged. "That's what the other dragons and the books have said."

Ellie snickered. "Good thing I'm in your approximate age range," she said. Yeah, she was like five years older. Better than being a hundred and eighty years older, that was for sure. "Yo, what say you we go silver shopping? I have some money that could be well used on warding off werewolves."

Hewitt cackled delightedly. "Now that sounds like an outing. Think they'll politely ask us to leave before getting security to manhandle us out of there? I'm small, but prickly. " He grinned, his leaves did look kinda spiky.

"They'll probably tase us both and have a couple androids haul us out of the building," Ethan said, then remembered he wasn't in the mirror universe any more, and thought about what he'd seen on the holodeck of MegaBrainTech here, "Actually, they might be nice about it. Ask us to leave, explain to us why they're calling the police, and then have the police tase us and drag us out." That idea seemed to amuse him.

Hewitt laughed gleefully. "Wouldn't be the first time. " not that being electrocuted was fun, it was extraordinarily dangerous of course. All that water inside boiling off, or disrupting their complex biochemistry, but it was an effective method of stopping an Aketi as much as any other being. Stopped them moving anyway.

"You and me both. What did you do to get tased?" Ethan asked. Who knew with this guy? Maybe he'd done student hunger strike or something.

Kooshie wrote:Ellie snickered. "Good thing I'm in your approximate age range," she said. Yeah, she was like five years older. Better than being a hundred and eighty years older, that was for sure. "Yo, what say you we go silver shopping? I have some money that could be well used on warding off werewolves."

Shops in the city are closed." Shane said then shrugged. "Hey Vestia, you have any silver shops?"

"Man, why would they close up shop? I need my last minute silver!" Ellie said.

"I don't have any silver shops, sorry," Vestia told them apologetically. "You could take a silver goblet to carry though, I have a couple of those."

Hewitt tried to remember, things got a bit foggy after a few hundred years. " As I recall in my youth, ahh, that was a long time ago, one of our debates got a little too heated. University security broke it up."

Kooshie wrote:"Man, why would they close up shop? I need my last minute silver!" Ellie said.

"I don't have any silver shops, sorry," Vestia told them apologetically. "You could take a silver goblet to carry though, I have a couple of those."

"I would guess so that the shopkeepers could get ready and go too." Shane said then sighed softly. "Alright, I can change the shape of a goblet then change it back after."

Ethan snorted with amusement, that sounded about right to him. "Wholesome entertainment for sure. Makes me want to go to a university." He shook his head, "My tasing experience was less fun. Stupid slavers showed up and boarded my owner's yacht, they obviously were sensible and didn't want to damage us with actual guns."

~~
"Or I could just wield the goblet like a crucifix against vampires," Ellie suggested brightly. "Come on, let's go look at silver goblets." She stood up.