The Guild Capitol: Chapter Three

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"Man that's complicated. " Matt rubbed his head, yeah, that was enough to give anyone a headache. "He's got no moral high ground now though right? Because he's totally got a kid now."

Armin looked sympathetic to Rusty's limp and picked up his pace so that should the Canid stumble, he could offer support.
He idly wondered why the magic here couldn't heal him but said nothing, it felt rude to bring it up.

"They enjoy architecture and art." Rusty complimented as he limped inside. He asked the receptionist about Akili and Spring. She seemed to hesitate upon seeing Rusty, as if he were a walking stick of dynamite, but eventually told them the wing and room. He nodded, seemingly oblivious to the suspicious stare, and continued walking. "If you like statues, pay a visit to the Memorial."

"Good to know, thanks man," James said as they followed him. "This place sure is full of the stuff."

"Memorial?" Armin asked. "Memorial to what? or who?"

"Memorial to the War." Was all Rusty said as he entered a room, where Akili sat on the sidelines as Spring was being instructed by an Anamcara trainer... on how to make a ball float. His hands were out, and he was quiet in nervous concentration, but the orb did move and bend to the movements of his hand, which made him seem rather bewildered.

"Being originally nom-magic it'll be a little harder for you to gain enough energy to control your new programming," the teacher explained, "But with time you might develop a good grasp on the idea..."

"Ooh," James murmured, not caring much about the war now he was looking at an android doing magic. "That's cool."

Springs concentration was broke and the ball bounced to the floor. Spring snapped his fingers in frustration and shook his head. He looked to James and his eyes-- or the images that could be considered his eyes, merely blue ovals, squinted up happily, as since he had no mouth, he couldn't give much more expression. "Oh! Did you come to try their programming out, too? Telepathy is so very strange!"

"Sorry man, didn't mean to distract you," James said apologetically. He smiled. "Well I'm not planning to try it, I am curious about it though and I sort of wanted to learn more."

Armin bowed his head to Spring, what a curious thing. He tilted his head, ahh yes, expression when you had no mouth or your lower face was covered up, it was difficult wasn't it?
"What are you trying to do with the ball"? He asked curiously.

"What would you like to learn?" Spring's trainer asked eagerly, causing spring to at least attempt to seem pleased. The robot address Armin. "A simple exercise to see if I could make it move telekinetically. It's a bit different from actual telekinesis, so I hear, but using extremely condensed electromagnetism apparently offers the same effects as 'magic'."

"I'm not sure yet, what sort of magic tech do you guys have?" James asked. "And have you guys ever modded a Terran android before?"

"Oh how interesting." Armin looked at the ball. "Are such modifications safe?" He remembered Mourn's warning, don't break.

"So far, all we've been able to accomplish is telekinesis, telepathy, and partial elemental control to fire and air." The teacher explained. "We haven't had the chance to operate on a Terran Android-- nothing ever comes our way. But considering how more developed Drakkan code is to Terran -- no offense intended -- I would presume it not be too difficult."

"As far as I'm concerned, it is." Spring said pleasantly, moving his hands back to the ball, which slowly started to levitate again.

Armin put a hand on James' shoulder and watched Spring curiously. "How does the telepathy work?" He asked.

Hmm, that did sound good, James thought. There were times when telepathy would have been really useful. He narrowed his eyes at the comment about difficulty though. "Whether we're now simple or not, we're different from Drakkan tech, and your knowledge might not translate over well." Yep, that confidence was a red flag, in his opinion.

"E-er, right..." The Anamcara seemed to suddenly deflate at James' confidence, as if she weren't expecting it. Hmm. "Well, if you're interested to try, maybe someone you trust can oversee us work?"

"We use arcana shards integrated into the hardware to... 'translate' the telepathic connections as one would a radio station." The woman answered Armin. "The robot receives the message as radio waves so their software finds something familiar and recognizable, then they send out their own radio waves, which our hardware translates into arcana thought processes."

James looked somewhat reassured by her response although he still didn't look like he entirely trusted her. He nodded. "I'm not sure I even want to try yet, but that might be a good idea if I do decide to try it," he agreed.
He looked interested by the explanation of telepathy, "That's good workaround to make a robot hear telepathy. I guess for a Terran android you'd have to connect using our data ports instead, since we don't have radios at all. What does hearing telepathy feel like, Spring?"

Armin pondered that. "Could you... create some sort of headset that would translate arcane noise into radio noise?" He had no idea, but radios that played like.. music and stuff picked up radio waves right? and then made noise.
Hmm.
He kept his hand on James shoulder. "I am not sure it is possible to describe telepathy my friend, in an android or in an organic being. "

"We... could, yes." The woman said to Armin, bobbing up and down.

Spring agreed with Armin. "I'm afraid your friend is right, James. The most I can say is... it's like someone else's voice talking to you in your head besides your own. And then you get paranoid and wonder if you're crazy or wonder how much that voice knows about you for a few seconds."

James snickered. "Sounds bizarre to hear telepathy. A headset thought? Armin, you're a genius!" He grinned, "A way to hear telepathy without modifying our code, I like that."

"Wouldn't it be clunky, though? Wearing a headset constantly, but..." She bobbed again, "It is a good idea." But then how would a robot reply back?"

James considered that. "Could be like one of those earplug things spies use to hear their bosses." He'd been watching too many spy movies lately, okay? "Hmm, to transmit though, that's more tricky. You know, robots can talk to each other when our data ports are connected, maybe some sorta device that could plug into the data port and understand that we're saying..." He looked thoughtful.

"That's inefficient." The woman said. "The transmitters are powered by arcana crystals. Crystals that small would need to be replaced constantly. You'd be having to go to someone who can make arcana crystals daily."

"Darn, that won't work then," James said, amused. "So how big do they need to be to not burn out way too soon?" He was really curious about this, but reluctant to modify his body if he could help it.

The woman produced a crystal about six inches long and a centimeter in diameter. "This could power it for about six months."

James came closer to look at the thing curiously. "Interesting. And does the tech to make telepathy translate to something robots can understand add much bulk to that?"

Armin chuckled at James. "Thank you my friend." He didn't think he was a genius but hey.