ic inbox - Reverie Terminal

[neuralnet]

"You have reached the inbox of @tokumei. Please leave a message after the tone."

Comments

[neuralnet]

Oh-- [ And now she's leaving. He's obviously said something wrong. (Mr. Roboto strikes again.) ]

A-alright. Thank you for the food.

[morphogenia]

You're welcome! [She offers up a little wave before leaving.] Catch you later!

[twoaffirmations]

It is pretty interesting... I wouldn't have thought it could be done if you weren't here.

[He's curious by nature, so gets it.]

Humans are kind of reckless, aren't they?

[neuralnet]

[ Haruto can't help but give a little laugh at that, his expression lightening. At least it doesn't sound like 9S is too mad. ]

Yeah. They kind of are.

[twoaffirmations]

I mean, creating something that... [He starts, but seems to think better of it.] Well...

[why_me]

I'd imagine there's any number of combinations. No wonder you're here for so long.

[neuralnet]

"Something that" what?

[ He braces himself for whatever the end of that sentence is going to be. ]

[neuralnet]

Ten thousand, to be exact. It'll take... a while, even for me.

[ He shrugs, in a "what can you do?" gesture. ]

[twoaffirmations]

We androids can life for hundreds of years as long as regular maintenance is performed and parts are replaced as they're worn down. I mean, we still die all the time, but...your body's human. So, you're kind of stuck?

[He hopes Haruto can understand what he's trying to say, without him having to actually do so.]

[neuralnet]

[ He can. He looks down again, giving a sad sort of nod. ]

I'll die. Or, my body will. I don't know what will happen then. I suppose my mind could be saved. Downloaded into another form.

[ He chuckles. ]

Maybe I'll be like Hank, and live in the station's consoles.

[twoaffirmations]

Right... [9S expression is unchanging, oddly resolved.]

In the case of an emergency, I can personally relocate your data to the nearest device with sufficient space.

[neuralnet]

Thank you. [ He isn't sure he'd be able to make the actual transition on his own. He's good but he's not that good, and he doesn't have experience with this sort of transfer. ]

But I'd like to keep that as a last resort, for now.

[twoaffirmations]

Understandable. It's not the ideal outcome, is it?

[But survival was what mattered, so... As long as they could do that much.]

[neuralnet]

No, not particularly.

[ Downsides and all, he's grown rather fond of his human body. He'd hate to have to leave it. ]

fade out?

[twoaffirmations]

Mm.

[Silence fills the air.]

Well, I guess we better get to work...

[Despite his efforts to dispel it, things were going to be even quieter now.]

wrap!

[neuralnet]

[ Haruto clears his throat. ]

Right. Yes.

[ And then they do the thing for a really long time! ]

[why_me]

And how long does it take to try each one?

[ Because he's trying to get a handle on this whole thing.]

[neuralnet]

A fraction of a second. It's faster for me to do it mentally than it would be to input each one by pressing the keys.

[why_me]

I know how that is.

My abilities work like that sometimes as well. The mind works faster than the body.

[neuralnet]

[ Haruto blinks at him. ]

What sort of abilities do you have? Besides... the wolf thing.

[why_me]

That's a bit like asking what a man can write if he knows his letters.

The trick is knowing the letters. The combinations are, well, pretty extensive.