to boldly go...

[bravejemma]

Comments

[projecthydra]

Why did you think you could save me after I got shot?

Users never try to save me in that scenario. They chase after the gunmen and the bulk of calculations moves to the exterior.

[bravejemma]

Maybe they should try.

[It seems selfish to her, but they get enough of that out on the job. She supposes she can't blame them for using the holosuite for its intended purpose.]

I'm a doctor. I had to help.

[Yeah okay she's not technically that kind of doctor, but she had her medic training and more often than not is the one addressing bumps, bruises, cuts, burns, what have you.]

[projecthydra]

It was kind. A little confusing as well. That scenario has difficulty modifying uncommon user behavior. The newer ones are more capable of advanced AI subroutines.

But I still don't understand... If you align yourself with them, then why were you inserted into a non-player character?

It's much more likely that you're working with faulty code yourself.

[bravejemma]

[She's given up entirely on the I wasn't running code response, he doesn't seem to recognize it as valid.]

I don't know why I was inserted as such.

[projecthydra]

Were you at least able to recognize the script? What you ought to have been doing, I mean.

[He's running diagnostics of his own. There's a sense of being prodded in a metaphysical way, outside the realm of man and woman, patient and doctor. He reaches out to tuck her hair behind her ear.]

[bravejemma]

There was a -- um.

[Pushing her hair behind her ear has successfully distracted her from what she was saying, but only for a moment.]

Uh... there were certain things I felt compelled to do, but I obviously didn't.

[projecthydra]

Mm.... There are a lot of anomalies in your data. That could account for it. Matches some of the stuff I've only seen in one other place.

However you came to be here, it was probably a one way trip. Might as well get comfortable.

[bravejemma]

[At first, she's interested in the comment about seeing it in one other place. But when he mentions the words "one way trip," the terror seeps in to her like ice water, leeching away any goodwill or friendly feelings she might have developed in this short (?) time.]

That doesn't work for me. Sorry.

[Not sorry.]

[projecthydra]

Yeah? Then what exactly do you want to do about it? It's not like you can just ask the Users to program a mobile unit for you.

[bravejemma]

Fitz will figure it out.

[She's immediate and firm in her summation. Fitz would figure it out, the end.]

[projecthydra]

So you're just going to sit around and wait for it? Could be a long time.

[bravejemma]

Of course I won't just sit and wait for it, I'll be trying to work it out from in here, but I'm at a clear disadvantage.

[Fitz will not let her down, because he never has.]

And with both of us working towards a solution, it'll come.

[projecthydra]

[He snorts lightly.]

Well, whatever keeps you processing properly, I guess. Do what you want around the mainframe. Do you need a tutorial about any of the functions?

[bravejemma]

You really don't need to be so rude.

[She's never met a computer with an attitude before and really, it's not endearing her all that much.]

[projecthydra]

[His head tilts slightly.]

That... was rude?

[bravejemma]

Yes! Because I am upset, and you are being dismissive and, if I may say so, not very helpful. If you just don't care, that's fine, but I am trying to fix a problem, here, and if you aren't going to help you can clear off!

[projecthydra]

[He squints.]

You're acting like one of the AI pieces... But there's no sim running.

Call me interested. What do you want help with?

[bravejemma]

[Okay. Once more with feeling.]

Because I'm not AI.

You know the users in the program, the engineers? I'm real people like them. Except something happened.

We've been experiencing problems with injuries that were incurred during simulations. Normally, they're supposed to be just part of that -- a simulation, that disappears when the user leaves the holosuite. But the injuries haven't been disappearing. I'm pretty sure the last guy who ran that simulation came back and had scarlet fever on top of a pretty nasty snake bite.

So I was in the suite trying to run the diagnostic from the inside, while Fitz was monitoring from the outside. Something sparked, and... now we're here.

[projecthydra]

Yes, I understand that. [Okay so maybe he's not through with being dismissive yet. She's so busy being huffy that she's not listening.]

But if you've been transferred into an online environment, you have to accept that you might not be a User anymore. You could be a digital copy.

Jemma, I ran a scan on your data. That means I could run a scan.

[bravejemma]

If I'm a copy, what...

[That doesn't make sense, either. If she's a copy, then she's also still out there. Right?]

You said that you'd seen this before. Where did you see this?

[projecthydra]

[He smiles grimly.]

Why don't I teach you how to find it on your own? You might need to pick up at least a little data manipulation.

Do you trust me to teach you?

[bravejemma]

Do I have a choice?

[That's an implied 'yes' by the way.]

What do I do?

[projecthydra]

Choices are the first thing, actually. There's always one. Everything boils down into a function. On or off.

Try to see things without your avatar. Close your eyes and really look.

[bravejemma]

[He's being smug again. But if she can handle the Oxbridge gatekeepers, she can certainly handle this guy.

So she does as she asks and closes her eyes, trying to see... inside, or whatever. Is this like one of those hippy-dippy sleepaway camps, or retreats in the spas -- ]

Oh.

[She doesn't know if that's what he was talking about, but if you could see an electric pulse, she imagines that's what it would look like.]

[projecthydra]

Yeah, see that? That's me. Now if you focus on me a little harder...

[It's like applying a magnifying glass to the spark of electricity. Light becomes atoms, exponential enhancement without the aid of tools.]

Each bit of data serves a function. [The particles light up as he mentions them in turn.] This one is my communication. This processes logic.

[He explains each section in sequence, but pauses at one of the middle ones.]

...I don't... actually know what this does. But you've got one too. Nothing else in the system matches it.