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[hallaifyouherd]

I greet you, my fellow Legionnaires.

[ The image accompanying said greeting is that of a young woman with pointed ears and tattoos across the upper part of her face, peering inquisitively into the camera. She thinks she's got this broadcast option thing down. ]

In case we haven't met? My name is Marjara.

[ Her lips quirk upwards, before her expression grows a little more somber. ]

I've been thinking something through. And I think I know what I want to do. But a little experience from other people who might have gone through similar circumstances would help. I think.

[ She's not going to ask them to choose for her. Gods knew she'd never let someone make her mind up for her before now, and she wasn't about to start...but learning about the shift? The consequences? The little things that came along with it that you might not initially think about? Might be worth the time to ask. ]

Have any of you lost a part of you, a limb or...something else of similar importance, and chose to have it replaced? Would you be willing to speak of what it was like for you?

If not, I still thank you for your time.

Comments

[steelandtemper]

Nice to meet you, too. I'm an artificial intelligence...a self-aware computer.

[Not quite, but it's close enough for a 101 talk with a fantasy elf.]

[hallaifyouherd]

And a computer is different from a robot? Or part of one?

[steelandtemper]

All robots contain computers, but not all computers are in robots. Explaining computers requires concepts I'm not sure you've been exposed to.

[If she knew spirits were a thing where Marjara's from, this would be a much easier conversation to have. And of course, huge materialist that she is, it doesn't occur to Cortana to relate things to the concept of a soul.]

[hallaifyouherd]

Is a computer what gives robots sentience, then?

[steelandtemper]

Not all robots--or computers--are sentient. It requires a certain degree of complexity to support consciousness.

[hallaifyouherd]

You say that, but I've met remarkably simple people.

[steelandtemper]

[Ha. Cortana snorts, amused.]

I mean physical complexity, not a rich inner life.

[She holds up her hand, and above it appears a ball of tightly interconnected branching lines, fractal and immensely intricate, looking more organic than machine--resembling Marjara's vallaslin, in fact.]

This is a visual representation of my neural map, the particular pattern that makes me. Yours, or anyone's, would look similar. Each of those lines branches again and again, until there are on the order of a quadrillion of them.

[Cortana cocks her head, realizing Marjara might not know what a quadrillion is. She sorts through analogies for large numbers, repeatedly drawing up short against the fact that most pre-industrial societies have little use for numbers that big.]

...More than a thousand thousand thousand times as many stars as you can see in the night sky.

[She's not stuttering. A quadrillion is a lot.]

[hallaifyouherd]

[ She watches the display with fascinated eyes, trying to envision the enormity of what is being presented to her. It's beyond imagining. Even the new view she has of the stars has required some time to take in. ]

And what are those lines made of, exactly?

[steelandtemper]

Crystal and lightning.

[Cortana's not trying to be poetic, but she doesn't think "electricity" would mean anything to Marjara.]

[hallaifyouherd]

That's incredible. And these complex lines of crystal and lightning are what give creatures thought, and presence of mind?

[steelandtemper]

The AI kind, at least. Yours are flesh and lightning.

[Flesh, nerve tissue, whatever.]

[hallaifyouherd]

AI...you said before you were an 'artificial' intelligence?

[steelandtemper]

Yes, sorry. AI is short for artificial intelligence. I was purpose-built by humans.

[Cortana's not down on all humans. Mostly just Grif. And Robbie that one time he compared her to Siri.]

[hallaifyouherd]

We have artificial constructs in my world, called golems. But they are nothing but mindless servants, trapped in stone. You appear almost as a spirit would...and you're obviously more well-versed than most.

[steelandtemper]

Spirit? You mean the hologram?

[Cortana looks down at herself.]

People like it better than talking to a disembodied voice.

And of course I know my stuff. I'm a professional. You don't make a full smart AI just to schedule your appointments or balance your accounts.

[Meanwhile, she's reading everything the Legion database has on golems.]

[hallaifyouherd]

Then there are different races of AI? Or...is that the right term?

[ She winces. ]

You're created by people, I understand that, but you're aware. Surely you count as a people in your own right?

[steelandtemper]

"Types" of AI. There're smart AIs like me, and dumb AIs that aren't self-aware. They mostly fake it pretty well, though.

[And then there are the Freelancer AIs, which Cortana doesn't want to get into.]

I'm considered a person here, but not at home.

[She shrugs. Cortana's relentlessly pragmatic and her legal status as property hasn't ever bothered her, because she's very very expensive property who spends all her time around people who don't think of her that way.]

[hallaifyouherd]

That doesn't seem to trouble you.

[ Though that doesn't make it right, necessarily. There are plenty of slaves back home who see themselves as property, who don't know any other way to live. ]

[steelandtemper]

There's a war on. Survival takes precedence. If humanity gets itself extinct, there won't be anyone to give a damn, AI or organic.

[It might bother her more if she hadn't deactivated her supposedly hard-wired kill switch immediately upon being activated. Cortana's very much the "rules just tell me what not to get caught doing" sort.]

[hallaifyouherd]

That, I can understand. A lot of differences can be forgotten in the face of a larger threat.

But what happens when the war is over?

[ She's still not quite sure of the answer for that, herself. Most days, it doesn't feel like it is. ]

[steelandtemper]

Until recently, the smart money was on me not living long enough for it to matter.

[Cortana shrugs again.]

Look, I do appreciate where you're trying to go with this, and maybe I'll start the AI resistance when I get home.

[Note to the Chief: there's like a 70% chance she's joking. You are unlikely to have to take sides on this one.]

But it's not relevant to your original question.

[hallaifyouherd]

[ Her nose wrinkles. ]

Ah, no. It isn't. This is all just very new, and I'm trying to make sure I understand the people I'll be working with. But I'm sure I can find a way to research it further on my own.

[ Branch of conversation, ended. But it's been a very enlightening chat. ]

I don't suppose you'd know much about losing limbs.

[steelandtemper]

[Cortana just doesn't give a damn about philosophical principles generally.]

Actually, I do. No direct personal experience, obviously, but I can design and manufacture a prosthetic, or supervise the growth and transplant of a cloned replacement. I'd recommend cloning if you're planning on taking it home with you after the dust has settled. You won't be able to get the kind of maintenance a prosthesis would require.

[hallaifyouherd]

What does cloning entail?

[ The prosthesis seems pretty straightforward. Build a replacement out of metal and gears. Or whatever they have here to use in their crafting.

She's heard of the cloning option, but is still a little uncertain. ]

[steelandtemper]

A sample of your blood or skin, which medical probably already has in the records from when they pulled you off Phelolu. Your species is new, so there'd be some trial and error involved in getting the limb to grow properly, but that's on the back end and you won't have to deal with any of it. When it's ready, there's a finicky but not risky surgical procedure to attach it, then you have a few weeks of re-learning how to use the arm.

[See? Easy. Cortana says it all like she's discussing logistics for a carpool.]