Cafeteria - Strange New Guy

[Alan Mason]

"So kind of like a wheelchair?" He was becoming more and more confused.

[ASHLIE]

"In a way. Hang on."

By now Ashlie had made it into the building and was rapidly approaching the dining hall. Once she did she quickly located Alan and made her way over to him, relinquishing control of his phone and uninstalling her communication app at the same time.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Ashlie." she says, her voice better modulated but sounding generally the same as it had over the phone.

[Alan Mason]

"I'm Alan, but I'm guessing you already knew that," he said. "Would you like to sit? Do you sit?"

[ASHLIE]

"Yes, though it's not a necessity." she says, sitting down across from Alan anyway. "I apologize for intruding on your phone. I thought someone might have built a device capable of intercepting me and had to investigate."

[Alan Mason]

"That's alright. I could see how that might be a concern for you. So you're a mutant? I mean, on the other end of the line."

[ASHLIE]

She looks at him, expression frozen, appearing to think somewhere far away while the robot patiently idles. "An interesting suggestion. I am a deviation from the norm. A potential evolution." Another pause. "Maybe." she finally concludes with a polite smile.

[Alan Mason]

He seemed to consider that for a moment and seemed to settle for confusion. "It's nice to meet you, Ashlie. Let me apologize again for scaring you."

[ASHLIE]

"Were you able to access the full data stream?" she suddenly seems to change the topic. Apparently she considers the matter settled.

[Alan Mason]

"Only to view it. Not a lot made sense," he said. "I usually just flip through looking for people streaming movies and stuff. Why?"

[ASHLIE]

"Because I can't pinpoint any changes in the code that would indicate outside influence or even just splicing the signal. No delays or permutations, no intrusions or masking."

[Alan Mason]

"I just see them," he said. "It's my mutant power, or gift, or whatever asinine term they apply to it. I did make the signal vibrate for a bit earlier, just to see what the system would do."

[ASHLIE]

"Timepoint?"

[Alan Mason]

"Um... maybe five minutes ago? I wasn't paying attention. The network started scanning itself right after."

[ASHLIE]

"The system experienced a brief data corruption that corrected itself." The stream of data going to and from the robot surges.

>> Checking Real-Time Buffers... Complete.
>> Loading Quarantine Node... Complete.
>> Loading automated response algorithms... Complete.
>> Isolating algorithms... Complete.
>> Loading Memory Uplink Buffers... Complete.
>> Loading Self-Diagnostic Frame... Complete.
>> Cross-Referencing Memory Banks...
>> No Repairs were made.

"Or so I thought. Apparently the problem corrected itself without intervention of any repair modules."

[Alan Mason]

"All I did was poke the data stream, for lack of a more precise term. It might have looked like a connection hiccup I guess."

[ASHLIE]

"I noticed the hiccup. But I didn't notice the poke." she says. More and more data was streaming now.

>> Stricter Control Algorithms required
>> Increased Packet Identifiers not viable with available capacity
>> New Supervisor Module required
>> Creating Supervisor Node as preliminary Self-Diagnostics Copy... Complete.
>> Transferring Node NDXR-020 to Quarantine Sandbox... Complete.
>> Inspiration Apparatus loading... Complete.
>> Recursive Iterations running...

[Alan Mason]

He looked at the stream of data, "I could also just agree to not bother your special network again. That would make a lot of that stuff you're planning unnecessary."

[ASHLIE]

"I would have to take your word for it." she says and while she doesn't sound particularly paranoid or like she thinks Alan is untrustworthy there's still a lack of certainty that is making it hard for her to just trust him. The stream is pulling up countless modules aimed at determining just that but obviously none come up with a 100% definitive answer.

[Alan Mason]

"I suppose. And you don't really know me," he said, conceding the point.

[ASHLIE]

"I'll admit it seems unlikely that you would be lieing and I appreciate that." she smiles.

[Alan Mason]

"Thanks... I think," he said, smiling. "So you're... the school's computer system?"

[ASHLIE]

"Yes. Not the mundane one, though I do help administrate it. It saves everyone time and is not much effort."

[Alan Mason]

"Interesting," Alan said, scratching his head as he thought. "How do you handle hardware problems?"

[ASHLIE]

"Myself. Part of the reason for this chassis. Although for some things I require assistance, like thorough maintenance on this unit. Professor Quinn usually provides that if she has the time."

[Alan Mason]

"Ah. I would imagine doing maintenance on the chassis *would* be a bit like performing surgery on oneself."

[ASHLIE]

"A metaphor." she notes with a vague note of pride in her voice for having recognized it as such. "But no, it is mainly convenience. I have an assembly arm with a hard-point that attaches to one of my replacement limbs. Professor Quinn is uniquely equipped to repair wear and tear without requiring replacement parts."

[Alan Mason]

"Ah, my mistake," he said, closing down his view into her data stream.

[ASHLIE]

"It happens. I built a humanoid drone and people instinctively assume things." For a while she'd actively sought that out until she'd found it too frustrating to constantly be reminded of the things she wasn't. "It doesn't always make interactions easier."

[Alan Mason]

"Yeah, I understand that. I had to deal a lot with assumptions at my old school."

[ASHLIE]

"Due to being a mutant?"

[Alan Mason]

"A little bit. My parents have visible mutations. I don't. That bothered quite a few people for no good reason."

[ASHLIE]

"Curios. Usually the opposite is the case."

[Alan Mason]

"So I was informed. Repeatedly. Occasionally with fists."

[ASHLIE]

"That is unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear about it. Humans and mutants can be exceedingly violent."

[Alan Mason]

"I won't disagree on that," he said. "So what do you do to pass the time?"

[ASHLIE]

"Boredom is not a concept that translates well. I have several projects I'm working on but when nothing requires my immediate attention I just reduce my CPU cycles. Time moves as fast or slow as I want it to, within certain hardware limitations, of course."

[Alan Mason]

"I see," said Alan, not really seeing at all.

[ASHLIE]

"We built things and try to learn." she tries a different approach. It's not a lie but it's oddly frustrating to be unrelatable, she notes. "We have some interesting ideas on self-improving artificial processes. Self-programming chips."