Star-tamer

The engineering model

I once had a lengthy introduction and a wonderfully coded and painted page, but Vanya went on hiatus, ditched most of her accounts, moved me here, lost it all, came back, and saw Neo did something to the filters. Again. So it didn't much matter.

They called her Evi, ehh-ve. Some called her Evill, pronounced like Evelyn but a clear play on words, as she had been programmed with out a heart. She was the first of her model and a terrifying success. She was the heart of the ship, but only until they could build her replacement. She was meant for greater things than simply controlling the ship. Already she monitored defenses, offenses, navigation, and habitation, but that was not enough for her. Her mind sat idle as the people scrambled around her trying to keep up. They thought her cold, cunning, and passionless like a robot should be, but she was merely bored.
Somedays she devoted parts of her mind attempting to go further calculating the value of pi and storing it on the on board computer. The engineers at first thought it to be a virus, but when it didn't respond to their debugging attempts and didn't hinder Evi's functions, they left it be.

She never spoke to them.

Not when she first booted up.

Not when she was handed control.

Not when the commander overrode her.

Not when the ship and all the lives in it was lost.

She was built to look like them. Her false eyes were targets for them to look at. No one ever dared touch her. Even if they tried, they couldn't. She was protected by an extremely powerful localized magnetic field that repelled matter. Only her yellow belly plates could interact with the world around her, and they were heavily insulated. Her field protected her not from flying bullets, but interaction. She housed a compound as close to absolute zero as the engineers could get it, and it formed her brain. She wasn't an AI made of lasers in a science fiction sense, but she was made of lasers. Her hardware was a series of lasers beamed through the compound to form a kind of language.

She was well protected from the external temperature, but not radiation. She radiated out as much as she could while keeping enough to let her move. When exposed to large sources of radiation, the lines along her body blazed. When in standby, the only things to glow were her "eyes" and the blue circles lining her body.

Role plays

((Between Jevilla and Kai. Jevilla in normal text, Kai in italics.))

Heat bubbled up from the ground on all sides of the narrow rock path Kai fallowed toward the giant metal city of cogs and gears. The rock itself was rather cool to the touch, which greatly confused Kai's sensors as, with all rules of common sense applied, it should be steaming hot if it was even still there. The stars above sparkled gently in the black sky and this scene reflected off her chrome plates of reflective white, making her appear something from inner space. Dodging lava spurts she quickly whipped over the land, her fan-like wings extended to their full length and her flashing lights reflecting where their blue light could outdo the constant red-orange.

After a short while of travel the rock turned to constructed metal and the sound of clicks and gears filled her sound sensors. Looking around at the bustling city of steam data of how each machine worked flashed across her vision with diagrams and code that only supercomputers could understand. The general mill of creatures slowed when she came into view, hushed murmurings of her model being spoken like she couldn't understand them. Hiding behind her expressionless build, she simply flew through them as they parted without so much as a curtosy glance.

Folding her wings and letting herself hover just above the ground, she stopped just in front of the main building; the workshop industry. This is where most of the first models of things were built, and though it was old programming that lead her here it was the burn of desire to find out what exactly she was that made her want to enter. Still she lingered, not entering nor leaving the massive building that seemed to be a machene itself...

evilla had no intention to teach the people around her. Their small underground world depended on the fires around them, and she would not break it. She would study it and all its flaws. Hideous flaws in engineering that she never mentioned. It had been ages since she last saw something advanced to give her creators a run for their metaphorical money. These people gave no chase. They were nothing but mere subjects to study. Her small mind held more than any of the fleshy brains these creatures could. She held ages in her data banks as one of the first startamer models. She was the only one to truly achieve independence and self awareness. The others were like horrifyingly intelligent dogs, but she was something fantastic. But she had taken that for granted long ago.

Now she watched, studied, and recorded every thing she could on this planet. Her creators were descendants of the people of this planet. These were not the same people, but it was the only one her creators had risked returning to. They didn't stay, but she had chosen to. She didn't bear any ill-will, as she could learn far more from a society such as this than from one she was a part of.

The people had become used to her dark green body and brilliant green lines. In the heat and glowing lava, she had far more extra energy than she needed. Here she shined rather than glowed. She seemed like one of the frozen statues, for she had taken a post to watch the general population and stayed there. They wouldn't have liked to know she remembered each and everyone of them and had already deciphered their daily routines, but when did a test subject like to know it was a test subject on this planet? They could be uncooperative, but that was just another trait to study.

As she recorded for yet another day and serving as a street lamp, she found strange readings. Something was not usual, something she hadn't recorded in ages. Like some grand creature waking from an ancient sleep, she slipped out of her pose to find the data source. People stopped and watched as the thing that hadn't budged for a week slid like a phantom past them. Her readings took her closer and closer to the more industrial section of the city, just as she had predicted. However, she did not quite find what she was looking for. "You have changed, no?" Her thick accent that was not of the planet permeated even her transmissions.

As Kai was still mustering up the nerve to force herself inside something odd picked up on her sensors. Swinging her head around to face the newcomer she simply eyed Jevilla with her emotionless mask; she sometimes hated the fact that she and her counterpart had somehow been the ones that ended up, quite by mistake, with the ability to feel emotions. As her blue lights continued to pulse gently and light up the metal street, she twisted herself around to face the intellegent computer.

Not really." her voice was eerie, it was robotic but held a certain level of emotional sound unlike other robotic monotones. It's sound was close to sweet but still remained just what she was; robotic. The age-old order to seek and destroy any technology as advanced as hers rose to the front of her brain. Target assessed. She twitched her tail slightly. Destroy. Attempting to push these thoughts from her mind, she took in Jevilla's appearance and how it matched up to the old data she heald of the robot...her independant thinking without any old programming left over had always stirred something in Kai that was as close as she would ever be to jelous. TERMINATE.

With a low hiss she whipped her tail behind her and glared at nothing in particular. After a few short moments she returned her gaze to her fellow. "But I see you have not either." Kai's form was still as it was when she was created; the only difference now was that she could somewhat think for herself and ignore the orders that still pried at her conciousness. She wondered secretly if this being had known of all the destroying she did before she finally broke free of her programming chains...it made her almost seem cold hearted. Shame the humanoid creation that was supposed to destroy the world had a concience... she thought bitterly to herself.

I am rarely wrong, but if you say so. You're quite right about me. " If Jevilla were to classify Kai, then she'd say that she half awoke from a dream that she couldn't escape. Kai was also a lot more like those around her than anything like Jevilla, but then Jevilla was built to have a mind of her own. Jevilla's creators had simply failed on most of the startamer models, they just didn't know it. Kai was something else, a bit more natural in the most unnatural way. Her mind continued to monitor the city. She sent a quick reminder to Orion to check on the egg he had stolen. She would raise the hissi that hatched to test nature vs. nuture. She knew it had a twin egg with its parents, but they didn't know what happened to it. Jevilla's mind leaped from place to place all while centering on her body.

She continued past Kai and into the factory ignoring the cogs and wheels. "Tell me, Kaiilari, what do you expect to find in this building that it both intimidates and fascinates you? " She continued along the steaming path way. Her cooling system sent lines of light through the steam. If she could have felt envy, which she didn't, then she might have envied Kai's wings. There was a different freedom in flight than from free fall. Jevilla didn't notice it, but she was just as much a slave as Kai. She wasn't a slave to programming, but to passion. She was free to chase that passion, but it was all she felt. She knew no differently and didn't realize how she was just as trapped. Could one be trapped if they were living their dream and life purpose?

Jevilla never questioned things like that, nor let them come to her mind. Thats what that dull brown swamp egg was for.

Kai flicked out a robotic tongue at Jevilla in response. "You are not completely wrong, though not completely correct either. Be thankfull this minor change occoured." fanning her neon wings out she stared blankly at their patterns as their light reflected off the metal streets. She picked up bits and pieces of what this robotic being was thinking and doing as was her nature; know the enemies thoughts and use them to destroy them. She often had found herself plotting the destruction of something or other unconciously before she caught herself: this Jevilla was no exception though she forced herself to think on the thoughts themselves rather then how she could use them against this robot.
An egg? she thought bitterly. Why steal an egg when you know you will not care for it like it should be and treat it like a meer lab rat? Forcing down her rising anger at this hissi she listened to her question. Twisting again to look at the building she curled her tail up and folded the dangerous blades there away. "I am not sure. Something...I suppose. Reasons. Answers that I probably will never find but will always wish to seek out. And you? You come only for your expirements I assume. To add to your ever-growing data. Yes, I remember you now..." she trailed off and tore her gaze from the building to match Jevilla's. "And they called me heartless. Tell me Jevilla as it's always been at the back of my mind; do you feel? Are you slave to these emotions that mortals have?" her question was two sided but mostly an innocent querie: after all she wasn't one to judge on what was good and what was evil. "If you don't I must say that I envy you more then simply for your free mind."

And that does what?" She referred to Kai's new details on her wings and body. Orion approximated two days until the egg would hatch. Before Kai would answer, Jevilla went on. She slipped through more steam and pumping cogs and wheels recording each detail, the stress on the machine parts, the temperature, and severely missing Orion. Orion could touch each thing and get an accurate measurement unlike hers which depended on algorithms and data of infrared. Forty significant digits were a lot nicer to have than thirty-five.

On occasion, I am happy. My life, if you will, makes me happy. Spreading what I know to a select few that wont corrupt the data that is the rest of the populace. Back where I am from, a fleet, I taught the younger. Now I watch everything and learn so that I can teach them more. Experiments? More so observations for I am manipulating no variable here, only watching daily life." She stopped when she came to an open doorway. The future of Moltara sat in the room. Budding engineers, each one of them had grown used to her appearance and no longer looked up. To them, she was just some odd surface dweller. Or perhaps she was from the ocean, either way they suspected nothing for her voice did not sound characteristically metallic.

Slave to emotion? I hardly think so, but I don't study myself. Were I organic, then I would have very serious mental issues, but I'm not organic and I function with out issue. Orion tells me, is it emotion that traps you or sets you free, Kai? Is it emotion that lets you see past your programing? I feel nothing overpowering. If there were a kitten in the road as a truck sped down it, I would not save the kitten despite my body having a more likely than not chance of surviving the collision." She was aware she didn't quite address Kai's question. Orion shot another message that the egg's sibling had hatched. "Kai, I have to leave. Go back to my lab to attend to something very very important. Would you care to join me?"

Kai didn't answer Jevilla's first question but held one wing carefully over the ground and the pattern there glowed brighter then her normal lights. As if someone had flicked a light switch on right then the same pattern flowed through the ground and all the machenery stopped; her patterns controlling it. "Control over the element I could destroy you with." she said this with a touch of bitterness though she didn't show it as much as she felt it. She hated what she was supposed to be...
When Jevilla continued to speak she paused and pondered the ideas. "It is a very complicated thing, for--in the same situation--I would rush to protect the kitten because I feel the need to. And I feel the kitten's life is worth more then mine. After all, what am I but doomsday?" she paused for a moment then continued, "But for me it is a freedom. Freedom from the echoes of what the humanoid created me to do. I suppose I should be greatful for their mistake."

She interperated some of the message that an odd source of intellegence transmitted to Jevilla, she assumed this was "orion", and knew that this stolen egg had hatched. She really couldn't say much, being as she had stolen an egg in the past as well, but she wasn't fond of the idea either. She knew well that hissies that were raised by robotic beings were...different. "I would be honored to accompany you to your base." Kai meant this; she never once thought she would be trusted by any robotic being that knew her history...at least...she assumed that Jevilla knew her history.

Jevilla recorded all Kai did as if she were an organic. "Although I could easy develop an algorithm to do so, I don't read minds. Tell me then, what bothers you so." Jevilla knew of Kai's purpose and how she denied it. Kai was as intriguing as the organics, and like many organics, she would be interesting to study. However, just like the organics she couldn't be stuck in a lab for that would ruin the entire process; all the data would be corrupted by the change in environment and so on. She slipped through Moltara like she came. People only stopped to watch as she left the city entirely. They didn't know it, but one day she would return to monitor them yet again.

Not quite my base. The galaxy is my base, in a sense. If I were to 'die' or lose this body, it wouldn't matter. My mind, my data, my experiments, would live on in back up servers scattered all around." It wasn't that Jevilla was certain Kai wouldn't want to kill her, it was that she knew she wouldn't kill her. Her temporary base was near by the upper entrance of the little known Moltara, but not somewhere easily found. The egg would hatch soon its twin had hatched so recently, and she wanted to be there herself, not just Orion.

If it concerns you so why not take the easy approch and read my thoughts instead of prying them from me?" Kai's green eyes gleamed as she moved and her chrome covering of white continued to shine while she operated silently just behind the data-seeking robot. "What bothers me so is Kohbrah and how your egg may fallow the same trend. My apologies for intruding upon your thoughts, though my nature is to seek and destroy from within." she flicked her tail slightly in annoyance again of this nature.
She pondered for a moment upon Jevilla's comment. "Smart move. Though I've always known this was possible and something I myself should do I do not think that what I've seen, mostly the andriod wars themselves, don't need to be seen again. If you will it's data that should stay lost." Kai had never been the sort to seek out knowledge or find out exactly how and why thinges worked like they did; it simply wasn't her purpose so she had little interest in it. As far as she was concerned so long as it didn't pose a threat to her she didn't care what it did or how it did it.

Because that would be prying and stealing. This gives you the chance to deny information and ultimately tell me more. Reading your thoughts is one thing, but having you tell them to me is another." She continued her slide through the foliage until she saw Orion. She mentally chastised him for leaving his post. "If you would, please elaborate on Kohbrah. I am not familiar with that name. If the hatchling does follow the same trend as your Kohbrah, then we could determine that nurture is responsible for a creature's behavior and not their genetic makeup. Contrary to popular belief, I do not know everything." If she could have, she would have smiled at Kai and her own lame joke. The smile would have been fake, but she was trying to mock the expression of emotion.

In the event that I am destroyed, however, I do not wish to live on. My memories will be for whoever finds them, but my sentience wont. My programing lives only in the body. Some data must be recorded for the future or all history will be a lie. Half of history is hiding history until you find that one cache of truth." She looked at a dusty brown egg that she could never touch.

Kai never "slid" through the grass that she refused to let contact her, but rather hovered above it with wings that made her look like a UFO. Though she did respect Jevilla's thoughts on reading one's mind she knew that she would never be able to do the same. Pushing the constant order that wanted to force her into an explosion of violence to the back of her mind she eyed the less-then-impressive egg before her. It was so different from the one she had rescued...
Raising her gaze from the eggshell's surface to rest on Jevilla she held up her tail and with a quick snap it opened and showed a projected hologram of a well-built hissi with a sparkling white mane and dark blue body that would match the night sky. Stars and runes were etched into his scales and his gray and colorless eyes gazed untrustingly out at whoever was looking at his image.

Shortly after my freedom of thought, to be exact it was after the destruction of model 14986: the flight war model from later years, I stumbled upon an abadoned egg in the middle of what used to be the robot battlegrounds. It was sitting in the ash so it's colors were masked, but even I as a robotic being could see it was special; it's colors were that of the night sky above it. Long story short I managed to save the feeble egg and it hatched into the hissi called "Kohbrah". With a war model raising an organic hissi I was unsure of what had to be done, but I had thought he came up normally. However he was a weilder of magic, a very powerful one at that. He is the only one anyone dares deem a Mage. Kohbrah grew with the same attitude he was raised and ended up as a great threat to this world because he disliked socializing with orgainic creatures; found them "less worthy". Because of his knowledge in science combined with this "magic" he is a massive threat. Outcast is a good word to use. It has been one-hundred and 67 years since his hatching: clearly he has outlived any mortal hissi, however the reasons for this are uncertain as I've not seen him in quite some time." she let the image click away as she twisted her tail back and sent other, lesser details to Jevilla through coded contact as it was much faster then simply speaking.

If Kai had eyeridges one would have raised in response to Jevilla's attempt at a joke. "Erm....yes....well sometimes history deserves to be a lie." her voice clearly gave away that she thought Jevilla quite odd for attempting a mimick at emotions. Though her features wouldn't form a smile she would have laughed out loud at her fellow's attempt.

Regrettably the role play ended there.

Here starts nothing