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+--- Thread: RFC Story: Needs, Wants and Desires (/showthread.php?tid=3010)
RFC Story: Needs, Wants and Desires - Rajvik - 07-21-2014
Wants, Needs and Desires
FSOG housing, Solaris 7 Station: 2024
Loviatar fidgeted in the bed as she waited for her
husband to fall completely asleep. What
she wanted to do was snuggle up to him and his fuzzy warmness and go to
sleep. She had to do something though,
because if she simply ignored the problem and snuggled up to her sleeping
husband then the problem would still be there in the morning, staring at her
from an empty spot at the table in their quarters. Problems were meant to be faced, to be
solved, and this was one she had to face without him and his dour optimism.
Easing herself out of their bed she made her way
quietly as she could out of the room while wrapping herself in a robe and
padding into the living room of their station side quarters. With the bedroom door pulled to she sat down
at the desktop terminal and brought the sleeping computer to full power. First she checked the various infomorph and
scientist forums and chat rooms for the person she was looking for with no
luck. It was however 0200 on most
stations in Fenspace so the cyber was likely either asleep herself or involved
in some sort of experiment and not likely to answer directly anyway. Both frustrated and relieved that she would
have to deal with this at almost a 3rd person level, Loviatar simply wrote A.C.
Peters an email requesting a checkup and meeting as soon as practical for the
scientist, sent it, and then went back to her bed and husband.
As she drifted off to sleep next to her husband, she
thought back to her meeting with the Mad all those years ago...
2014
James had told her that she would like the surprise
he had in store for her, she however didn’t particularly care for surprises,
they tended to hurt. That said she was surprised when they contacted Prometheus
forge for landing clearance.
“A.C., this is my partner Loviatar,” the wolf biomod
said from the step of the bus to the mad. “I need you to make her a new body.”
It was strange to hear a bus squeal like a school girl but it managed it
somehow while Wolfboy just watched A.C. Peter’s jaw just drop.
“I know some people love their cars but [i]damn[/i]…”
The raven-haired cyborg muttered, before straightening up and shooting the
furry morph a look that even Loviatar felt.
“Jeez A.C.,” James said stepping back from the
glare, “It’s not like that I swear. She needs a new body, and I owe her my life
a half dozen times over or more. I can’t keep fixing this old prison bus
because of what the boskies did when they modded it, but I can get her a humanoid
form body to replace it. Also, while I won’t say money is no object, you find
out what she wants and I’ll pay you either in credits or supplies or a mixture
thereof,”
Loviatar didn’t know if she would melt into the
plush leather seat, drift off into the clouds on the scent of the wildflowers
in the vase, or make a mess of herself from the homemade cookies on the coffee
table. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized what all safety measures
in KoFen were for now. And this wasn’t even a fully realized simulation.
“Right then Miss Loviatar,” A.C. crossed her legs,
the movement pulling the A.I.’s attention back to the moment. “What is it you
want in particular? I’ll use your self-image as a start point.”
In the air between them, a holographic model of her
current avatar appeared.
The image that appeared was that of a base Naomi
Armitage, a slight bit more meat on the body softening some of the curves and
rounding the face pleasantly before putting her in an actual U.S. Marine Corps
Woman’s Dress Blue uniform. “Also, well…” The A.I. fidgeted with her hands,
looking away from the emerald-eyed Mad. “I’d like to be, well, able to properly
thank him?”
To the side of the model, a window titled options
popped into existence. The entry “Fully Biomorphic.” wrote itself into the top
of it. Risking a glance at the woman on the other side of the table, the A.I.
didn’t see anything other than a patient expression on her face. “Anything else,”
The cyborg asked calmly. “Any specifics on appearance or capabilities?” This
caused Loviatar to fidget a bit more.
“I’m surprised.” A.C. said gently. “Given your
reaction in the bay I’d have thought you’d have an extensive list of things
you’d like to have.”
Without a word, Loviatar sent her the wish list. It materialized,
floating in front of the cyberneticist. She took it in at a glance, and the
model changed slightly.
“That’s the
basics down.” A.C. told her, and indeed the Options window had filled out with
several new entries. “However, we need to talk about a few things.”
Loviatar blinked as her list returned. Most of the
list was greyed out, but several items were crossed out with attached bubbles
containing notes. Others were highlighted. “I’m guessing that there are
problems attached to the other items?” Loviatar asked.
“Mostly they don’t exist or else they are highly
regulated as military tech.” the cyber answered. “Others will be difficult and
or expensive, but doable with the right paperwork, the easy stuff I’ve already
added to the list.”
“Military tech might be available; we work for Great
Justice in a new division.” Loviatar answered. “And as much as both of us hate
paper work it can be done, so money might be the only thing holding things
back.”
2024
The cockpit window clunked as it closed, one of the fen
craft fighters few quirks. Originally an A-4 Skyhawk, the fighter had been
slightly redesigned around the improved hard-tech hydrogen jet turbines that
James had sold to Bell Aerospace. The fighter once waved for space use had been
dubbed the F-44 Rapier fighter and was one of two that MacDonnell Douglas and
Bell Aerospace were selling to the U.S. military for use in both space and on
earth. James for his trouble received a check from Bell every quarter that
provided quite a bit for their small station as well as their small but growing
homestead on Ganymede. Finally also in thanks the two companies sent a fighter
from each production line up for the Convention and Great Justice’s use. The
F-44 was considered a light fighter with a minimum of guns and hard points,
however it was fast, and as she was given clearance for lift from Solaris Seven
Station, Loviatar used that speed to get on her way towards her appointment on
Prometheus Forge. The email she had sent off had been replied to with a date
and a time for an appointment and as she locked the data into the flight
controls to get there, she let her mind drift back to the last time she had
asked for an appointment with A.C. Peters
2017
They met again in the KoFen simulation so that any
needs wants and desires could be simulated and mapped. "I want to have a
baby." Loviatar said without preamble.
"You and every other anthropomorphic infomorph,"
A.C. sighed, leaning back in her chair.
"If it were easy, it'd be done by now. Obviously, it isn't easy. Before you mention cloning, because most do,
in that case we HAVE a full genetic profile to work with. And then people go to genetic therapy, which
is a completely different kettle of fish.
That is a precisely targeted exchange of certain bad genes for good
ones. No, this issue is this."
In the air between them appeared a long,
surprisingly detailed, animated representation of a DNA molecule.
"Do you know how much of it we actually
understand? This much," The
animation gained a bunch of multi-colored tags, connected by lines to glowing
sections of the model. The floated
around the model like spokes on a wheel hub. Loviatar noticed that while there
were a lot of tags, the glowing sections were very small; to the point of being
near impossible to see. "What you are all asking for is a human body, made
to order. This is not something you can
just throw the wave at and get something that works. You have to put EFFORT into it."
A.C. flicked a finger, dismissing the DNA model. "Can
it be done? Yes, of that I have no doubt. Can it be done QUICKLY? No.”
“But surely you've done work into this!" Loviatar demanded.
"Of course, and don't call me
Shirley." At Loviatar's unimpressed
look A.C. merely raised an eyebrow.
"It's practically required by law to respond that way." At her client's continued unimpressed look
the raven-haired cyberneticist shrugged eloquently.
“Ms. Peters I’m willing to do what is necessary,”
Loviatar answered flatly. “Just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it.”
The next day:
The sim was an exact replica of the meeting room
from yesterday, down to the slightly-too-clean smell. Loviatar hadn’t noticed
that before, mainly because the scent of the flowers in the vase was so much
better on the nose.
To her right this time was a bird perch, almost
touching the empty seat. On this was a reasonably sized blackbird.
Across from them sat a faintly tired A.C., wearing a
fairly simple hot pants and bustier combo under her white lab coat.
“So…introductions I think.” A.C. said, bringing the
attention to her. “Loviatar Bostwick, meet the Magnificent Midnight.”
Loviatar blinked.
“Now, our friendly neighborhood Blackbird here has a
request that dovetails nicely with yours Loviatar, and for similar reasons;
babies.”
“{I would have thought you got a lot of requests for
the ability to bare children.}” Midnight chirped, nocking its avatar’s head to
the side.
“Not as many as you’d think.” A.C. told the bird,
Loviatar slightly nonplussed at the clear understanding of the chirps. “Most
get along fine without going the whole hog.” She shrugged. “Not that they all
don’t WANT it. Anyway, given what you both want the best way I could see was to
create cyber-bioroid bodies. I spent most of last night doing the initial
investigation. That dead-ended so I tossed it all and went back to first
principles.”
“What.” Loviatar said dully.
“The main problem, as I told you yesterday Loviatar,
is the fact you both want human bodies made to order, with all the genetics and
such decided. What I realized by starting again from scratch was that I was
over-complicating the vast majority of the work. What you NEED is merely a
mostly flesh body of the appropriate gender and appearance. Everything else you
want would come out of that by default.”
In the air in front of them over the table a diagram
appeared.
“Basically, I’m going to start with a Julian Friez
machine. It already takes in biomass and spits out a fully formed person. Of
course I’ll modify it to make sure I’m not cloning people. Then I’ll add a
hefty chunk of Biomolding tech so the finished form is configurable. It’ll also
let me add in your current and wanted capabilities without surgery. It’s so
much simpler than cooking up a complete genetic sequencing system, growing the
zygote, and doing the implantation.”
Loviatar and Midnight looked at each other
uncertainly. Both of them had experience with people having Blue Hair Days,
Midnight had even seen Ben in the throes of a Madboy stint. But the sheer scale
of what A.C. was proposing was scaring them. This was supposed to be simpler?
Truly, this was a Mad who could compete with the
Professor.
“Unfortunately, the bodies will probably be heavy on
the handwavium though I’ll try to minimize that.”
Prometheus Forge: 2024
Loviatar
looked around the exam room not for the first time as she waited on A.C. to get
the final results of the tests that the mad had run once she had gotten there.
She had gotten dressed once again into normal clothes once the exam was
finished but since she didn’t expect the results to take this long she hadn’t
brought a book to read and dinking around on the Guest account wasn’t holding
her interest.
Finally
though, A.C. walked back into the exam room with her tablet in hand and a
contemplative look on her face.
“Well
Loviatar, it’s nice to know SOME people listen to their doctors. It does look
like we’ll have to tweak your supplements though.” The raven-haired cyborg
pulled a bottle of pills out of her lab coat’s pocket and tossed it leisurely
to her. “You’ll need to call someone out here to pick you up however, you’re
off flight status for a while.”
Loviatar
looked up from reading the label in surprise, before registering what the label
said and looking back at it in shock to double-check. It DID say ‘For pregnant
women’.
Then
with a squeal of delight she leapt at a smiling A.C. and wrapped her in a huge
hug.
Thanks to Cobalt Greywalker for writing for and the use of AC Peters(dates are a little fudgey but only because i havent nailed them down yet.)
- Dartz - 07-21-2014
Interesting....
An interesting progression. It might be better to group time periods together, to match the Needs, Wants, Desire motif, rather than split the date with two 2024 segments.... it might fit the title better.
Also maybe switch a different font for the Date/Time headings... they tend to get lost in the narrative
Otherwise, it's a fine story. Even if I can't pronounce Loviatar.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
- robkelk - 07-21-2014
I know what my first reaction is, but I'm not going to post it until I've mulled over it for a while.
(Yes, that does have a certain implication... but that's exactly why I need to consider my reaction.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Bob Schroeck - 07-21-2014
Quote:“{I would have thought you got a lot of requests for the ability to bare children.}”"bear" here, as in bearing a load. "Baring children" is undressing them.
That said, nicely done. But as I recall, it won't be the first time. Don't we already have a full Third somewhere in Fenspace who's keeping it secret?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Rajvik - 07-21-2014
Ok one thing that me and Cobalt discussed is that she is not repeat NOT a third type. It was one of the things that ee mulled over in e-mails. She is effectively a made to order human ala Julian Freize. She doesn't have any of her "Armitage" type abilities after 2017.
- Cobalt Greywalker - 07-21-2014
Black Aeronaut had Gina going Third in the Infinities, but it's continually bugged me. Probably (to borrow M Fnord's phrase) the turis(sp?) over Third breeding BA put in.
I didn't have any real way of doing what Rajvik wanted for Loviatar without lots of in universe dev work for A.C. when I had a Blue Hair Day about the Julian Freize machine. It was, almost literally, just after I'd replied to one email when it hit me.
(As an aside, we may need to worry about wave contamination through the screen. That stuff truly gets everywhere)
I'll admit the device has implications, but I believe the Genre Directive will handle the problems (unless those problems let us make more/better stories).
Bear/bare: Proof again spell check and grammar check or not infallible. Arg.
- Rajvik - 07-22-2014
No drek about the wave contamination through the screen, I have weapons designs coming out my ears at the moment. Most of them don't need the wave, they are all hardtech, but the space variants do.
- robkelk - 07-22-2014
Bob Schroeck Wrote:That said, nicely done. But as I recall, it won't be the first time. Don't we already have a full Third somewhere in Fenspace who's keeping it secret?Sort of. Kurumi Asahina built everybody's favorite SOS-dan bridge-bunny Mikuru with the underlying hardware, but not the capability.
Okay, I've been thinking about my complaints. One of them is moot - Kurumi Asahina did it first, as I just mentioned, so there's precedent. The second isn't really a big complaint, more a speck of sand added to a pile:
Why does A.C. Peters get to do everything nifty?
There are plenty of other folks that could have been mentioned here - The Professor, The Jason, the entire faculty and student body of the Vesta Institutes of Biochemistry and Robotics - but this is yet another example of A.C. pulling off a miracle, apparently unaided. Why bother with other Mads if everyone's going to go to this particular one?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Dartz - 07-22-2014
...I um, don't get what the implication is.
To me, it seems, from a practical standpoint, no different than the automated production on a mechatronic AI frame - only with squishy bits instead of steel. There're already AI's designed to be mass produced by their builder... with the right factory you could turn them out by the thousand. And it's a lot easier to build a mechanical frame than get the Designer-DNA right for a functional human being. (Unless you have 3 Cray supercomputers and patch the gaps with frog DNA)
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
- robkelk - 07-22-2014
Cobalt Greywalker Wrote:Bear/bare: Proof again spell check and grammar check or not infallible. Arg.ITYM "are not infallible." (I didn't notice the first time through, either.)
Dartz Wrote:...I um, don't get what the implication is.Just me blowing off a little steam. We've got a big, varied setting here, but we keep coming back to the same corners of it. Need a Mad? Pull in A.C. Peters, and never mind the dozens of others we've created. Need a plutocrat? Call on Noah Scott, ignoring Chris Marsden and Padraig O'Neill. Need a major faction head? Queen Serenity gets the walk-on, and Bjo and whoever else is out there get left out in the cold.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Dartz - 07-22-2014
Huh, I hadn't thought about that.... then again OTOH I'm somewhat guilty of the same thing.
I figure it's because the writer's in the background and Active and able to offer pointers and suggestions - or jump aboard - along with it being a lot more fun having someone else in to collaborate rather than flying solo for the whole story. Part of the fun of Fenspace is coming together with other people to make the story.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
- Rajvik - 07-22-2014
Quote:Dartz wrote:
Huh, I hadn't thought about that.... then again OTOH I'm somewhat guilty of the same thing.
I figure it's because the writer's in the background and Active and able to offer pointers and suggestions - or jump aboard - along with it being a lot more fun having someone else in to collaborate rather than flying solo for the whole story. Part of the fun of Fenspace is coming together with other people to make the story.
That and sometimes its just hell trying to write someone else's character or even an open character that isn't yours
- robkelk - 07-22-2014
We're all guilty of it, myself included.
Most of the open characters don't have much (if anything) in the way of characterization yet. We (including me) really should be fleshing them out.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012