003 — handwritten [graph paper]

[argents]

[ July 1st.

This time, Banagher's number is copied down on graph paper. What appears isn't anything handwritten, but a rough technical sketch. An empty jumpseat of some kind, crowned by three screens and what looks like an impossibly advanced panoramic HUD. The rest is left sparsely detailed — no buttons, concrete controls, or clues as to what this cockpit (what else could it be?) belongs to. Save for the odd one-on-one occasion, he's been tight-lipped about what exactly has splashed itself uninvited across his memories, never knowing for sure what to trust when it came to himself. Never quite believing he could have been this... thing's pilot.

Off to the side, around some messy notes, is a scrawled out line of text in another language: À mon seul désir. There's a poetic ring to it, nearly romantic.

It's odd, placed next to a piece of technology so futuristic. ]

It's weird. I had to wrack my brain to remember this thing enough to put it on paper, even if I can't forget it. [ A pause, possibly to tap his pencil. ] If you asked any kid when they were younger what they wanted for their birthday, a giant robot probably ranked pretty high, right? Not so much when you're 18, though. When things like this aren't even supposed to be real...

[ Let alone crazy brain powers. At least he was getting used to those. And more importantly: ]

...it could have come with a better name.

[ Which he is hoping like hell wasn't his doing. ]

Comments

[Handwriting]

[talktothedoll]

[The image of the jumpseat is soon accompanied by a small partial sketch of a technical plan for an octopus robot.]

Believe me, I have a pretty good idea of how you feel.

( handwritten )

[argents]

No way! ...What does it do?

( handwritten )

[talktothedoll]

It starts out as a can and turns into an octopus. Flies around by spinning its tentacles, and it squirts ink.

I got the plans. My brother got the robot itself.

[argents]

[ Idly, he fills in the sketch with said ink squirts. ]

Sounds like something you could use in a cubicle war. I can't believe it actually appeared for you though. Can you make more?

[ A little arrow appears next to the schematic for it. ]

[talktothedoll]

I probably could, but I'd need materials. Equipment. Not quite on the level of what yours would take to build, but still more than I have access to at this time.

[argents]

That's true. Even with all these clues we're still so limited...

It has to be significant though, somehow, don't you think?

[talktothedoll]

One can only hope.

I'm not sure what significance a flying, ink-squirting octopus robot has, but at least my brother seems to enjoy it.

[argents]

When you put it like that...

Maybe it's a prototype?

[talktothedoll]

Still seems like an odd prototype.

Are you thinking it would be something on the scale of what you're remembering?

[argents]

Yeah, but when you think about all the other odd things happening, it's hard to feel like there's any real scale...

[ Who's to say it wasn't a 70ft octopus robot in another life, right? ]

Oh but! [ A pause, then a line break. ] I have a different robot with me. He's like a toy.

[talktothedoll]

The only scale I really have is the one my brother got back, along with the grasshopper-like ones we both received. They all seem fairly toylike.

I don't suppose yours turns into a can, does it?

( handwritten → video )

[argents]

Grasshoppers too? It's like a zoo or something.

I don't think he turns into a can though! He

Hang on a second!

[ Banagher retrieves his laptop and enters in his network numbers to switch to video, not having very many qualms about showing his face to strangers. What appears isn't his face, but rather a spherical, basketball-sized robot. ]

This is Haro!

[ On cue, the robot intones: Hello! Hello! Networker too? ]

[Text > Permavideo]

[talktothedoll]

[Mort also activates a video feed with his webcam. He's got no idea how to respond to the cheerful little basketball.]

Ah...yes, I'm a networker, you could say...

[Yeah, no idea how to talk to robots. He pulls out what looks like a silver and gray can, pops the top, and it turns into a small grasshopper-like robot.]

This is the one I got. It doesn't talk.

[argents]

[ Banagher sets Haro off to the side, though a tinny Doesn't talk! Doesn't talk! still follows. ]

Wow, with a real pop tab and everything, huh? Does it do anything else, even if it doesn't talk?

[talktothedoll]

It can send and receive video.

[It's also hopping around Mort's desk. It's an energetic little grasshopper.]

My brother's received a matching unit, so they'll come in handy.

[argents]

[ Honestly, that was pretty cool. He might prefer it over the behemoth he remembers. ]

They can probably go places that aren't so easy for us to reach, huh? Like the mines. Or if you wanted to be really incognito.

[talktothedoll]

There's no denying there are several applications for such a thing, true. It's too bad we only received them after the mines.

Does your small robot do anything other than speak?

[argents]

I don't really like having to think like this but... I get the feeling there might be more instances like that, so.

He hasn't done anything out of the ordinary? His AI is pretty good though.

[ Like a next level Furby, but not spawned from the depths of Hell. He thinks. ]

[talktothedoll]

Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree with you.

[It's a troubling thought indeed, really. More danger like the mines? No, thanks.]

I wouldn't be surprised if he developed any other strange talents.

[There's a sigh.]

I suppose there's precious little that should surprise us anymore.

[argents]

He has a clock! And he knows how to sound like a bomb for some reason. ...I found out the hard way.

[ Pressing random buttons and thinking you're going to detonate your toy robot and accidentally demolish your apartment wasn't the most fun way he could think of spending an afternoon, that was for sure.

There's a bout of heavy silence, a little sniff. ]

Even if that's true, and we shouldn't be surprised by these things... I don't think I'd want to get used to them either. Like, thinking, 'That's just how it is' and getting desensitized, you know?

[talktothedoll]

That must have been rather alarming...

[Yeah, he's really glad none of the weird robots he's encountered have made explodey noises yet. Plus, Eugene probably would have had too much fun with that.]

I understand completely. None of this should lose its importance, no matter how commonplace it starts to seem.

[argents]

[ If they ever find themselves in need of a distraction tactic... ]

Yeah, like that. I don't know how, or if I even can, but I want to think I could be someone who could live with it. All of this, whatever it ends up meaning.

[talktothedoll]

[It would be the greatest of distractions.]

That's admirable, certainly. There's something to be said for adaptability.

[argents]

I feel like it's just talk right now. But it's my hope.

[talktothedoll]

Don't give that hope up. It's a valuable thing to have at a time like this.