driftfleet | ...And also these.

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...And also these.

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for N-Z characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

N - Q

Nami

Nux

One

Phèdre nó Delaunay
de Montrève

R - U

R. Daneel Olivaw

Rapunzel

Remy LeBeau

Riku

Robin Redbreast

Rogue

Santanico Pandemonium

Shawn Hunter

Stefan (Alesci) Salvatore

Steve "Orion" Rogers

Steven Quartz Universe

Souji Seta

Stiles Stilinski

Syeira

Tadashi Hamada

Tekhetsio

V - Z

Wrath

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Beverly walks over to the window, to get a better look at Giskard. He's not what exactly what she expected, given that he is more of a humaniform robot than full android, clearly not as sophisticated as either Daneel or Data in design. Still, that doesn't tell her anything about his interior workings, how he thinks. After all, appearances can be deceiving, as both the nanites and the exocomps have proven. She looks back at Daneel with a smile.]

And what did you two do together?

We worked together. We managed Dr. Fastolfe's estate, and after his death, we managed Lady Gladia's. Friend Giskard had great insight into the workings of the human mind, and we often spoke on the topic.

[The window shifts, and several scenes flicker through, rapidly, still all from Daneel's point of view.

There is a set of quarters on a spaceship; a petite woman with blonde hair of indeterminate age sleeps soundly in a bed. Giskard and Daneel stand nearby, huddled in soft conversation, but have fallen silent for a moment. Daneel offers his hand, and Giskard looks at it for a long moment, a touch of surprise to the tilt of his head. Their fingers touch, slowly, then their hands clasp. No words are spoken, nor needed.

The second scene is a balcony above a dense swarm of human beings, though under the domed ceiling of the entire City; the blonde woman from before is in mid-speech, a handsome bearded man at her side, Daneel and Giskard at some small distance, a collection of other officials nearby. Giskard suddenly turns to look into the crowd; Daneel follows his gaze, catches sight of a blaster as it fires. The bearded man lunges for the blonde woman, pulling her to safety. Daneel dives for Giskard, pushing him to the ground in time to avoid the blast, which passes through where Giskard's head was and into the ceiling of the room behind them. "Not human. A robot," Giskard says in a low, metallic voice. Daneel rises, surveys the chaos below, and vaults effortlessly over the balcony to the ground a full six meters below to give chase into the shrieking, panicked crowd.

Third, and last, is a small shack on an island in a wide river. The island is paved, but more or less abandoned, and what structures there are seem to be the ruins of an ancient nuclear plant, circa mid-20th century. There are two men nearby, unconscious, and Giskard is seated awkwardly in a chair, with Daneel's hand steadying him. He murmurs a long string of numbers and symbols which appear to have no obvious meaning. His voice grows weaker and more strained, and the glow of his eyes flickers, but he presses on.

The window flickers back to the view of Giskard.]

[These memories... it's hard to know exactly what is happening, considering what little context she has to work with. Still, she is touched by the care Daneel shows Giskard, his hands offering comfort, protection, and support. When the memories end, she stays silent for a good long minute, absorbing what she's seen, especially in that last memory.]

Giskard... is he...?

[She can't bring herself to finish the sentence, already regretting that she might be bringing Daneel pain by having him recall these events.]

Edited 2015-11-22 03:21 (UTC)

[He nods.]

Giskard ceased functioning permanently shortly after that. It was one solar year ago, but his actions, I believe, will ensure humanity will continue to thrive. He was... not able to integrate the Zeroth Law, as I have. Possibly, this is because he is not humaniform.

[She comes back over to Daneel and rests a comforting hand on his shoulder.] I'm sorry. You cared for him, didn't you?

I--

[It's hard to say that, and he pauses on it. It's true. It's just hard to admit that aloud, to a human.]

He was significant to me. He had a deep understanding of human nature, and I learned much from him. I had expected for us to be working together for many years. Yes, I did care for him.

[Beverly gives him a sad smile.] Why don't you tell me some of the things you learned from him?

He taught me much about necessary sacrifices, even if he was not entirely able to make one. He taught me that sometimes, acting to protect can cause more harm, though invisible harm that most would never admit to. He taught me--

[Another window flickers into life, showing Giskard again, in yet another conversation with Daneel while the humans sleep.

"It strikes me that it has taken me so long to understand this only because I am not a human being. A human being would, perhaps, instinctively understand his own mind well enough to know how to handle others like himself. Madam Gladia, with no experience at all in addressing huge crowds, carried off the matter expertly. How much better off we would be if we had someone like Elijah Baley with us. -- Friend Daneel, are you not thinking of him?"

"Can you see his image in my mind? That is surprising, friend Giskard."

"I do not see him, friend Daneel. I cannot receive your thoughts. But I can sense emotions and mood -- and your mind has a texture which, by past experience, I know to be associated with Elijah Baley."

The screen fades, and Daneel does look slightly perturbed.]

Friend Giskard taught me much of the nature of minds, as I said.

[Beverly tilts her head curiously.] Giskard was an empath?

[She had not thought such a thing would be possible with androids.]

Yes. He possessed mental powers.

[This is not quite going the way he would expect -- that is to say, with far less condemnation than he might have thought. Still, Daneel is cautious.]

They were given to him accidentally. He hid this for many years. It is this that gave him such insight into the human mind.

[In fact, there is no condemnation at all, only a scientific, and indeed, personal interest.]

Fascinating! I have of course encountered such abilities in many other species before but it simply never occurred to me that such a sense could be replicated in an artificial life form.

[She is starting to get excited, waving her hands around for emphasis and pacing as she thinks.]

But why not? Soong-type androids, as we have discussed before, have trouble enough processing their own emotions. But, you, and presumably Giskard too, have no such problem. And the Prytt have the psi-wave devices, which are built for organic beings, but presumably they could be modified for androids. It might only work in one direction in that case, allowing the android to read the organic mind, but not vice versa. And it is only designed for a limited number of people...

[She pauses, realizing she is starting to ramble.]

I'm sorry, I am probably not making any sense. You see, my captain and I were kidnapped once, by people who use a telepathic device for interrogations. We escaped before they could interrogate us, but we still had the devices implanted and so were able to read one another's minds until we were rescued and the devices could be removed safely.

[For a moment, Daneel only stares at her. This is. This is completely game-changing.]

Then you are used to dealing with telepathic abilities. This is... not the case. I have reason to suspect that many humans possess the potential to some degree, so the possibility of a race in which all, or even most, have well-developed skills is certainly there.

[He's earnest, and well, he generally is earnest, but he's especially earnest right now, in the face of a huge confession.]

It is an unknown ability, despite that. A robot with such an ability would almost certainly be deactivated, dismantled, and dissected. Friend Giskard had to be very cautious. He was capable not only of sensing the emotional state of minds around him, but of adjusting them, though of course such a thing had to be done very carefully, if at all.

He... passed the the programming matrix to me before he ceased functioning.

[Her interest immediately turns into concern for her friend. Temporary deactivation to deal with rogue programming, she can understand, but full dismantling? That is something else entirely. Even with Lore, it was not something any of them undertook lightly.]

Oh, Daneel. I am so sorry you had to keep that part of yourself secret from me. I would have never... One of my best friends is an empath. I'm not only used to it... I have kind have missed it, missed her. But even if I had never known her, never had experienced telepathy myself, I care about you and would never do anything to purposely hurt you.

You have no reason to apologise. If anything, I'm sorry I was not entirely honest.

[It would be hard to believe if he didn't have the evidence right in front of him.]

It has only been a solar year. I am still learning the limits of my abilities. I... have not had much opportunity to confide in anyone.

Well... [She gives him a soft smile.] Now you have me.

[and he can be sure as hell she will do all she can to help and protect him.]

Evidently, I was very fortunate to make your acquaintance.

[This is a huge understatement. Daneel takes a long sigh, a release more than anything.]

Some species, where you are from, all possess telepathic abilities? It would be seen as normal for them, surely.

Of course. None of them consider it a "power" or even a special ability. For telepathic species, it's simply another sense, like hearing or smell. In the case of the Aenar, it is their primary means of locating themselves in the world, since they have lost their sense of sight over the millennia. The Cairn telepathically communicate with one another via images, rather than words, so they actually have great difficulty in communicating with non-telepathic species. Vulcans must be in physical contact with someone to read their mind, while Betazoids have no such limitation... sometimes Deanna can sense the emotions of people on another ship or even on a planet below. So there is a great deal of variety among telepathic races, in how their abilities operate.

To another planet? I know Giskard was able to touch the minds of men on other ships, but that came with practice. I certainly don't have that sort of range. Perhaps, with time.

Telepathy is not known. It is a rumour that most do not believe in, and those who do would distrust it. There is a very old story, dating to the beginnings of robotics in the early 21st century, about the famed robopsychologist Susan Calvin and a robot with telepathy that told lies that people wished to hear, rather than disappoint them and cause them harm.

[He pauses.]

That story does not end well for the robot. Most believe it to be exaggerated, however, or entirely fabricated.

[She nods, slowly.]It's a disconcerting - violating, even - experience at first. We're used to our privacy, to having a buffer between us and everyone else. So it scares us, to have our minds read like that, especially when there are those who do deliberately - unlike the robot in your old story - use their telepathic or empathic senses to hurt people.

[She takes his hands and gazes at him with intense earnestness.]

But I trust you and I know you would not do that. I hope you trust me too, because I'm not going to let anyone harm you, whether it's for being a robot or for being empathic, or both.

[Daneel looks down at their clasped hands, mildly surprised, but he squeezes her fingers gently. He's certainly not about to turn her away, and the gesture is more than appreciated.]

You are very kind, Dr. Crusher. I'm not certain what it is I've done to deserve this consideration, but I thank you.

[She smiles, both at his surprise and the appreciative squeeze.]

It's the right thing to do. Besides, we're friends, aren't we?

I... yes, I suppose we are.

[Mulling over that "I suppose," she gazes at him for a long moment.]

You're not used to humans saying that, are you?

No, I am not. Partner Elijah said it to me, but it is generally not a thing robots are thought capable of. I disagree on this point, but few would take my opinion on this matter.

Your opinion matters to me. [She squeezes his hands again before letting go.] As long as you believe we're friends, and I believe we're friends, then that's the important thing.

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