text and action.

[coinstability]

Who: Connor + you
Broadcast: yes, fleetwide text
Action: the Iskaulit
When: today

text.

I'm interested to know if anyone has purchased the personal augment upgrades available on the system. Do they work as stated in the description? And does anyone know if the ranks listed but unavailable are likely to become available at any point?

action - the iskaulit.

[Being back aboard the ships 24/7 has given Connor ample time to run through dozens of questions, much like the one he just sent out to the Fleet. The distraction of the planet had meant investigating the Fleet as a whole had taken a minor backseat - something he would never have countenanced back in the old days. Without a pre-programmed need to look into this specific issue, however, the draw of the alien world had proven stronger.

No longer. Now he's going to canvas the Iskaulit properly, instead of the brief tour of the occupied areas he had done shortly after arrival.

This proves a bigger task than expected, given the size of the ship. That isn't much of a deterrent to someone who doesn't need rest or sleep, however, so Connor can be found all over the ship at various times. He tests closed doors, breaking into them where it seems reasonable to do so. He scans the airducts and vents, building an internal map of the space and the likely exit points for the ventilation system. If any cleaning droids are in the area, he immediately goes over to them and touches them with a white palm stripped of his synthetic skin.

This goes well enough until he gets to the cleaning droid in the museum, which dodges his advances until it skitters out of bounds - and immediately starts blaring out an alarm. Connor's pretty unflappable but even he jerks back at the godawful noise, before grabbing the thing and hauling it back into the museum. It goes quiet immediately, much to his mingled relief and frustration.]

Was that really necessary?

[He doesn't expect an answer out of it; it just felt like something he needed to get out there, in case anyone was watching through the droid.

During the day he also lingers in the lecture hall, where he had been on the verge of departing until he spotted the scrape marks around the fake floor tile. Once he pulls out the document hidden beneath it, he stays there a while, flipping through it. Later on after a brief return to his own ship, Connor comes back to an empty room with one of the Fleet-issued sidearms from the Starduck's armoury. A few moments of setting up stray cans and metal sheets later and he begins firing practice shots, pausing in between each firing to readjust his grip as he assesses the gun's particular recoil and handling.]

Comments

[privateeyed]

See, maybe that's it. You gotta ask first - and maybe - I dunno, be more gentle about it? [this is not coming out the way he intended but whatever] My eye freaked out a little after you did it to me.

[coinstability]

[Frankly the idea of being 'gentle' about a routine probe isn't one that would occur to Connor, especially with vacuum cleaners. When Ben mentions something going wrong with his eye, though, that does concern him.]

Is it malfunctioning more after the connection?

[privateeyed]

[he shakes his head] No more than usual? It was just like - right after, it kept giving me a bunch of error messages about you copying files. Usually it just shuts off when it's angry at me, it's never done that before.

[coinstability]

It could be a compatibility problem, given the difference in operating systems.

[He hesitates for a moment.]

I did ask if you wanted to make the connection.

[privateeyed]

I mean, probably. Or because no one's ever tried to access it before, too. Could be a dozen different things.

[he shrugs, unbothered] I ain't mad about it, I already told you it malfunctions all the time. I was just using it as an example, to like - be more gentle with your connecting shit.

[coinstability]

I see. I will evaluate the process and see if it can be improved.

['Gentle' is a strange concept to apply to connections, however. It's not using a feather duster.]

[privateeyed]

I got faith in you figuring it out.

[he shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket] You didn't get any errors on your end, right? Like - I dunno, compatibility issues or whatever?

[coinstability]

No. There was some delay in making the connection because yours is an unfamiliar system-- [A minuscule delay in real terms, but still flagged by Connor's own processing.] --but there were no other problems that I noticed.

[privateeyed]

All right, good. [there's just the tiniest amount of relief in his voice] I don't have like, firewalls or whatever for any of it, 'cuz usually it just - you know, moves onto my computer in my office. Never needed it, but like, you never know what you can catch in a place like this.

[coinstability]

I have state of the art firewalls and security programs. Androids are designed to be resilient to corrupted data or viruses.

[He shrugs minutely.]

Admittedly I had some concerns as yours is completely foreign technology and any problems could be undetectable. I don't think it's a problem though, now that I've done it.

[privateeyed]

[a snort] Brag about it, geez.

[he is absolutely teasing]

You'd probably know if it was a problem before I did, given your advanced state of being and, like, me having no way to test my shit.

[coinstability]

[For once Connor gets it, so he earns a raised eyebrow.]

I am an advanced prototype.

If you have concerns about it you should get it checked by someone capable.

[privateeyed]

[he makes a face, crossing his arms]

I'm not concerned about it, I have a way to deal with it if something does happen. But who the fuck am I going to get to check it? There is literally no one here familiar with my tech or the software except for me.

[coinstability]

That might be the case, but there would at least be other technologically capable people in the Fleet. If you needed a second opinion.

[privateeyed]

Big if there, dude. [his nose wrinkles at the thought] I'm not so keen on people digging around in my shit. You wouldn't want someone you barely know digging around in your wires, right?

[coinstability]

No. I wouldn't.

[Connor scrutinises Ben for a moment before adding:]

You allowed me to make the connection though.

[privateeyed]

Technically, I offered to share and then you brought up connecting or whatever, so it's kinda different. [he shrugs a shoulder, weight shifting from one foot to the other] But it's like, it's one thing to, you know, transfer data or whatever, it's another entirely to let someone mess around with software or hardware. I'm kinda particular about that part.

[coinstability]

You're right. It's an important distinction.

[Connor knows his own feelings on the subject. Just because Ben is only partially made of software doesn't mean he should feel any differently about it.]

[privateeyed]

[Ben opens his mouth but pauses, like the agreement took a moment to actually register.

Or like he's had this exact argument before, but no one's ever agreed with him]

Yeah, see, you get it.

[coinstability]

[???]

Why wouldn't I?

[privateeyed]

'Cuz usually what I hear next is "Ben you're being paranoid" or "shut up and find someone to fix you" or - I don't talk to a lot of people who actually like, understand.

[he waves a hand dismissively] Threw me off for a second.

[coinstability]

Well, the situation may be different for humans like you. Software and hardware only make up a fraction of your body. It's the entirety of mine.

If I needed repairs I would seek it out. I don't know yet how I would evaluate the best person to choose for such a job.

[privateeyed]

[idly] I asked on the network and didn't get much of a response. Know a few people who know computer shit, but not like, advanced computer shit, if you get what I mean.

But anyway, yeah, it's different. Probably. I've never actually had my software fucked up before. It's a nice record I got going.