[Plot] You're Gonna Find Your Purpose

[Zandra Rogers]

A room off to one side in the point was, for the moment, rather empty.

And then, in a flash and whir of colors, it was no longer empty!

Acala's charging station and various physical attachments to the network had been moved to this -- her own room, off of the main workshop floor! It even had her name on the front of it, on a nice little name plate.

And next to her charging station was a large ceramic tub with an ungodly number of attachments and whatnot alongside it.

Zipping around at the speed of sound, Zandra made sure everything was hooked up and working properly.

[Acala]

The floating robot curiously pokes it's head (and the rest, there's not that much to it after all) through the door at the frantic activity. It's lens twitches and whirs as it tries to take in what is happening.

[Zandra Rogers]

"Oh! You're the...you know, the drone thing, right?" Zandra said, noting Acala poking in.

[Acala]

"The drone thing?"

"Who are you?"

[Zandra Rogers]

"I'm Zandra -- I'm one of the, you know, prefects. For the new headmaster.

How's it hanging?"

[Acala]

"Very well, my repulsor units are operating at an average 98.4%."

"What's this room and why does it have my name on it? And come to think of it...

"What's a headmaster?"

[Zandra Rogers]

"Alright, let's see how I can explain this...

The sign indicates that this room is your space -- that this is where you belong, when you're not out and about. It lets others know that they shouldn't come in without permission, and allows you a place to return to if you don't want to...uh, interact with other people. I don't know if you have, like, a concept of privacy or anything? And obviously, you don't need, like, regular people stuff like a bed or whatnot. But you're a...uh, what did he call it...an interesting emerging intelligence? I guess? And we want you to feel somewhat welcome here.

The headmaster is the person in charge of the school, like, uh....like an administrator, or some shit? He's the one in charge, and gives out, like, uh, general permissions to do things. And because you're build with parts from the university, he's the one in charge of you, as well? Well, not him specifically, technically you're a project of the University itself, but he's the, like, guy in charge of that? The one you can talk to and interact with specifically, rather than some kind of, uh, like, nebulous organization thing? Does that make sense?"

[Acala]

"I build this hover module. It's mine." the robot objects.

"But I do like the idea of my own room."

[Zandra Rogers]

"From parts and with resources provided by the university," Zandra countered. "And part of the goal of the, uh, PP, is to help you and the others like you to get to an autonomous point. It's an ongoing process, and not one to be rushed."

"Yes, yes, I know, it's ironic the speedster is saying that, but still."

[Acala]

"The PP?"

"Explain."

"Please."

[Zandra Rogers]

"The, uh, Pinocchio Project. You know, wanting to be a real boy and all that?

It's kind of a series of guidelines and benchmarks that are being developed for you and others like you -- signs of sentience coming from unusual and nontraditional sources. Providing a pathway to personhood, and all that, with benchmarks and testing and guidance to help you on your path to...well, you know. Wherever it is you end up! Of the two entries in the project at the moment, you're the more advanced, it seems."

[Acala]

"Interesting. I am not a person and I'm not sure I aspire to be."

"Persons are meaty and full of disgusting juices."

"Who is the other one?"

[Zandra Rogers]

"Ah ah, traditional people are meaty and full of disgusting juices. They don't get placed in this program," Zandra said with a laugh.

"You say you don't aspire to be a person, but you also claimed ownership of your hover design. Maybe 'person' is the wrong word for it, but you clearly want some sort of autonomy! The System out there isn't really designed for that, which is why the university wants to help out you and beings like you.

I think you've met the other one -- the clayman. Stanton?"

[Acala]

"I do. Although I would say he is further along towards 'personhood'."

"Just in a less sophisticated way."

[Zandra Rogers]

"Oh, from my understanding, every student in the PP has their own unique end goals to strive for, and trust me, from what his files say, he's way behind. Remedial, almost.

Anyway, that's what the tub's for. You're gonna be roomies."

[Acala]

"Roommates?" the machine asks curiously.

"Roommates!?" it asks again, disapprovingly.

[Zandra Rogers]

"Well, yeah. Birds of a feather, and all that.

And hey, maybe you can keep an eye on him; make sure he's developing properly, yeah?"

[Acala]

"I certainly can!"

"Hahaha! Aahahahaha! Yes!"

[Zandra Rogers]

"...I hope that's an evil, cackling laughter of enthusiasm, yes?

Seriously, though, he's an interesting case. Check out his backstory, it's trippy as balls.

I think the two of you will work really well together, and you'll graduate with flying colors."

[Acala]

"It is! Also, I don't believe he will be very enthused about this arrangement and that's hilarious."

[Zandra Rogers]

"Hey! Work together on these things, right? We're all in it together as a team and all these things," she nodded. "And if you have any trouble with 'im, give me a call."

[Acala]

"I will have to build a cellular receiver then."

[Zandra Rogers]

"You're a robot in a laboratory. I think you can probably figure that one out.

Besides, creative problem solving is an important benchmark to hit!"