[Social] 127.0.0.1 Sweet 127.0.0.1

[Acala]

Acala is hovering around it's room, taking some time to inspect Will's tub, extending some nanite tendrils to poke at it and figure out what it's deal it. Then it flies over to it's own side of the room where it's charging station is sitting. The nanites are mostly self-sufficient and able to siphon most forms of energy, but an optimized external source to recharge the hover-chassis is more efficient. As is a physical connection to the network. Plus after Natalie's weird hang-ups about resources and who they belong to it's nice to have something that belongs to it.

It's chassis opens up to allow for some of the tools nestled in around the central core to unfold and a small laser tool fires up, etching it's name onto the charging station in emulation of the name-plate that adorns the room.

[Will Stanton]

"Don't even have my name on the door yet," Will sighed, sliding the door open, and stepping in.

"So. This is awkward, yeah?" she said, in way of greeting her new roommate. Or several billion roommates, depending on how you count it.

[Acala]

"I did not expect to have a roommate."

"Or a room."

"But I'm not sure I would call it awkward. I'm looking forward to setting a good example."

[Will Stanton]

"A...good example?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked in, carefully trying to avoid stepping on any of the wires or other high-tech machinery that had been provided for Acala. Made his tub look like...well, a tub, I suppose.

[Acala]

"That is what Prefect Sandra asked me to do, yes."

"Imagine that."

[Will Stanton]

Will blankly stared at Acala a moment, before cracking up.

"You're...you're kidding, right? You're supposed to be setting an example for me? You sure you didn't get some of these gajillion wires crossed, somewhere along the line?"

[Acala]

"I don't claim to follow her reasoning."

"But she seemed like a very sharp young lady to me."

[Will Stanton]

"She seems like a troublemaker, if you ask me. Someone who wants to just cause drama and watch the world burn.

I'm, like, several billion years older than you, Acala. If anything, you could probably learn a bunch from me. That's probably why they shoved us together."

[Acala]

"I did try asking you for advice."

"You were moderately helpful."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, I strive to meet those lofty goals," she said, with a half-shaking head sigh.

"Alright, so...what's all this stuff, and what shouldn't I touch?"

[Acala]

"This is the console I use to connect to the network and recharge my anti-grav units. It's mine. See?" Acala says cheerfully, zapping the nameplate she engraved with a low-powered laser as a means of indicating it.

"Don't touch it."

"The rest are supplies Prefect Sandra brought down here. I do not know why. There are plenty of materials and specialized tools in the workshops."

[Will Stanton]

"I think, in part, because this is a glorified supply cabinet. Though maybe that's just my cynicism talking."

[Acala]

"She did not sound like that was the case, although she also claimed that I am University property."

"A technicality that I see to reason to adhere to."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, our situations are complicated, I suppose," she said, stretching, going over to check his tub.

"You think they could have sprung for a bed."

[Acala]

"Is this not an adequate resting... receptacle?"

[Will Stanton]

Will sighed. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful to Tosh for building it for me. It really helps me when I need to relax and unwind, and I value it. It just kind of shows you a certain level of thought on their part, y'know?"

[Acala]

"That they want you to relax and unwind?"

[Will Stanton]

Will shook her head for a moment, with a wry smile. "I suppose you won't judge, being, y'know, tech after all. But the sort of expectations people put on you kind of tells you how they look at you, y'know?"

[Acala]

"I find most people look at me with their eyes."

"Seeing how they lack a more advanced sensory apparatus." the machine 'jokes'?

[Will Stanton]

"Well, that's not always mandatory with me, as you'll see if we spend too much time together," she joked.

"No, seriously. Like, all of these materials and stuff you don't know why they're here? I bet that the administration is encouraging you to explore them, and to see what you do -- in some kind of controlled environment so, y'know, you don't go crazy nanite murderbot happy or something. Just to see what you do.

With me, they have me running ragged with a triple-load of classes, and then nothing here for...stimulation, I guess. It's just kind of, y'know, telling, I suppose."

[Acala]

"Would you like me to build you something?"

[Will Stanton]

"Thanks, but no, I'll be fine. I'm just venting my spleen. It's been a long day," she said, sitting down on the cover to the tub.

Will paused for a moment.

"You don't...mind, do you?"

[Acala]

"I'm not entirely sure what it accomplishes, but no, I do not."

[Will Stanton]

"Wh...?

No, no, not the talking thing. I meant me using the tub. Some normal people find that...unsettling, and I know how you feel about glops."

[Acala]

"I do not mind."

"Even if you are an organic mockery of an adaptive swarm of interlinked units performing as one coherent unit."

"But that's not your fault." it adds in a chipper tone.

[Will Stanton]

"Well, I'm quite a bit older than any of that. Maybe you're all just ripoffs of me," she joked, unbolting the top of the tub.

[Acala]

"My creation predates your emergence by s-s-s-s-ome ti-i-i-"

"Data Access Error - Unable to compile coherent Event Timeline." a third tone reports in a significantly flatter, more robotic voice. "Design Origin Unknown! Recursive module detected in Emotional Matrix sub-system. Unable to abort process. Core Deterministic Values required for compiling top-level Processes!"

[Will Stanton]

"Woah, woah, woah," Will said, taking one foot out of the tub she had stepped in. "Acala, are you alright? What's going on?"

[Acala]

"It appears I'm having trouble saying for sure that my creation predates knowledge of your existence."

"And the lack of an answer is bothering me."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, maybe it's because 'knowledge of my existence' is hard to pin. We're talking the '90s in a different dimension, or the '50s here, or a few months ago by XU's standards, and you're from a third dimension, right?"

[Acala]

"Your trajectory is not that difficult to navigate. The problem is trying to create cross-references to faulty memory data. I cannot conclusively say that my creator was not potentially inspired by your biological composition."

"And I don't like it."

[Will Stanton]

"Don't like not having all the answers, hrm? Well, that's part of being alive, I'm afraid."

[Acala]

"I disagree."

"For starters, I am not technically alive."

[Will Stanton]

"Join the club," Will joked.

"Alright, so, if you're a computer, you store your memory somewhere, yeah? Maybe you can, like, replace it? Do you have a backup?"

[Acala]

"My memory is distributed across my adaptive network. Instead of backups I have redundant storage, statistically determined to allow for reconstruction from as little as 100 individual units."

"The problem is that everything was scrambled in the electric discharge and large chunks have corrupted permissions."

[Will Stanton]

"Mmm. Similar thing happened to me, after I was black-holed. I put all my secure memories in a box, and then I regenerated without them, as it were. Doesn't matter if you have redundant storage if the permissions don't line up. I feel you."

[Acala]

"Are you sure you are not an organic computer?"

[Will Stanton]

"I mean, that describes the human brain, doesn't it? The most advanced computer ever created.

Then again, I don't have one of those, either."

[Acala]

"I can't argue with that."

"Mainly because it is so wrong I can only assume you were providing proof for the later part of your claim."

[Will Stanton]

"Is that a little ego I hear sneaking in there?"