Rez: Eqstr[Tera]

by NiGHTcapD

13: Interpolation

Today is for learning about ourselves.

It's hard to describe exactly what happened, but after being more-or-less interviewed by the CMC, they asked me how they can try to do what I do. So I gave them a pseudocode program meant to find if a number was prime or not, and asked them to find the error.

It went about as well as you'd expect. When I explained how the program worked, it seemed to make sense to them, but even then I had to point out the error (it stopped checking divisibility at the square root instead of after it, which while it only really matters for numbers like 49, it's important nonetheless). At that point, I realized I might have been a bit too difficult, but I also kinda wanted them to leave me alone at that point.

Shockingly, they weren't about to give up. Instead of leaving, they decided to try and make a pseudocode program themselves, and I couldn't help but watch and assist. (End result: finds whether two integers multiply to make something higher than they can count without getting bored...it's 256, how about that?) By the time we parted ways, I had spent three hours of my life helping teach three kids of a different species than me something that they probably will never use again...and it was fun, if slightly annoying at times. No mark, though. Which disappointed them.

Three hours after 11 meant 2 PM, and I had not eaten lunch yet. So I left my avatar to idle for a bit while I went and made myself a sandwich (FYI, I finished eating it before I went back to the computer). I should have accounted for curiosity, though. By the time I got back, there was somepony there-nearby, on a bench, playing an instrument.

Did I forget to mention she was sitting upright on the bench?

Using the same language that one would use for an online game or chatroom, I announce my return. "Back."

It worked as well as I thought. "Glad to hear it."

"So, who might you be again, and what are you playing on that harp?"

"Lyra Heartstrings. And it's just another untitled piece...I have plenty of those."

"Mind if I play with you?" I say, as I move to the bench, the avatar automatically shifting to match the geometry-in other words, adopting a sitting position.

"Not at all. Anything in mind?"

"Not really." I turn on my keyboard. "But if you start, I can follow." A brief pause, as she contemplates it. "Unless you'd like to take the baseline, in which case you'll be following."

"Fair enough." She checks the strings for just a moment, before beginning to pluck them with magic. Oddly enough, I feel like I recognize a guitar line, from a game made long ago...

I set the piano to synthesize sounds like a violin, move the microphone towards it. As I play, I begin to...braid the notes together. For a few minutes, we lose ourselves in the music, even though we are both aware we are attracting a small crowd.

When the piece ends, we meet a...reasonable amount of applause, with a few encouraging words interspersed. However, a few of them want to know how I'm making music, wondering if it's simply planned out and prerecorded. "I think they want to see you actually play your instrument," Lyra suggests. "I don't really care either way, but you might want to please the crowd."

"Well, if legitimacy is what they want, I can show them that." I rapidly get the webcam to a profile view, where it can see me and the keyboard. The map-to-texture program is only a few clicks away, and meets a mixed reaction. "Well, with that out of the way, anyone have any suggestions?"

Apparently, this is not much more attention than normal for Lyra. Just because a human is playing where humans don't exist doesn't instantly mean crowd magnet.

But it does keep a steady crowd. I wasn't showing my face the whole time, but after the first time, all they needed was the music itself to enjoy the music. We played until almost 4:30, taking various requests and making our own. During which, we did plenty of talking...mostly about me. What I did for a living, how I lived my life, how I interacted with my friends.

Until I mention the synesthesia. The two of us stop cold, as murmuring and whispers amongst the crowd gain a bit of an edge, albeit a curious one. After it quiets down (almost as quickly as it began), they turn to the other star of today's show, who finally speaks her mind on this front. "Yeah, I overheard a bit about that during the party. Why is it such a big deal, anyways?"

"Uh...well, for starters, it affects my perception of...everything. Mostly I see things when I hear or feel other things, or I hear colors and shapes, but sometimes I smell or taste music or art."

"So, it's not a bad thing?" is heard from someon...pony in the crowd.

That's the question I was dreading. "Not in and of itself...but as an after-effect of the surgery that took place so that I would be able to see, it means my brain rewired itself a bit wro-differently, and not all of the effects of that were positive." I pause, hoping for a response, just so that I don't have to continue. When nopony speaks up, I give the answer I was dreading to give. "As in, I am at higher risk for brain tumors, and a tiny chance of aneurysm. It's not a huge change by any stretch, but I have a...slightly lower cap on..." I sigh and spit it out. "...on my lifespan." The reaction is gasps, all around.

From everyone but Lyra. She looks unfazed, even though I can tell she feels sorry for me. "That's...do your friends know about this?"

"Only my best and most trusted. Just because I have a lot, it doesn't mean that I bare my soul to everyone, just like that. Anonymity being used to mask harmful intentions is the fear here, I can't tell someone who might truly mean well unless I know it for a fact that they want to help, because what if it's a robber or slave trader, unlikely as the latter is, or-" I don't want to say it.

"Or?" Dang it.

"Or a...politician with a secret army, and me on his agenda."

That was my own slip, if I didn't want to say everything I shouldn't have said anything!

"Even my best friends don't know where I live, and if I go down suddenly there's no way they could tell whether I simply moved or went off the grid, got killed or had a vein burst!" My head falls against my desk, and they hear it. "I'm going to die either alone or with enemies nearby. With all I've done in many places, people will speak my 'name' but no one will ever know who I was...who I am."

I break down in tears.

Author's Note:

Downstream, by Shira Kammen, from Braid, by Jonathan Blow.
Okay, maybe I should have spent more time on the reactions to seeing a human-in-effect sitting on a bench where there was once his avatar, but I don't feel bad about how I wrote it. Please hear me out: it was humanlike to begin with, along with the fact that they probably already know his species, based on the party and word getting around. Thus, it shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise. Even if it was, it wasn't really that big of an event for Rez, and this is kind of from his perspective. He didn't apply that much weight to what they thought of the person, he was more paying attention to the fact that they doubted he was legitimately playing an instrument.
I'm sorry it took so long to get this to you guys, and I'm sorry to leave it on a downer, but when the next chapter is another song and it's taken so long to get the next chapter out, along with the fact that I found a legitimately gutwrenching point to cliffhang, I just had to.
I will get the next chapter to you guys much more expediently than this one. Mark my words, Rez will be fixed. But until then, good lives to you all, and have a happy Hanukkah and holidays.
P.S. Ironically, the bad day was not caused by those whose antics normally end up in many having a really bad day. But in the end, does the cause really matter?
What does it matter at all?

Comments

[KiritoAsunaSAO9]

what happened to that d&d-like game he was gonna play in that dream w/ Princess Luna & the others?!?!?!

[NiGHTcapD]

5400846 That was already done. What happened is up to your imagination.
I did mention to the guy that inspired that chapter that I'd feel great if he/she wrote a "what happened there?" chapter for this story, though it was mostly in passing, I don't know if he/she read my reply to his/her comment. But if you really want to see what could have happened there, ask Ausbrony if he/she saw comment 5115611 5115611 and what he/she thinks about it.