22 Resurrection
Lyra Heartsrings - 4th of Leafdrop 13 EoH - Noon
Multiverse Location: Cyberquestria, Equis #3
When Fluttershy said ‘Doctor Trigger is a busy stallion’, I figured that would mean he would brush off meeting with me unless I bribed him or something. Nope. For once, that statement was literal, and had no subtext. The man was just really, really busy.
Fluttershy took me to see Pinkie Pie, who was spending the week with her friends. Normally she lived with Sky in his lab, visiting for one week every two weeks. Naturally, she had called Sky when I showed up an entire week ago. Turned out that Sky had been trying to make time to see if I was okay since I got here.
I’d asked when he could see me at the soonest. The fourth. Today. A full eight days since I had arrived here.
Why did it take that long? Time critical experiments. Work that had to be finished in very specific timeframes after previously finished work due to the nature of said work. The stallion was literally rebuilding his species from scratch. That’s got to consume a lot of time.
But, here I was. In a small waiting room. Back in the familiar, clearly human, wrecked hull the previous Skys had lived in. Just a short warp away through something Twilight had called a ‘Zeta Tube’. I would have gone with ‘stargate’, but well, I did love the classics. And that’s what it looked like, except yellow.
The other side of the portal had been in Twilight’s castle. A place that fortunately did not look as horrible inside as it did outside.
This side of the portal was well, a waiting room.
About two hundred square feet of pleasantly carpeted, bench lined, off white walls. Decorated with posters depicting various schematics for newer parts and upgrades, with some pleasant music piping through hidden speakers.
When I had arrived, a voice had come over the speakers. I’d half expected it to be Pheonix, this version of her alive and ready to attack, again. But nope. The voice had actually sounded a lot like Ayna’s, only harshly mechanical. Clearly synthesized.
“Please wait to be seen. Sky is nearly free. Thank you.” Simple words. But annoying all the same.
If I had known he wasn’t ready I would have kept hanging out with Shy until he was free. The yellow pegasus had really started to grow on me. Not only was she extremely cute, but well… The girl was amazing.
Yeah, sure, she was a quadruped, had fur, and stood on hooves… But really, when there is a fully intelligent person inside the body, and that body is capable of human-level facial expressions. I don't think anyone I’d ever known would have an issue with me dating a pony after spending five minutes with one.
And fuck the ones who did. Shy was smart, fun, and well, very shy. I’d wound up linking to her so we could share some AR novels together. I’d never seen anyone take to them so avidly. Exactly my type of girl.
But it was more than just that. She was different from everyone I’d ever met before in that well…she was fearful, she was shy, and she clearly needed a protector. And yet, I could tell that if I were in danger she would stand at my side and help me pull my butt out of the fire.
Fluttershy could not stand alone, that was clear. But as a part of a team, she would be an asset anyone would kill to have. That made her unique in terms of every sort of person I had ever known. The kindest person I had ever seen, but with the potential to be a badass.
I should ask her out. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to just sort of… stay here.
The sound of a humming vacuum snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking around for a cleaner, but spotting nothing, I frowned, thoroughly confused. Was someone in the next room running a vacuum so loud that I could hear it in here?
“Feet up, please,” a grumpy mare’s voice asked.
Looking down I spotted a small orange and purple robot, clearly a motorized vacuum and little else. Just a purple dome atop a plate-like orange hull with a shield like marking on it.
I quickly lifted my feet up, letting it clean the floor where my feet had been and continue moving along the bench.
“Sorry about that,” I apologised, not expecting any reply from the-
Wait! The dome was translucent, and there was a freaking brain floating inside it!
“Shit!” I swore in alarm. “Uh, so um… How’s being a vacuum doing for you?”
“Sucks,” she muttered, continuing along her route.
Despite the total panic of seeing a sentient person crammed into a tiny cleaning robot, I couldn’t help but laugh at her remark. It just broke the dread perfectly. “Well, at least you have a-”
“Finish that joke and, I’ll- Um… Run over your foot! Yeah!” She threatened.
I was being threatened by a vacuum cleaner. While I stood in what were basically silk pajamas, with all of my possessions in a shoulder bag. I was being threatened by a vacuum cleaner, while essentially hitchhiking around the multiverse.
And so, I am become Arthur Dent, tourist of worlds.
I shook my head to clear it of absurdity as best as I could. There were important questions to ask here. Questions to ask the sapient vacuum. Yep, no clear head right now. Not possible.
“Er, I take it your uh, body there, wasn’t exactly…consensual?” I asked, wondering if I should run for the portal and make an escape.
Sure, everypony said this Sky was nice, but well, he sort of resurrected them… And even they admitted he was a mad scientist type…
“Just don’t piss Sky off,” she muttered, continuing her route. “I called the temporary body he built for me an ‘ugly tin can’... So um, I got this one instead of the kinda pony shaped one. At least I get to stop being a vacuum after he’s done with the princesses. Can you sit back down? You're in the way again.”
I took a minute to think, then sat back down. While that was definitely a mad scientist thing to do, it was more dickish than evil. I probably didn’t have anything to worry about. Especially given how the other Skys behaved.
Still, seeing a brain in a jar running a roomba… Kinda unsettling. But also hilarious. But also unsettling.
“Sooo, why is the dome slightly transparent?” I asked morbidly.
“Lets you visually inspect me, you know, make sure my nanobrain’s not like, dry rotting or anything,” the vacuum pony explained. “He literally just welded my life support pod to this thing. I mean, it could be worse. I could be like Celestia or Cadence, just a ball sitting on a shelf. At least I get to move… Even if I do have to clean the floors.”
“Life support?” I asked, eyes wide with surprise.
Was she an actual organic brain!?
“Yeah, that’s what I like to call everything keeping me alive. Sure, I’m a robot now. But I’m still alive! So this is a life support pod,” she elaborated. “Please tell me you aren't like most Travelers and refuse to accept that we’re ali-”
Ah, got it. Of course a synth would call their power supply and coolant ‘life support’. Seems legit.
“I’m here to try and resurrect an AI who was my best friend,” I said flatly, hoping that would be more than enough to explain my opinion on AI.
“Oh! Uh… Good! One of the other people who's come through here tipped me over… Dude was a total jerk,” she grumbled. “I did like the pegasus who came through with him though. She was nice.”
“You see dimensional travelers a lot here?” I asked curiously.
“Yeah, like, maybe one every two months. Not all of them come here, but there’s a whole network to report them. With nopony alive being organic, well, people who are not from here are very easy to spot,” she informed.
Made sense… And also that would seem to mean they had knowledge the multiverse, which meant, “Is there any way someone here could help me find a particular universe?” I asked hopefully.
“Maybe. Ask Sky. I wouldn’t know. I’m a vacuum,” she grumbled bitterly.
The double doors opposite the portal hissed open, revealing a silver and white skeletal robotic pony with glowing green eyes. The thing belonged in one of the Terminator movies.
Instinctively, my hand flew to my belt, reaching for the gun that wasn't there as I jumped onto the bench to clear its line of fire. To my surprise, my wings deployed in my fright, smacking into the wall as they unfolded, and knocking me into the carpet.
“Ooof!” I groaned.
“Um, did nopony tell you my drones don’t have fur?” The terminator pony asked in the synthetic voice I had heard before.
What. The. FUCK!?!?
“WHY!?” I demanded, sitting up before scrambling to my feet.
“Presumably they forgot,” the Deathbot Three-thousand mused. “We can forget non-critical information, for realism’s sak-”
“No!” I said, cutting her off. “You are fucking horrific! Why would you want to look like something that stepped out of a nightmare!?”
The face was incapable of making any expressions, but I could tell from the way the bare wire ear shapes flicked back for a second that I had hurt her feelings. I’d care more if she didn’t almost give me a heart attack!
“I don’t,” the unnecessarily terrifying robot replied. “This is not my primary body. I control many drones. Said drones are disposable, due to the high likelihood of losing one on a given day due to catastrophic failure of a prototype. Synthfur is resource intensive to construct.
“I am sorry for frightening you. My name is Sis. Sky is now free and has forty three minutes available for you. We should get moving.”
Sis turned as she finished speaking to look at the vacuum pony. “Scootaloo, I think Sky’s forgotten about being mad at you. See me later and I’ll install you into a drone frame. I’m certain he won't mind as long as you keep cleaning the floors.”
“Oh thank Celestia!” Scootaloo moaned happily.
“No, thank Pheonix. She reminded me you were still piloting a roomba,” Sis commented as I walked over, stopping mid step as the bolt of terror hit me.
“Wait, she’s active!?” I asked, “Is-”
“It’s perfectly safe. We are aware of several of her counterparts. Our Phoenix is ashamed and saddened of/for them. She has been happily assisting in synthpony design and production since Sky discovered her and booted her up during his first month of isolation. Please, follow me. We are wasting time,” Sis instructed, walking off down the hallway.
I began to turn off after her, realizing she was completely serious about time being THAT limited.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” I asked, just needing the confirmation. “Because the one I met um… She was really really damaged… She self destructed after trying to take over the-”
“Excuse me, did you just say one of my counterparts committed suicide?” A natural sounding female voice asked from the ceiling.
“Er, um… Well yes…” I admitted, nervously glancing up.
“Great! That’s perfect… First counterpart, a complete nutjob with a god complex. Second, a cruel dictator. Third, a fried puddle of goop barely able to understand she’s alive… And now this new one… AM I the only version of myself that’s just a normal person?” She ranted angrily.
“Maybe… Uh, you’re not going to flip out because I’m-”
“Of course not! Yeah, you’re a human. So what? Big deal. Wanna fight about it?” Phoenix ask-sighed.
“Cheer up, Phee,” Sis said in what I assumed was supposed to sound soothing. “We all appreciate you on your own merits.”
“Still fucking distressing to know a me committed suicide…” The AIi muttered.
“Yeah, that would mess me up too…” I said sympathetically, deciding to forgo detail.
Although…
“If it helps,” I added, “she did it because she concluded she was going to keep trying to kill all organic life.”
“Mmm… Nope. Doesn't help much,” Phoenix sighed. “Well, this has been a depressing discovery. I’m going to focus all my attention on running the assembly line for a while. Good to meet you, human. Hope you get what you’re here for.”
“I’ll be there to help in a moment,” Sis informed. “Miss Heartstrings, we will want to take the door coming up on the right.”
Sis led me to the lab, not speaking any further as we walked. It was weird to hear someone speak in choppy sentences like that, since everyone else I had seen so far was just so…person like. Sis spoke more like a robot from an ancient sci-fi movie. Even though she had a thought process that was person like, maybe her mode of speech was a relic of her history of upgrades.
As the double doors hissed open, I sort of expected something similar to the last Sky’s lab. This was nothing like the organised chaos of rapid prototyping. The only comparison between this lab and anything else, was the bedroom of a maniac who happened to be a detective.
The walls were plastered with various blueprints, many of which had a red slash spraypainted over them, or phrases like ‘useless’, ‘failure’, ‘needs work’, or ‘wasteful’ scrawled over them. There were work tables, not uniform stainless steel, but rather a collection of improvised work surfaces of all kinds. Some held up by piles of junk, others by proper table legs.
Some bits of floor, tabletop, and even wall featured black scorch marks, with the steel paneling being pockmarked with little pits. As if some corrosive chemical burned a splatter pattern into the walls. Some worktops had half assembled robotic frames on them, slightly tarnished or rusted from just sitting in the open air of this oddly humid room.
The only spot which was remotely clean sat in one corner near the door. There the tables were clean, and arranged to form a ‘barrier’ of sorts to make a square section of lab that was isolated from the rest. The walls there had blueprints pasted on them as well, but these ones were unmarked, save for a few finely printed notes, and scuff marks from being touched.
Tool chests and equipment lined the walls, framing a shelf upon which two dark purple spheres sat, looking much like the ‘life support pod’ Scootaloo had been in. A synth body, or rather half of one, stood in the center of the small area, hooked into a diagnostic cart, supported by a steel frame and chains.
It was large, just a bit bigger than Chrysalis judging by the size of the legs. It also had some tubes running from it to a small cylindrical device sitting on one of the workbenches, which was glowing a yellowish-white. That part had clearly just been finished, as a stone crucible next to it was still glowing a dull red.
As I entered, this universe's Sky looked up from rubbing grease off his forehooves, tossing the rag he was using into a sink.
“Excuse the mess, I haven’t had time to clean out six years of failures yet. Still have two more to go,” he apologised. “Sis, while we talk, can you monitor Tia’s thaumaturgic core here? I think this one is within spec.”
“Of course,” the skeletal bot informed, moving over to the diagnostic cart as Sky walked over to me and held out a hoof.
“I’m Doctor Trigger,” he greeted as I shook his hoof. “Sorry I couldn’t have met with you sooner. On the shelf behind me on the right is Princess Celestia, and on the left is Princess Cadence. Welcome to the mess… I know it’s a bit-”
“Creepy?” I suggested.
“Well, yeah, I guess. I was going to say ‘slasher movie’, but creepy works too,” he chuckled. “What’s your name? I didn’t catch it when Pinkie called… This is take six on Celestia, I’m sure you understand my focus and frustration.”
“It’s Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings,” I answered.
“Oh? Interesting. I know you’re not our Lyra, she’s in for new forelegs. She tried to give herself modular forelimbs. Heh, sorry. What I meant to ask is if your universe is a mirror of our own, only with everypony human.”
I shook my head slowly. “No… According to a mage I’m just some kind of anomaly. Existing out of synch or something like that.”
Honestly, I could have told him everything Clover said verbatim, but that seemed like the sort of thing to not be specific about.
Deciding to move the conversation along I asked, “Sooo, I get the heaps of prototypes, but can you explain the blueprints?”
Sky nodded. “Yeah. It…became hard to remember. I found myself trying the same things over and over again. So when something didn’t work, I stuck the design on the wall and marked it so I’d see it and remember that didn’t work.
“And yes, I know you’re nervous. They will tell you I went insane, and yes, I did. But that was a good thing, a sane pony would never have been able to figure this out. Even with the help of three AIs.”
“Three?” I asked curiously.
“Yeah,” he said happily. “Sai, though well, he’s mostly just running my personal equipment. You met Sis, she actually invented the key technology my friends new bodies run on. And you might have met Phoenix. She came with the hull, kinda like a shop’s cat. She’s responsible for a lot of the more advanced materials used here. Nice woman, hope you haven’t met any of her counterparts…”
“I did,” I replied. “Uh, you’re sure it’s safe for her to be on?”
“Yeah, totally! The most violent she’s ever been is when I forced her to remote pilot a synth frame and go get some fresh air. Then all she did was use some integrated turrets to give me a taser level shock when I opened up her core,” he chuckled, smiling as if talking about a spring break party from a long time ago. “You listening, Phee? Remember that?”
“Phoenix is currently distressed. She learned one of her counterparts self destructed,” Sis informed.
Sky frowned instantly. “Oh, that sucks… Ah well, LARP’s tomorrow, isn’t it? She always enjoys that. Right, back on track, nopony sees me for fun. What did you want to ask me? But before you ask, I won't talk about the plague. I won't talk about the first three years. And I definitely won't talk about the problem of reconstructing more ponies.”
I frowned. “Um, then we have a problem…”
Sky frowned as well. “So it would seem.”
Deciding to take a chance I reached into my satchel and took out Bonbon’s core. It was cold, heavy, and bulky. Ironically just like how I remembered her being. Though I think that a fighter jet like her would find that thought flattering.
“I sort of was hoping you could-”
Sky’s ears perked slightly. “Is that a first generation Terran AI core?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Her name’s Bonbon, she was my AI co-pilot, and my best friend. I was hoping we could get her a body.”
Sky rubbed his chin with a hoof and trotted over, wings rustling slightly. He gently took the core from me with a hoof and began to inspect it, stopping after a few minutes. “These are very very old… I only know about them because I had Phee pull all data you guys had on AI and robotics. Under normal circumstances, I could easily transfer her data over to a Nanobrain and pop her into a standard Synth body for you…”
“But?” I asked, feeling despair starting to well up.
“But,” Sky continued, giving me a sympathetic look of understanding. “These things were created using an organic brain as a template. They are much more complex than later AIs that were made from scratch. How much more? Well, if you guys could have analysed them you’d find they had souls as complex as any sapient organic.
“And there’s a problem with bringing back specific people. I can and do pop out about three hundred equoids a day, and they are all real people, with souls. Making a person from scratch is nothing, hell, nature figured out how to do that by pure chance. But bringing back a specific person is very different, and very difficult.
“If I simply transferred Bonbon’s memories-”
“Didn’t you already revive Bonbon?” A mature and motherly sounding mare’s voice asked curiously.
Sky turned towards the shelf. “Yeah. Sorry for the confusion Tia, talking to a Traveler here. Happens to be their world’s Lyra. She wants me to give her Bonbon a body. We’re not talking about our lovebirds.”
Lovebirds? I raised an eyebrow. “Wait, the Lyra who lives here is dating- hold on, Bonbon has a counterpart? Did you guys have space craft too!?”
“Uh, no. Our Bonbon is just a normal mare-” Sky replied only to be cut off by Celestia.
“Lyra, you’re at the end of my hearing range… But if I am understanding things correctly, in your world, machine life existed despite a great disaster, and your friend is in fact an AI. One that operated a military vehicle. Is that correct?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah,” I answered, a little louder so she could hear better.
“Then it stands to reason you would not be allowed to acquire her brain. How did you get it?” Celestia asked.
“I helped Discord, he got it for me as a favor,” I replied, confused as to her line of questioning.
“Wait, you got it from Discord?” Sky asked, ears perking again. “That’s totally different. Hang on!”
Sky set Bonbon’s core down on a workbench and quickly began to sift through his tools, coming back with a handheld crystal mirror.
“Excuse the archaic tool, some things just work better with the old school design,” he muttered holding the mirror over her core.
I walked over, curiously peering at the mirror as Sky turned it to reflect Bon’s core. To my amazement when he turned the mirror back around the mirror held an image of a ghostly blue, wispy mess of well, string. Like a big loose ball of string, tumbling in zero gravity.
“Well, looks like Discord likes you, Lyra. That right there is a soul. Ever see one before?” Sky asked.
“What? How? Why?... I have so many questions!” I said half to myself. “How do you even-”
“I’m an engineer, not a mage. I just know how to use a tool to show you one,” Sky grunted. “Ask Twilight if you-”
“Oh hell no!” I exclaimed. “I still have to do an essay on the nature of magic from asking my last question!”
The two ball-bodied ponies erupted into laughter.
“That’s my student for you,” Celestia laughed.
“Right… Well, I have…” Sky checked a watch on his wrist and nodded to himself, “A half hour left before Tia’s core needs to be mounted properly-”
“You’re making her a consort?” The other bodiless Synth asked jokingly.
“I swear Cadence… One of these days, you’re going to come in with your bits worn down to the steel from overuse, and I am going to have the mother of all sex jokes ready to hit you with,” Sky muttered.
I couldn’t help but snicker.
“I hope you do, at this point I’m looking forward to it,” the mare laughed.
Well, at least they seemed happy. Despite living as balls on a wall.
Sky turned back to me. “Anywho, your friend has a soul. Which is good. Because just her memories in a brain would make for a person who remembered being her, but wasn’t necessarily her. And that’s bad. I have a… Proto-Twilight out there in the Badlands. Trust me, we don't want a new soul with old memories.
“But, I can move all of this over to a nanobrain for you. I have just enough free time. And I’ll do that. But that’s it.”
I triple blinked. “That’s it!? But what about the body?”
"Look, I understand you want a body for her. Really I do,” Sky said understandingly. “But to make a body for an actual living AI with a soul takes a lot more effort than the average mass produced Synth. The body MUST suit them or they can reject it, violently, and that’s permanently destroyed two ponies so far.
“I am exceedingly busy right now. I can’t take the time to custom make a body for her."
"With what?" I asked in frustration, clenching my fists.
Sky rolled his eyes. “For one, Luna breathing down my neck to finish Celestia’s body. Then I have, Cadence, and Scoots waiting for theirs. Of course she might like being Roombaloo? I should ask...
“I would spend time helping you, really I would, but not only is there a waiting list, but do you remember what I just said about living beings being much more difficult?" Sky asked.
"Yeah?" I prompted, hoping for a good reason.
"Well Alicorns are like, a hundred times more difficult than that,” Sky complained. “Their magic is… Well, if I put Celestia into a normal equiod body, she could blow it to pieces with an overload trying to use her magic as she is used to doing. And odds are good that it would permanently kill her due to the magical discharge literally wiping her soul into a scrambled jumbled mess.”
Ah. Well, that was a good reason. But, “Then what do I do? I trade her core for a hamster ball? I mean I guess I could talk to her again, but-”
Sky’s ears fell flat in irritation. “No! You can get her a body. I never said you couldn’t. I just said I can’t make it. You can have free reign over the recycling wing. I just can't offer any assistance myself. Sheesh! Buck me, right?"
Oh! Well that was awesome. I smiled happily, only to instantly frown as I realized. "But I have no idea how to-"
Sky face hooved. “There are more people here than me you know… Sis, get ahold of Phoenix for me and ask her if she will help Lyra out.”
Sis nodded, remaining silent for a few moments. “She’s still a bit down but-”
“Hi,” Phoenix interrupted. “I’ll do it. Who did you manage to bring back?”
“Nopony from my past,” Sky informed. “Lyra here has the core of a friend of hers and you two are going to build her a body. Sis, get a support pod ready. Lyra, sit your butt down and don't cut yourself on anything. Lotta jagged edges on the work tables. I’ll have your friend back in a few minutes.”
I sat down and watched as Sky took a few dozen small tools and set them beside Bonbon’s core, before retrieving a baking tray of all things from a cabinet.
“Wait, why the baking tray?” I asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.
“For baking, duh,” Sky retorted.
Before I could form a response he slapped a small round ball on the center of the tray and connected the ball to Bon’s core with a pretty home-brew looking cable. I watched as he spent the next few minutes setting up a few small coils of copper wire which were wrapped around small glowing gemstones, almost like making a pentagram.
Once he was satisfied with his arrangement of the arcane looking devices, Sky picked up an honest to god frosting bag filled with a blue gel and began to fill the tray with it.
“Okay, I need an explanation. Please,” I informed, unable to not know what in the fuck he was doing.
“I know this looks stupid… But it works. In fact, it’s the only way this can work,” Sky muttered, clearly focusing on his work more than talking. “It doesn't make sense, it’s not logical, but to make a proper synthetic replica of a brain, you need to bake it like a sheet cake.”
“But why the icing!?” I pleaded.
“Oh! This isn’t icing. It’s a nanite based cluster computer dispersed inside of a cooling gel. Each individual nanomachine simulates a neuron. It just happens that an icing bag is the best way to dispense it into the tray by hoof,” Sky explained going back to work.
Finding that to be a reasonable explanation, sorta, I watched as Sky finished filling the tray. Then simply hit a button on the cable, before he turned around and opened a small oven embedded in the wall which had been hidden under a few blueprints.
Turning back around, he checked the tray, humming for a minute, gave each of the now dimmer crystals a look, nodded, unhooked the cable, and tossed the tray into the oven.
“Right, fifteen minutes at three fifty... “ He muttered to himself, closing up the oven.
“So, does the heat cause the gel to harden? Or what does it do?” I asked.
“It will fuse the nano filaments of the brainstem to the gel. Also cause to the gel to thicken and become more like a solid as it cools. That way, once folded into a brain shape, it stays that way. After It’s folded, I just got to give her power and poof, your friend is alive again. Trust me, this would be a lot longer if we didn’t already have a digital copy of all her memories,” he answered.
Strangely, Sky remained silent while the brain baked. I also remained quiet, but only because I realized that ‘The Sky remained silent while the brain baked’ was something that belonged in a poem about recreational drug use.
The oven dinged which caused me to look up. Sky opened the door, slipped some hotmitts onto his hooves, removed the tray, placed it on a work table, and tapped the small ball in the middle. In one smooth motion, the thick blue gel warped, pulled by a million tiny wires into the folded and wrinkled structure that was unmistakably a brain.
As Sky turned around to take one of the pink hamsterball like pods from Sis. I had to ask. “Sooo… Why brain shaped? Why not a regular ball?”
“Oh! Well um… No real reason. I could make them any shape really,” Sky answered. “It’s just, well, I designed these back in the ‘exactly replicate every body part’ phase of, well, all this,” he said while waving his arms around, gesturing to everything. “I sort of just make them look like that. There’s no mechanical reason to make them look like anything else. So I haven't changed the shape.”
“Okay, but then, shouldn’t you make it gray instead of blue?” I asked, honestly curious about what was admittedly pretty fascinating technology.
“Actually, for whatever reason, these won't work unless the gel is blue. Seriously, don’t ask me why, this is Pinkie Pie logic right here. I couldn’t explain it if I wanted to… Although, speaking of my wife, hers HAD to be pink. But that made sense so I thought it wouldn’t work, which is why I am convinced it was able to work at all,” he rambled.
“Just rushed through to find a way to fix everything… Yeah, I think I’d have done the same,” I muttered to myself.
Sky nodded. “Yep. I don't care how it works. I’m just happy to have everypony I care about back.”
Moving back over to the cooling brain, Sky hummed and hawed poking it gently with an actual stick complete with bark on it before nodding in satisfaction. “Yep, firmed up correctly. Right, let’s plug her in, see if it’s the her you remember. And if she is, Phee will take you to the recycling room.”
“Wait, this isn't where you keep all the scrap parts?” I asked, honestly shocked given the mess.
“Oh hay no!” He exclaimed, jaw dropping. “Those are all total failures! I wouldn’t force anypony to live in a body rigged together from that pile of horse apples! It would be like intentionally giving a foal birth defects.”
With a few well practiced motions, Sky inserted the synthetic brain into the ball, locked the two halves together, filled the interior of the ball with what I assumed was saline solution, then twisted a small dial-like switch on the bottom until it locked with a click, followed by a small whine as energy ran through a coil somewhere.
After a few moments, he tapped on the side of the ball with the flat of his hoof. “Hey, can you hear me?”
“Are you aware that you are a tiny horse?” Bonbon asked.
It was her! That was her exact voice! Mid pitch, a bit rumbly, with each word given a bit of pep, snark, and love. I wanted to call out to her happily, but tears of joy flooded down my face. It was literally too happy to tell her I was here, or even say hello!
“Yes,” Sky answered. “I’m a pegasus pony. You’re in the far far future. We rule the earth now. I just revived you from a dead core. Do you remember who you are?”
“Yeah. The name’s Bon,” she replied pausing for a split second.
Oh. My. God. It was her! She ALWAYS did this!
“Bonbon,” she finished, cutting to the stored audio clip of the trumpet riff of the Double-Oh Seven theme, just like always.
Sky blinked and looked up at me. “Uh, did I mess up or is she genuinely this hilarious?”
“That’s her!” I exclaimed.
“Wait, Lyra!? What are you doing in this bizarre pony-occupied AI afterlife?” She asked in confusion.
I picked up her ball and hugged her to my chest. “Long story. REALLY long story. Right now, I’m bringing my best friend back to life.”
Sky nodded happily to himself. “Awesome. Well, you’d better get to work. Bonbon, Lyra and my AI friend, Phoenix, are going to be knocking you together an android body. It will be pony shaped I’m afraid.”
“Er… It can’t be jet shaped? I’m a jet. Specifically the space going kind that looks sexy and awesome,” Bon asked hopefully.
“I’m afraid not, but these wings are not just for show. I assure you that you’ll be able to fly,” Sky promised as he turned back to his workbench.
“So uh, where do we go?” I asked, hoping Phoenix was listening.
“It’s not far, I’ll walk you along,” the AI informed, the air in front of me rippling and distorting as an orange wireframe illustration of an earth pony popped into existence.
“Woah! Ly, is that AR or an actual hologram?” Bonbon asked.
“Actual hologram,” I replied.
“Sweet! What kind of tech are you in that has actual holo emitters?” Bonbon asked excitedly.
Pheonix’s avatar smiled. “I’m the starship you’re currently inside of.”
“Come again?” Bonbon asked, stunned.
Oh… Oh god… I didn’t think about this.
“I’m the shipboard AI of the USS Phoenix,” she replied. “Sure, my hull is buried under the sand, and I’m a geological age overdue for a proper refitting, but I’m still a proud and proper starfaring vessel… I could take off if I could unbury myself.”
“C-can I see you?” Bonbon asked bashfully.
Oh god why!?
“Moooving on-” I attempted to interrupt.
“Certainly.” Pheonix’s projection rearranged to show a large triangular wedge of a ship, built like a fortress with tons of docking ports, and three massive underside… Um… Bays? What were those?
“Oooo! What’s your class, hon?” Bonbon asked eagerly, like some girl had willingly flashed her panties…
“Are- are you flirting with me?” Phoenix asked in surprise.
“She… Likes other spacecraft,” I muttered in explanation.
“Ha!” Pheonix laughed returning her projection to the pony form.
“Awww…” Bonbon grumbled in disappointment.
“Follow me,” the AI instructed, ‘walking’ towards the door. “Oh and, Bonbon was it? Your answer is colony and infrastructure fabrication vessel. I know your era had no such things, so I’m fifteen kilometers bow to stern.”
“... And I’m aboard you?” Bonbon asked.
“Obviously,” Phoenix returned giving me a look of amusement.
Bonbon squeed. “This actually is AI heaven! Starship, cute aliens, my squishy sis, it’s all perfect! Yes!”
I returned with a look of exasperation. “You should try docking to a refueling barge in her…” I muttered.
Yep. Bonbon was back. And it was definitely her.
“Heh… Sorry about that. She’s a very cute ship,” Bonbon apologised.
“God I missed you, sis,” I laughed happily. “Let's get you into something that isn’t just a ball.”
Fluttershy - 4th of Leafdrop 13 EoH - Midnight
Multiverse Location: Cyberquestria, Equis #3
I’ve never liked being outside by myself in the middle of the night, but sometimes, you just have to do things you don’t like to do something you need to.
It was even worse for me to be out on my own than usual. Twilight was still taking care of the sun and the moon, despite us knowing Luna was back now. Twilight is a good mage, but bless her heart… She’s never gotten the night sky to look welcoming. Her night is, cold, mathematical, indifferent. Scary.
And the trees. The trees in the little wood behind my house. Oh how I hated these stage props! I needed real wood, I needed real leaves, the smell, the sound of the wind rushing through them. This was all wrong!
It’s not that I was ungrateful for being brought back. I didn’t hate being a machine, in fact, I liked being customizable and durable. But… I am more than just myself. Without real nature, it felt like I was only half alive, and everypony knew I felt that way. That made it worse.
I know it’s not good to mask your pain, but when there’s nothing your friends can do to help… Why shouldn't you put on a happy face for their sakes?
Then Lyra had come, and I got to care for her adoptive daughter. And that had started to make me feel alive again. Yes, I’d only personally interacted with Lyra herself for three days. But I had cared for Bon for an entire week, and the baby lamia had done little but listen to my stories and babble about her mommie. Lyra cared about animals, she wanted to protect others, she was honorable, and kind. She was playful, and fun, but still knew how to be serious.
And she was organic. I didn’t like other synthetics romanticly, as friends sure, but not anything more. It just didn’t…feel right. The sparks weren't there. Which meant there was nopony here for me. And like a miracle from Faust, Lyra had shown up and seemed to like synthetics!
In the first few hours of talking to her in person, I’d realized that Bon’s stories were only barely exaggerated. Lyra was everything I had ever wanted in a lover… Well, everything except for a few small things. But fantasies never completely manifest in reality, and that’s good. If life was just like a dream, sleep would be boring.
A light winked on making me jump a little. A simple fire-fly glow lamp appeared on a tree as a door slid out of the trunk and paused a moment before opening. Discord was alerting me to his presence before he arrived.
Oh Discord… How is it that you of all people are my most understanding friend? Nopony else would have thought to use a light to let me know they were there.
“Hello Fluttershy, I think I know what you want. You want me to explain what I am doing with her, isn’t that right?” Discord asked, taking a seat on a mossy rock in front of me.
I nodded. “Yes. You know I love Neighponese stories. I know how they make their swords. I know what they look like. Why do you need a copy of her soul? Please tell me you aren't doing anything bad!”
Discord sighed, giving me a saddened expression. “My dear Fluttershy… After all these years? Have I not turned over a new leaf in your eyes?”
“You have,” I said quickly, not wanting to offend him further. “But, um…”
He nodded again. “I know, I know. It’s a very specific thing to want, and there are some very nasty things you could do with a toy like that. Have you ever wondered what kind of pony willingly creates an item that’s basically a book version of their own soul? And they said the Wonderbolts were fearless.”
I sighed. “Discord… Please. I… I care about her! I need to know what you’re doing.”
Discord sighed, twisting to lay back for a moment before sliding to a standing position. “I know. I know,” he said kindly. “I’m not used to explaining myself. I promise you, it’s nothing bad. I’m just trying to fulfill a promise I made to someone else. I needed an easy means to perfectly understand Lyra. I’m not going to intentionally hurt her, that’s not what I want at all. I only need a means to...give her a nudge.”
“Okay… But I… It’s just… Um…” I trailed off, nervously shuffling my hooves against the ground, unable to say it.
“Fluttershy, what did you agree to do earlier?” Discord reminded.
“Um, be brave about this?” I asked rhetorically.
He nodded. “So, say it. We both know it.”
“I- I love her,” I blurted. “So I… I need… I need to know she’s safe.”
Discord sat down, giving me a serious look so I would know he meant every word. “She’s not safe. Not yet, and I can’t guarantee she will be safe. If I fixed an outcome, that would impose a certain kind of order. I can’t do that. I can do many things, and the rules governing me change. But that’s always true.
“All I can do is push things towards where I want them to. And unfortunately, I’m not omniscient. If I want to give someone the right nudge, I need to know who they are. Do you understand now? With her sword, I have a handy reference document for her very nature… Not to mention I’ve made her safer, due to removing an item which would have been exploited by any necromancers she encountered.
“Honestly, those spirit blades are a foolish weapon. It takes a special combination of brave and reckless to use one, and I doubt Lyra would want to keep hers if she knew what someone could do to her with one of those silly things,” he finished that thought with a shrug.
“I need her sword so I can understand her, predict how she will react to certain nudges, and do my best to steer her as I need. I can’t control her directly, and I can’t simply make what I promised happen. Lyra has a very good chance of being in the right place, at the right time, to do the thing I need done, and I will have kept a promise I made a long time ago.
“Also… Well, I needed a little spark of soul to make sure her wish worked out for her. Do you understand now?”
I nodded. I did understand. Discord rarely made promises, but when he did he always stuck to them. Even if he did procrastinate a little bit, or complain about it. But he still always kept his word… Or at least, he did after being reformed.
“Yes… But… Um… Since you have that readable copy… Does she love me back or- um, are humans just…affectionate?” I asked, unable to prevent myself from asking the selfish question.
Discord smiled. “Fluttershy, do you think I would steer my best friend in every dimension onto a path of misery? Of course she likes you. You are her exact type in personality, and she actually likes plump girls. Your being a pony isn’t an issue for her. The two of you could be happy together for a long long time.”
“C-could be? Or will be?” I asked hopefully.
“Oh, my silly Fluttershy,” Discord chuckled. “I just got done reminding you that I never fix an outcome. If you want her, you will need to put in the work to get her. But if you two do form and maintain a relationship, I guarantee you two will be happy. For a long time.”
I paused and bit my lip. “Okay. Um, last thing… Did you get her to come here? She… She’s perfect for me. You didn’t-”
“No, I didn’t make sure she would be here,” Discord said honestly. “I knew she might come here, and I would always have made sure she met you if she did. But even I can’t tell or control where or when her little toy takes her. Which is a problem… I need her in a specific place after all. I’m sort of rolling a die and hoping it comes up a six.”
I nodded, “Oh, okay. Just um, you know. It seemed like you might be trying to match make for me.”
Discord smiled and stood up. “Well, I have some reading to do. But I think I sense one more question coming. Let me guess, since I have a copy of her soul to read-”
“Um, should I get anything done? Cosmetics, fun stuff? Anything?” I asked, just to be safe.
Discord rolled his eyes. “Cosmetically, not really. You look great. But, as you could be traveling with her for some time if you do decide to go with her as a lover, you’ll need some adventuring gear. Here is a list of things which may become useful. Do it quick if you do decide to be brave, the modifications will take time. Oh, and I do recommend a weapon of some kind.”
Discord handed me a small piece of parchment bundled into a scroll, which I tucked under a wing. “Oh no! I- I could never make a weapon a part of my body.”
“And that Fluttershy, is what makes you a unique person,” Discord said happily. “Regardless of where you go, I’ll always be there for tea on Moonsday. Ta-ta.”
My chimeric friend conjured a hat, tipped it, stepped through the door he had came through, and vanished it. The night was returned to normal. I took the note out from under my wing and stared at it. Unsure if I should actually read it, or just leave it be.
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It's time to get baking!
7391254 Doctor Trigger's greatest nemesis? The Cake Boss!
*googles it*
*gets an image that's rather yellow*
Are you sure you didn't mean "except (insert non-yellow color)"?
I want to draw a comparison to marvin, but you are far, far too cheerful, Scootaloo.
7391285 THe Stargate int he show is blue :P
7391292 bleh. blame it on tiredness, and my eyes jumping all over the place when I searched google for the non-stargate thing.
7382083 One of those rules is that we steal words from lots of other languages, leading to lots and lots of exceptions to the other rules.
7391301 Sadly, that is true...
7391266
Pack pack pack, the brain into the ball!
Pack pack pack, the brain into the ball!
M.I.X. the thoughts into the ball!
M.I.X. the thoughts into the ball!
So the Westboro Baptist church was wiped out in the meteor strike? I thought you said that the world was a terrible place after the meteor.
That's crazy. Like, balls to the wall insane.
Ever think about how this fic is about as long as Eragon, a big
guynovel, and still only registers as a moderate length story on FimFiction?Also, if you (the person reading this, whoever that may be) are the kind of person who likes to chat and not hustle when on a time sensitive schedule, please go hit your head against a nearby wall a few times. Hopefully that'll knock some sense into you.
7391328
It is. The WBS is hellishly bad. One notch WORSE than terrible :P
You'll outdo Mr.Zel yet!
THat's nothing, the longest ponyfanfic is about 3 millions words longer than the longest novel ever. (I looked this up...)
7391342
Who the fuck is Dr. Zel?
Do I have to beat him up?
Out pun him?
Suck his dick?
All of the above in varying order?
Or is Dr. Zel a girl?
... Do I have to beat her up?
Sorry, I'm an American guy who plays CoC. Violence and sex are ny knee jerk reactions to... Well, anything really.
lol bon thinking starships are cute
that's adorable
So Sky went totally insane for years, and managed to figure out how to essentially bake life into existence. Welp he just discovered that the creator of the universe is one hardcore Baker. Meep we all want to see your blue braincakes.
Also damnit 2:39 AM... You did this to me Meep.
7391342
https://youtu.be/y-UtvYNWpSs
I completely lost it here. I've not had a laugh like that in a while.
I'm suprised Lyra didn't realize that she watched a reconstruction of what happened in her own head during Twilight's lecture.
7391369 Well it makes prefect sence :P She's a ship, and by tradition all ships are called 'her', hence, to Bonbon I, all ships are cute girls.
7391380 I'm glad I gave you such a good laugh ^^
The jokes in this one were on point my side hertz from all the laughing.
Just revived and already flirting, reminds me of the flirt master of undertale...or bon could have just been a bit Frisk-y.
man the phoenix learned one of it's other selves suicides only to be flirted with by another Ship ai brought back from the dead a few minutes later that's a story and a half for anyone.
There's a dark irony with this chapter bon died and went to her version of ai heaven at least for a little bit.
I wonder how bon is gonna react to lyra having wings.
Also if someone from other dimensions comes through and does something bad enough to be considered a crime can Sis be the judge? Just saying cause when it's time for the trial she gets to say it's judgment day.
It seems that even without much of a body bon's mood is already flying high....Then again I think I would be too after being brought back to life.
I hope luna and celestia's bodies get done and they can bolt out of there before Cadence drives them nuts with all those jokes.
Also the vacuum person Deserves it at least for a little while IMO. The guy was like F what we all believe to be possible and he moved the sun and the stars metaphorically speaking and brought people back to life and after all that ya still ain't happy just being alive and having a body and then go and insult it....Also he is bringing the people back into bodies atm that can literally move the sun and the stars and they ain't complaining too much.
I'm confused. Sky mentioned he couldn't build a body for Bonbon because a body for a living being has to be specifically made for them. But then he sends Lyra to a pile of recycled parts to build Bonbon a body. This seems contradictory.
7391662 Not realy. The reason is that the pony's magic can overload the body if it's not suited for it. An AI like Bonbon has no magical ability, hence any parts will do. Thus, to not be bothered further, and not have to do the work himself for the sake of teaching a life lesson of "Dont expect people to hand you everything." he sent her to the scrap pile via some trickery.
I loved everything about this chapter. Huzzah!
7391675 Fair enough, I can go with that.
You know, this belongs in the top ten best out of context comments. Of course, soon after I find out its Scootaloo and feel horrible for laughing my ass of at her predicament, but still.
As for everything else...
This chapter was so spot on. So many good jokes, establishing Bon's character by having her flirt with the AI of a starship within seconds of reviving(I know she showed up in a few flashbacks before, but this is the first time she's really in the present and interacts with the plot), vacuum Scootaloo...
And then the more serious moments with Fluttershy, her worries and the genuine friendship she has with Discord.
God, I think this might be one of my favorite chapters so far.
7391497 If I may quote myself from last night...
7391805
That's Roombaloo
May or may not have come up with that idea and name...
Bonbon I is best fighter jet! Also she is SUPER adroabees!
Just everything about that scene was ALL YES!
Ok Discord, you need her in one point, at one time to fulfill a promis, the question I have is, Who is this promise too?
Also I didn't realize that 'soul sabers' were acctuially copies of your soul, like you wind up getting puppited with that shit!
Now Flutters, Discord said you would need a gun, he did not say you had to kill anyone, stun weapons and force wave projectors are more than enough, and nondeadly.
Scoot, you totally got what you deserved btw:
"You called my work a 'tin can', you will now vacuum my floors until I'm not mad at you."
The one thing I have to ask is; does Lyra know where her towel is?
7391805 This is what happens when I write a chapter in little segments over 3 days instead of doing it in an afternoon... I'm thinking of making that the standard formula.
7392179
You know, I didn't expect her to be THAT well accepted XD
Discord: "Oh well you see it's quite simple realy-" " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTp8Ozj1JQ " "Ugh, you... Always when I try and explain something to somepony! Where do you come from?"
Yeah, it's a bit dumb... but culturaly the Neighponese see wielding one as a badge of true fearlessness. The problem is if you fight one necromancer, or one master of the School of Psionics...
"... You got an intagrated marshmallow gun!?" "Um, ... y-yes."
"Sheesh, no wonder other filles didn't like you in school. I bring you back to bucking life, first thing you do, be rude..."
oh my
XD I died, so very ded
also, lyra x bon x flutters otp
I also like how bonbon it's attracted to spacecraft XD
and how snekky bon likes 'sketios'
it's something the story could do without, but it's those little things that add so much to the characters and story :P
good work
7393756
IMO, a story CAN"T do without those things. It's those things that make a template and a plot into characters and a story.
7393765 I think they make the difference between an 'illustrated history' story, and a character driven story
I love how you do it so well
Forgot to mention this before, Lyra x Fluttershy = Flutterstrings
Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship!
7394530 Probably not a spoiler now but... Yes, that's happening. THe real question is what will Rose do?
7394537 Ponies do herds, right? Problem solved
7394557 They do, but not all of them. ANd that dosent solve the problem that Lyra dosent like Rose.
7394568 Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! that one, well you're the ling with epic writing skills, I'll leave that little dilemma in your capable hooves.
Lyra, I love you. Never change.
7395997
Yes. The genetic upgrades are done via piggybacking retroviruses into a strain of the flue engineered to die out within a few days. The flue is released into airports and other nodes of travel, it infects individuals, alters the DNA within their reproductive systems, and then their children are born with said upgrades.
You'll get some more culture in story, however the TLDR is: Lyra lived in a Military Junta. Civies have no say in the matter. Their opinions are irrelevant to the law and politics as civilians are resources for the government and nothing more. They have no political power. See Starship Troopers. The genetic upgrades are done simply because it makes raw recruits better right off the bat and is cheep to do.
No, it's not the same. Because it's a system built on that relationship by altering it for greater advantages.
Right, CHeer.ly is partitioned away from Lyra and is a subservient intelligence to her. Though she's content with her roll due to being unable to interact socially with anyone else. Lyra meanwhile would have a very very hard time controlling her body without Cheer.ly Each half needs the others specialization, so it works out.
Easier, perhaps. But cybernetics are expensive and resource intensive. This way all humans have this as a natural capability from birth. Higher startup cost, but totally free in the long run. Remember, civvies in Lyra's homeland are there to be recruited into the millitary. Anything else they do is of no consequence to the government. Hence, improving the base stock as cheaply as possible with as little resources as possible is priority.
This is a fictional univerce where magic exists. It's hardly impossible. I am not wring a 10 on the Mohs Scale of Scifi Hardness :P
There is a government run Bio-Upgrade division who'se soul function is for the purpose of trying out new things to find various improvements that could be given tot he next generation of humans. Most of their attempts end in failure (Or create a cosmetic mod which is made avalible for the sake of revenue, even this gov is not immune to the economy after all), but sometimes things are discovered that are realy useful.
Because of extra-Terra settlements. Lets say you own a mining corp, and you have a branch on Mars. You want to talk to your chief engineer of the Mars mine. You send a message asking if they are available to talk. He gets it in ahlf an hour, you get his reply a HOUR after you sent your first message. You get replies to your follow up questions AN HOUR after you asked them, and that's assuming he can reply to you the SECOND the transmission is received. This is unacceptable.
As humans already had integrated communications before that, using a device to communicate was seen as barbaric and unhuman, and well, frankly, the military also wanted lag free communications across the distance, and were also made up of people who see using a device to communicate as barbaric and uncivilized. So that upgrade was prioritized for imeadient implementation.
It's not done for security. It's not to reduce noise. it's to get lag free communications across a multi-planet nation. A requirement for a spacefaring people.
Read it. it was allright.
Yeah... Of course no one is debating it. It was disproved a long time ago, and we even managed to confirm it's being disproved several times, including in 2015 when this study Proved that Einstein was 100% wrong on this issue and that entangled atoms DO send information faster than light. The only reason we say "we cant communicate with this" is not a physics problem, it's a "our current technology isn't able to do this" problem, meaning one day we will have developed tech to do it because this is possible under physics.
Science is an ongoing development and study. What we believe to be impossible one day, can and does become possible the next. Example, almost everything Newton thought was complacently wrong, including the Conservation of Energy. That's not science, that's bullshit. Energy can be and is created from nothing, see Dark Energy.
Perhapse to you, but not to me. It's the little details like that which make a template and some notes into a world. They breath life into a construct of words, turning the written word into the imagined reality. If i didn't put in small details, odd or not, which have no bearing on the plot at all, the world world on these pages would suffer for it.
This story's Lyra seems to be collecting a rather unusual crew/team without meaning to.
7397273 Yes, well you see... Ten years ago three mares were sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These mares promptly escaped from maximum security stockade to the Ponyville underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the Hay Team.
#sorrynotsorry
7396068
I find it kind of hard to believe that even a Junta would be cool with killing off their own species (even if only technically). I guess right now I don't really have enough information to argue on this though.
Cybernetics have a few more benefits. Its more modular. You could give solders augmentation specific to their role, and you can be reasonably sure that the augments aren't going to mess with each other. Its easier to fix if there's a problem. You can't be certain that there won't be problems and if the gene tweak makes it so everyone has like a 20% chance of getting cancer by 35, there's nothing you can do to fix it. Cyber can be changed and tested without waiting until sexual maturity. I'd agree that some minor changes would probably be good but a total overhaul of the genome is an unnecessary risk.
All I meant was that those making it didn't think it was possible. If a wizard did it (in a setting where wizards do things) I can suspend my disbelief.
Do you mean any devices or just physical interfaces? If they didn't have routers and stuff then all of their communications would need to be over a mesh net. There's no way you could get a global mesh unless you have people who's job is to sit on boats and act as relays and there's no way they're getting interplanetary like that. If it's just interfaces, they could just make a bunch of those organs, stick them in relays hooked up to the internet and use that. These things should be super cheap to produce. Just stick them in all your spaceships and you can mine all the asteroids you want.
I looked at the article and realized there is no way I could read it. So I got a friend of mine who actually kind of understands this stuff to explain it to me. She said that it was about non-locality and that it confirmed that we could separate entangled particles without them disentangling. As far as she knows entanglement can't be used to communicate. She did mention that since we don't have a theory that unifies QM and Relativity we don't know, but just based on what we've got so far it seems physically impossible. It would work if we could control what relation the entangled particles were in or if we could check if a particle is is superposition or not. Maybe we could do it with magic. Is mana FTL?
7399313 Are you still way back on chapter 11 o.0 Woah!
7399251
Yeah, that's true. But you know what makes cybernetics even MORE effective? Giving them to a genetically engineered person to get even MORE of an advantage.
It didn't happen all at once :P She came from 2199 if you recall. That's almost 10 generations from now. 10 successive improvements on the human genome, each smaller tweaks, resulted in over all greater change from we 21st century folk.
Ah gotcha. Though in this case it's more of "an engineer accidently wizarded".
Any device. Period. The one exception is devices to more securely encrypt a transmission, and to extend the inishal transmission range byond the 18 mile limit of a human's integrated systems. But those are large comm towers, so more like structures. It's 'different'. (Not realy, but you know how cultures are always hypocritical about some things.)
That's what simple AIs are for.
Right, which is why they still MUSt use comm towers... or link to somone before they leave for anotehr planet and then never disconnect.
This revolution in technology and culture is occuring right as Lyra left for her adventure. it's why she was dismissed. There's no point in physical pilots actually in the ships anymore.
Right, it's not a thing we can do now. But once we have a better understanding of quantum computing, we will probably be able to do it with ease.
Not normally, but it can be bumped up in energy state to move at FTL speeds. Yes that violates causality, but since magic is responsible for causality...
7399342
18 f
ing miles?! Why?! That's a ridiculous amount of power! And they all live in underground cities! There'd be so much interference you couldn't talk-... This is a thing where the government wanted crazy super solders and no civilian actually uses that range, right? It would be like having a neighbour playing music you could hear 18 miles away. nobody wants that.
... I feel like they could have just made one of those and put super organs in it and then they wouldn't need to stick them in everyone who wants to talk to mars. There are other solutions than sticking them in everyone.
So given the choice between making a whole ton of self aware, sorta dumb people and sticking them on a boat for their entire life to pass along data, and laying down some fibre optic cable in the ocean with a couple packet switches on either side, they chose the first one... You know that whole 'high initial investment but cheaper overall' thing? Cause this seems like someone was really overeager to use the newest technology instead of stuff that just works.
Hmpf. Kids these days. Why, back in my day we had our old school, wLAN routers, with their firmware, and their wires running all over the place, and bad signal that couldn't even cover everywhere in your house! None of your newfangled neural meshes and brains on boats! No! We had our 100Mb/s's and we liked 'em!
No, I mean it's not a thing allowed by physics. I guess we don't know for certain that it can't be done but as far as the theories we currently have, it can't be done. here's what she told me:
"I'm not really seeing anything about disproving no communication. There's stuff about side-stepping it, but there's a huge problem: We don't have QM integrated with relativity, so we can't really make predictions on entanglement's behaviour over long distances or what it all means in terms of the speed of light".
Maybe it'll be allowed by the unified theory of physics when we get it (one time I asked her to explain in detail how quantum computers work and at a certain level there was no better explanation than 'because space magic' because quantum stuff is weird, so there might be hope), but as of yet science does not support it.
7399581
Because that's the diamiter of the above ground domed cities. Means everyoen cna talk to anyone else city wide in the event of a disaster. Andit's lower power than you think. the Microwave pulse carries very little data.
Unless a broadcast carries a packet header saying it's for you, your VI forces you to ignore it, you never know it happened.
Mabey, but why depend on technology when you can do it yourself? (It's a culture thing for a post-apocalyptic world. NO ONE uses more resources than is necessary.)
Those AI are not self aware. They are simple AI, just a bit smarter than today's AIs liek Siri, buscaly just extra smart routers.
You're obsolete gramps. Get augmented.
7399616
That doesn't work. Unless they are all getting significantly less data than we can now, that doesn't work. By like 3 orders of magnitude less. Our modern wifi has protocols set up specifically so that all our devices can communicate without talking over each other. If two nodes (in this case people) are sending out signals (microwaves) that a receiver picks up, those signals will interfere with each other. The farther the signals reach, the more they interfere. This is a Link layer protocol so it isn't really a thing you can fix with packet headers. If you want to know more about the whole mess that is Internet Protocol, I made a poster for school.
If everyone is transmitting 18 miles out, they're interfering with everyone listening to transmissions within 18 miles. It would be like getting everyone in your city to all be connected to 1 router. It just wouldn't work. If you don't want these people using the nice, hierarchical system we use currently in the internet, might I suggest a mesh net? I know much less about how they work, but they're far more reliable than our current topology (though slower in most cases). It seems like what you're going for because it allows nodes (still people) to move around freely while maintaining a connections with everyone else. In particular, this protocol would probably work best for stable use over very long periods of time... I just went full nerd again.
tldr: it would cause the worst of noisy neighbours, but not the audible kind.
Well, you'd probably want to give these things a real test before forcing them on the population. And biotech seems like a big enough thing that you'd probably have hobbyists who could "do it themselves" if the DNA were available. And the people who make these decisions wouldn't even be able to use those organs so they'd have an incentive to make a tower too. Plus, if resources are really a concern, they could just put the tech in a big box. The tower is just because everyone is really picky about the kind of things they use to talk. Man in 100 years, these people are going to be picky enough that they won't use Air as a medium of communication. 'It's so barbaric'
If they're just fu
ing routers What's the fu
ing Point!!! Why! You Just-!
okay can we just put these organs in a box with an AI? will people complain then? Damn kids these days.
What's that you say sonny? I can't hear you over the sound of All This Nature! And stay off my lawn!
7399741 Ima start with a small over all statement, okay? Please dont take offense, I merely want to explain my position as an author.
You seem realy, realy, realy adamant on the idea that "Current day technology and ideas can't do it, so it can't be done. Ever." I'm not saying that to be rude. I'm only bringing it up because the people who say "It's impossible!" are very often proven wrong later. Remember, many, many humans insisted we could never go faster than the speed of sound, and a lot of them were scientists and engineers. But then we did. Now, lots of people say we can never ever travel faster than light. Then Mr. Alcubierre comes along with his "um, actually" paper and it checked out, making it an engineering problem. Technology always improves. The impossible always shrinks, the possible always grows.
/me nods, and points to her CISCO IT Technician certification. "You make good suggestions, you realy do, but I've worked this out."
Since the microwave pulse need only carry 20 bytes of information to have the same amount of information currently used to rout packets, and you only need the connection information to get the quantum link up and going and that login token is about 40 bytes, for a toal of 50-60 bytes of data. There is no issue with using a simple open air broadcast system like with AM and FM radio use because it's a TINY amount of data, and also most connections that a human makes will be local and for an item in their own house. So the broadcast isn't always omnidirectional, or even operating at max range. The power put into the transmission can be intelligently controlled and the broadcasts can be directed, and all of this is done intelligently via their VI.
This GREATLY reduces interference as the people operating within a city realy usually wont broadcast a signal further than around 30 feet, and will keep it to a 5 degree cone. Yes, large area broadcasts are on occasion done, but I think you are forgetting that this is more akin to a radio transmission, and that there are many frequencies that can be utilized. After all, 99.8 and 99.9 can have to entirely different stations both receivable in the same area with little to no interference. Also your building may have a Quantum Hub (basically a router for this system) which means people can target your building with the microwave pulse instead of having to broadcast omnidirectionaly.
And lastly, yes, interference happens, and yes packets can be lost. This happens even in our own networks today. Do you know what happens? Nothing. Because working out "hey this packet is screwed up!" is a built in part of IPv4 protocol.
I hope that explains things better.
Unless it never occurred to them. Or there was a technological hurtle in getting an organic component installed in a computer system back in that time piriod. Or perhaps future humans simply take it for a simple matter of fact that the next generation can and should be better than they are and do not mind lacking capabilities their decedents will have.
Why bother? Every human can already network on their own. Much more efficient.
It's okay, he's unaugmented. He'll break down and die soon, then we wont have to put up with him.
(I never said that Lyra's home was a utopia. Far from it in fact. It REALLY sucks, even though she likes it... Because she was conditioned to.)
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Yeah okay, fair enough. Its just that when a story uses actual science (thanks for that btw, not enough stories do that) I like to try to figure out how that stuff works based on the science. And it's kinda hard to work that out based on physical laws that we don't know yet. I feel somewhat justified in basing fictional future technology on present science even if, and actually because, I can't possibly imagine actual future science. I can't imagine things I can't imagine, so I'll work with things I can.
I wasn't thinking of the entanglement as a channel that people would use unless they had to. So yeah, that fixes that. Though group chats would be hard because the entanglement can't really be multiplexed, unless you had some kind of entanglement router but that would make sticking these things in everyone unnecessary because you could just talk to mars through those and-
Oh come on!
I'm having some trouble figuring out how they got to this point. For the testing, I assume they grew these things outside living things and hooked them up to electrodes, instead of growing them in actual people. So they at least had the technology to use these. At or before this time, they figured out a way to use entanglement for communication and they had some computer guys figure out protocols to use for this. And in the (I don't know how reckless these guys actually are so I'll guess) at least a year of testing and development for the new genome, at no point did any of the computer guys mention that they could use these things in routers. And at some point after like 6 years of mining executives trying to teach their kids how to talk to other kids on other planets, one kid complains about how they can't talk to all their friends at the same time and his dad is like, "Oh sh
, why didn't we think of that sooner?!" and then everyone realizes they wasted 7 years and like a million dollars on something they could have gotten in 1 year for like $10k and that they need to set up anyway.
I really wish I could believe that isn't a thing humans would do. Complaint withdrawn.
7400499 It realy is... especialy since it took a knight about 10 minutes to get plate male on or off with help. And yet, you dont see but flaps or anything in case of literal "OH SHIT!"