Post by Raki on Aug 24, 2007 23:29:22 GMT -5
Life has a funny quality of becoming much more complicated when one least expects it. Sometimes these complications have the power to throw everything off balance, as with just a flick, everything may change. Things we may take for granted may disappear entirely, or in nearly unrecognizable forms. Either way, these things were never easy to imagine.
This is a fact even for Bogert, despite the massive amounts of knowledge he’d acquired. As, after all, all the knowledge in the world can’t tell you of the finer, unexpected details that lie ahead. Or, even, what may rise out of the past to strike at the most inconvenient of moments.
Regardless, he was quite preoccupied in the ‘now’ as it was. His purpose on this sparkling blue-green planet was to collect as much information on it as he could, and the appearance of the portals had brought even more to the table; and he had suddenly found metaphorical hands much more full. One said metaphorical, of course, as because in his ‘natural’ form, Bogert was a rather… handless, intelligent spaceship of sorts. But even so, the extra workload bothered him none. He liked to work, after all.
But he didn’t enjoy all of it. There were parts that caused him great unease, a misbalance of his logical and emotional sides.
Such as the matter of the tenrec who he’d managed to deroboticize. It was against his code to interfere in affairs of the planet he observed, but for the purpose of new knowledge that code could sometimes be ignored. By creating his own ‘derobotizer’, he managed to learn quite a good deal about the mechanics about the ‘roboticizer’ itself… however; he’d toyed with the life of another in the process… even if that life was a primitive one made of meat. It caused him to feel… guilty. It was times like this he regretted his emotional matrix. It was also times like this he wondered if he even should bend his coding for the sake of knowledge… to interfere can be to destroy, even inadvertently. And to destroy was also against his code…
It made him uncomfortable.
Even when it came to cases such as his… friends. It was odd for him to have friends, really. Making friends wasn’t what he was sent to this planet for, but… friendship made him happy. It made him feel less lonely. However, it also made him feel more involved in the planet. … Perhaps too involved? To observe isn’t to become part, after all.
Such as with his friend, Resson. Perhaps he’d bent the rules again, with Resson. It wasn’t uncommon for Bogert to help the canine out on occasion, though he made it a point not to give the professor anything he couldn’t easily of gotten himself.
Maybe he was getting too involved with everything… and then with the portals and all…
It was a bit odd, that a artificial intelligence so adept at multi-tasking could become lost in thought, without appearing to be so at all.
He was, however, and was jarred quite rudely out of said thought with one, simple message, received over transmission.
<Hello friend.>
Bogert’s mind whirled, a thousand thought processes suddenly nudged out of place. What had that been? A transmission, of course, but… who, what could even contact him? Who or what even knew he was here? And… how did it manage to blind-side him? Bogert always had kept his sensors monitoring every available outlet, and for such a message to suddenly come from what seemed to be nowhere… it was quite disconcerting.
Bogert’s pause only lasted a few milliseconds, but for a machine, that was as close to an awkward pause as one can get.
<Friend? Who is this?>
<Another like you, a wayward traveler, passing through the stars. Ever watching, always learning, someday destined to return home with all the knowledge the universe has to offer.>
Again, there was a pause as Bogert’s processors went into a flurry. There were a few possibilities as to what this may of meant, and some were much more desirable then others. The fact that Bogert’s sensors were completely unable to find the source, however, pointed more towards the undesirable conclusions.
<So then you are another Observer, such as myself?>
<As I have said.>
<Then why are you here? I can do the job fine by myself… did the Council send you?>
<No>
The answer did nothing to alleviate Bogert’s worries. There… had been an advent, some time in the past… regarding a certain individual. A rather dangerous individual. With this stranger appearing, completely cloaked, Bogert had the creeping feeling that this may be that individual…
And Bogert was afraid. And he was even more afraid as to what the answer his next question would be.
<What do you mean by no? The questions are not so simple as to be answered in such a fashion.>
<And yet that is answer is clearly no, however. It’s not required that you know whom I am, you can not do the job that has been given to you, and I have not been asked here by the Council. I must stress that on the second point that it is of no personal insult to you. The Council is not infallible, sadly. They’ve made a great deal of mistakes in their Observation line, with an exception. Which leads me to why I am here- I’ve come to fix the mistakes they have made.>
The moment Bogert realized what was being said, he blazed into action, desperately seeking where the stranger was, putting up every firewall he had at his disposal, using every possible defense he had.
But in the same moment, he suddenly found many things simply wouldn’t respond, like a hand that’d suddenly been cut off, despite the defenses he’d suddenly activated.
<It wouldn’t do any good. I’ve been watching you for quite awhile. Not that you’ve noticed, of course. I know you haven’t noticed. I don’t, for your information, do this indiscriminately. Only to those I know are defective- which, as of so far, as been every Observer I’ve come across. It’s a bit disappointing.>
Bogert realized now what had happened to many of his functions- they’d been disabled without warning.
Whilst machines were not alive in the technical sense, it was possible for them to die in a sense as well. To rob a machine of its functions, to put a stop to it entirely… that was as good as death to a machine.
And this was the fate Bogert now saw for himself. There had to be some way, any way to save himself… perhaps he could stall…
<What are you going to do?? It’d be a waste to decommission me like this! I have so much to report back home, and I->
<It will not be a waste.>
<But if you’re simply going to destroy me->
<I will not destroy you, and I’m quite aware you’re stalling. The only reason you’re even speaking right now is because I allow it.>
As if to emphasize, Bogert suddenly ‘felt’ many more of his functions simple cease to respond.
<As I had said earlier, I’m an Observer such as yourself. My main objective is to acquire knowledge. If I were to destroy you all the information you’ve gathered would be lost. It’d be much more efficient to shut you down then commandeer what you’ve gathered, would it not?>
By this point, Bogert had found a possible escape, but… to use that escape was nearly as bad as ‘dying’… if he were to risk it…
<Regardless, I believe I’ve wasted too much time with you. I am sure I will know you much better once I possess everything you have known. Goodbye.>
And again, like a flash, more of Bogert’s functions ceased. This time, however, it was everything.
The alien ship known as Bogert was no more.
This is a fact even for Bogert, despite the massive amounts of knowledge he’d acquired. As, after all, all the knowledge in the world can’t tell you of the finer, unexpected details that lie ahead. Or, even, what may rise out of the past to strike at the most inconvenient of moments.
Regardless, he was quite preoccupied in the ‘now’ as it was. His purpose on this sparkling blue-green planet was to collect as much information on it as he could, and the appearance of the portals had brought even more to the table; and he had suddenly found metaphorical hands much more full. One said metaphorical, of course, as because in his ‘natural’ form, Bogert was a rather… handless, intelligent spaceship of sorts. But even so, the extra workload bothered him none. He liked to work, after all.
But he didn’t enjoy all of it. There were parts that caused him great unease, a misbalance of his logical and emotional sides.
Such as the matter of the tenrec who he’d managed to deroboticize. It was against his code to interfere in affairs of the planet he observed, but for the purpose of new knowledge that code could sometimes be ignored. By creating his own ‘derobotizer’, he managed to learn quite a good deal about the mechanics about the ‘roboticizer’ itself… however; he’d toyed with the life of another in the process… even if that life was a primitive one made of meat. It caused him to feel… guilty. It was times like this he regretted his emotional matrix. It was also times like this he wondered if he even should bend his coding for the sake of knowledge… to interfere can be to destroy, even inadvertently. And to destroy was also against his code…
It made him uncomfortable.
Even when it came to cases such as his… friends. It was odd for him to have friends, really. Making friends wasn’t what he was sent to this planet for, but… friendship made him happy. It made him feel less lonely. However, it also made him feel more involved in the planet. … Perhaps too involved? To observe isn’t to become part, after all.
Such as with his friend, Resson. Perhaps he’d bent the rules again, with Resson. It wasn’t uncommon for Bogert to help the canine out on occasion, though he made it a point not to give the professor anything he couldn’t easily of gotten himself.
Maybe he was getting too involved with everything… and then with the portals and all…
It was a bit odd, that a artificial intelligence so adept at multi-tasking could become lost in thought, without appearing to be so at all.
He was, however, and was jarred quite rudely out of said thought with one, simple message, received over transmission.
<Hello friend.>
Bogert’s mind whirled, a thousand thought processes suddenly nudged out of place. What had that been? A transmission, of course, but… who, what could even contact him? Who or what even knew he was here? And… how did it manage to blind-side him? Bogert always had kept his sensors monitoring every available outlet, and for such a message to suddenly come from what seemed to be nowhere… it was quite disconcerting.
Bogert’s pause only lasted a few milliseconds, but for a machine, that was as close to an awkward pause as one can get.
<Friend? Who is this?>
<Another like you, a wayward traveler, passing through the stars. Ever watching, always learning, someday destined to return home with all the knowledge the universe has to offer.>
Again, there was a pause as Bogert’s processors went into a flurry. There were a few possibilities as to what this may of meant, and some were much more desirable then others. The fact that Bogert’s sensors were completely unable to find the source, however, pointed more towards the undesirable conclusions.
<So then you are another Observer, such as myself?>
<As I have said.>
<Then why are you here? I can do the job fine by myself… did the Council send you?>
<No>
The answer did nothing to alleviate Bogert’s worries. There… had been an advent, some time in the past… regarding a certain individual. A rather dangerous individual. With this stranger appearing, completely cloaked, Bogert had the creeping feeling that this may be that individual…
And Bogert was afraid. And he was even more afraid as to what the answer his next question would be.
<What do you mean by no? The questions are not so simple as to be answered in such a fashion.>
<And yet that is answer is clearly no, however. It’s not required that you know whom I am, you can not do the job that has been given to you, and I have not been asked here by the Council. I must stress that on the second point that it is of no personal insult to you. The Council is not infallible, sadly. They’ve made a great deal of mistakes in their Observation line, with an exception. Which leads me to why I am here- I’ve come to fix the mistakes they have made.>
The moment Bogert realized what was being said, he blazed into action, desperately seeking where the stranger was, putting up every firewall he had at his disposal, using every possible defense he had.
But in the same moment, he suddenly found many things simply wouldn’t respond, like a hand that’d suddenly been cut off, despite the defenses he’d suddenly activated.
<It wouldn’t do any good. I’ve been watching you for quite awhile. Not that you’ve noticed, of course. I know you haven’t noticed. I don’t, for your information, do this indiscriminately. Only to those I know are defective- which, as of so far, as been every Observer I’ve come across. It’s a bit disappointing.>
Bogert realized now what had happened to many of his functions- they’d been disabled without warning.
Whilst machines were not alive in the technical sense, it was possible for them to die in a sense as well. To rob a machine of its functions, to put a stop to it entirely… that was as good as death to a machine.
And this was the fate Bogert now saw for himself. There had to be some way, any way to save himself… perhaps he could stall…
<What are you going to do?? It’d be a waste to decommission me like this! I have so much to report back home, and I->
<It will not be a waste.>
<But if you’re simply going to destroy me->
<I will not destroy you, and I’m quite aware you’re stalling. The only reason you’re even speaking right now is because I allow it.>
As if to emphasize, Bogert suddenly ‘felt’ many more of his functions simple cease to respond.
<As I had said earlier, I’m an Observer such as yourself. My main objective is to acquire knowledge. If I were to destroy you all the information you’ve gathered would be lost. It’d be much more efficient to shut you down then commandeer what you’ve gathered, would it not?>
By this point, Bogert had found a possible escape, but… to use that escape was nearly as bad as ‘dying’… if he were to risk it…
<Regardless, I believe I’ve wasted too much time with you. I am sure I will know you much better once I possess everything you have known. Goodbye.>
And again, like a flash, more of Bogert’s functions ceased. This time, however, it was everything.
The alien ship known as Bogert was no more.