❧ i n b o x

[abheirrant]

—pposed to know when to start speaking? That wasn't a very thorough explanation on what I'm to do this, now was it? Hello? Hello? Are you listening to me? Are you even still ther— [beep]

Comments

[superposition]

[ He glances up at it and shrugs. ] I suppose. Are you that surprised, after the teakettle? "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke, I think.

[ Similar effects, produced by different mechanisms. And Carlisle's not at all unusual for drawing parallels to things he does understand - Qubit was doing the same thing when he tried to explain magic. BUT ANYWAY back to the story. ]

Where was I? Right - so here's the Earth. [ He gives it a spin with a gesture. Damn, that is a sweet Earth, you might say. ROUND,, ]

Let's say you want to mathematically represent a point on its surface. Say, this one. [ He pokes a spot on the east coast of North America, and it lights up orange. ] How do you think you'd go about doing that?

[abheirrant]

[Sliding out from behind the table as though the hologram might bite him were he to move too quickly, Carlisle studies the glowing, translucent orb.]

You... would have to divide the world into specific segments, like squares on a map. And where they intersect would be the point's designation?

[superposition]

Close! Very close. [ So he's familiar with something like Cartesian coordinates, that's a good start. ] Of course they won't be squares, since the surface is curved, but -

[ Qubit taps a couple of keys on his watch, and the globe redraws itself more abstractly, a plain blue sphere with the continents outlined in green, and a few more elements that get drawn in as he mentions them, sometimes poking the globe and sometimes his watch. ]

Rotational axis, north pole to south. Equator - an orthogonal plane bisecting the axis. They intersect at the center of the planet, we'll make that the origin. [ Represented by another orange dot. ] Lines of latitude - indicating the angle of deflection north or south of the equator. So here's thirty degrees, sixty, and the poles at ninety. Lines of longitude - the angle east or west of an arbitrary Prime Meridian, here. Thirty, sixty, ninety, and they meet at one-eighty. And I should clarify, these are just the conventions in use on my world, yours may be different.

[ Which is a long and excessively pedantic way of saying "yeah, you divide it into segments." They've got a very nice wire-frame Earth now. Good job. ]

However - [ he holds up two fingers. ] - that still only gives us two-dimensional coordinates. What about elevation?

[abheirrant]

[Though he flinches as the globe redraws itself, Carlisle doesn't nearly jump out of his skin this time. Small steps. He squints as he examines it, tentatively giving the image a prod with his finger.]

Yes, ours are quite different, I believe. I am no cartographer, unfortunately, nor do I know a proper way to measure elevation. For the mountains near my home, we kept such measurements to how long it would take to traverse them on foot, were one foolhardy enough to attempt it.

[superposition]

[ Baby steps! The image, of course, does not bite. Or respond in any way. See, not all technology is out to get you! ]

Hm. "Dead reckoning" in more ways than one. [ Cause... cause if you get it wrong, you're dead. It's mildly amusing, okay. ]

Not quite the level of precision I'm looking for, though. You'd need a proper survey - manual, or via satellite, or a barometric altimeter, properly calibrated, of course. But let's say that's been done, you have that data. Now you can express any position on the planet as a vector in a spherical coordinate system.

[ With his finger, he draws a line connecting the center with the dot on the surface. The surface end has an arrow. ]

The components being, of course, latitude, longitude, and magnitude - your absolute distance from the center of the Earth. Which is preferable to mean sea level, since technically the planet is an oblate spheroid, not a perfect sphere.

[ Still following? Good, cause he's moving right along. ]

So now, let's say you want to be somewhere else. [ He looks up the target coordinates on his watch, and does the math in his head while he's talking. ] All you need to solve for is the transform between this vector and the new one, and that's basic linear algebra.

[ Plugs in his answer, and voila - the vector swings over to a point in central Europe. Qubit smiles, self-satisifed. ]

Child's play.

[abheirrant]

[Annnnnnd Qubit lost him somewhere, probably right around the time he started talking about barometric altimeters and something about vectors.]

And... what did this Hermann fellow do with such equations, again?

[superposition]

[ ... Okay, yeah, maybe he did get bogged down in the details a bit there. Whatever, it's fine, we'll fix it in post. He was making his way toward the point, though: ]

Oh, he teleported himself to Germany.

[abheirrant]

To the Oktoberfest?

[He's lucky he can recall that word with how fuzzy the lights in his eyes are. That is some good tea.]

[superposition]

[ A short laugh. ] Not quite. He actually ended up further south, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. His hometown.

[ Or Earth-β's version, anyway. But homesickness does not make such distinctions. ]

He was still figuring out his power at the time. I believe at this point he'd only worked out teleportation in theory - it was the first time he'd actually done it, and he hadn't meant to. And then he didn't have enough energy to make the return trip, so he asked me to come pick him up.

[abheirrant]

How utterly terrifying that must be, to accidentally discover the reach of your abilities.

[HE WOULD KNOW.]

The ability to simply go home at will would be quite a boon in this place, though if one wanted to return, it wouldn't be as easy as asking a friend.

voice;

[vosseeker]

[ After being informed of this public conversation on the network... ]

"Constructs."

[ The way he repeats Carlisle's word, rolls it around like it's something pestilent. ]

You're playing a dangerous game.

[audio]

[abheirrant]

[Uh oh. It's a good thing this isn't a video call, or Starscream would get to see the look of utter terror on Carlisle's face as he puts together just why he might be getting this call. Despite that, he feigns ignorance.]

I don't know what you're talking about.

Re: [audio]

[vosseeker]

[ Starscream's tone is honeyed and poisonous. ]

Oh, I think you do. "Beings who are constructed" ring any bells?

[abheirrant]

[He does not like that tone one bit.]

Er, yes. That... is how I would generally describe constructs, as they... usually are.

[vosseeker]

And yet your advice didn't imply anything about "usually", did it?

[ It's phrased as a question, but it's definitely not a question. ]

The little automatons scurrying around the colony are constructs. The thing that serves drinks in the bar is a construct. Programmed things which do whatever task is set for them and are unable to think for themselves. They are tools. Glorified appliances.

And yet you, Carlisle, seem determined to classify anyone not made of meat into that lowly category.

Do you know what I did to the last body of authority who decided I was lesser based on my making?

[ Starscream's voice is disturbingly persuasive. ]

Go on. Guess.

[abheirrant]

I- I don't much care for guessing games.

[He's doing his best to keep his growing apprehension out of his tone, but it's there. It's definitely there.]

[vosseeker]

No? That's a pity. Perhaps you'd prefer an in-person demonstration.

You are, after all, not difficult to find.

Because I believe we might need to have a discussion about clearing up a few of your... misconceptions. That's the polite thing to do, isn't it?

[abheirrant]

No no no no, I- I don't think a discussion or demonstration are necessary. I wouldn't- I wouldn't want to waste your time further, of course.

[A beat, and because he can't contain his paranoia:]

Am I really that easy to find?

[They haven't met, have they? This fellow can't possibly know what he looks like. Then again, Kabal found him pretty easily that one time, and he is rather... distinctive. Anyone who saw him once would know who they are looking for. There aren't many other people who are covered head-to-toe nearly all the time, after all.]

[vosseeker]

[ All the playfulness drops out of Starscream's tone in an instant, like someone's flipped a switch. Suddenly his voice is frigid and flat. ]

I insist. Since you are determined not to recognize the inorganics here at the same level of sentience as the rest of Anchor's population, the only reasonable way forward is to consider you a threat... and to act accordingly.

[abheirrant]

[That didn't answer his question, which does not bode well. Carlisle's nerves continue to bleed into his tone.]

I- I never said you were incapable of sentience. Or even th-th-the same level of sentience.

[vosseeker]

That conversation says otherwise.

[abheirrant]

I fail to s- see how.

[vosseeker]

Wrong. Answer.

[abheirrant]

I do not know what you want me to say! It's- it's obvious you're sentient, even if you are constructed!

[Someone just hand the man a shovel so he can dig his own grave.]

text

[tsuyoi_ame]

Hey! Sorry about the fence, I'll be by to fix it.


[Intends to fix the entire fence, but politely making it an offer to fix the small piece he broke.]