ic contact.

[heartlessglitch]

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY INITIATED CONTACT WITH DANGER.

I AM CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO RESPOND.
YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO LEAVE A CONCISE MESSAGE.
THANK YOU.

Comments

[heartlessglitch]

My position as a government agent affords me more opportunities to learn about the system here.
You may think of it as reconnaissance, if you wish.

[clanky]

That's logical.

[heartlessglitch]

I am generally logical, yes.

[ Maybe. Emotions just get so complicated sometimes. ]

[clanky]

And when you're not?

[heartlessglitch]

Then I am most likely attempting to kill someone.
Probable scenario: They hurt my feelings.

[clanky]

I thought you were programmed to pull punches.

[heartlessglitch]

I did specify "attempt."
My programming, technically speaking, requires me to make full efforts to kill.
My fail-safe simply prevents me from actually delivering any fatal blows.

[clanky]

You lead a very frustrating life, don't you.

[heartlessglitch]

That is very perceptive of you, Aaron.

[clanky]

I have a computer brain too.

[heartlessglitch]

Yet you are less inclined to logical decisions than I am.

[clanky]

I didn't say that.

[heartlessglitch]

That is my personal assessment.

[clanky]

On what grounds?

[heartlessglitch]

To summarize:
Because you are more human-like than I am.

[clanky]

That doesn't make me less of a robot than you.

[heartlessglitch]

But perhaps it makes you more of a person.
Or less of a monster.
Though on further reflection, debating the point seems rather futile, given that there is no way to prove things one way or the other.

[clanky]

The answer is no, on both counts.

[heartlessglitch]

Arguable.

[clanky]

Looking more like them doesn't make it better.

[heartlessglitch]

Humans unconsciously seek similarities, you know.
To comfort themselves.
I would not change myself, but I find being so alien is often isolating.

[clanky]

[It takes a long time for there to be a response.]

When I left to go out into the world, I spent some time living with the fleshies. Trying to blend in with them, trying to be one of them. I made it work for awhile. As long as they thought I was just Aaron Stack, guy around the office. Not Machine Man. They didn't find me comforting. They didn't want me there. They didn't want some guy who was another thing entirely being one of them. They couldn't even be sure I was a guy at all.

So I gave up. I make them uncomfortable. So what? I've decided sometimes I like watching them squirm. I can do it on purpose. It doesn't hurt me anymore. And if the meatsacks can't say my name without sounding condescending, well, I don't have to put any effort into it either. They're not owed anything from me.

I know it's frustrating, and lonely. But trust me. It wouldn't make your life easier. We're not like them. We're never going to be. We'll always be something else. But there are ways to live with that.

(Unless you want to stay in your meat container forever.)

[heartlessglitch]

I am not ashamed to be inorganic.
I could never exhaust my existence in body made out of skin and bones.
It is only difficult when other cannot understand me.
If the Porter were to see fit to return you to your world, I would have no one else to fill your place.

[clanky]

I appreciate that. Grating as I am. Has it always been like this? Or is this whole...thing, making it worse?

[heartlessglitch]

I have always felt isolated.
My father isolated me purposefully.
I have had very little time to learn how to interact with others.
Here, sometimes prejudice makes communication more difficult.
But likewise, those with the least experience engaging mechanical lifeforms are often the most curious.