“Wow,” said the young boy.
That was one thing that KAREN had always envied about humans; their ability to have a sense of awe when they experienced something new. When you could instantly get any phenomenon completely explained to you in less than a second, it tended to greatly reduce one’s ability to recognize the sublime. On the other hand, a human, even if he or she had advanced technical knowledge about something, was still capable of the detachment required to appreciate that something’s aesthetic value. AIs simply couldn’t seem to replicate this—though, ironically enough, those who experienced “envy” (for lack of a better word) of humans in this area could come remarkably close.
Still, KAREN knew perfectly well what genuine human awe looked like, and she knew how to respond. “Impressive, isn’t it?”
“Um… yeah…”
“Yes, well, this colony was designed to not only be functional, but to be aesthetically pleasing as well.”
Ranma looked out of the dome again, and this time noticed something else. He also saw two other domes, both of which appeared to be smaller than the one he was in. The three domes appeared to line up, with the largest one in the center, and the two smaller ones connected to it with some sort of tunnel running along the ground. However, the young martial artist noticed something odd about them.
“Um… KAREN-san?”
“Yes, Ranma?”
“What’re those?”
“Oh, those are the secondary domes. They house specific types of laboratories, as well homes for the people who live here—though you’ll probably end up staying here in the primary dome, since right now you’re the only human.”
“Oh… well, why are they darker than this one?”
“Well, in order to save energy, we deactivated all but the most essential systems in the secondary domes when the humans left—though we kept a mock ‘society’ going in the primary dome so we wouldn’t get ‘out of practice,’ if you will. Besides, when AI gets to be as advanced as ours, you try and avoid shutting yourself off as a matter of principle.”
“Huh?” The gynoid’s vocabulary was a little ways above his own—an error which KAREN recognized almost immediately. Her solution was to apologize profusely.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Ranma; it’s just that most of my programs were designed for talking with grown-ups—I don’t have a lot of experience with children your age.”
Ranma was a little confused by this, but he still caught most of the shiny person’s meaning. “Uh… that’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” He decided to change the subject. “How come you don’t know a lotta kids my age?”
“Well, probably because very few of them ever came to Golgotha II.”
“Why?”
“Well, I’m not really sure—information as to the purpose of the colony was kept on a need to know basis. I do know that scientific research was one part of it, but other than that, I can’t really help you there—but I think that the one we’re going to meet can answer your questions about the colony better.”
“Oh. Well… um… thanks anyway.” Ranma felt awkward saying it, but one thing he remembered from his mother was that children were supposed respect grown-ups, and KAREN certainly seemed like she was the right size and shape to be one, even if she was unusually sparkly under all of Golgotha II’s lights.
“It isn’t a problem; I’m here to help you, and I’ll do that in any way I can. Do you have any other questions?”
Well, there was one burning question that Ranma had had on his mind since his arrival. “Uh, KAREN-san, why are you so shiny?”
That took the gynoid by surprise. “Because I’m a robot.”
“Oh. Um, what’s a robot?”
KAREN ran a quick diagnostic of her aural receptors to make sure they were functioning properly. Surely the boy must have known what a robot was. But from the look on his face, Ranma was clearly expecting an answer of some kind.
“Well, a robot is a machine that’s designed to do specific tasks that humans either can’t or would rather not do themselves.”
“So you’re not a person?”
“Well, that depends on what you mean by a ‘person.’” KAREN had to restrain herself to keep from detailing the various arguments for and against the personhood of highly developed AIs. “If you mean ‘human,’ then the answer’s ‘no.’ I wasn’t born like you were; I was put together. That’s the reason I’m shiny—all of my parts (at least the outside parts) are shiny.” She didn’t go into so of the more interesting technical aspects of her composition, like the fact that the alloy she was coated was formulated for medical equipment—while it was still durable, and still clearly recognizable as “metal,” to human skin, it felt much less discomforting than other types of metal, like galvanized steel. That, combined with the heating system just beneath her “skin” designed to capitalize on this psychological phenomenon, was why she could hold Ranma’s hand without the boy feeling like his appendage was trapped in a metal clamp. “Is there anything else you’d like to know?”
“Um…”
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Kwakerjak
(Posted Mon, 09 Jan 2006 05:55)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.