Introduction to Robotics, Friday

[not_a_whiner]

A classroom full of teenagers. That was going to be... something.

Kaidan stood at the front of the class, a datapad in his hand and his eyes trained on the students. "Good morning," he said, "And welcome to Introduction to Robotics. I'm Lieutenant Commander Kaidan Alenko of the Systems Alliance, I look forward to meeting the rest of you." He cleared his throat. "Over the past year, my... universe--" It was weird, okay? "--suffered under an attack that involved advanced robotic AIs - that's artificial intelligences - called the geth. Much has been said about the geth and what level of sentience they've got. It's something we'll be talking about later down the line."

He put the datapad down on the desk. "But not yet. I'm given to understand most folks here aren't from the same place, though," he said, "and as we're going to be talking about advanced technology, I'd like to know where your worlds are at, and what experience you might have had in dealing with robotics, virtual intelligences, things like that. So let's start off there."

Comments

Re: Introduce Yourself

[ultron_junior]

Okay, so Victor had taken this class out of sheer curiosity -- it wasn't often you saw yourself on a syllabus -- and now he was kind of wondering if that had been a good idea. If the geth were bad guys and Alenko held a prejudice, he might be in a Xavin 2.0 situation here. That had kind of been the opposite of fun the first time.

"Hi, I'm Victor Mancha," he said, quiet and intent. "Junior. I ..."

Oh, hell. Honesty was the best policy, right?

"I am an artificial intelligence," he finished. "A cyborg. I'm ... about top of the line for my world, I guess, but there are a couple others on close to the same level."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan wasn't a guy inclined to stick to his prejudices if he got evidence to the contrary - in fact, he generally preferred thinking of people as individuals, not representatives of any group.

That... did not make this any easier on him.

"You're an AI," he said, blinking twice as he tried to process that. "...Huh."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[ultron_junior]

"Yeah," Victor said, and twirled his pen between his fingers as he tried to figure out what else to say. "I mean, there's human DNA in there, obviously, and the nanites are supposed to all merge into a human form by the time I'm an adult. So AI's ... only about half-right."

Apparently, what else to say was babbling about the technical details. Victor frowned.

"Do you want me to drop the class or something?"

Re: Introduce Yourself

[not_a_whiner]

If anything, this was going to be really good training for him for when Shepard came back a cyborg in a year or two.

"No," Kaidan said quickly, rubbing at the back of his neck. "No, of course not. Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. You're just the first human--" and non-murderous-- "--AI I've ever seen. Met. The first one I've ever met."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[ultron_junior]

"Oh. Hi. I'm supposed to say 'I come in peace,' right?" Victor sounded wary, but willing to give the teacher a chance. "You're the first human from the Systems Alliance I've ever met."

Unless Majesdanes or Skrulls were part of it, and he didn't think they were.

Re: Introduce Yourself

[not_a_whiner]

Yeah, Kaidan was starting to feel like a real asshole for warning Topher about AIs in plain view of this kid. (He was still wary, but-- the kid seemed like such a kid, and now he wanted to know how this worked...)

He laughed awkwardly. "Good point," he said. "And I'm a biotic," he added, as a peace offering, "so you can strike that one off your list too, if you... haven't already."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[ultron_junior]

Kaidan's suggestion to Topher about AI shackles had Victor bristling a bit, but he knew Ultron. He understood why a human would say limits might be needed. Of course, if Hank Pym had understood how to properly leash an AI Victor wouldn't be there, so his enthusiasm was ... qualified at best.

"A biotic." A long pause, and there was the slightest hint of something robotic about his utter stillness as he thought if you were inclined to look for it. "I don't know what that is, but it ... sounds cool?"

Re: Introduce Yourself

[not_a_whiner]

"Right."

It was probably a lot easier calling 'look, people treat me as a freak, too' if the other party was actually aware of the prejudice in question.

"It's complicated," Kaidan said, "And it's not really relevant. Welcome, Victor. I look forward to getting your perspective on everything we'll be talking about here."

He meant that.

Re: Introduce Yourself

[ultron_junior]

"I can help with anything up to showing off my circuitry or letting you play with my programming," Victor said, with a wary glance toward Topher. "And thanks. I'm looking forward to it."

He meant that, too.