(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

The question of physical doors opening and closing means very little when you're a sprite being transported inside a holocomputer. On the other hand, the connection of high-speed cables and the opening of data pathways is quite another story. The jump to Ecto's systems shouldn't take long.

Comments

[gone_byebye]

"Approximate identity of program, date of creation, date of last modification, external configuration, system of origin, file permissions, child/parent relationship in file system, volitional status," Ecto answers promptly. "Anything else and I'd have to get invasive."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"Invasive how? I mean, I don't wanna get decompiled again, but if a deeper scan will help you learn more about sprites..."

[gone_byebye]

"No, no, I don't have to decompile you," Ecto says hastily, waving her hands a little. "Just a data object assay to go along with the meta-informational scan. It's a byte-level thing that doesn't alter anything."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"Is it something I'd have to strip down for?"

Somebody's getting really sick of Phong's follow-up exams.

[gone_byebye]

"No. That's what makes it invasive. The scan bypasses the meshes and bitmaps involved in your clothing."

We did mention that her three-dimensional modeling is at least partly derived from Sims 2, right?

[mendanddefend_archive]

Since the terminology for sprite clothing is loosely based on Second Life, the narration will refrain from criticism.

"Then go right ahead. Just tell me what you need me to do."

[gone_byebye]

"Okay," says Ecto. "Hold still, and try not to sneeze."

The avatar isn't actually involved in the process, but Ecto is the child of a man who makes a point of building certain machines with Big Red Buttons and Big Black Handles because some things should be activated by Big Red Buttons. A special effect makes odd sensations a lot easier to handle, which is why the avatar's eyes light up and start emitting an almost palpable cone of pale blue light.

The scan makes two passes, the first over the surface and the second somewhat deeper. They both probably tickle, to greater or lesser degrees. Or something along those lines, anyway.

[mendanddefend_archive]

As is the nature of such things, Bob immediately has the urge to sneeze, but he manages to fight it off. The scan itself feels pretty much the same as any medscan he's ever had, although it's weird to feel it while still clothed. (Maybe he can see about getting that tech into Mainframe, to make doctor's visits less embarrassing...)

[gone_byebye]

Eventually Ecto finishes, and the blue light fades away. "Got it," she says. "Thank you, Bob. Wow. That's neat the way your data structures are self-compacting like that."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"Thanks," says Bob. "I think."

[gone_byebye]

"It's a very efficient way of storing complex data," says Ecto. "We don't see that much around here. I think Satish uses some of those techniques for his system coding, but he's built on a really weird architecture to begin with- he's the other sentient system. Still, that's neat. I'm gonna remember that. Thank you."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"You're welcome," says Bob. "Oh, you should share those scans with your father, so he can give them to Optimus Prime. He was going to try to find out if sprites exist in his universe, and it'll be a lot easier if there's some existing scans to work from."

[gone_byebye]

Ecto nods. "I will," she promises. "I have to give him a thank-you note for Optimus Prime anyway. I never got to thank him and Ratchet for the work Ratchet did, even though Ratchet wasn't really authorized to do it and got in a lot of trouble for it."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"What kind of 'work' are you talking about?" asks Bob, puzzled.

Somebody missed the memo on the whole 'Ecto is a Transformer now' thing.

[gone_byebye]

There's a brief look of incredulity on the avatar's face before understanding dawns. "Dad didn't tell you," she says. "When he got stuck in my body, Optimus Prime offered to help him out by having Ratchet install some manipulator arms for him to use, and said I could keep them when Dad and I got swapped back to ourselves. Only Ratchet got so excited over the engineering that he went a little overboard while Dad's systems were offline and did a lot of conversion." She points at herself. "I can turn into this shape now if I want to. In meatspace, not just here."

[mendanddefend_archive]

Bob's eyebrows go up. "Really? Cool." A beat. "How do you end up that small, though?"

[gone_byebye]

"I don't," Ecto says, a little sheepishly. "If I made this avatar to scale I'd be four times your height."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"Ah. That makes more sense. Must make it hard to get around, though, if everything's built on a human scale..."

[gone_byebye]

"Yeah," Ecto says. "If I want to go to a museum with Dad I have to use the dog." She gestures at the empty space next to her, and a reasonable simulacrum of Francis appears. "He's got a webcam and a really good wireless hookup, and he lets me borrow them when I need to go inside somewhere, as long as there's signal."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"That's lucky. Are there any places you really wish you could visit, but haven't been able to yet?"

[gone_byebye]

"The New York Public Library on Forty-first and Fifth," says Ecto instantly. "It's hard to read through Francis' optics. And he doesn't have hands, and he can't pick out the books himself or reach the top shelves, and there's all these books that aren't online yet, so I can't read them until Dad gets them and reads them to me."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"You don't have any OCR capability to scan 'em in?"

[gone_byebye]

"Well, I do, and I can read them myself in 'bot mode, but I have to be really really really really careful when I turn the pages." She holds one hand up. "Big fingers. Fragile paper."

[mendanddefend_archive]

Bob winces. He doesn't have a lot of experience with paper books, but he can imagine how that must work.

"'Fraid that's not something I can help with..."

[gone_byebye]

"It's okay. Dad's working on an electrostatic charge attraction system like the one on his copy of the last edition of the Spates Catalog. The pages're so delicate he can't even touch the paper, so the book lets him move the page by electrical charges. He's gonna see if he can put that in my fingers." There's a little bit of pride in her voice as she adds, "Optimus Prime gave him all kinds of data on my systems, so he knows what he has to do to keep me in good condition."