After the dark gray "Descant"-Class AI Vessel landed in the hangar of Ames Research Station, Jane left the ship through a tiny hatch in the bottom of the ship, which looks like a Camara-Freighter. Dropping to the ground, she attracted some weird views from other people leaving their ships in the hangar. "Thanks", she says to the ship and "No problem" the answer came from a male voice out of the ship and the hatch closes. She stood up, shaking down some dust from her body.
Jane wore a tight-fitting blue overall and was now moving toward the exit of the hangar, sighing when she noticed 2 guards with light arms standing next to a metal scanner. "Now that's gonna be fun...", she said to herself sarcastically, moving towards them.
As she had anticipated it, the metal scanner started to beep loudly and the guards aimed their weapons on her. "Android body...", she started an anemic try to explain, but the guards just told her to turn around, scanning her with handheld metal detectors, then turning her around to a wall, when the scanner deflected at her whole body. Jane shortly thought about disarming both of them and just continuing, but that would not be the best way to start a visit of this station, so she just did what the guards told her too.
One of them was already speaking into his communicator and 3 more guards came out of a room, when one of the guards behind her started to pat her down. After he didn't find anything, he sent a message with his PDA while the other guards aim at Jane with their rifles, appareantly waiting for someone. Jane sat down at the wall, looking annoyed of the delay.
"Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it." René Descartes
*Ah time for a nice drink to end the day* thought Finn, as he sat down on one of the sofas in the bar area. Having spent numerous hours and credits to make the common area on Ames more attractive and comfortable to those stopping for extended periods, a moment to enjoy such simple pleasures was needed. So much hustle and work during the past couple days, that Finn barely had a moment to himself, or at least to enjoy company that didn't result in questions or clarifications regarding some of the research projects starting up.
"Sir, shall you be wanting the usual?" the waiter asked, coming over to Finn. "Ah Gerald! Good to see ya. Ta usual please, thanks lad" he responded. With a nod, Gerald walked back towards the bar area and started pouring a glass of vintage Dublin Whiskey, aged 20 years. *Thats ta stuff* he thought, watching Gerald bring over the glass.
Leaning forward to set down his glass, Finn's commlink buzzed and beeped at him. "What now. Can' I get a moments peace?" he mumbled softly. Looking down, he saw it was from his chief of security. Knowing that he only comm'ed him when absolutely necessary, Finn quickly answered.
"Yes lad, what seems to be ta issue?" he replied swiftly. "Sir, apologies for disturbing you, but we have an issue that I believe calls for your attention over at docking bay 1. We had a ship dock just a few moments ago, and a female who tried to come through the security station set off all sorts of alarms. She mentioned something about an being Android, and when my men conducted a full scan of her and... well, I think you should get down here."
Upon hearing the word "Android", Finn quickly acknowledged and gulped down the drink, despite the horrified look from Gerald's face. *An android? Here?* he thought excitedly. Grabbing his coat, he made his way out of the common area and into the hallway leading to the main corridor that the docking bays were connected to. Nodding to a few passerby's, he rounded the corner to see his Chief of Security, along with 4 other security personnel watching over the person in question.
"That is all men. Thank ya" as he walked closer. The two men closest to the woman nodded, and moved back to the adjacent security room, as the other two security guards walked back to their post. "Forgive meh Ma'am, they are only doin' their jobs. I hope ya can understand. Drinks on meh if ya need... or, can?" Finn said with a hesitant voice, unsure if Androids drank alcohol. "If ya'd be so kind to follow meh, I'm sure we can get you all settled."
Holding out his hand, he could tell she was quite irritated at the delay. With a nod, the woman grabbed his hand and let out a small smile at the courteous attempt by Finn.
"Forgive meh, allow meh to introduce mehself. Finn McCool, ta Administrator here at Ames. Feel free to just call meh Finn. So ma'am, what brings ya here?"
"Hello, Finn. I'm Jane", the woman said smiling to him. She moved a flick of her blond hair out of her face and followed Finn. "What brings me here? Well, mostly I was curious. I heard of the takeover of Phoenix of this station, and then also that Mr. Willson will visit this station. I'm a Councilman in the Solar Runners Council, representing the Consensus there. I ordered a nearby Consensus vessel to head here and then noticed your guards and scanners, knowing that I won't get through that easily. Well, although your guards wouldn't be able to seriously damage this body with that light weaponry" Jane points backwards. "Wouldn't be the best way to enter this station though", she giggles.
"Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it." René Descartes
Finn chuckled slightly when she said that. He made a mental note to step up security here, just in case.
"Right this way lass." Finn directed her opposite the research section, towards the common area. Gerald still seemed annoyed, but continued on helping the other patrons. Finn motioned for Jane to sit once they reached the corner that was least occupied. "Have a seat." he motioned.
"So, ya seem to be keepin' up wit current events quite well. I wish yer visit, as a council member of ta Solar Runners Council, would have been made known to meh, as I would've prepared for ya better. Though, to be honest lass, a representative of ta consensus is of note. Considerin' some of ta past dealin's we've had, or should I say you've had wit some of our friends back in ta Omicrons."
Finn motioned for Gerald to come over. "Ah thank ya lad! Mey I get another glass of ta usual, and a... Lets see. A double scotch on ta rocks fer ta lass here. If ya'd be so kind." he said with a smile. Gerald walked away slightly shaking his head, presumably in fear of a repeat of a few minutes ago.
"Anyway, on ta other hand, it is a pleasure ta have ya here. You'll have to excuse ta mess," he motioned around him to some of the boxes and clutter, "as we are still in ta process of movin' our facilities here."
Gerald came over with two glasses, one he set down on the table, and the other he handed to Jane. He nodded politely to her, and gave Finn a look of shame."Yea yea, I'll savor this one lad." Finn replied upon seeing his expression.
"So, now that ya are here, I would like to know why ya have ventured this far to come here? Surely not just for a friendly visit. Though, by no means does that make ya any less welcome lass!" Finn grabbed his cup and took a sip, eager to know what an Android was doing on the station.
"Well, this visit was a bit ... spontaneous. And also I'm not really here as Councilman.", she says to Finn, then looks down to her glass a bit unsure what to do, obviously not used to alcoholic drinks, then back to Finn.
"To be honest, I'm interested in science myself, that's why I came here. But technically you're not even speaking to the 'real' Jane, which is currently somewhere in the Omicrons on a ship. I'm a copy of her, she sent here to visit this facility... due to... interest, yes"
She leans back. "So, if it isn't secret, tell me, what are you researching here? Or just what the Runners will support you at, these artifacts?"
"Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it." René Descartes
Finn watched as Jane spoke, watching her movements, analyzing the intricacies of this android body. *Such fluid movement* he thought. When she mentioned her being a copy, his attention perked up even more. Making copies of data was nothing strange, but a copy of an Artificial Intelligence unit was something he was keen to understand more.
As she asked her question of research, Finn put down his glass and sat back, legs crossed. "Well lass, what I can tell ya is an outline of ta main project I'm about to start workin' on in conjunction with ta Solar Runners, specifically Mr. Willson. We will be studyin' ta effects and properties that Gallic Alien Artifacts hold. Relatively small research has been done on such artifacts, and I hope to see what we can find out about 'em." Finn watched as he said this to try and catch any sort of visible body language to suggest any emotion she might convey.
"Adjacently, will be helping ta current research bein' conducted here in Dark Matter, and it's presence in many of ta systems in Sirius. There is so much we don' know about so many things that are right on our doorstep. All ya need to do is just look with an open mind and keep an eye out. Makes it I'm sure of benefit to ya, as ya can be in multiple places at once, dependin' on how many copies ya make of yerself" he chuckled.
"Now, ya mentioned ya had an "interest" in this facility, hence ta reason for visitin'..." Finn leaned forward to grab his drink, sipping it and waiting for Jane's response.
"Well, yes. I do have an interest in this facility, since it's a research station. And you lead it, right?" She takes a sip from her drink too, her eyes going wide a bit, but else she doesn't show a reaction. She takes another sip, then puts the glass down again.
"So only humans research here, without any help of an AI, not even one of these human ones? Sounds a bit slow to me, but well, cannot really evaluate your speed here yet, since I arrived only recently, and didn't even see your labs"
She takes another sip, then looks over to him, looking over his body. "To be honest, you look like if you want to disassemble me and put every single part of this body under your scanners. Cannot really resent you for that, it would probably bring your research forward, but that's not how it works, as you know..." She giggles a bit, slightly sounding as if the alcohol has the normal effect on her.
"Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it." René Descartes
Finn laughed at the comment to disassemble her, or "it". "Disassemble? No no lass. More, intrigued by ta nature of copying your core data, and how you share information from ta various copies of "Jane". If each one of ya has self-awareness, or if ya'll follow ta same programmed directive. Curious how much freedom ya have honestly" He sipped again from his glass.
"As far as ta labs, we have enough ta get by. We may not have a full Artificial Intelligence, but we have what is needed to ensure we are operatin' at our needed pace." As he set his glass down, Finn pulled out his datapad, and keyed in a couple commands, then motioned to Jane.
"If ya would like to tour ta labs, I'd be more than welcome to show you the public labs, pending approval. Even I have people I report to lass. Here, if ya don't mind, I'll send over ta contact information for Mr. Burton, whom I report to. He'll need ta clear ya before we tour ta facilities. I'm sure ya understand, considerin' yer unique nature." Finn smiled, and leaned back, sipping more of the delicious Whiskey provided.
"An don' worry lass, not some ploy to disassemble ya or experiment on ya."*Wink*
"Ha! You should try to disassemble me...", Jane giggled and then looked a bit more serious again. "Well, I am not limited in what I can do, but since I am the same as the 'real' Jane I also act like she would"
She sipped from her glass again. "And yes, a tour would be nice. I'm sure you come along with your research, but an Artificial Intelligence would make everything so much faster. The human ones aren't so nice though"
She didn't sound really sober anymore at this point and empties her glass now, putting it back at the table a bit too hard. A bang was heard and she looked at the dent in the metal irritated. "I'm sorry... something is wrong... that shouldn't have happened", she mumbles confused.
"Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it." René Descartes
Finn chuckled at the site of an android succumbing to the effects of whiskey. He never thought that a android would be designed to experience a "buzz", or perhaps since it wasn't designed that way, the systems can't handle it.
"It's alright lass, it adds character" As he said this, he motioned for Gerald to come and bring more whiskey. He was too interested in seeing the effects being played out, despite the damage to the table. *Meh, worth it* he thought to himself.
As Gerald filled up both glasses, Finn leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So lass, yer first time with Whiskey? It's nothing to worry about. It's called being buzzed, and such actions are completely normal!" he said with a grin. "Ah, I remember my first drink..."
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