Dinner with a Werewolf

[IamLEAM1983]

"Very well, then," replied the Clank, who looked back to the waiter, "I think the matter has been settled."

The young man nodded. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Someone's going to be right along with a bread basket."

The couple was, once again, left alone. Truth be told, Archie was surprised by how well he was handling the situation, following his admission of loneliness. He'd been doing his best to integrate a few spontaneous cues from his observation of the youngsters' interactions, but a part of him still considered that letting his proverbial hair down was awkward.

"So," he then asked, "I don't suppose I'm your first Automaton, hm? I gather most of the principal departments are at least partially staffed by Clanks... How are my people faring, by your estimate?"

He shrugged. "My movements are lifelike, my voice rings mostly true; your Uncanny Valley was never much of a problem in my years spent in service of the Crown. A certain lack of convincing human affectations was viewed as part and parcel of the Clank experience, but expectations have obviously changed."

[TennyoCeres84]

She smiled. "No, you're not my first automaton. There's Detective Mike Callahan, who died fighting Weasel Biggs' grandfather and then was transferred over to his current body. The water cooler rumor mill has it that he thinks there's something up with Drake, but that's a discussion for another time. And yes, there's a number of clanks who have jobs in the city's hierarchy. I'd say a good portion of the older clanks are resistant to upgrading and prefer the bodies they have now. I don't blame them, though."

"The newer models are more realistic, appearance wise. Goliath Corp. and Prometheus are making strives to make everything quicker and sleeker. A few years back, Grigori Tesla was even talking about A.I. software merging with the current shells. So that could create some competition, or it might create a backlash. Even with technomages, there's even talk about the internet becoming self-aware."

[IamLEAM1983]

"I must admit, this particular notion is troubling," he said. "It's as if you told me that a library built without a House Spirit could somehow gain sentience over time. Holden Hall is still looked upon by Bagley's shade, but his spirit was anchored there by his dedication and pride towards my home and office. No spirit was ever born or made there."

He frowned slightly. "How can the world's sum of knowledge bring about the birth of a sapient mind? Is this specific to the Internet's format, or is there some deeper arcane notion about knowledge as a concept that even the Ancients ignored?"

That said, he expected Crystal would be just as lost as he was. Not everyone made a career about exploring or positing the various ramifications of the Singularity; and Ray Kurzweil wasn't entirely approached as a credible source by the scientific community. Part of it had to do with his support of the "killer robot" trope. Few people gave it any credence - but people also forgot that Genius Loci could become disoriented, confused, or simply mad with their contained building or location's amount of pain or rage.

[TennyoCeres84]

Crystal shrugged uncertainly. "I can't say for sure, but I have a theory. The Internet started as another means of communication in the 1960s and 70s between supercomputers located at universities and research facilities; it was originally called ARPANET, In the mid-1990s, it became available on a global scale for commercial use. As time passed, the speed of transferring data increased exponentially."

"We're talking a period of 30 years of continued exchanging of ideas, emotions, and information between people of various countries for that long of a period. It's like an infant becoming an adult with the thoughts of 8 billion people buzzing around in its head. So, picture everything that the human condition has to deal with-love, hate, sexual desire, commerce, politics, survival, etc.- and wonder how could it not start to develop some sort of consciousness. That's what could be happening, right now as we speak, in a nutshell. It's, to say the least, a daunting notion, but artificial intelligences may eventually have to be another type of lifeform added to the Vienna Accords."

[IamLEAM1983]

"Hm," mused the Clank, "given how some of us mortals reacted the last time we brought deceased Wyldfae species from extinction, I daresay our hopes for a rational greeting of these new beings happen to be rather slim... People tend to fear what it is they do not understand - and it took decades for Aspasia and Silas' couple to be left in relative peace."

He shrugged. "Then again, I remember Monsieur D'Aubignier being forced to regale the biologists and scientists of this world with the intricacies of his own morphology and capabilities, once he revealed himself to the public. He was not thrilled, but seemed to regard it as a necessity. All the better to avoid future abductions performed on other Guildmates or other barbaric treatments being visited on his fellow undead. I could also serve as an example, having been forced to face criticisms shortly after my resurrection. Many well-meaning members of the House of Lords believed that Automaton technology was ungodly; that it disrupted the supposedly divine cycle of life and death."

The spy gestured with a hand. "All I cared about, once the shock had passed, was that I could live again. Revenge didn't even work its way into my mind - all I cared about was returning to my books, my fireplace and my violin. For all I know, the Karthian agent who killed me lived a long and prosperous life."

[TennyoCeres84]

Crystal nodded. "Well, that's a refreshing change of pace. The antiheroes of the 1990s were all about revenge for perceived misdeeds and endless grudges. I mean, part of Hope's foundation is centered around a curse based on unknown events. It's one thing to be angered by past events, but it's another to take that anger out on future generations you don't personally know."

[IamLEAM1983]

Archie lightly rolled his eyes. "Oh, how unsurprising; maintained spitefulness is such a juvenile concept! A proper gentleman agrees that the murderer who did him in is a right proper idiot, and then moves on," he replied, chuckling.

"I suppose I was annoyed, obviously. I'd been killed in the middle of the best night's sleep I'd ever had in that particular month, and life had been blessedly uneventful for just as long! I'd just started to face the notion that I would grow old, quite possibly grow fat in the process, and was entirely at ease with these notions. I was more than ready to become one of these crusty old politicians who use their required presence in political gatherings to catch forty winks in the rear-most seats."

He shrugged, raising a hand in a sign of powerlessness. "But, as it turns out, my skills were still needed, even if I no longer needed them. I was yanked out of a state of unimaginable tranquility and introduced to this armature without much in the way of a preamble. I had entirely too much to reconcile myself with to have even the slightest amount of emotional investment to place towards revenge.

I remember taking five minutes to consider tracking my killer down, somewhere in the middle of the day that preceeded my meeting James Buchanan..."

He chuckled. "I realized I couldn't fit revenge in my new schedule. By the time I could, I simply didn't care anymore."

[TennyoCeres84]

Crystal smiled. "I'm glad that you didn't become an old, snoring diplomat wiling his hours away in Parliament; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to meet you. Ever since my divorce, I've been out of the dating pool. You were the first man to ask me out in a while, even if it was a front for mere business purposes," she mused wryly.

[IamLEAM1983]

Archie briefly felt like putting two fingers to his nose's bridge in self-aggravation. He didn't quite do that, but the dip in his features was eloquent. "You find me glad that fate allowed us to meet, but I do wish I'd been able to work up the gumption to be truthful from the very beginning of yesterday's phone call. I've spent several years meeting women of quality only at the favor of soirées and various other events, and never did receive a primer on how the working class went about finding a soul mate. I met Iphigenia during one of my earliest British missions following my rebirth and never once had to consider the existence of what you would call the dating circle."

Still, something caught his attention. "On the other hand, couldn't one surmise that our mutual rescues more or less served the same purpose as those frankly boring evenings I've gone through? Good Lord, Crystal - you can't possibly imagine how boring the family's Christmas dinners were, what with Uncle spouting platitudes in an effort to sound interesting and my parents' obligations never falling on receptive ears... That poor man always did have the makings of a future Cabal vampire; and Cartesian sorts never fail to put me to sleep."

He snorted. "You should've seen him attempt to work up some enthusiasm while describing the latest play at the Lyceum. He managed the ungodly feat of making Hamlet seem boring, when most of the Bard's dramatic fare challenges your average Game of Thrones episode, in terms of twists and turns."

[TennyoCeres84]

The werewolf scoffed. "I can't even imagine. He'd probably put any woman to sleep before he'd get to the point we're at," she noted, chuckling. "So looking forward to meeting your uncle one day."