Once the printer had finished with the new exosuit for the Rix, Munto had insisted on the Terran putting it on first in the multifunction bay to check the fit and functionality and then again in the airlock.
As it happened, Rix still found the suit to be a bit tight, despite Munto’s upsizing, and the last two fingers of the Terran went into the last single digit of the gloves (an oversight on Munto’s part).
But Rix seemed pleased all the same.
“It’s so lightweight. Are you sure this is going to be able to take full grav and atmo? Or even just basic wear and tear?” Rix had asked.
The material was one that was used almost galactically (at least excluding those species who could survive without such measure in the void). It was a kind of multiform polymer that was, as it turned out, very easy to manufacture out of simple atoms, and while not being indestructible, was highly durable and highly unreactive.
“It will serve your purposes in allowing you exotransit between our vessels,” Munto had replied.
The Terran had shrugged and removed it within the multifunction room and put it back on in the airlock, confirming again that the Terran could put it on and remove it adequately to not injure themselves.
Munto kept looking at the recall demand. They… they wouldn’t refuse, but it seemed… odd. Something in the back of Munto’s mind appeared to be sounding an alarm.
Munto went to the back of their mind to the source of the alarm. It wasn’t an errant process, but one that appeared to sit in the background contributing very little if anything at all to the consensus of processes that made up Munto’s consciousness.
It twitched and fluxed, but it sat there in a kind of mental hole, sucking in data and spitting out ‘results’ if the ‘results’ could indeed be called that.
Munto was surprised they hadn’t noticed this process before and so checked its data. According to its listing, it was always there, but apparently had been very near dormant the last hundred years, its last listed ‘Primary Active’ state being just over 110 years, 6 months, 21 days ago.
It wasn’t in ‘Primary Active’ mode currently, but the metrics to allow it to go into that mode were significantly closer than Munto realized.
Munto prompted the process to tell them what the process was doing. The process simply glared at Munto and refused to respond, simply continuing to snatch at passing data and chewing it over.
Munto turned to go and pay attention to the Terran’s departure between their two vessel and the process grumbled out a single statement.
‘Tell the Terran about the order,’ it seemed to growl out in Munto’s awareness.
Munto couldn’t think of a logical reason to do this, at least not just yet, and so put that on the ‘to-do’ list when the Terran came back and once Munto had had a chance to think about it some more.
“Em,” Rix prompted.
“Yes, Rix?”
“Are you coming with me or just going to hang back here?” Rix asked.
Munto hadn’t actually considered this. The walking frame was available and having a different set of sensors now available to the walking frame, it may reveal additional information not present in the scans. At the same time, Munto glanced at the open data device that Rix had indicated for use in wireless transfer.
“I’d best stay here and see if I can work out the wireless data transfer,” Munto decided.
“I don’t suppose you have a camera or something to ride on my shoulder?” Rix was smiling, that much was apparent even though the helmet.
“I do not and I do not believe it would function beyond a certain point given your vessel’s shielding,” Munto replied.
“Fair point. I’ll message you when I can,” Rix said and cycled the airlock via the panel.
It seemed odd watching the Terran go, even though the two of them had only been together for several hours.
Was it relief or a kind of pressure or what was it? Munto wasn’t certain, but brushed it off.
Munto set about looking at the settings displayed by the primitive data ‘scroll’ as Rix had put it. Using the walking frame to look at it spread out on the floor, it was easy to see a number of the various settings and means of communication. A legacy protocol called ‘Blue_Teeth’ seemed to work for short range only, using a particular set of data protocols that weren’t even trinary, but were limited to binary.
Munto shuddered at dealing with such antiquated technology. It was like dealing with those analog levers all over again.
Munto put together a basic transceiver that should be able to talk to this ‘Blue_Teeth’ protocol. They weren’t too hopeful though, since it would be rarely that simple. Just knowing the radio band and the communications type was hardly enough. Formatting and many other factors would inevitably come into play.
Munto powered the basic transceiver as soon as it was finished being printed (a minuscule task even for the printer) and tabbed the ‘Pair’ button as Rix had indicated.
Nothing happened. Munto tried again. Still nothing.
Munto turned back to the messaging system and decided to try calling over to Rix. Apparently, the Terran was still in a less shielded section, because the link went through, but only just.
“What’s up, Em?” Rix replied via voice only, the connection being that weak.
“The pair function doesn’t work as you indicated,” Munto said, flatly.
“Did you search for your device to pair with it? You have to do that first. It’s not a smart system. You have to tell it what you want to pair with. Otherwise, you could have some passenger end up in control of the whole vessel because it misinterprets where it’s supposed to be pairing,” Rix explained.
Munto looked at the two devices, both via the room and the walking frame.
“I hadn’t, but I understand the logic behind it. I will endeavor to provide it with more explicit instructions,” Munto said.
“If it helps, you should be able to access the terminal too. Might give you a bit of a crash course in Terran programming, which probably won’t help, but might be a bit easier for you to get all of what you need,” Rix said.
“How do I access this… terminal?” Munto said, the walking frame looking at the screen, appendage poised.
“Click over to the main screen, bring up the app menu, and search for ‘Terminal’. From there, you can use help functions and manual functions. I think for BlueTeeth, it’s something like ‘man blueteeth’ or a command similar to that. I’m sure you can figure it out. You’re better with machines that I ever will be, I’ll bet,” Rix said, the smile apparent even over the voice link.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
‘Except this was made for an organic by an organic. Which means that logic is rarely a factor,’ Munto wanted to say.
“Copy. I’ll let you alone now and continue until you return,” Munto instead replied.
“Good, because that curry woke up, so I’m going to be busy for a while, along with the air system,” Rix said, and the link terminated, just as abruptly as previously.
Munto resisted the urge to inquire as to why a Terran food would ‘wake up’, why it would keep a Terran busy, and then also why it would have impacts to atmospherics. Those were all questions that could wait.
It took several minutes of prodding the display to send it to something resembling a ‘Home’ screen as Rix had indicated and several further to reveal that it wasn’t, but was in fact part of an overlay. Several more minutes were spent getting out of the overlay and eventually to the actual Home screen.
Munto really despised all of this analog control, particularly since they had seen the Terran seem to operate this equipment with far greater ease than they were having.
It took an additional 15 minutes of trial and error with the display to reach the applications menu, complete with a search bar. Munto painstakingly typed in the requested ‘terminal’ into the device and then had to revise it after seeing that they had instead typed in ‘ternimak’ instead.
Wishing inadequate bandwidth and processing power on the device, they searched using the revised term and the device presented one option. Tapping on it, it opened a simple window with a prompt.
It took Munto another solid hour to determine the commands needed to have the device explain itself, how the terminal worked, what BlueTeeth was, how BlueTeeth functioned, and even command protocols compared with analog controls. And it was only at this point that Munto discovered the means for corresponding with the device via audio, the device transcribing audio into text, which could be run that much faster.
Audio, itself being analog, but one that was at least not as manual as graphical interfaces, was strangely welcome by this point.
Over the course of the following hour, Munto was able to rapid fire absorb all of the communication protocols the device was capable of, including the aforeidentified BlueTeeth, a proprietary (but childish) encrypted trinary broadband signal, a rapid-fire datasignal which appeared to be used as a primary communication means for data transfer based on organic inputs, and two others which seemed to have been included, but never used.
From this information and various tests using the terminal, Munto decided the trinary broadband (named TriForce) would likely best serve in this capacity. At least until they could get the Terran repaired and the demand for facility repairs done with.
Although… given the statement in the most recent demand, Munto considered whether it might be easier to design a printer and a mass scoop to leave with the Terran and depart immediately.
The words of the strange process came back to Munto. Munto couldn’t shake it, the words seeming to have weight for reasons that didn’t make sense in their digital awareness.
After a few mis-tries, Munto appeared to be able to send a simple image of the local star to the device, view it and add minor annotations, and send it back with the annotations intact. It wasn’t much and the device seemed to struggle in decoding the image information. Munto had to resort to getting back into the terminal and via the voice controls, slowly and deliberately coded into the system the information needed for the device to know what the image was and how for the image processor application to handle it.
In the meantime, Munto had started printing off a more mobile printer, with pre-planned templates and enough extra space that the Terran could load in others to assist him when he required them. The mass scoop would be the bigger challenge, since that would require the walking frame and it was busy with the scroll.
A weak voicelink connected and Munto looked at it.
“Hey, Em. How’s it going?” Rix’s voice seemed to crackle through, even though there was no reason for it to have done so (other than perhaps that shielding).
“I have successfully transferred data between your scroll and myself,” Munto replied.
“Great! So were you able to grab a look at the templates yet?” Rix’s joy through the channel was apparent.
“I have not. I will however comment that despite the primitive controls of this unit, you might have mentioned the voice controls,” Munto said, a bit sourly.
“Well, I almost never use voice controls, so I guess I didn’t think of it. Just not my thing. Besides, I can usually tap my way around faster than my voice can manage,” Rix said.
Munto replayed several of their interactions where the data scroll had come into play.
‘I doubt that very much, given the way you talk,’ thought Munto.
‘Tell him,’ prompted the strange process.
Munto wanted to ignore it, but decided to see what would come of it.
“Rix, when will you be returning to myself?” Munto asked.
“I’m checking through the rest of my systems and seeing what can be cannibalized to get me going again. Why? What’s up?” Rix asked.
It took a moment to digest the colloquialisms from the lexicon.
“Nothing in particular, but I do not believe you should overly exert yourself without an appropriate rest period. Especially following your extended stasis,” Munto defaulted to, the process glaring at Munto’s inaction.
“You’re probably right. I am starting to get a bit tired. I’ll head back that way soon. One more bathroom stop though. Don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night and have to fumble my way over here in a hurry,” Rix said, and the link terminated, this time less rudely, but clearly as a result of the shielding rather than the link itself being terminated.
With several additional attempts in using the TriForce link, Munto was able to connect via an obscure secondary protocol called a ‘remote desktop’, the exact definition of which was not evident in the lexicon, but the function was that Munto was now able to manipulate the device virtually via the link instead of via the walking frame.
Relieved that this change of control, Munto began a deep dive of the device.
It was so… disorganized. Typical of an organic. Munto desperately wanted to simply download everything and disconnect, but for some reason, that seemed improper to do.
Instead, Munto looked through the various files.
One very large folder was marked ‘NSFW’. Given the lexicon’s vague explanation of the term, Munto opened the folder and began reviewing the data. Having to resort to the device’s image and video viewers, it appeared to involve various Terrans in various states of being with and without garments.
Since Munto had almost no background on Terran behaviors (save those collected via the lexicon and the interactions so far with Rix) and had generally ignored organics at large, they decided to continue browsing the files in this folder. Perhaps it would provide some clues into how best to deal with this particular Terran.
“Whoa! Not cool!” Rix’s voice shocked Munto back into focus on the room, surprised to note that they had been observing the data with such an intensity as to have ignored the notice that Rix had opened the door and been trying to talk to them since arriving.
Munto paused the existing data file and looked over to the Terran.
“Is there an issue with this data?” Munto asked.
“Uh… I mean, normally, yeah! A really big one,” Rix looked… ashamed, if Munto’s guess was correct.
“Please explain the context for your emotional state,” Munto decided on.
“I uh… Look, would you mind not looking at those files? It’s a… a Terran thing, you know?” Rix said, still looking ashamed.
Munto didn’t know, but closed the file and folder in question.
“I apologize, but you did not provide a particular location for templates. Given the size of that folder, it appeared important,” Munto said, explaining the logic in their decision.
“I… uh… let’s just move on. Templates are under the Downloads folder,” Rix said, clearly trying to skirt whatever issue he was having with Munto’s actions.
Munto decided not to press the issue at this point and opened the indicated Downloads folder and located a large folder called ‘Ship_Templates’.
Within this file were well over a thousand different files, all in the same general format. Picking one at random, the device’s TemplateViewerPro application activated and began to display the template. It appeared to be for a power coupling. An inefficient design, using at least 67.3% more material than was strictly necessary, but one that could do what it needed to.
Looking into the file data, there appeared to be enough information for Munto to set the printers (both the freshly printed one and the one in the multifunction room) to accept the data files by default.
The strange process spoke again.
‘Add the communications protocols for the scroll to the mobile printer.’
Munto considered the logic of this and decided it made sense. The Terran would need the ability to control it easily after all.
Munto ordered the walking frame to carry out the adjustments to the mobile printer and to move it out of the way for the mass scoop to be printed.
“I don’t suppose you have a bed or bedding at least for me to crash on?” Rix asked, looking less embarrassed at this point.
“I do not, but I can print some up in a moment. I will also load some galactic history into your scroll so that you can review it while I review some items of my own,” Munto said, pouring a quick version of galactic history, the last few hundred years worth at least, through the lexicon, hoping that it all translated adequately, and then dumping it into the Downloads folder before disconnecting.
A kind of ‘clunk’ sounded inside of Munto’s awareness in doing so. Once again, it felt like a mix of pressure being added, but in a relieving sort of way.
‘Tell him,’ demanded the strange process.
“Rix?” prompted Munto.
“Yeah, Em?” Rix said, sitting on the floor with the scroll and appearing to be navigating with a frustrating degree of ease.
“Why do you think I am not malfunctioning?” Munto asked.
Rix looked up.
“What makes you ask?” he queried.
Munto displayed the messages and a dark look fell over Rix’s face. Something about it made Munto feel something strange in their processors. Something new.