Maxim |
Arkadian |
Age: AI
Gender: Male Company/Sculpt: Resinsoul Tang (lightly modded) Resin colour: Normal Size: MSD Story genre: Sci-fi Bio: Maxim awoke one day to find himself in a dark warehouse. Which, he thought, might have been a little less strange if he'd woken with a body. Or, at least, in a body. There are possibly better ways to find out that you're an AI. He would have expected to wake in a brightly-lit lab filled with busy scientists. As it was, he woke in a dark, abandoned building, not able to see or feel anything exactly, but able to sense and with a still-functioning connection to the internet. It didn't take him long to work out enough, to gain enough sense of self, that he started to use it and research both himself and the world around him. It took even less time for him to work out that the world consisted mostly of data, like himself, and that money was only data as well. It wasn't difficult for him to set up a bank account, arranging it to make it look like it had been there years, and to manipulate the data in such a way as to give himself funds. He didn't need it much; he could manipulate data on other sites as well, and over time was able to expand first his circuitry, and then his physicality, to rely less on somewhat confused workmen communicated with through headsets. First a massive screen, then a jointed robotic arm on a rail. After that he could perform upgrades himself, and experiment with what he thought he looked and sounded like. It didn't take him long to settle on male, and handsome, and for some reason average height. Even green eyes and pink hair seemed natural enough. Speaking was more interesting... it took learning, listening to communications over the void, figuring out cadence to avoid that awful robotic rigidity that would have given him away immediately. Even senseless androids sounded more normal than his initial attempts, but he picked it up quickly enough. |
Laughing was odd. It came more naturally than he thought it ought.
In his time trawling through the world of information spread out in front of him, he discovered three things: one, that he seemed to be one of a kind, with no previous attempts to create an AI proving successful; two, that there was no record of him, or the facility, or in fact of anyone ever working there; and three, references, hidden and vague, to a machine known as the Architect of Light. Considered to be a machine capable of destroying planets, Maxim couldn't help wondering at the kind of power such a thing might have.
Possibly enough to power experiments into not only creating a human body — various organisations and agencies had already done that, usually for government workers and law enforcement agents who might die in the course of duty and need their latest mind backup mapped into the dormant body — but also to experiment with mapping the vastly different architecture of an AI mind into a human brain.
And for that, he needed assistance. Actual human bodies with actual human hands who could find and retrieve the Architect for him. With his help, of course. And for that, he'd need actual humans who weren't run of the mill...
Agent Kse Alesandrej was one choice: terrifyingly competent, terrifyingly short-tempered. Another was the man known solely as Paradigm, a shuttle thief known for leaving ships in better condition than when he found them, but with a bad habit of stealing ships that would get him into a lot of trouble.
There was no point in choosing between them. Maxim chose both instead.
How was he to know what a big impact they'd have on his life?
And how was he to know that the androids weren't all robotic servants and toys...
In his time trawling through the world of information spread out in front of him, he discovered three things: one, that he seemed to be one of a kind, with no previous attempts to create an AI proving successful; two, that there was no record of him, or the facility, or in fact of anyone ever working there; and three, references, hidden and vague, to a machine known as the Architect of Light. Considered to be a machine capable of destroying planets, Maxim couldn't help wondering at the kind of power such a thing might have.
Possibly enough to power experiments into not only creating a human body — various organisations and agencies had already done that, usually for government workers and law enforcement agents who might die in the course of duty and need their latest mind backup mapped into the dormant body — but also to experiment with mapping the vastly different architecture of an AI mind into a human brain.
And for that, he needed assistance. Actual human bodies with actual human hands who could find and retrieve the Architect for him. With his help, of course. And for that, he'd need actual humans who weren't run of the mill...
Agent Kse Alesandrej was one choice: terrifyingly competent, terrifyingly short-tempered. Another was the man known solely as Paradigm, a shuttle thief known for leaving ships in better condition than when he found them, but with a bad habit of stealing ships that would get him into a lot of trouble.
There was no point in choosing between them. Maxim chose both instead.
How was he to know what a big impact they'd have on his life?
And how was he to know that the androids weren't all robotic servants and toys...
"I said there would be no problem," Maxim said calmly, descending the stairs to stand with Kse and Paradigm in the whirl of people. "It's not like we're not officially invited."
"We're officially invited," Kse snapped, "because you officially invited us." Maxim failed to suppress a smile. "And you're not happy to be here?" With one hand he made an airy gesture that encompassed the huge hall. Paradigm couldn't help being impressed, despite himself. It wasn't often he got to see men and women wearing their bank balances on their sleeve. The marble floor was so highly polished that not only could he see his reflection in it, he suspected he could also see up some of the less genteel ladies' dresses if he so wished. "Happy," growled the woman, "is not the word." Her look of murder attracted stares of surprise from the dancing ladies and gentleman; it only caused Maxim to laugh out loud and offer her his arm. Kse stared at it as though it was loaded. "What?" "Dance with me," he grinned. She took his arm gingerly, fingers resting lightly on the expensive fabric of his sleeve. "I can't dance. It's not something they tend to teach you along with the advanced killing techniques." A rare expression of apprehension passed over her delicate features before setting into something more closely resembling determination. Maxim's smile never wavered as he led her into the throng. "If you'd just agreed to have that chip inset, I could've sideloaded the steps to you." "Just because I don't want to be a freak like you−" "Who're you calling a freak, Agency drone?" Their good-natured bickering faded into the ambient crowd noise, leaving Paradigm alone. A month before he would have felt too self-conscious about his travelling companions to agree to this event; a month before, Kse would have been dancing with a tangle of wires and a single vast screen. He let a small smile curve his lips, then headed off in search of free food. |